Thompson Weighs Fifth Run for Governor

Congrats, Tommy.

Your 23-month stint as UW System president ends Friday and has been widely praised. Many who wondered why you took the job, coyly insisting that your spring 2020 interim appointment be approved by a unanimous Board of Regents, are now thankful you did. You led through the pandemic and got the Legislature to pass a pro-UW System budget.

What’s left on your bucket list? You mentioned water skiing (without another painful shoulder tear) and snow skiing. We’ll look for those successes on YouTube.

But…joining the scrum of Republicans running for governor, Tommy? Is that real, or does your “everything is on the table” simply reflect your passion for keeping everyone guessing and staying in the news.

You’ve run for governor four times — in 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998 — and won four times. Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt. You loved the first three terms, giving orders in the morning and getting results by nightfall, but you got bored with the job after 1998.

On Feb. 1, 2001, you went to Washington as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, helping President George Bush steer the nation through 9/11 terrorist attacks. After four years in Washington, you became a business executive and international health-care consultant. You began making money — lots of it — but came out of political retirement to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012, losing to Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. You went back to private business until the UW System’s first search for a president failed dismally.

Although you have to be reminded of it, you’ll turn 82 on Nov. 19 – 11 days after the election. No governor in the nation is in their 80s. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who wants to get elected to a second term in November, will be 71 on Nov. 5.

But, since a lot of money can be lost betting against you, Tommy, let’s talk about a potential run for governor. Your family votes no. Some of your nine grandchildren may love to pull on campaign t-shirts and work the rallies, though, just like you had your three children work the parades and community events when you ran for and served in the Assembly from 1966-86.

Who would run your campaign? Two of your campaign managers and senior East Wing aides, former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen and former cabinet secretary Bill McCoshen, are deep into their own careers. Jensen is advising the campaign of former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch; lobbyist and hockey team owner McCoshen laid the groundwork to run for governor but decided against it.

How do you appeal to younger Wisconsin voters, Tommy? The state’s median age is 36; that voter was born around the time you were first elected governor.

And then there are the issues that will be debated between now and the Aug. 9 primary and the Nov. 8 general election.

-Election reform: As UW System president, you were able to stay above – and out of – the firestorm caused by former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his November 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. If you run, questions you’ll face include: Was there fraud in the presidential election — nationally and in Wisconsin? Are you confident Biden won? If the three-Republicans, three-Democrats state Elections Commission should be abolished, what should replace it? Was former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman’s probe of the 2020 vote a waste of tax funds?

If you run, one of your primary opponents, Rep. Tim Ramthun, is a member of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” club. Other Republicans running, besides Kleefisch, are businessman and former Marine, Kevin Nicholson and Franklin businessman Jonathan Wichmann. But you won a five-candidate primary in 1986.

-Budget surplus: State government is projected to have a record surplus of $3.8 billion by mid-2023. Republican legislators killed the Evers plan to send everyone a $150 check to return part of that money and boost spending on K-12 schools. Instead, GOP leaders plan to still control the Legislature in January and work with a Republican governor on permanent tax cuts, What’s your plan for that surplus, Tommy?

Other issues — health care, PFAs found in more water statewide, criminal justice reform — will be debated between now and Nov. 8.

And fund raising? How much of your own money would you spend on a Last Hurrah campaign?

So… an April decision, Tommy? Can you stop yourself from running?

Steven Walters began covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com