Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson had tough words for his own party this week.
Days after Democrats flipped a state senate district from red to blue — a surprising special election victory that reverberated through the national media — Thompson echoed others in interpreting the results as a harbinger of midterm troubles.
Addressing Republican activists gathered to commemorate the anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration on Sunday, Thompson said, “You can find all kinds of reasons that you want — that the Republicans stayed home, that the suburbs were more energized — but the truth of the matter is we got beat,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“We have to become just as energized as the other side, and we are not,” noted the four-term-governor. “I don’t see this is going to be a very good Republican year.”
Top conservatives in the state last week warned the special election appeared to be driven by an ominous enthusiasm gap. Thompson agreed. “We’re going to have one hell of a tough fight on our hands and I’m not going to sugarcoat it, because they are much more organized, much more energized and much more passionate,” the political veteran posited, speaking specifically of incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election battle.
Walker will be on the ballot in November along with incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, already a target of massive outside spending. Walker, popular with grassroots conservatives who were emboldened by his many battles, could curb the enthusiasm gap to some extent, lifting turnout among conservatives motivated to come out and support him. Baldwin is one of ten Democratic senators up for re-election in a state President Trump won.
None of this appears to be sufficient in providing Thompson much comfort. “I should not be afraid of this election, but I am,” he admitted on Sunday.
