The race for United States Sen. Herb Kohl’s soon-to-be vacant Senate seat is heating up with Kohl announcing his endorsement of Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Mark Neumann receiving an endorsement from Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina.
A statement released from Baldwin’s campaign on Jan. 9 announced Kohl’s endorsement. The endorsement came five days into Baldwin’s seven-day January Jobs Tour across Wisconsin, in which she met with employers, workers and small business owners in communities throughout the state.
In the release, Kohl said “Tammy Baldwin has served our state and our country with conviction, compassion and common sense, and she will be an excellent senator who will make Wisconsin proud.”
Since her campaign began in September, Baldwin has also received endorsements from the Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO and former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold.
UW political science professor Barry Burden said Baldwin could have a significant advantage in the race because there is currently no challenger to face Baldwin in a possible Democratic primary before the general election. He also said Baldwin would be able to campaign and raise money while the Republican candidates are campaigning against each other in the primary that takes place in August.
On Jan. 7, Mark Neumann, who has also announced plans to run for the seat, released a statement announcing an endorsement from DeMint. The senator praised Neumann’s record in Wisconsin as a conservative.
“Almost every Republican runs as a conservative, but over the years I’ve seen so many come up here and wilt and just go along with the program here. We need people like Mark Neumann who we know is not afraid of Republicans or Democrats or anyone, and that’s who I want standing next to me when we go into the next session,” DeMint said in the statement.
According to the release, Neumann has also received endorsements from the Tea Party Fund, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and the Club for Growth.
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, who has also announced plans to run, has yet to announce any new updates since his campaign’s launch.
He did, however, introduce the core of his campaign message and strategy at a luncheon hosted by WisPolitics.com on Jan. 12. Fitzgerald said he believed Wisconsin’s political scene is a microcosm of what is happening in Washington D.C., and he would run his campaign on what the Legislature accomplished over the past year in Wisconsin.
Burden said while it could be a difficult task for Fitzgerald to win, he does have a few key advantages in the race. He explained that Neumann and Thompson both have been out of politics and haven’t run successful campaigns since the 1990s, while Fitzgerald currently holds a significant position in the Legislature.
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, Frank Lasee and John Schiess are also vying for the Republican nomination. The most recent polling data collected in October by Public Policy Polling put Thompson in the lead with 35 percent of the vote. Neumann followed closely behind him with 29 percent, and State Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald received 21 percent.
