Vukmir is a conservative and proud of it
Don’t expect change in positions on wall, labor after primary
In the Republican race for U.S. Senate, Leah Vukmir is running as an unabashed, unapologetic conservative. Build a border wall? You bet. Drain the swamp? She wants to move some Washington bureaucrats to the heartland.
Bring the Wisconsin Way to the nation’s capital? She is pressing for Act 10-style labor reform of the federal workforce and getting rid of a federal prevailing wage law.
So, if Vukmir beats Delafield businessman Kevin Nicholson in the Aug. 14 primary, is there any chance she might lurch to the middle in the fall?
“Do you think it’s possible for me to do that? You guys know me,” Vukmir said during an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I am who I am.”
On the horizon, Tammy Baldwin
Should Vukmir advance to the November election she’ll be in a classic left-right clash against incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin.
Baldwin is one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate. But in her re-election campaign, she is focusing on issues that affect the state and cross ideological lines, such as “Buy America” legislation and combating the opioid crisis.
Can Vukmir win such a match as a staunch conservative?
“There is certainly a road map in Wisconsin to talk about what a conservative looks like in government and be successful, whether it be Paul Ryan, Scott Walker,” said Brian Nemoir, a former political strategist who worked for Republican Tommy Thompson in the 2012 U.S. Senate campaign.
“There is certainly evidence of a road map that people respond to. If it is presented in an effective and efficient way,” he added.
Vukmir, a state senator from Brookfield, has carved out a conservative legislative record, especially trying to limit abortion and curtailing the power of unions.
Vukmir and Nicholson are trying to appeal to conservatives in the primary and have staked out similar positions on cutting taxes and spending and bolstering the military. They both answered survey questions and received a 100% rating from the anti-abortion group ProLife Wisconsin.
The big difference, as Vukmir likes to say, is she has a proven track record as a conservative who has worked to enact Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda.
Nicholson, a former president of the College Democrats of America, has never held public office.
Drain the swamp
Shortly after claiming the endorsement at the state Republican Party convention, Vukmir rolled out her “Drain the Swamp” agenda. She wants to relocate federal offices away from Washington, D.C., repeal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws and reform collective bargaining for federal workers.
Vukmir said she wants to take some federal agencies and “bring them closer to where the real problems exist and real solutions exist.”
“Real estate alone in the D.C. area is so expensive,” she said. “Let’s say bring the Department of Health Services to Wisconsin. We have some of the finest hospitals and teaching facilities.”
Vukmir said she is interested in taking things out of D.C. “where you have an abundance of special interest groups that are there.”
She’s also not shy about expressing her disdain for the Department of Education, saying education decisions should be made at the local level.
Build the border wall
Vukmir invokes President Donald Trump’s name when she says she wants to build the border wall. But who will pay for it?
“Clearly, it should be part of our infrastructure,” she said, adding that savings could be found in the budget so that money could be freed up for the project.
“It has to be a priority,” she said. “There are ways to find that money. Border security is imperative. And when I talk about border security, people think about it from the perspective that we need the border to protect illegals from coming in. But those porous borders are to protect against drug trafficking, human trafficking.”
Vukmir is clearly on the same page as Trump on many issues. During the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, she first supported Walker, then U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, voted for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the Wisconsin primary and went all-in on Trump during the general election.
Sticking with Trump
Does Vukmir think being so closely aligned with Trump could be hindrance in the mid-terms?
“No,” she said. “I actually was part of the Women for Trump movement. We did a radio ad that was widely distributed. I believe the president has done great things already in the short time he has been in office. And you know how I’m traveling around the state, everywhere I go people are excited about the fact we have a strong leader, foreign affairs in particular. This is something I hear about on a regular basis. He wants to build our military. He wants to make sure that we are not a nation that is looked down upon.
“Quite frankly, it was an embarrassment with the previous administration,” she said of President Barack Obama. “We were the laughingstock. It’s not happening anymore.”
Vukmir said she doesn’t agree with Trump on everything. She said she is “cautious, and guarded, watching and waiting” on Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
But don’t expect Vukmir to veer away from who she has been throughout her political career.