After receiving the endorsement of the Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW) at the annual convention this past weekend, state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Brookfield) and the RPW are embarking on a “Grassroots Endorsement Victory Tour” of the party’s field offices around the state to promote Vukmir’s candidacy for U.S. Senate.
“Leah Vukmir is a proven conservative who is ready to bring the Wisconsin way to Washington,” said Brad Courtney, Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin in a statement Tuesday. “The grassroots volunteers who endorsed her at convention are the backbone of our election efforts. Together, Republicans are ready to beat Senator Tammy Baldwin this fall.”
The tour of the ten field offices will start Wednesday in Wausau and Green Bay where she will greet Republican volunteers and deliver remarks. More stops will follow over the course of the next week, including in Fond Du Lac and Milwaukee, before finishing with “a homecoming rally” in Waukesha on Saturday.
Vukmir won over 72 percent of the vote in the endorsement contest on Saturday. In addition to the claim of having the party’s endorsement, Vukmir will also have access to party resources for her campaign. The victory provides a needed boost in her primary fight against Delafield business consultant Kevin Nicholson who leads in fundraising and claims to lead with Republican primary voters according to internal poll results.
Despite the loss on Saturday, Nicholson’s campaign continues to sound like it will press on. In a campaign email memo to supporters on Monday, Nicholson spokesman Brandon Moody said Vukmir’s victory will not change the Nicholson campaign strategy one bit.
“The endorsement vote has not been a focus of our campaign,” Moody wrote in the email. “We are focused instead on the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of GOP primary voters that will cast a vote on August 14th.”
The email also claims Democrats are attacking Nicholson because they perceive him as a threat to Senator Tammy Baldwin in November.
“Liberals from all over are starting to take notice by attacking Kevin directly,” Moody wrote. “They perceive his candidacy as a direct threat to Tammy Baldwin. We’re happy to have that fight.”
Both Nicholson and Vukmir have been under fire recently from Democrats for statements they have made. Nicholson’s campaign has been criticized since he questioned the “cognitive thought process” of veterans who are Democrats. Vukmir’s campaign accused Baldwin of being on “Team Terrorists” in an online ad and press release after Baldwin did not say if she was supporting the appointment of Gina Haspel as CIA director. Neither of the two candidates, Nicholson or Vukmir, are backing down from their statements.
