Nicholson draws political fire from Republican stalwarts
Delafield businessman Kevin Nicholson just learned the hard way not to tangle with Wisconsin’s Republican Party establishment.
In the span of four days last week, the Marine veteran who is mounting an outsider campaign for U.S. Senate managed to draw political fire from House Speaker Paul Ryan’s campaign operation, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and former Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow.
The flare-ups with the Ryan team and Sensenbrenner came amid the fallout from a tape in which Nicholson was heard calling Ryan’s occasionally lukewarm support for President Donald Trump “a problem” and criticized the speaker for having a “light footprint in the state.”
The dust-up between Nicholson and Farrow, a party stalwart who is the honorary chair of Leah Vukmir’s campaign for U.S. Senate, occurred Monday night at a high-profile Waukesha County Republican Party event.
The incidents point to the increasingly heated nature of the primary battle between Nicholson and Vukmir to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin next year.
A former Democrat, Nicholson recently won the endorsement of a super PAC with ties to Steve Bannon, the exWhite House chief strategist who is at odds with the Republican establishment. That endorsement may play well in other states around the country, but it’s unclear what the impact will be in Wisconsin, where Ryan remains strong.
A recording of Nicholson’s comments on Ryan was obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. During the back-andforth conversation between the candidate and two unidentified people at an Oct. 25 Jefferson County GOP event, one questioner claimed that Ryan was a “closet Democrat.”
Nicholson said: “I’ll say this for Paul Ryan. He told everybody he didn’t want that job, so give him credit for that at least. He said, ‘I don’t even want to be speaker in the first place.’ And I think,
ever since then he’s been in a bottle, right? The speakership is a miserable ...”
The questioner fired back that Ryan “opened up his mouth before the election and wasn’t going to support Trump.”
Nicholson responded: “The Trump issue is a problem, I agree.”
The questioner then claimed that a call to Ryan’s office went to voicemail, while another person said the speaker doesn’t “go to his constituents ...”
“No, I know, he’s — he has a light footprint in our state,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson said if Ryan “wants actually people in the Senate that can get the agenda through that the House keeps passing these bills — then he needs people in Wisconsin motivated to go out and do something, and frankly ...”
A questioner agreed and said, “That’s why we need another Republican in the Senate.”
“Yeah, exactly — 100%,” Nicholson said. “Somebody who’s actually going to do something when they get there.”
During an interview Wednesday morning with Jay Weber of WISN-AM (1130), Nicholson called the Journal Sentinel report “gotcha journalism,” adding the article was “really poorly written,” and “an attempt to create media controversy where there should be none.”
Nicholson also expressed his support for Ryan.
GOP establishment responds
The GOP establishment struck back. First, there was a gentle jab from Kevin Seifert, executive director of Team Ryan, who said: “Paul Ryan’s commitment to Wisconsin is unwavering. He works tirelessly to represent his employers in the 1st Congressional District when in Wisconsin and in Washington, D.C.”
Apparently, the Nicholson camp didn’t get the message.
Thursday afternoon, Sensenbrenner, the dean of Wisconsin congressional Republicans, weighed in, calling Ryan “a steadfast leader in Wisconsin and Washington in support of conservative ideals,” and disputing Nicholson’s assertions about the speaker.
“The victories of 2016 would not have been possible without Paul’s tireless efforts, and he will continue his work on behalf of all Wisconsinites in 2018 to ensure we elect another sound conservative senator,” Sensenbrenner said. “Any candidate seeking that office would benefit greatly from Paul’s experience and leadership.”
Earlier in the week, Nicholson got an earful from Farrow during an event called “Grazing with the Elephants,” where Republican Party members meet one-on-one with elected officials and candidates.
“I just asked him why he came back to Wisconsin to run for the Senate and presidency,” Farrow told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I understand that’s what his goal is. We have people here that understand Wisconsin.”
Farrow said she asked Nicholson what were the 10 most important things going on in Wisconsin, and he responded with a reference to his Marine service.
She said she wanted to let Nicholson know that she would “be working strongly against him,” and supported Vukmir, “who has been here, who has talked to Wisconsinites from one end of the state to another.”
“He was shocked,” Farrow said, “and he moved away” to talk with another person “and turned me over to his wife who took off on me.”
Farrow said Nicholson’s wife, Jessie, told her that she “should never talk to her husband that way. He is a Marine.”
Farrow said she told Jessie Nicholson that she respected her husband’s service but that didn’t give him a “special avenue” to elective office.
“I suggested to his wife he should start running for local office and really get the sense of what it means to represent constituents,” Farrow said.
Finally, Farrow said the conversation with Nicholson’s wife ended when the candidate “saw that we were not resolving anything.”
According to Farrow, the candidate told her, “I don’t want you talking to my wife anymore,” and added, “I’ll pray for you.”
Farrow said she responded to Nicholson, thanking him “for being so patronizing.”
Nicholson’s campaign disputed Farrow’s account of the conversation.
“The Journal’s article does not include an accurate account of the conversation, and this type of thing is the exact reason that Americans can’t stand politics,” Nicholson spokesman Michael Antonopoulous said in a statement.