Republican Schneider decides against challenging Baldwin
Other contenders weighing bids to oust Madison Democrat
MADISON - Nicole Schneider ruled out a run for U.S. Senate Tuesday, thinning the crowded field of potential GOP challengers to Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin.
Schneider is the daughter-inlaw of the late Donald Schneider, who built Schneider National Inc., and was a notable potential candidate because she has the potential to self-fund a campaign.
A Republican source familiar with Schneider’s decision said she had decided that a run for Senate would have left her with no time for her children.
“She’s not running because she wants to continue spending time with her family. She has a very young family,” the GOP source said.
Schneider had faced some questions about her credentials as a conservative but was watched closely because of her family’s wealth.
Democratic Party spokeswoman Gillian Drummond said that the GOP primary amounted to a “yacht sale” among wealthy contenders. “Millionaire Nicole Schneider knows Tammy Baldwin’s record of fighting for a Wisconsin economy that works for everyone and standing up to special interests in Washington is too daunting to challenge in next year’s election,” Drummond said in an email.
Schneider has a doctorate in social policy from Brandeis University and is a part-time research officer at Green Bay Area Catholic Education System.
Recently, Schneider National, long a privately held company, filed documents for an initial public offering.
Members of the Schneider family will get around $230 million from the sale of stock, documents indicate.
In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in March, Schneider sounded like someone interested in exploring the possibility of making a run. She also criticized Baldwin.
“As a life-long Green Bay-area resident and the mother of four children, I care deeply about the people of Wisconsin and the challenges facing our state and our country,” she said.
“I believe America’s biggest challenges continue to be neglected . ... Senator Tammy Baldwin has spent her entire life advancing her own political career first in Madison and then in Washington. Clearly, Washington is broken and I believe Senator Baldwin is part of the problem.”
Other potential GOP challengers to Baldwin in 2018 include Madison businessman Eric Hovde, who finished behind former Gov. Tommy Thompson in a 2012 Republican primary for Senate; state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield; state Rep. Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield; U.S. Marine veteran and Milwaukeearea businessman Kevin Nicholson; and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.