Despite Donald Trump’s remaining power over the Republican Party it wasn’t enough to convince a former representative to come out of retirement to challenge Wisconsin’s Democrat governor. Despite former President Trump’s push for former Congressman Sean Duffy to challenge Gov. Tony Evers the Republican has opted not to jump into the race.
The Hill reports:
“Hopefully I’m not riding off into the sunset,” Duffy said Thursday on 1130 WISN, the talk radio station. “I’m just running into the sunset right now. If an opportunity presents itself, I’d like to come back and partake in Wisconsin politics.”
His exit is a boon to former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R), the first major Republican to enter the race against Evers. Kleefisch on Wednesday launched her first advertisement of the contest, an advertisement spotlighting school closures in Milwaukee and Madison in the face of growing coronavirus case numbers.
Kleefisch may not have a clean run at the Republican nomination: Businessman Kevin Nicholson (R), who ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2018, is considering entering the race and has run advertisements in recent months that appear to be the first forays into a statewide campaign.
Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) defeated former Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Kleefisch by about 1 percentage point, or just under 30,000 votes, in 2018. The incumbent is expected to face a tough battle for re-election in a state that has emerged as a key battleground in recent years; President Biden carried the state’s electoral votes by just 20,000 votes, or about six tenths of a percentage point, in 2020.
Duffy served five terms in Congress before retiring in 2019.
