Two weeks after petitions to recall four Republican state senators were turned in, Democrats have their candidates to challenge three of the seats in potential recall elections.
At a press conference held at Monona Terrace Tuesday, Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, announced former Democratic legislators Sen. John Lehman, Rep. Kristen Dexter, and Rep. Donna Seidel, D-Wausau, will face Sens. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, and Pam Galloway, R-Wausau, respectively, if the recall elections occur.
Lehman’s race against Wanggaard would be a rematch of a 2010 election, when Lehman lost to Wanggaard by five percentage points after serving just one term in the state Senate.
According to Lehman, his run is influenced by Wanggaard’s support of legislation limiting collective bargaining and unwillingness to compromise.
“Gov. Walker dropped a bomb on us, and…Van Wanggaard went along from the very first minute,” Lehman said.
Like Lehman, Dexter did not think she would run for office again after losing her state Assembly seat in 2010. But she said seeing recall volunteers who had never been involved in politics before motivated her to challenge Moulton again, who she defeated in a 2008 state Assembly election.
“They’re looking for somebody to take the ball and carry it further down the field,” Dexter said.
Seidel, the current assistant minority leader in the state Assembly, also said the activists involved in the recall process inspired her to run against Galloway, who Seidel said has lost sight of the values and priorities of her district members.
“People feel that not only does she not care about their struggles and concerns… but that she doesn’t listen,” Seidel said.
In response to the announcement, Republican Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Ben Sparks said the three candidates helped create the $3.6 billion deficit the state faced last year through overspending and tax increases.
“The candidates announced to challenge Republican state senators in potential recall elections are nothing more than conveyor belt Democrats who boast records of fiscal catastrophe,” Sparks said in a statement.
The Democrats have yet to announce a candidate to take on state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, in a possible recall election.
