Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson was handed a prominent endorsement Wednesday in his race for the soon-to-be vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.
Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee announced his endorsement yesterday as he praised Thompson’s career as governor and his recent work as U.S. secretary of health and human services.
“Tommy served the great state of Wisconsin as the 42nd Governor, serving four terms for 14 years, and was forced to work with a Democratic-controlled state Legislature,” Huckabee said in a statement. “Because of that, Tommy knows how to work in a bipartisan nature and will be a positive voice for real change in Washington.”
Ryan Burchfield, Thompson’s campaign manager, did not comment on the endorsement but confirmed that Huckabee and Thompson will appear together in a news conference today at St. Anthony’s School in Milwaukee.
University of Wisconsin political science professor Barry Burden said while political endorsements do not directly influence voters, they can influence media coverage, donations and activists.
“I think it’s a pretty big deal for Thompson,” Burden said. “[Huckabee’s endorsement] still might be a signal that Thompson may be trustworthy to social conservative voters.”
According to Burden, who will come out on top in the Senate race is still up in the air.
He said the most interesting aspect to the race might be that the Republican primary has three candidates running for nomination, also including former Congressman Mark Neumann and Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon. Democrats currently only have one candidate, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin.
“Tammy is going to start running a general election campaign now,” Burden said. “Republicans are going to have the difficulty of forking it out against each other first, then turning around in August and building a general election campaign very quickly.”
Burden also said Thompson’s past record differentiates him from the current Republican Party in Wisconsin.
Thompson worked cooperatively with public unions during his tenure as governor and has outwardly pushed for high speed rail, Burden said.
“Thompson is not known to be a budget-cutter or tax-cutter. He’s going to have to convince Republicans in the primary that they can trust him in the election,” Burden said.
Burden also addressed a potential scenario in the primary in which Thompson’s political moderation could help him. He said if the other candidates split the Tea Party vote, Thompson could still walk away with 40 percent of the electorate and win.
Baldwin’s campaign office could not be reached as of press time, but Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Graeme Zielinski said the endorsement would not aid Thompson in the race.
“This is one washed up governor endorsing another,” Zielinski said. “The fact that he has to rely on endorsements is pretty weak beer. It doesn’t do anything to motivate people. I don’t know how some governor from a confederate state helps you in Wisconsin.”
According to Zielinski, Gov. Scott Walker and the political action committee Club for Growth have run ads against Thompson in order to move him farther to the right.
