The seat, which includes Appleton, Green Bay, Door County, Marinette County and other areas of northeast Wisconsin, was represented by U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher since 2017 until he resigned in April. The debate for the seat comes a little over two weeks before the primary on Aug. 13, and the winner of the primary will face Democrat Kristin Lyerly, an OB-GYN, in November.

During the debate, hosted by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the candidates, who appeared to agree on many of the issues, attempted to distinguish themselves by pointing to their experience and endorsements.

Tony Wied, a former gas station owner, looked to position himself as an outsider who is aligned with former President Donald Trump on most issues. He repeatedly mentioned throughout the debate that he is the only candidate with the endorsement of Trump, though each candidate seemed to embrace another Trump presidency.

“I’ve always just left politics to politicians. They seem to speak well. They dress well, and I always thought, they know what they’re doing,” Wied said in his opening remarks. “I realized our career politicians are absolutely failing us right now. We see the dysfunction in Washington.”

Tony Wied participates in a July 22 debate hosted by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

Meanwhile, Roger Roth looked to highlight his experience in the military, as a small business owner and in the state Legislature, where he served for eight years. He also touted his endorsement from former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker “is endorsing me in this race as the principled conservative who can go to Washington, work with President Trump and get this country moving in the right direction,” Roth said. “When my time in public service was done, I came right back home… just as our founding fathers intended public service to be.”

Meanwhile, state Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, leaned on his experience and recent work in the state Legislature to make his case for the nomination.

“I am not the best looking up here. I don’t have the biggest wallet, but I’m gonna fight the hardest for you,” Jacque said, adding that he is proud to be the “proven conservative” in the race.

The candidates were in agreement that regulations that are imposed on businesses and consumers by federal agencies needed to be reduced. They all said they would support a federal version of the REINS Act, a 2017 Wisconsin state law signed under Walker that requires state agencies to get legislative approval whenever the costs of a proposed rule on businesses, local governments and individuals are estimated to exceed $10 million.

“We think the politicians are in control, but it’s the unelected bureaucrats that have the most control,” Roth said.

Jacque said he was excited about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn the 40-year old Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council decision, which had allowed federal agencies broad discretion to use their judgment to resolve ambiguity that Congress left in a federal statute. He said that the government needs to work to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, including the number of federal employees.

Wied also suggested that federal agencies need to be audited and he would be in favor of eliminating some of those agencies including the Department of Education. He said the Environmental Protection Agency should also be looked into.

“Our agencies are completely bloated. They need to be audited each and every one of them, and they need to have accountability right now,” Wied said. “I think we can cut each of them and cut spending in half and maybe even more.”

The discussion about federal regulations also came up later in the debate as candidates were critical of the Biden administration’s policies on electric vehicles, which have sought to encourage companies and consumers to embrace them over gas-powered cars and trucks as a way of cutting carbon emissions and addressing climate change.

Wied, who previously owned a chain of gas stations in Wisconsin, said the government shouldn’t subsidize electric vehicles.

“If people want to have an electric vehicle, they should have the right to buy one, our government shouldn’t be making or forcing people to use electric vehicles and we shouldn’t be subsidizing electric vehicles,” Wied said.

Talking about the border

The candidates also addressed immigration policies at the U.S-Mexico border, an issue that voters have and that Republicans have sought to make a core issue of the 2024 elections.

Roth called the border a “catastrophe” and said the U.S. needs to go back to the immigration policies that were in place under Trump, but implement them through federal statute rather than through executive order, so that “another administration can’t get rid of them.”

Jacque also said the policy needs to be in statute and a border wall needs to be built, and he also looked to shift some blame for the issues at the border to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the likely Democratic presidential nominee, on the same day that the U.S. House passed a Republican-led resolution condemning Harris and the Biden administration for its immigration policy. The criticism on immigration at the border comes as migrant encounters along the southern border are down 55% since the administration implemented new restrictions seven weeks ago, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.

“We need to build the border wall. We need to get that done and build a perimeter around that wall and also the Remain in Mexico policy that President Trump put into place was effective,” Wied said. The Biden administration ended “Remain in Mexico,” which required asylum seekers to stay in their country of origin until their US immigration court date.

The candidates were in agreement about their opposition to any tax increases.

“Taxation is theft,” Jacque said.

Wied said he would always be in favor of lowering taxes, including for businesses, and that he wanted to make the tax cuts passed by Trump in 2017 permanent.

“I think we need to lower the corporate tax rate. We need to let businesses get back to business, and I saw that in running my business,” Wied said. “We were taxed at such a high rate.”

Roth said that he would want to go further than the 2017 tax cuts, and noted he supported cutting the state income tax in Wisconsin, a proposal that has been blocked by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

“I am a conservative you can trust to go to Washington to work with President Trump to do more. We are going to do more than just extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, but we absolutely will do that,” Roth said.

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