Ramthun not ruling out future run for governor

State Rep. Timothy Ramthun (R-Campbellsport) — reflecting on his time in the Legislature — told an interviewer Monday that he felt like he didn’t have a choice in launching his failed campaign for governor. He also didn’t rule out a future run for Wisconsin’s executive office.

“I might,” Ramthun said about running for governor in the future during a WisEye interview Monday.

Ramthun, first elected to the Assembly in 2018, is on his way out of the Legislature after choosing to run for governor rather than reelection. He will be succeeded by Republican Ty Bodden, who won the Assembly seat uncontested. 

The lawmaker became most known for his endorsement of election conspiracy theories and attempts to overturn Wisconsin’s election results — efforts that were praised by former President Donald Trump.  Ramthun eulogized his efforts, saying they were a part of “fearless” actions he took while in office. 

“I don’t know if I would’ve been able to get much more done,” Ramthun said. “I had to do what I did regarding, how you mentioned the governor run, because that was a place for me to go to to continue the efforts to get truth and transparency and closure, and I could’ve fixed some of the broken things going on in the Legislature had I had that opportunity.” 

Ramthun circulated multiple resolutions calling for the decertification of Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes, including earlier this year after he announced his run for governor. 

Ramthun also cast doubt on this year’s general and  primary election results.

“I don’t believe the numbers, I really don’t, and what we need is reconciliation of not just the primary but the general in my opinion, to really get to the true numbers and until we have corrections made to the process, I don’t know how we’re going to get there, but we’re working on it,” Ramthun said.

Ramthun won 6% of the primary vote, far behind  Tim Michels, who won 47% of the primary vote and was the Republican general election candidate. Ramthun said he didn’t think his platform was the reason that he didn’t win the primary election, but blamed negative press among other factors. 

Despite praises from the former president, Ramthun declined to say whether he thought Trump would be a good influence on the Republican party going forward. 

“I don’t really want to get into federal elections. He’s announced now, so he’s going to run,” Ramthun said. “When he ran the first time in 2016, there were [like] 17 people, who wanted to do the same thing, so we’ll see what happens in a primary for the Republican party.” 

The former president, who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results, announced his presidential bid for 2024 two weeks ago. Many Wisconsin Republican leaders are pushing for the party to move beyond Trump, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Former House Speaker Paul Ryan. 

While Ramthun will no longer be an Assembly member in January, he will serve another term on the Kewaskum School Board after winning reelection in April.