Alabama gives state Dems hope

Republicans dismiss idea of ‘momentum’

MADISON – Wisconsin Democrats on Wednesday touted their surprise victory in Alabama, arguing it gave them momentum to unseat Gov. Scott Walker and protect U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Republicans countered that Tuesday’s results in Alabama — where Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore, who was accused of preying on teen girls when he was in his 30s — said little about what might happen in Wisconsin elections next year.

“Alabamans didn’t want somebody who dated 14-yearold girls,” U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters in Washington, D.C.

The campaign manager for state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield, one of the Republicans running against Baldwin, said little could be drawn from the Alabama race.

“It’s interesting that the day after the election, Democrats are opting to ignore the flawed character and conduct of Moore in effort to make this a referendum on all conservatives,” Vukmir campaign manager Jess Ward said in a statement.

Vukmir faces businessman Kevin Nicholson in the GOP primary. Nicholson has gotten backing from Steve Bannon, the former adviser to President Donald Trump who has pledged to go to war with the Republican establishment. Bannon backed Moore and Tuesday’s results were viewed as a setback for Bannon.

Brandon Moody, a Nicholson campaign spokesman, tried to keep the focus on Baldwin.

“Now, more than ever, Republicans in Wisconsin need to be focused on defeating liberal Tammy Baldwin in order to pass President Trump’s pro-growth agenda in the United States Senate,” Moody said in a statement.

For her part, Baldwin said she was eager to work with Alabama’s incoming Democrat, especially on the littoral combat ship for the Navy. Half the ships in the program are built at Marinette Marine in northern Wisconsin with the other half built at an Alabama shipyard.

“Alabama had a better choice and they made it,” Baldwin said in a statement. “I look forward to serving with Doug Jones and working together on something important to both our states, shipbuilding jobs.”

Democrats argued momentum was on their side after Tuesday’s win in Alabama and gains last month in Virginia.

“The fact that Moore lost a state that Trump won by 28 points shows that voters are sick of these destructive politics,” said a statement from state Schools Superintendent Tony Evers, a Democrat running for governor.

“They lost tonight and they’ll lose next November.”

Matt Flynn, a former state Democratic Party chairman who is running for governor, called Tuesday’s election “the start of a new era.”

“Even the most conservative voters in the country rejected the extreme Trump/Moore policies,” Flynn said in a statement.

Patrick Marley and Bill Glauber Milwaukee Journal Sentinel USA TODAY NETWORK - WISCONSIN