State GOP Chair Brian Schimming says he’s not worried about recent attempts to push him out of his post for a simple reason: President Trump has his back.

More importantly, Schimming says he has Trump’s support because the Wisconsin GOP has shown it can deliver victory for the president.

“I’m pleased to have the support of President Trump, which is 100% from the president and the candidates,” he told WisPolitics and WisconsinEye in a new interview ahead of the state Republican Party convention in the Wisconsin Dells this weekend. “It’s really been good that way. I always tell folks, let’s fight the Democrats and not let internal discussions overwhelm.”

Schimming, the first paid state GOP chair in memory, heads into the convention fresh off two failed attempts to pressure him out of the job amid a string of off-year losses and struggles to raise money.

Members of the executive committee called for a vote at an April meeting after a 20-point loss in the state Supreme Court race only to have Schimming emerge unscathed. A half-dozen then called for a special meeting this week to take up personnel matters, only to have two of them withdraw their support, leading to its cancellation.

Schimming shrugged off the attempts in the new interview, pointing to comments from Trump and his team after the 2024 election, when Wisconsin’s electoral votes went to a Republican for only the second time in the previous four decades. 

Despite the internal strife, Schimming sees signs that 2026 is setting up well for Republicans. He noted the GOP doesn’t have a contested primary for governor or attorney general this year, unlike in 2022. Then, party activists decided against endorsing anyone in the 2022 races for governor and AG. Businessman Tim Michels went on to win the party’s nomination for governor, and Fond du Lac County DA Eric Toney won the GOP nod for AG before both lost that fall.

Toney is back this year unopposed for a rematch with Dem AG Josh Kaul, who’s seeking a third term. Meanwhile, former Gov. Tommy Thompson last week announced he was endorsing GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany after flirting with a bid of his own, removing what had been seen as one of the final hurdles for the 7th CD congressman to clear in his pursuit of the GOP nomination.

Tiffany and Toney will be unopposed this weekend during the party’s endorsement votes.

Meanwhile, the party’s fundraising struggles have been well documented. The last time the state GOP outraised WisDems on the monthly federal reports was February 2021. While the state GOP was competitive financially with WisDems during the 2025 Supreme Court race, it has raised less money through its main state account in each year since 2018, the last of Scott Walker’s two terms as governor.

That year, the state GOP reported $14 million in receipts compared to the $6.2 million WisDems pulled in through its main state account. For 2019 through 2015, the Dem Party has reported $119.6 million in receipts, compared to $53.3 million the state GOP has raised.

Meanwhile, only four Republican or conservative candidates have won a statewide election since Trump won the state’s electoral votes in 2016: Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn in 2019; U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and state Treasurer John Lieber in 2022; and Trump again in 2024. 

Schimming said in the interview that fundraising is “taking a pretty good uptick here” and he’s confident about the party’s ability to help statewide candidates this fall. He also said the party will have “an election integrity operation second to none” with some 5,000 recruits to serve as poll workers and observers. Schimming said the party is also about to kick off a new effort to recruit volunteers.

“A lot of those signals that we need to go the right way as they did in 2024 are going the right way right now.”

Schimming predicted Republicans, who now have a 54-45 majority in the Assembly, will come back in January with no fewer than 52 seats. The GOP has an 18-15 majority in the state Senate, and while Schimming acknowledged many believe that chamber is more likely to flip, especially with the retirements of GOP incumbents in three targeted seats, he’s confident the majority will hold there, too.

Many see Trump as a drag on the GOP between the normal struggles of the party in power in the White House during a midterm election, amplified by the president’s poor poll numbers and gas prices above $4 a gallon. 

But Schimming argued Trump would be a benefit to Republican candidates this fall, helping to motivate his base to turn out.

“I’ll take the president whenever he’ll come in, and I’m quite sure he will be in,” Schimming said.

Watch the full interview.