Grothman vs. Kohl: No avoiding Trump in House race
President’s influence on 6th District seat unclear
OSHKOSH - In an election year that could swing control of the U.S. House to Democrats, Republican incumbent Rep. Glenn Grothman is facing non-profit and business executive Dan Kohl, who leads in fundraising but is trying to win a seat long dominated by the GOP.
The race in the 6th Congressional District is viewed as the state’s most competitive House race where an incumbent is running.
President Donald Trump handily defeated Hillary Clinton here in 2016, winning by 17 points. And Grothman, a blunt-talking two-term congressman who spent 21 years in the Wisconsin Legislature, says the president is
moving the country in the right direction.
But could Trump’s bombast, hyperbolic tweets and myriad legal entanglements provide a boost to candidates like Kohl, who has name recognition and deep pockets and says he’ll go the extra mile to work with Republicans if he is elected?
“I am running against Glenn Grothman,” Kohl, the nephew of former Sen. Herb Kohl, said during a recent weekend event. “The contrast is pretty clear.”
At a corn roast sponsored by the Winnebago County Democratic Party, Kohl didn’t mention Trump by name — only by inference — when he addressed about 120 people at a county park.
“Every day you watch the news and you see more and more manufactured crises taking place,” he said. “You know what? Those manufactured crises are preventing our country from dealing with the really big problems that we face.”
The same weekend, in a day-long series of stops across the district, Grothman made no speeches. Instead, he played bocce ball, munched on sweet corn and mingled with potential voters.
He said he disagrees with Trump on a few issues like his tariff policies because they are hurting farmers and manufacturers.
“People like the tax cuts, they like the strength of the economy,” Grothman said. “Overall, I think that Donald Trump has had good ideas. I am not afraid to disagree with him. But overall he is doing a good job.”
In Wisconsin, Trump has so far endorsed Gov. Scott Walker, Senate candidate Leah Vukmir and Bryan Steil, who is running for House Speaker Paul Ryan’s seat.
Trump and tweeting
At an American Legion picnic in Belgium in Ozaukee County, Grothman walked up to two middle-aged couples and asked what they thought about the president and what he should tell Trump.
“I’m going to tell him,” Grothman said, “‘don’t tweet so much.’ ”
“I’ll give you that,” said Jim Newland, 55, of Waubeka.
Newland said he would tell the president: “Think before you engage the mouth — but I still like the guy. It could be worse. We could have Hillary.”
Another man piped in, “Glenn, are you draining the swamp out there?”
Kohl, 52, worked for the Milwaukee Bucks for 13 years when his uncle owned the team. A lawyer, he also served four years in Washington, D.C., as vice president of political affairs for J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group.
He lives in Mequon and is married with three children.
He thinks the Democratic Party needs new leadership, and if elected he has pledged to not support Nancy Pelosi as leader of House Democrats. He also vows to serve no more than eight years.
Kohl is critical of the Republican-led tax cut, saying that most of the benefits are going to corporations and the wealthy.
He also says health care must become more affordable. He would like to make middle-aged people eligible to buy insurance in the Medicare system and allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. He also said he would fight any efforts to deny coverage by health insurance companies for preexisting conditions.
Grothman also does not like the current state of health care, but he thinks the biggest issue for voters is a public welfare system that he says rewards people not to work. He also is a sharp critic of immigration policies.
“I think that the future of the country is going to be determined by who we take in as immigrants,” Grothman said. “And every immigrant should be a good immigrant.”
Grothman’s standard: Those who enter the country legally are vetted and demonstrate that they are “hard-working, who are not going to be on welfare and who are not going to commit crimes.”
Grothman, 63, of Glenbeulah, is single, and a lawyer who hasn’t been reluctant to take on fellow Republicans in his political career.
In 2004, as a member of the Assembly, he defeated Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer in the primary and won the general election.
In 2014, Grothman challenged fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, a moderate who opted to retire. He narrowly beat out other Republicans who jumped into the primary. In 2016, he won by nearly 20 percentage points.
Uphill fight for Kohl
The 6th Congressional District district stretches from the northern suburbs of Mequon, Grafton and Cedarburg to the cities of Oshkosh, Manitowoc and Fond du Lac and as far west as Wisconsin Dells.
Election experts currently view the race as a likely Republican win. The last time, a Democrat won here was in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson was elected. The seat went Republican two years later.
The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball predict the seat as “likely Republican.” Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, now a part of ABC News, is a little more favorable and has it as “lean Republican,” with Kohl having a one-in-four chance of winning.
But Grothman — who lags behind his rival in donations — has said the race is the toughest of his career.
Kohl raised $1.6 million through June 30 compared to Grothman’s $1.2 million over the same period, according to campaign reports. Kohl’s had cash on hand of $1.1 million — ahead of $871,126 for Grothman.
“It’s kind of odd that I am the incumbent and he has the Washington connections,” Grothman said.
Kohl describes Grothman as “one of the most partisan members of Congress,” referring to analyses such as a measure of bipartisanship by the Lugar Center that shows him among the most partisan in the House during his first two terms.
“That’s not the way we do things in our family lives; it’s not the way things work in our daily lives,” Kohl told fellow Democrats in Oshkosh.
But Grothman says such partisan measures are misleading because they emphasize how many Republicans and Democrats sign on to the same bill.
Kohl’s affiliation with J Street, and its connection to financier George Soros, who has been a supporter of the organization, shows that Kohl is more partisan, Grothman said.
Grothman cited figures from the Center for Responsive Politics showing that since 2008, J Street has contributed just over $10 million to Democrats and $30,500 to Republicans.
“In any analysis of Dan Kohl, you have to talk about George Soros. That is part of him,” Grothman said.
Kohl’s spokeswoman, Micki Duncan said in an email, that “George Soros is in no way affiliated with Dan’s campaign.”
“Moreover, unlike Glenn Grothman, who takes money from corporate donors, Dan is refusing to accept any corporate campaign contributions.”
U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican, campaigns in the Town of Utica in Winnebago County on Aug. 26. LEE BERGQUIST / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL