Vukmir triumphs in GOP primary
She’ll face Senate incumbent Baldwin
Leah Vukmir never wavered. Down in the polls for months, Vukmir relied on an old-fashioned get-out-the-vote ground game to defeat Kevin Nicholson — and the big money behind him — and claim the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate Tuesday.
Vukmir followed a familiar path to win a GOP primary, piling up a massive margin in her home base of southeast Wisconsin to fend off her challenger.
Next up for Vukmir is a November showdown with Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. It is a classic confrontation between Vukmir, an unabashed conservative, and Baldwin, a proud liberal.
Surrounded by family, friends and supporters, Vukmir said: “I never thought that I would be standing here before you now as your candidate for the United States Senate. I am honored and thank you for the support you have given me.”
She promised to take the fight
to Baldwin in the fall.
“Tammy Baldwin has forgotten about the people of this great state and come November this nurse, this mom with a cause is going to send Tammy Baldwin back to the private sector she doesn’t even know exists,” Vukmir said.
Nicholson accepted the result and said he would fight for Vukmir during the general election.
“Now, it’s time for us to unify,” said Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who brokered a unity agreement between Nicholson and Vukmir before the election. Johnson said he would go on the road with Vukmir to help her defeat Baldwin.
In a statement, Baldwin said: “Wisconsinites want someone who will be in their corner and stand up to powerful special interests in Washington, not a bought-and-paid-for senator. Leah Vukmir has a long record of putting her corporate special interest backers ahead of hardworking Wisconsin families, making the choice clear this November.”
The Vukmir-Nicholson contest was a clash of style and experience played out over a year of campaigning.
Vukmir was the establishment’s choice, a state senator from Brookfield who won the party’s official endorsement at the GOP convention. She was backed by four members of the state’s GOP congressional delegation, including House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville.
She campaigned on the theme of bringing the “Wisconsin Way to Washington” and stressed her legislative experience in helping pass Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda in Madison.
Vukmir relied on an organizational apparatus created by Republicans in the past eight years. During the final days of the race, she hopscotched from one party headquarters to the next, imploring volunteers to work the phones, knock on doors and bring out the party faithful.
Nicholson, a U.S. Marine veteran and businessman from Delafield, carried the mantle of political outsider, vowing to shake things up in Washington, D.C. He had few local endorsements but was supported by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.
Nicholson got his message out through a television air war bankrolled by Richard Uihlein, an Illinois businessman. Uihlein-backed third-party groups bombarded the state for months with nearly $11 million worth of ads to support Nicholson and attack Vukmir.
From the beginning, the campaign was combative.
Nicholson tangled with party stalwarts late last year after he was heard on a tape calling Ryan’s occasionally lukewarm support for President Donald Trump “a problem” and criticized the speaker for having a “light footprint in the state.”
He also had to spend months assuring Republicans that he was a true conservative even as his parents and brother donated to Baldwin’s campaign.
Nicholson, a former president of the College Democrats of America, supported abortion rights during a speech at the 2000 Democratic Convention. He said he changed politically through experiences of marriage, raising a family and serving in the Marines.
On the issues, there was little that divided the candidates. They ran as staunch abortion foes, signed a pledge not to raise taxes and on immigration vowed to help Trump get a wall built on the U.S. southern border.
In fact, they were all in on the president.
During their final debate, neither candidate could come up with one thing Trump had done that they would push back on.
“I look at President Trump’s agenda and say it’s a darn good one,” Nicholson said.
Vukmir said “a liberal elite and the media want nothing more than to bring this president down. I want to see President Trump succeed. When he succeeds, America succeeds.”
But Vukmir’s past words on Trump came back to haunt her. Late in the race, video surfaced from a March 2016 appearance when Vukmir told an audience that Trump was “offensive to everyone.”
In the closing days of the race, snippets from the video played widely in an attack ad against Vukmir.
But she fought back and burnished her credentials of backing Trump.
The race is now poised to become the most expensive Senate contest in state history. Outside groups and the three candidates have already spent nearly $37 million. More money will flood in during the fall.
While the two Republicans battled it out for the nomination, Baldwin had plenty of time to marshal her resources. She has raised more than $21 million since 2012 when she defeated former Gov. Tommy Thompson to claim her first term in the U.S. Senate.
To counter a slew of attack ads, Baldwin went on air early and has already spent $5 million on TV advertising.
In this campaign, she’s trying to thread a needle in a state won by Trump in 2016,
She is touting “Buy America” legislation to use American-made iron and steel in water infrastructure projects. And she is portraying herself as someone unafraid of running against special interests, noting that Uihlein and the Koch brothers network have already spent millions in the race.