Wisconsin businessman and MAGA Republican Bill Berrien ended his 2026 gubernatorial campaign days after his online activities went public. A vocal transphobe, Berrien positioned himself as a strong supporter of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump and as the conservative "family values" GOP candidate.
He would have faced off against two Republican opponents in the GOP primary to see who would make it onto the the November 2026 general election ballot.
But the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel revealed his hypocrisy on September 22 when they reported Berrien had been following sexually explicit accounts online. One account belonged to adult performer Jiz Lee who identifies as nonbinary—a gender identity that falls under the transgender umbrella.
After being questioned about his online activity by the paper, Berrien began unfollowing numerous accounts—activity that was easily flagged by observers.
On September 26, Berrien officially dropped out of the Wisconsin gubernatorial race.
Berrien said in a statement:
"As a result of our politics today, I cannot focus on the issues I know will turn Wisconsin around. I have come to the conclusion I do not have a path to the nomination."
"It was a major attack piece and we confirmed opposition research started in January of this year, if not earlier. And for what? For reading!"
"Nothing illegal, nothing unethical, and nothing immoral. Just reading. Wouldn’t you want your political and business leaders (and all of society, frankly) to be widely read and thoughtful and aware of different perspectives and ideas?"
"Yet, when a supposedly major metropolitan newspaper condemns someone for reading, we have ourselves a problem."
People were hardly surprised by another conservative Republican being hypocritical.
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Even Lee, the trans/nonbinary performer Berrien followed, called him out, writing on Bluesky:
"It's okay to follow trans porn stars. It's okay to read articles about sex and relationships. What's not okay is the hypocrisy of backing forceful legislation that restricts what people, trans and otherwise, can do with their own bodies."
"That is shameful."
With a little over 13 months until the 2026 midterm election, Republicans might want to start scrubbing their hypocritical online activities now.
Or suffer Bill Berrien's fate.
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