Scott Walker latest high-profile state Republican to skip Donald Trump rally








  • ASSOCIATED PRESS


Gov. Scott Walker speaks during the second day session of the Republican National Convention on July 19.

None of the highest-profile Republicans in Wisconsin will attend Donald Trump’s rally in Green Bay on Friday — a sign of deepening fissures between the state GOP and their party’s presidential nominee.

A spokesman for Scott Walker said Wednesday the governor would be “unable” to attend the Trump rally, his first in Wisconsin since gaining the GOP nomination.

That statement comes a day after House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Oshkosh said they will skip the event.

Trump said Tuesday he was not ready to endorse Ryan, who is facing a primary challenger who backs Trump. Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said Wednesday he backs Ryan.

Instead of attending the Green Bay rally, Walker will be touring areas in northern Wisconsin affected by significant flooding in July, Walker spokesman Joe Fadness said in a statement.

“Governor Walker’s number one focus is being governor, and he will continue leading the response to the violent storms that swept through northern Wisconsin last month,” Fadness said. “As always, Governor Walker will participate in future political events for Mr. Trump provided they don’t interfere with his work for the citizens of Wisconsin, as he did when Governor Pence visited Waukesha a week ago.”

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, who has embraced the New York real estate mogul and reality TV celebrity as a populist who could help win legislative races, also will not attend.

Spokeswoman Myranda Tanck said in an email Fitzgerald is “unable to attend due to a family trip out of state that was scheduled before the event was announced.”

GOP Rep. John Nygren, from nearby Marinette, said he won’t be at the rally either because of a trip he’s taking with his son to watch former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

“In Wisconsin, it’s Packers over politics,” Nygren said.


The absence of the highest-profile Republican elected officials in the state comes after Walker, Ryan and Johnson have condemned Trump for comments he made over the weekend about the parents of a soldier who died in combat.

Trump and Khizr and Ghazala Khan, parents of Humayun Khan, a U.S. Army soldier of Pakistani descent who died in combat in Iraq in 2004, have been engaged in a public feud since Khizr Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week. There he questioned Trump’s understanding of the U.S. Constitution for proposing to ban all Muslims from traveling to the U.S. and said the billionaire celebrity had sacrificed nothing.

Walker and Ryan, both of whom endorsed Trump, said no family of a fallen soldier should be criticized. Johnson, whose campaign spokesman said he had prior commitments on Friday, said on Wednesday that Trump should apologize to the soldier’s parents.

“Captain Humayun Khan, and all the Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, deserve our deepest respect and gratitude,” Johnson said in a statement provided by spokesman Brian Reisinger.

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