When it comes to #AbolishICE, Leah Vukmir is charging Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., with guilt by association.
The newly crowned GOP Senate nominee plans to hammer Baldwin for fundraising this weekend in the Hamptons with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who said in late July that Democrats’ first priority should be to “get rid of ICE,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if they retake the House and Senate. Baldwin, one of 10 Democrats defending their Senate seats in a state President Trump won, says she does not support abolishing the agency.
According to a Friday press release obtained early by the Washington Examiner, Vukmir, a state senator fresh off her hard-won primary victory on Tuesday, plans to use the joint fundraiser as an opportunity to cast doubt on the sincerity of Baldwin’s opposition to #AbolishICE.
“There is nothing more two-faced about Tammy Baldwin than telling Wisconsin she supports ICE and then campaigning with the individual spearheading the effort to abolish ICE,” campaign manager Jess Ward asserts in the release. “While two-faced Tammy brunches in the Hamptons with the abolish ICE crowd, Leah Vukmir believes we need to secure our borders and fully fund ICE.” (Speaking of individuals “spearheading the effort to abolish ICE,” amusingly enough, the #AbolishICE legislation introduced in the House came from Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan — of Wisconsin.)
The event in question, as reported by Page Six, is a Sunday brunch in East Hampton, hosted by Lisa Rosenblum, a longtime Gillibrand donor who supported the Hillary Victory Fund to the tune of $60,000 last cycle.
On Vukmir’s end, the joint event with Gillibrand makes for something of a layup, combining a ritzy, coastal destination with the proponent of a cause so far left that even Baldwin, the former congresswoman from Madison, won’t touch it.
GOP Senate candidates in several competitive races have sought out opportunities to drag their opponents into culture wars, hoping to tie them to the #Resistance and turn off centrist voters. The Vukmir campaign’s strategy of tying Baldwin to Gillibrand’s policy position probably indicates they believe #AbolishICE plays very poorly in the Badger State. In national polling, even Democratic voters are somewhat mixed on the issue.
Baldwin is on the record disagreeing with Gillibrand’s position. But Vukmir’s plans to tie them together, raising fair questions about what the incumbent would actually do outside a tough re-election cycle, speak to the total toxicity of #AbolishICE in states like Wisconsin. As Gillibrand campaigns around the country this fall, this problem is one that will recur should she associate with candidates in similar races.
