Michels’ Cash, Trump’s Backing Pay Off

When the Republican Party looks for candidates for major campaigns, it often relies on the tradition of “it’s their turn.”

It was then-Congressman Mark Green’s turn, for example, to run as the Republican candidate for governor in 2006 against Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. Green lost.

Because then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker agreed to not challenge Green for the Republican nomination for governor in 2006, it was Walker’s turn to run — and win — in 2010. He served two terms, but lost a third-term bid to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in 2018.

Republicans also use “It’s their turn” to justify candidates nationally. That’s why the 1996 Republican candidate for President was then-Sen. Bob Dole, who lost to incumbent Democrat Bill Clinton.

This year, many Wisconsin Republicans thought that it was former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch’s turn to be the party’s nominee for governor against Evers in the November election. After all, Kleefisch had worked closely with Walker for eight years and had deliberately laid the groundwork to run for governor: leading a Washington organization that celebrated the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, founding the 1848 Project to develop campaign themes, and helping Republican candidates in 2020 elections.

But the 47-year-old Kleefisch will not be the Republican nominee against Evers because construction company executive Tim Michels entered the race late and spent millions to blanket the state with TV ads introducing himself as the turn-Madison-upside-down outsider endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

That simple formula — personal cash, TV ads and Trump’s backing — gave Michels 47% of the vote last Tuesday. Unofficial totals gave Kleefisch 42% and State Rep. Tim “Stop the Steal” Ramthun got 6%.

In a pre-primary interview with Wisconsin Right Now, Walker called the GOP split a bitter “family fight.” In that interview, the former governor said three key party strategists — Bill McCoshen, former Assembly Speaker John Gard and former national and state Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, Trump’s first chief of staff — encouraged Michels to run and advised him on running against Kleefisch.

McCoshen, a former top aide, cabinet secretary and 1994 campaign manager for four-term Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, passed on his own run for governor. His bio on the website of Michael Best Strategies, which bought McCoshen’s lobbying firm, says his “combined decades of experience in the Wisconsin Governor’s office, as cabinet secretary, and as a successful lobbyist enable him to be an effective advisor and advocate for clients.”

Republican Party Chairman Paul Farrow now must persuade Kleefisch and her campaign strategists — husband and former state Rep. Joel Kleefisch, Walker, former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen and campaign manager Scott Neitzel — to get past her loss and back Michels.

Farrow promised that his party will be unified. “This November election is a referendum on the failed Biden-Evers agenda that has led to sky-high inflation, rising crime, and a crippled education system,” he said. “Democrats have failed Wisconsin, and voters will reject them at the ballot box this November.”

Still, a few questions remain after Tuesday’s primary.

-Because Trump did all he could to defeat Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who won a tenth Assembly term by only 260 votes, and endorsed Michels, while Vos backed Kleefisch, how would Vos get along with a Gov. Michels? Vos is the most powerful Republican in the Capitol, but he barely survived Trump-backed challenger Adam Steen.

-What – if any – blowback will Vos get from his firing of Michael Gableman, the former state Supreme Court justice Vos hired to investigate the 2020 presidential election who turned on Vos and did all he could to elect Steen? How will Assembly Republican candidates explain the firing to pro-Trump voters and justify the $1 million that the probe cost taxpayers?

-Should Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who will face Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes on Nov. 8, be concerned that 16% of Republican voters in Tuesday’s primary — or one in six — voted for his unknown challenger, David Schroeder? In a close U.S. Senate election, Johnson will need every one of those 109,000 Republicans who voted against him last week.

-Should State Democratic Chair Ben Wikler be worried that more than 692,000 votes were cast in the Republican primary for governor — 191,000 more votes than were cast in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate? Or, because Barnes had cleared the field of challengers by Tuesday, is Wikler not worried?

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