After nearly a year of campaigning, Leah Vukmir and Kevin Nicholson are locked in a tight race in the Aug. 14 Republican Party U.S. Senate primary.
The debates are finished. The sprint has begun.
After nearly a year of campaigning, Republicans Leah Vukmir and Kevin Nicholson are locked in a tight race in the U.S. Senate primary.
They have taken two separate paths to get to the same destination, trying to win Aug. 14 and take on U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in November.
Vukmir and Nicholson are down-the-line conservatives on issues of taxes and spending, opposition to abortion, repealing the Affordable Care Act and constructing a wall on the nation's southern border.
In their last debate, neither one could come up with a single thing they would push back on with President Donald Trump.
Vukmir, a state senator from Brookfield, is following the traditional playbook used to win a statewide Republican primary in Wisconsin.
She paid political dues going from citizen-activist to legislator. She won the endorsement at the party convention, received the backing of nearly every senior GOP politician from House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville on down, and courted Republicans across the state.
Nicholson, a Delafield businessman, is embracing the mantle of being a political outsider.
He has never held elective public office. He was once president of the College Democrats of America but said he became a conservative through the experiences of marriage, raising a family and serving as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Like Vukmir, Nicholson has worked the state, yet he has few endorsements from local political leaders. But Nicholson has the support of an influential GOP mega-donor, Richard Uihlein of Illinois, who has poured millions of dollars into the race through third-party groups.
Vukmir also has support from a top donor, Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, and others who are funding a pro-Vukmir super PAC that has spent around $2.5 million.
So, here we are. A hard-fought campaign coming to its closing days.
This is what the candidates have to say.
Inside an RV his campaign has nicknamed "The Bulldog" after the U.S. Marine mascot, Nicholson escapes the summer heat and reflects on a long campaign.
It has been a tough one. His parents and a brother contributed money to Baldwin. He has also been taken to task for comments he has made about Republican insiders. But he has campaigned hard and built support.
"I guess I'm pleased to say it has not changed me," he said. "I don't think my wife, my kids or close friends would say I've done anything that is out of character. ... When people have pushed on me, I've shoved right back, done so appropriately, not disrespectfully but let them know how I feel. And no one has intimidated me for a second. Plenty of people have tried. It has fallen flat."
As a management consultant for a firm called ghSMART, Nicholson helps companies and investors evaluate and choose high-level executives.
"The biggest fail point for companies tends to be bad leaders, people even if they're very smart and very astute are not the right person to lead that company in that type of environment," he said.
Nicholson is now going for a high-level political job. He is confident about his campaign. A Marquette University Law School Poll showed the race effectively in a dead heat.
"I think our message is working," he said, hammering home the theme that "you've got to send people from outside the political class to fix the political class' many mistakes."
He not only believes that's a winning message for a primary, but that it will resonate in a general election against Baldwin, a Democrat.
"I don't know if there is any part of the state that does not readily accept the fact that politicians aren't going to pull this off and that professional politicians aren't good at solving problems," he said.
During his last debate, Nicholson told Vukmir: "We need people running for the United States Senate who have lived a life outside the lines, understand the problems in Washington are outside the lines."
Nicholson's candidacy has drawn the support of Uihlein — a founder of Pleasant Prairie-based Uline company — who has plowed around $9 million into the race through third-party groups.
Nicholson said he was introduced to Uihlein "by a mutual friend."
"We've known each other for several years and we've had a number of conversations, all about the country," he said. "There is nothing I've ever said to anyone who has supported me that you haven't heard in public. That is the truth."
Nicholson said he has shared with Uihlein, other supporters and voters his concerns about the nation's finances. "We either deal with our spending problem or the lights go out," Nicholson said.
"My goal is not to take things away from you. My goal is to open up the throttle so you can be successful and our overspending doesn't curtail your success or your future security," he said.
Pressed on Uihlein's spending, Nicholson pointed to outside money that Baldwin has received — around $1 million but expected to grow substantially in the general election. Third-party groups have already spent $18 million on Wisconsin's Senate race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Nicholson also pointed to his fundraising advantage over Vukmir, $3.3 million to $1.8 million. He said he's taking "an all of the above" approach — his own fundraising combined with outside support — in a race that will likely be one of the most expensive contests in the nation this year.
That's what it takes to win "given the way that the campaign finance laws are constructed in our country," Nicholson said. "So, who I am running against has always been Tammy Baldwin. Leah Vukmir is free to stay in this race as long as she wants. It's going to end on Aug. 14 and we're going to win. The reality is I'm running against Tammy Baldwin and she's going to have millions of dollars coming from outside sources. That's reality."
It's a warm night on Milwaukee's north shore and Vukmir steps away from a fundraiser for her state Senate colleague, Alberta Darling, and talks about the rigors of the campaign.
She and Nicholson agree on one major point.
"I'm running against Tammy Baldwin as well," Vukmir said.
"I have the momentum," she added, listing her endorsements, including one from the National Rifle Association.
"It's clear with all of that support, with the polls trending in my direction, that I'll be the person facing Tammy Baldwin," she said. "That's where my focus is. I'll continue to talk about the issues that matter to the people of Wisconsin."
She said the contrast between her and Baldwin "could not be more clear, between a do-nothing senator in Senator Baldwin and a do-something senator in Leah Vukmir."
The centerpiece of Vukmir's campaign is bringing what she calls "The Wisconsin Way" to Washington, D.C. Even though Republican Gov. Scott Walker hasn't endorsed in this race, Vukmir is running on her record of standing with the governor to enact Act 10 legislation restricting public-sector unions and other conservative reforms in the state.
To blunt Nicholson's critique of the political class, Vukmir countered, "I have a proven, consistent track record as a conservative."
"Anyone can say they're a conservative. I can actually show you," she said.
Vukmir said she is comfortable with the kind of campaign she is running. With the party endorsement, she's able to tap into a reservoir of volunteers who will help her with a ground game to get people to the polls.
Vukmir, a nurse, got her start in politics as what she calls "a mom with a cause," helping head up an education advocacy group. She was elected to the state Assembly in 2002 and the state Senate in 2010.
"The vast majority of people working on my campaign are from Wisconsin, know Wisconsin. I think that's what shows," she said.
Vukmir said that "Kevin keeps running as an outsider, an outsider campaign. Yeah, he is — everybody's outside of Wisconsin. His donors are outside of Wisconsin. His supporters and all the special interest groups from D.C., the insiders of D.C. are supporting him. That's where his campaign rhetoric really falls short. The people of Wisconsin know me. They know what we've done. They know we've done it together as a team."
Nicholson's campaign disputed the charge. Nicholson said his campaign has received donations from more than 10,000 Wisconsinites. The campaign's honorary co-chairs are Wisconsin GOP stalwarts Jim Klauser and Murph Burke.
Vukmir said Nicholson isn't "getting the traction he wants with that outsider message."
She said in Wisconsin, "We're activist Republicans. We're not status quo, establishment Republicans. And when we've taken charge, we've gone down the field pushing our conservative principles."
Using that same approach, Vukmir is taking nothing for granted in this race and said: "I'm going to keep my foot on the gas pedal."