APPLETON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s Republican Senate candidate, Leah Vukmir, didn’t always back President Trump. Now, the underdog candidate is trying to pull off an upset in a state Trump won by tying herself to the president on immigration.
A Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday showed incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin with an 11-point edge over Vukmir in a state that relies on immigrant labor on its dairy farms.
Vukmir said she’s found immigration reform to be a top priority for Republican voters. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in October backed her up, finding that Republicans saw it as one of the most important issues in how they’ll vote.
In what’s seen as a play to his base before next Tuesday’s midterm elections, Trump proposed terminating birthright citizenship and claimed he would sign an executive order next week to restrict the country’s asylum rules as a group of Central American migrants head for the U.S. border.
“I’m the daughter of Greek immigrants and I really believe that we are a nation of laws, which must be upheld. Right now, people are taking advantage of our porous borders,” she told reporters.
At three campaign stops with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday, Vukmir was the only one to bring up Trump without being prompted, tearing into her Democratic opponent for obstructing the president’s immigration policies.
“They stand for open borders. They stand for sanctuary cities,” she said, referring to Democrats. “Tammy Baldwin is not afraid of that. Tammy Baldwin voted against Kate’s Law.”
When discussing immigration Trump frequently brings up Kate’s Law, which would raise penalties for deported undocumented immigrants who try to reenter the U.S.
Leslie Shampeau, of Wisconsin Rapids, said Vukmir’s event Thursday afternoon was the first political event she’s ever attended. Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, she said she’s drawn to Vukmir in part because of her immigration stances, and that immigrants should have to “earn their way” to living in the U.S.
Wisconsin Democrats, meanwhile, have not made immigration a focal point. Baldwin focused on healthcare at a campaign event with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Friday in Madison.
“You can say, safely, that healthcare is on the ballot,” Baldwin said, later adding to huge cheers, “Our Dreamers are on the ballot.”
At a campaign stop Thursday afternoon in Appleton, in which White House counselor Kellyanne Conway canceled her appearance due to mechanical issues with her plane, Vukmir again connected herself to the president, joking that, like the president, she gave her opponent a nickname.
“When the president came and he invited me up on stage … I could sense that he was smiling from ear to ear when I called her Taxin’ Tammy. You know, he likes to have nicknames for people. I threw that out there for him,” she said.
