• U.S. Rep. Kind will not run for reelection.
Decision leaves competitive congressional seat up in the air
MADISON - U.S. Rep. Ron Kind announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection next year, creating a wide-open race in Wisconsin’s most competitive congressional district as Democrats try to protect their slim majority in Congress.
“The truth is I’ve run out of gas,” the La Crosse Democrat told reporters.
The move comes a year away from the 2022 primaries and as Republican Derrick Van Orden prepares a bid for the district that runs through Western and central Wisconsin. Van Orden narrowly lost to Kind in 2020.
Kind, who took office in 1997, is easily the longest-serving member of Congress from Wisconsin and has been an active member and leader of the moderate faction of House Democrats in Washington.
Said Kind: “I’m part of a dying breed in public service today in Washington and certainly in Madison — someone who tried to be reasonable, pragmatic, thoughtful, worked hard to try to find common ground with my colleagues, work in a bipartisan way to find bipartisan solutions for the challenges that we face.”
Kind, 58, said he was proud of his work to expand access to health care and overhaul farm subsidy programs.
He said he would spend his last year and a half in office trying to protect voting rights and fight the coronavirus pandemic and climate change
Kind’s plans emerge as the U.S. Census prepares to release population data that will guide Wisconsin officials as they redraw the state’s eight congressional districts. Where those lines go will help determine which party has the upper hand in races.
A battleground district
Kind’s heavily rural district has been trending toward the Republican Party in recent years and is full of communities that voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2012, but then voted for Republican Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. Obama won the district by 11 points in 2012, but Trump carried it by more than 4 points in 2016 and 2020.
“I know he’s one of the districts that the Republican Party is coming after because they know Donald Trump won in that district,” said Jan Way, the cochairwoman of the Portage County Democratic Party. “I think they see it as an easy win and I hope they’re very wrong.”
Kind’s departure will make it tougher for Democrats to maintain their 220-212 control of the House. Republicans are viewed as having a good shot at taking over the chamber, in part because they will benefit from redistricting in many states and in part because in mid-term elections, the party out of power typically makes gains in the House.
Kind won his race last year with 51%
of the vote. He had nearly 60% of the vote in 2018 and did not face a Republican opponent in 2016.
Kind was only one of seven House Democrats in the country who won districts that were carried by Trump, making his seat vital to both parties in the 2022 mid-term.
Throughout much of his career, Kind was an advocate within the Democratic Party for free trade policies that were opposed by unions and many progressives. He was an active legislator on farm issues and served in recent years on one of the most powerful House committees, Ways and Means.
Kind’s departure leaves Milwaukee Democrat Gwen Moore as the most senior US House member from Wisconsin.
In fact, she is the only House member from Wisconsin who has served more than nine years in Washington.
Kind’s is one of a series of retirements in the past decade (Republicans Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri and Democrat Dave Obey) that have dramatically reduced the seniority of the state’s congressional delegation.
Departure opens field for candidates
Attention will quickly shift to who wants to run for Kind’s seat. Multiple Democrats could run and Republicans besides Van Orden could decide to get in the race now that a long-time incumbent is out of the way.
Partisan primaries will be held in August 2022, with the winners advancing to the November 2022 general election.
Van Orden had about $609,000 on hand as of the end of June, according to his latest campaign finance report. Kind at that point had about $1.4 million in the bank.
Van Orden issued a statement thanking Kind for his service and wishing him well.
“Today’s announcement is indicative of what I hear every day as I travel the 3rd District: Wisconsinites want a change,” Van Orden said in his statement.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said western Wisconsin residents could long count on Kind.
“Thanks to his tremendous leadership, countless small businesses, farmers and families have a brighter future ahead of them,” Evers said in a statement. “While his voice in Congress is going to be sorely missed, his legacy as a pragmatic and selfless leader will continue to move Wisconsin forward.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin expressed similar sentiments.
“Ron always put the people of Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District ahead of partisan politics in Washington and I have a tremendous amount of respect for his public service to Wisconsin,” she said in a statement.
Stevens Point City Council President Meleesa Johnson, a Democrat, said the news shocked her because of how active Kind has been.
“I’m a little flabbergasted because he’s been running a lot of ads for President Biden’s infrastructure work and really building up his image to help farmers and clean energy,” Johnson said. “These are things I’m really glad he’s been working on and I’m just really surprised.”
Alan Hovorka, Bill Glauber and Molly Beck of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin staff contributed to this report.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.