It was seven years ago that historic protests over Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 proposal rocked Wisconsin’s capital— and not just figuratively. “The entire building was shaking, literally,” state Sen. Leah Vukmir remembers.
Now running in the Republican primary to challenge Democrat Tammy Baldwin for her Senate seat, Vukmir believes the chaos in Madison left her uniquely prepared to stand up to Baldwin in November, and to stand up to the pressures of Washington.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Vukmir reflected on her experiences as a target of the protesters. “I had to walk through armed security to get in and out of the Capitol. I left the Capitol through secured secret passageways that I didn’t even know existed. I received personal death threats against me and family. And if that doesn’t make you strong,” she insists, “I don’t know what does.”
Vukmir, a nurse who sees herself as a “citizen legislator,” is facing off against Kevin Nicholson, a Marine veteran and businessman whose main obstacle is convincing primary voters his transition from Democratic youth activist to movement conservative is authentic. “Kevin is gonna have to prove to the people of Wisconsin what his track record is as a conservative,” says Vukmir. “My track record is there and people don’t have to question it because I’ve actually accomplished things and have been a part of an amazing team of individuals in Wisconsin who have followed through on the promises of a conservative agenda, and we’ve actually made a difference for our state.”
The Senate hopeful believes her resolve during the Act 10 protests shows voters that she is “somebody who has stood up against some of the strongest special interest groups,” and that they can “count on [her] to go to Washington and not cave.”
“Kevin is going to have to prove that to the voters of Wisconsin,” repeats Vukmir.
When union members and anti-Walker protesters descended on Madison in record numbers, then in her first year as a state senator representing suburban Milwaukee, Vukmir reiterates she “never backed down from the beginning.”
“I stood with the governor from the get-go,” she says.
Learning from the lessons of the past, Vukmir is pressing forward. “I think that it does also give me the ability to stand up to those pressures which I know will be even greater in Washington,” she tells me.
