In 2017, he sponsored a controversial bill that would allow chiropractors to give physicals to student athletes. (Under current Wisconsin law, only physicians and physician assistants may do so.)[3] In 2021, he sponsored legislation to prohibit public schools from teaching students and employees about concepts such as systemic racism and implicit bias; the bill passed an Assembly committee on a party-line vote.[4]
In March 2020, Wichgers opposed a Wisconsin Department of Health Services rule that required seventh-grade students to get the meningitis vaccine, a key protection against bacterial meningitis. The proposal to oppose the changes was adopted on party lines in a committee vote.[5] October 2020, amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin, Wichgers was one of several Wisconsin Republican legislators who attended an indoor mass gathering hosted by an anti-abortion organization without wearing masks.[6] In August 2021, Wichgers delivered a speech to anti-vaccine mandate protestors at the Wisconsin State Capitol, at which demonstrators likened COVID-19 vaccines to genocide and tyranny.[7]
After Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Wichgers was one of 15 Wisconsin Republican legislators (joined by 76 Republican state legislators from other states) who attempted to subvert the election result and block Biden's victory. On January 5, 2021—one day before a violent pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol—Wichgers signed a letter asking Vice President Mike Pence to delay the legally-mandated counting of the electoral votes for 10 days while they worked to convince Republican-controlled state legislators in key states won by Biden to overturn the election results, keeping Trump in power for another term.[8][9] On July 25, 2022, Wichgers joined fellow Wisconsin Rep. Tim Ramthun's effort to pass a bill that would have the state legislature decertify its results from the 2020 presidential election and recall Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, which went to Joe Biden.[10]
