Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and Bush administration Secretary of Health and Human Services, is finally, officially, really launching his campaign for Senate, in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl.
Thompson is holding his campaign event at 5:30 p.m. CT, at a manufacturing plant in the Republican stronghold of Waukesha.
Thompson has been gearing up his campaign for many months, and filed his papers with the Federal Elections Commission two months ago.
Recent polling has shown Thompson leading in the primary, but only with a plurality, leaving him vulnerable to a more conservative challenger. But lucky for him, right now he has two major opponents, who could split the vote.
Also in the race are former Rep. Mark Neumann, who was the party’s nominee for Senate in 1998, and ran in the Republican primary for governor in 2010. Neumann has been endorsed by the Club For Growth — which has already gone on TV attacking Thompson — and more recently by Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) Senate Conservatives Fund.
But also in the race is state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, who helped to pass Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-public employee union legislation, and is pitching himself as a Washington outsider.
The presumptive Democratic nominee for the race is Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who represents Madison and the surrounding counties.
Thompson has had a long and successful career in Wisconsin politics, but has not been on a ballot since 1998. He was first elected to the state Assembly in 1966, eventually becoming the Republican minority leader. He was elected governor in 1986, then re-elected in 1990, 1994 and 1998, before joining President George W. Bush’s cabinet in 2001. He left the cabinet after the 2004 election, and briefly sought the Republican nomination for president in 2007, only to withdraw after a poor showing in the Ames Straw Poll.
Thompson was long courted by the GOP to run for Senate in various cycles, but never made the jump — he came very close in 2010, but ultimately backed away.
