Politics

All four Wisconsin GOP Senate candidates claim Walker’s victory helps them

Alexis Levinson Political Reporter
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker defeated Democratic efforts to unseat him on Tuesday, and each of the four Republican candidates vying for the state’s GOP Senate nomination are claiming that Walker’s win will help them specifically.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, former Rep. Mark Neumann, State Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and businessman Eric Hovde all said that Walker’s win showed that Wisconsin voters are looking for a leader exactly like them.

“Gov. Walker’s victory demonstrates that voters want leaders with the courage to make tough choices for the right reason. I’m the only candidate in this race that has both made the tough choices necessary to get our state back-on-track and has a RESTORE America plan to do it again,” said Thompson in a statement provided to The Daily Caller.

“I’ve vetoed nearly $300 million is spending while cutting taxes $16 billion and growing 750,000 jobs,” added Thompson. “My plan to RESTORE America cuts and caps federal spending, drives us to energy independence, repeals and replaces Obamacare and institutes common-sense tax reform.”

Neumann, however, told TheDC Tuesday that “the re-election of Scott Walker and his conservative agenda is an indication that Republican primary voters are looking for … [someone with a] conservative record.”

“That’s me,” Neumann said.

Fitzgerald, who in his role as Speaker of the State Assembly helped Walker to pass the reforms on public sector unions that provoked Tuesday’s recall election, staked his claim to those reforms.

“Personally, this outcome is a vindication of the hard work that was done by the legislature and Governor Walker over the last year and a half. As Assembly Speaker, I am extremely proud of what has been accomplished and I find myself incredibly humbled to be a part of this exciting part of our state’s history,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.

“Since kicking off my campaign for U.S. Senate I have never once shied away from reforms that Governor Walker and I have enacted,” he added.

“[Hovde is] the guy who is running … to make the tough decisions that are necessary to fix those problems,” said Hovde spokesman Sean Lansing. “To that end he’s got a very similar message to the governor. I think people realize that he’s not going to Washington for the lifestyle or the title, he’s going there to do the right thing.”

The four candidates will face off in a primary on August 14. In the most recent poll from Public Policy Polling, at the beginning of April, Thompson led the field, followed by Neumann.

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