Wisconsin Examiner
After garnering statewide — and even national — attention with her criticism of the Wisconsin 2020 election probe run by Speaker Robin Vos and Michael Gableman, Sen. Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls) said she had been considering stepping down but began to “rethink it” after “right wingers” called for her resignation. In fact, Gableman himself said she should resign.
But the 12-year legislative veteran, who served in the Assembly before her election to the Senate, announced Friday that she has decided that she will not run for reelection this fall. However, she said none of the barbs from Republicans who were angry that she defended the 2020 election as safe and secure, and called Vos’ audit a “charade,” figured into her decision.
“The choice to retire was a difficult one to make, but I have been contemplating this decision for some time now and I decided ‘now is the time,’” Bernier said in a statement. “As I go, I want to make it perfectly clear that no one has forced me out and politics has not played a role in my decision.”
