On this date in both 2019, as well as 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” had its first profile of Wisconsin State Senator Van Wanggaard, who prior to reaching office, was a 29 year veteran of the Racine Police Department. We will pause for a moment for everyone to giggle, because yes, his name sounds like an SUV that looks like a giant athletic supporter.
Alright, so Van Wanggaard (snicker) first ran for the Wisconsin State Senate in 2006 in District 21 unsuccessfully, before being narrowly elected to office for the first time back in the 2010 Tea Party Wave. Almost immediately upon taking power in Wisconsin in 2011, Gov. Scott Walker and the now GOP-controlled legislature pushed legislation forward to strip voting rights, restructure the district map to gerrymander themselves in control for a decade, and then tried to push forward right-to-work legislation within months of Wanggaard’s first term in office. Outraged constituents were out protesting in force, and signatures were gathered to recall Gov. Walker, and while they were at it, recall several other officials elected in 2010 who carried out their regressive agenda. Among four Republican State Senators facing recall in 2012 was Wanggaard.
And… Van Wanggaard was defeated by Democrat John Lehman over 700 votes in the recall election… and then demanded a recount, simply hoping to keep Lehman out of office as long as possible. The recount showed he actually lost by over 800 votes. Still, the legislative map being already redrawn by Republicans meant District 21 would be far more conservative in the next election in the normal cycle (it is now shaped like a horseshoe, and went from being a 50/50 Democrat to Republican split to now being +16 Republican). John Lehman didn’t even bother running for re-election at those odds, and Wanggaard won with 67% of the vote. He won re-election again in 2018 with 58% of the vote (aided by “accidentally” using state websites to link to his own campaign’s Twitter accounts, an ethics violation), and in the time he’s been in office, Wanggaard has racked up a completely partisan voting record, including anti-choice legislation and support for bills to cut welfare benefits make it harder to get government assistance, in general.
But in 2015, only a few months into Van Wanggaard’s second run in office, he turned heads with his nonchalant attitude about guns. Not just by sponsoring legislation to try to allow off-duty and retired police officers to carry guns on public school campuses, but he boasted that he was strapped while serving on committee meetings where the bill was being debated, because of course the ex-cop with a name like Van Wanggaard needs to overcompensate. He tried to completely eliminate the 48 hour waiting period for background checks to get a gun, because holy s***, what?
In 2020, Wanggaard has responded to the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic by… doing nothing about it to help the living and instead sponsoring AB179, to help children who are “born alive” after an abortion, even though the current timeline when abortions are allowed doesn’t meet the requirements to even be declared alive scientifically. Okay, we’re not being fair… Van Wanggard did less than nothing, instead publicly fighting with Gov. Tony Evers and Democrats tooth and nail against mask mandates. And, pardon our language, but this bloated sack of s*** had the audacity to claim in a video interview in October of 2020 that Covid-19 had not killed anyone under the age of 20, and that there was no proof that such a person infected was capable of spreading the disease back to adults. (Science fact check: There is, they can, and “F*** you Van Wanggaard for spreading misinformation that was going to get people killed.)
The only time he wanted people not to be allowed in public? Why, of course if was when BlackLivesMatter protesters were in Madison, and on June 24th, 2020, Wanggaard was enraged about a statue of a Confederate general being beheaded and declared the protests “bulls***”. That came after weeks of Wanggaard throwing tantrums in the Wisconsin State Senate about reforms pitched by Democrats that would curtail police violence. Because OF COURSE the ex-cop doesn’t see any need to change. And of course when Kyle Rittenhouse murdered two protesters in Kenosha in August, Wanggaard didn’t blame the murderer, he blamed Governor Tony Evers for not dispersing the protests. Since our last profile of Wanggaard, he has also taken to attacking journalists for daring to report when the police shoot and kill suspects and properly terming such interactions as “homicide”. He also co-sponsored legislation to attempt to nullify federal firearms laws, because of course he did.
Van Wanggaard will be up for re-election in 2022, and it remains to be seen if his district will be redrawn, or if the configuration of the electoral map in Wisconsin will remain the same and make it easy for him to remain in power.