Conservative candidates publicly cancel the accusations of electoral cheating

By Ali Swenson and Christine Fernando

Pewaukee, Wisconsin (AP) – While the first media began calling for the election of the Supreme Wisconsin Court for Liberal candidate Susan Crawford, her opponent called her – to concede.

A few minutes later Tuesday evening, the Brad Schimel, supported by the curator, went on stage to his evening to recognize the loss. Angry howls have broken out. A woman started singing her opponent: “cheater”.

Schimel did not hesitate. “No,” he replied. “You must accept the results.” Later, he returned to the stage with his classic rock cover group for Jamber on his bass.

In any other American era, the Schimel concession would not be considered as unusual – except perhaps the guitar part. But it stands out at a time when nation policy has opened a crack between those who trust the results of the elections and those who do not.

“It shouldn’t be super laudable,” said Jeff Mandell, lawyer general of the Liberal law law firm based in Madison. “But given where we are and given what we have seen in recent years on a national scale and in Wisconsin, it’s commendable.”

The charges of cheating are common now

In recent years, many Republicans – and some Democrats – have launched untreated accusations of electoral fraud, have harassed electoral officials and underlined “irregularities” to challenge their electoral losses. President Donald Trump led this movement in 2020, when he brought prosecution in the states of the battlefield, including one thrown by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, seeking to cancel his loss against Democrat Joe Biden.

The Schimel concession of this same court has a liberal majority, although in accordance with what generations of candidates have done in the past, was not a fact in the divisor’s atmosphere of today.

On stage, as his supporters shouted, Schimel shook his head and left no uncertainty that he had lost – a result which would become even clearer later in the night while Crawford’s advance reached about 10 percentage points.

“The figures are not going-will not turn around,” he told the crowd. “They are damage and we are not going to succeed.”

By quickly recognizing its loss, Schimel reduced the type of research and digital excavation of explanation that broke out online after Trump, a republican, lost the 2020 presidential election, citizen journalists will accuse innocent electoral workers and fraud voters.

Schimel also avoided the impulses to which many of his party failed in the last elections across the country, because they dragged their feet to avoid accepting the defeat.

Last fall, the Wisconsin Republican, Eric Hovde, spent days sowing doubts in the results after losing a race for the Senate against Democrat Tammy Baldwin. He conceded almost two weeks after election day, saying that he did not want to “add to political conflicts thanks to a controversial recount” when he raised demystified electoral plots.

In a Court of the Supreme Court of the State in 2024 in North Carolina, two red counts said that the Democrat Allison Riggs narrowly won the election, but her republican opponent, Jefferson Griffin, still seeks to reverse the result by having voted.

Trump also continued to pretend that he won the 2020 presidential election, even if there was no proof of general fraud and that the results were confirmed by several recipt, criticism and audits. His near advisor, billionaire Elon Musk, also spread a wave of complaints not based on electoral fraud involving non-citizens.

Musk and his affiliated groups have flowed at least $ 21 million in the Supreme Wisconsin Court race, and he personally paid for three voters 1 million dollars each to have signed a petition to stimulate the participation rate. He said that the race was at the heart of “the future of America and Western civilization”.

But after the arrival of the results, he said that he “expected to lose” and had praised the successful adoption of an identity amendment by voters in the constitution of the Wisconsin. Trump, who had approved Schimel, did not posted on the loss but used his social platform Truth to celebrate the victory of the identification of the voters.

An assessment: “it’s democracy”

Not all Republicans watching the race were in a magnanimous mood when they dealt with the results. Peter Bernegger, the chief of an electoral integrity organization that brought numerous prosecutions against the Wisconsin employees and electoral offices, raised the specter that a “algorithm” was behind the victory of Crawford. The founder and theorist of the Infowars conspiracy, Alex Jones, reacted to the results on X, saying that “electoral fraud should be the subject of an investigation.”

But during the Schimel surveillance party, several supporters applauded its high road.

“He was in class,” said Russell Jones, a 51 -year -old lawyer. “This is how you lose.”

Adam Manka, of the County Republican County Party, said that he was worried about how a liberal court could restart the districts of the State Congress. “But you can’t change it exactly,” said Manka, calling Schimel “very graceful” in his defeat. “It’s democracy.”

The moment is a good example for future candidates, said Ari Mittleman, executive director of the non -profit organization based in Wisconsin, Keep Our Republic, which aims to rebuild trust and confidence in the elections. He compared the elections to a Green Bay Packers football match: “We know who won, we know who lost.” He said he thought Schimel, a life for life, understands it.

“It’s transparent and we accept the final score,” said Mittleman. “It’s democracy.”

Schimel and his group, playing for a thinning crowd on Tuesday evening, took the loss of stride.

“Can you ask them at the bar to get me a light coins please?” Schimel said between the songs. “Put it on my tab.”

The writer Associated Press Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin, Swenson reported in New York. The Associated Press receives the support of several private foundations to improve its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. Find out more about the AP democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Originally published: April 2, 2025 at 12:07 pm PDT