In the nation’s most heated gun control election so far this year, the National Rifle Association and pro-Second Amendment groups beat gun control advocates including Michael Bloomberg’s Independence USA PAC in the Milwaukee sheriff’s race Tuesday night.
The winner was incumbent Sheriff David A. Clarke, whose outspoken advocacy of gun ownership prompted gun control proponents to paint a bull’s eye on his back.
In the election, the African-American sheriff won with 52 percent of the vote, knocking off challenger Chris Moews, a Milwaukee police lieutenant, who was backed with $150,000 from Bloomberg.
Clarke made the race a fight over guns when he ran a radio ad calling on citizens to get a gun because “911 is not our best option.”
The NRA’s top lobbyist, Chris W. Cox, was among the first to congratulate Clarke. The NRA spent $30,000 in digital advertising for Clarke.
Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement provided to Secrets:
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
