Walker is Wisconsin GOP choice as Midwest tests Trump appeal
MADISON, Wis. — Democrats tested the strength of their “blue wave” against President Trump’s grip on America’s white, working class Tuesday as the 2018 primary season lurched closer to an end in two Midwestern battlegrounds.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seized the Republican nomination in his quest for a third term, while former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was fighting to resurrect his political career and prove he fits in Trump’s GOP.
The Republican president scored a delayed victory in deep-red Kansas, where current Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded defeat in a razor-thin primary against Trump’s endorsed candidate, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a week after polls closed. Colyer is the first incumbent governor to be defeated this season.
Tuesday’s contests also moved through Vermont, where Democrats chose the nation’s first transgender major party nominee for governor, part of a so-called “rainbow wave” of extraordinarily diverse candidates up and down the ballot across the nation.
But accusations of domestic violence involving the Democratic National Committee’s secondin-command threatened to undermine Democratic enthusiasm, particularly in Minnesota, a state still healing from scandal.
In all, four states hosted primary elections Tuesday as the primary season neared its final chapter. The first polls closed in Vermont and Connecticut, to be followed by Minnesota and Wisconsin. All but 10 states will have picked their candidates for November’s general election by the time the day’s votes are counted. While the full political battlefield isn’t quite set, the stakes are clear: Democrats are working to topple Republican control of Congress and governors’ offices across the nation.
In Vermont, Democrat Christine Hallquist won the Democratic nomination in her quest to become the nation’s first transgender governor. The former chief executive of Vermont Electric Cooperative bested a field of four Democrats that included a 14-year-old.
Hallquist will face a tough fight in November: Republican incumbent Phil Scott remains more popular with Democrats than members of his own party in the solidly liberal state.
Vermont Democrats also nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders, who hasn’t ruled out a second presidential run in 2020, for a third term in the Senate. The 76-year-old democratic socialist won the Democratic nomination, but he is expected to turn it down and run as an independent.
Democrats appeared particularly motivated in Wisconsin, where eight candidates lined up for the chance to take on Walker, a two-term incumbent who has warned his party about the prospect of Democratic gains.
Walker’s strong antiunion policies made him a villain to Democrats long before Trump’s rise. State schools chief Tony Evers, who has clashed with Walker at times, entered the primary as the best-known of the Democratic challengers.
Once a target of Trump’s criticism, Walker gained the president’s endorsement in a tweet Monday night calling him “a tremendous Governor who has done incredible things for that Great State.” But Trump’s persistent attacks on Wisconsin-based motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson put Republican candidates on their heels in recent days, Walker among them.
“There’s a lot of disgust at what’s going on at the top level moving down,” said Madison voter Conor McGuire, 49, who described himself as– a frustrated Republican but voted for Democrat Evers.
Initially a Walker supporter, McGuire said he’s disgusted by Walker’s embrace of Trump.
Walker said Monday he opposed the Harley boycott.
His Democratic opponents embraced the fight.
“By attacking Wisconsin workers to cover for failed economic policy, President Trump took a page right out of Scott Walker’s playbook,” said Mahlon Mitchell, one of the candidates and the head of the state firefighters union.