Riley Vetterkind, @email
MADISON, Wis. – Names of Democratic and Republican Presidential Preference Primary candidates are now finalized following action of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and by a request from a Republican candidate for removal from the ballot.
Last week, the Wisconsin Elections Commission sent to county clerks the finalized, certified list of Democratic and Republican candidates who qualified to have their names appear on the Presidential Preference Primary ballot. As a reminder, the WEC does not decide the candidates who will appear on the Presidential Preference Primary ballot. Placement of presidential candidates on the primary ballot is decided by Wisconsin’s Presidential Preference Selection Committee and any applicable court decisions. State law also provides selected candidates the ability to decline to appear on the primary ballot.
The certified Democratic candidates are Joe Biden and Dean Phillips, and they will appear in that order on the ballot. The certified Republican candidates are Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Donald Trump, and they will appear in that order on the ballot. Ballot order is determined by random selection in accordance with Wis. Stat. § 5.60(8)(am).
After Phillips petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court to have his name included on the Democratic ballot for the Presidential Preference Primary, the Court ruled Friday, Feb. 2 that Phillips’ name should be added.
The final certified list of Republican candidates does not include Asa Hutchinson – who was selected by the Presidential Preference Selection Committee in January – after the WEC received a request from Hutchinson to remove his name from the ballot in accordance with Wis. Stat. § 8.12(1)(d).
Wisconsin’s Presidential Preference Selection Committee – a committee defined by state statute § 8.12 that is independent from the WEC – met Jan. 2 to select the candidates who would appear on Wisconsin’s April 2, 2024, presidential preference ballot. The committee consists of legislators and members of the Democratic and Republican parties.