Vukmir jabs Baldwin on taxes, health care.
Republican emphasizes contrast with incumbent
Fresh off her victory in the Republican primary, Leah Vukmir took the fight straight to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Wednesday, jabbing the incumbent on taxes, health care and the past scandal at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
“I’ll always relish taking on Tammy Baldwin because the contrast between her and I couldn’t be more stark, more clear to voters,” Vukmir said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Meanwhile, Democrats are seeking to portray Vukmir as a captive of special interests and are warning that millions of dollars in out-of-state cash will prop up her campaign. The Koch brothers network-funded Americans for Prosperity has said it will back Vukmir. The political network has already spent $5.1 million in the race to defeat Baldwin.
“Wisconsinites have a clear choice in November,” said Martha Laning, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “Tammy Baldwin does whatever it takes, no matter what powerful special interests stand in her way to put Wisconsin and our state’s working families first. Tammy’s opponent Leah Vukmir sold Wisconsin out. Vukmir has a long record of putting her corporate, special-interest backers ahead of hard-working Wisconsin families.”
Vukmir’s opening salvos previewed an aggressive approach in the fall campaign as she seeks to topple a firstterm Democratic senator in a state that President Donald Trump won in 2016.
Trump stayed out of the bitter GOP primary that matched Vukmir and Delafield businessman Kevin Nicholson, but on Wednesday endorsed Vukmir in a tweet. Trump congratulated
Vukmir on her victory and said she “will make a fantastic Senator after winning in November against someone who has done very little.”
Vukmir welcomed the endorsement and said she would be delighted to campaign with the president in the fall.
Vukmir’s campaign manager, Jess Ward, released a memo to describe the playbook in taking on an opponent they’re dubbing “Two Faced Tammy.”
Ward said that Baldwin has “drawn her worst nightmare opponent in Leah, a pediatric nurse, military mom and leader who has been unafraid to take on the status quo in Madison.”
Vukmir, a state senator from Brookfield, should have no trouble uniting her party after beating Nicholson, 49 percent to 43 percent.
Nicholson, a U.S. Marine veteran and Delafield businessman, released a statement Wednesday offering his congratulations and support.
“The battles that lie ahead are too important to our collective future to stand by idly — and I look forward to working together with all of you to secure the future of our state and nation,” he said.
For her part, Vukmir set the contours of the campaign by emphasizing her differences on issues with Baldwin.
She criticized Baldwin’s opposition to Republican tax cuts signed into law by Trump and her support of independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicarefor-all proposal.
Vukmir said she backs “free-market health care” while Baldwin “embraces a total, far-left, socialized medicine.”
In an interview Tuesday, Baldwin emphasized her vote in preventing Republicans from repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. She said if either Vukmir or Nicholson had been in the Senate last year, “people today would not have coverage for pre-existing health conditions.”
“The thing that rings most true to anybody who has a person with a pre-existing health condition in their family is the fact that they can assure their loved one will be covered,” she said.
“In this current environment, we need to be focused on strengthening the Affordable Care Act, making health care, particularly prescription drugs, more affordable, standing up to the pharmaceutical lobby and making them justify if they’re going to raise prices,” she said.
Vukmir said one issue that is “resonating around the state” is the Tomah VA scandal.
After the death of a Marine veteran at the Tomah facility, Baldwin came under fire when it came to light that her aides sat on an inspection report showing hospital officials were prescribing high amounts of opiate pain pills to patients. A whistle-blower also raised the issue with Baldwin’s staff without success.
Baldwin later acknowledged that her office mishandled the issue, prompting her to fire one staffer, demote another and cut the pay for her chief of staff.
Since then, Baldwin co-sponsored legislation, named after deceased Marine veteran Jason Simcakoski, that toughened opioid prescription guidelines and pushes education for VA providers.
Baldwin said she was able to work with the Simcakoski family to pass “sweeping reform legislation” that is “producing very heartening results” on prescribing of narcotics at the VA. She said the VA is also providing alternative treatments for those who are experiencing pain.
“We look forward to see what we can do to help every veteran who has certainly earned and deserves the best health care possible,” she said.
Senate debates
Baldwin said Wednesday that she has accepted invitations to three debates and called on Vukmir to join in the events that would be televised statewide.
Baldwin agreed to an event hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and sponsored by WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), Green Bay’s WGBA-TV, WUWM-FM (89.7), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin.
Another debate is a Wisconsin Broadcasters Association event in Wausau.
And a third debate would be handled by WISN-TV (Channel 12), moderated by Mike Gousha and held at the Marquette University Law School.
“Leah looks forward to debating Tammy Baldwin many, many times,” said Ward, adding the campaign is looking at several invitations for debates.