Steen embraces Trump endorsement, Vos dismisses pressure to overturn election in Assembly race
RACINE COUNTY Wis. (CBS 58) -- The 63rd Assembly District race just became a lot more interesting after Donald Trump endorsed Adam Steen over Wisconsin's longest serving Assembly Speaker Robin Vos days ahead of the primary election.
Adam Steen backs Donald Trump's unproven claims of widespread voter fraud and the decertification of the 2020 election as he looks to unseat State Rep. Robin Vos, who's been the Assembly Speaker since 2013.
Trump delivered his endorsement to Steen after he criticized Vos multiple times for not overturning Wisconsin's 2020 presidential election, a demand Vos and other legal experts say is unconstitutional and impossible.
"I'm feeling extremely confident," Steen said after getting a phone call from Trump on Tuesday. "People ask me a lot of times if I think it's going to change the campaign, but really what we're doing is knocking on doors and that's what will keep doing. The endorsement really put the icing on the cake."
Vos tells CBS 58 he wasn't surprised by the news after repeatedly shutting down Trump's demands to decertify the election.
"I'm not going to do something that is unconstitutional even under intense pressure from a former president," Vos said. "I take every race seriously. I've been going door to door for the last six months. I want to be responsible and listen. I think that is different than having someone drop in to run for office thinking they will ride a wave."
The Rochester Republican has supported a slew of election integrity bills Gov. Tony Evers vetoed and launched an investigation led by former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to further examine the 2020 election.
There has been no proven evidence of widespread fraud in Wisconsin after recounts, court rulings and nonpartisan reviews have upheld Biden's nearly 21,000 vote victory over Trump.
Views on Abortion
Beyond supporting legislation to revoke Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes cast for Joe Biden, Steen has primarily centered his campaign on further restricting access to abortion.
He supports banning abortions without any exceptions, even if a mother's life is at risk. An 1849 state abortion law is at the center of a legal fight brought forth by the Evers administration, which would only legalize the procedure if a mother needs life-saving treatment by a doctor.
"I believe life begins at conception and there are no expectations," Steen said. "There's a perfectly good way to limit contraception - natural ways - and we want to defer consequences of making that decision in our country which we've been doing for years."
When it comes to banning contraception such as birth control and IUDs, Steen said he would back legislation if elected.
Vos called his opponent's views "extreme."
"The fact he is running on that as one of his top priorities shows me how clearly out of touch he is," Vos said. "When I go door knocking, people do not ask me to author a bill to ban birth control. In my entire life I have never heard a person say that."
The primary will be held on Aug. 9th.