» Vukmir joins race:
State Sen. Leah Vukmir enters the race for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin next year.
Vowing to bring the “Wisconsin Way” to the U.S. Senate, state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield entered the race for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin next year.
In a campaign video and announcement that was released Thursday morning, Vukmir cast herself as a “consistent conservative” who during tough political battles stood side by side with Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
“I will be the person who will stand up for Wisconsin values and the person who will be able to take on Tammy Baldwin,” Vukmir said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Asked why she would better represent Wisconsin than Baldwin, Vukmir said: “Tammy Baldwin hasn’t done anything in the U.S. Senate. That’s the consistent message I get from people across the state of Wisconsin. She doesn’t represent the people of the state of Wisconsin. She stands with the extreme wing of the (Democratic) party and that’s not what the people in Wisconsin want.”
“They want somebody who is going to say what they’re going to do and who is going to follow through and do it,” Vukmir added. “And everyone knows that’s what you’re going to get with me.”
By emphasizing her deep roots among Wisconsin Republicans, Vukmir, 59, is seeking to offer a vivid contrast with the only other candidate in race, Delafield businessman and U.S. Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson.
Before becoming a Republican, Nicholson, 39, was president of the College Democrats of America and spoke at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
Madison businessman Eric Hovde, runner-up to former Gov. Tommy Thompson in the 2012 GOP Senate primary, has said he’ll make a decision on the race in early October.
A Vukmir-Nicholson political battle has already brought in two of the biggest contributors to the GOP.
Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply, will serve as Vukmir’s finance co-chair.
Richard Uihlein, who lives in Lake Forest, Il., and is co-owner of Pleasant Prairie-based Uline Corp., has already poured in $3.5 million into a super PAC that backs Nicholson.
In her campaign video, Vukmir traced her history as a mother and nurse who entered the public arena as a strong proponent of school reform and joined the conservative wing of the Republican Party.
She was first elected to the state Assembly in 2002 and joined the state Senate in 2011, just as the battle over Act 10 erupted in Madison. Walker and the GOP successfully pushed through legislation to curtail collective bargaining for public sector unions.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Martha Laning criticized Vukmir for “putting her extreme agenda ahead of the needs of Wisconsin families,” and for her association with the business-backed American Legislative Exchange Council.