Wisconsin Republicans on Saturday voted down a fringe resolution that would have affirmed the state’s right to secede from the United States.
The Associated Press reported that the measure was defeated by voice vote at the state Republican Party’s annual convention. In addition to the secession language, the proposal had called for legislation nullifying Obamacare, Common Core standards and drone usage in the state.
One delegate tried to convince other convention-goers to back the resolution by alluding to the Civil War.
“The only way secession was considered was on the battlefield,” Rock County delegate Don Hilbig told the convention, as quoted by the AP. “Of course, secession lost on that. But in the court system, secession is still an open question. So it should be retained as a sovereign right.”
But that rhetoric wasn’t enough to sway convention-goers, as established Republicans in the state had discouraged the party from taking up the resolution. Gov. Scott Walker dismissed the secession measure in the weeks ahead of the convention vote, while 50 Republicans in the State Assembly sent a letter to delegates on Friday calling the resolution a distraction, according to the AP.
A Democratic lawmaker and candidate for governor, state Rep. Brett Hulsey, showed up Saturday outside the convention dressed as a Confederate soldier to mock the secession measure. His plan to hand out Ku Klux Klan hoods to convention-goers didn’t quite pan out, though.
