If there was ever any doubt that Tammy Baldwin didn’t learn a thing from last year’s election, today’s National Journal story highlights just how out of touch with Wisconsin families she is.
Key Lines:
“The longtime liberal hasn’t moderated her positions, unlike some colleagues up for reelection in states Trump won.”
“Tammy Baldwin is one of 10 Senate Democrats facing reelection next year in a state President Trump carried in 2016. And she’s staking out ground further to the left than any of them.”
“Baldwin, who has had a reputation as one of the most liberal voices on Capitol Hill since her days representing Madison in the House, is doubling down on that image during Trump’s first year in office. She was one of 15 Democratic senators to sign on to Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all legislation, but the only to hail from a state Trump won. And she voted against the president’s cabinet nominees at a higher rate than her fellow Trump-state Democrats.”
In Case You Missed It…
In a Shifting State, Baldwin Stays Left
National Journal
By Adam Wollner
October 4, 2017
https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/658935?unlock=UIOJBG1131JOIRPX
Tammy Baldwin is one of 10 Senate Democrats facing reelection next year in a state President Trump carried in 2016. And she’s staking out ground further to the left than any of them.
Baldwin, who has had a reputation as one of the most liberal voices on Capitol Hill since her days representing Madison in the House, is doubling down on that image during Trump’s first year in office. She was one of 15 Democratic senators to sign on to Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all legislation, but the only to hail from a state Trump won. And she voted against the president’s cabinet nominees at a higher rate than her fellow Trump-state Democrats.
In a state that regularly swings back and forth between the two parties, Baldwin is one of only two statewide Democratic officeholders in Wisconsin. Even in a different political climate, she plans on sticking to the playbook that led her to victory five years ago.
“My campaign is going to be about the ways in which I’m fighting for Wisconsinites and trying to level the playing field for Wisconsin workers and taking on the powerful interests that are dominating right now in the noise and chaos that is Washington, D.C.,” Baldwin said in a phone interview. “That’s very similar—it’s not similar, it’s how I approached the campaign in 2012 because that’s what I’ve always done.”
On health care in particular, Baldwin, who sits on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, hasn’t hesitated to move further to the left than some of members of her party would like to go. Aside from Sanders’s bill, Baldwin said she is planning to support two other bills that her progressive colleagues are working on: one from Sen. Brian Schatz that would allow individuals to buy into Medicaid, and one from Sen. Chris Murphy that would allow individuals to buy into Medicare. No other Senate Democrat from a Trump state has publicly backed those measures.
In addition, Baldwin cosponsored a bill with Trump-state Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Sherrod Brown that would permit those 55 and older to buy into Medicare.
“What I want to see is a variety of thoughtful options on the table for vigorous discussion,” Baldwin said.
It’s Baldwin’s association with Sanders’s single-payer bill, though, that’s garnering the most attention. Her two declared GOP opponents, state Sen. Leah Vukmir and former Marine Kevin Nicholson, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee, all wasted little time attacking the senator after she backed Sanders’s proposal last month. “Folks in Wisconsin deserve to know why Tammy Baldwin is putting them at risk to support the Left’s radical plans for government-run health care,” NRSC communications director Katie Martin said at the time.
While Baldwin’s position on health care will leave her vulnerable to attacks along those lines, Democrats think it will help her shore up her base in areas like Madison and Milwaukee, where voters turned out at lower-than-expected levels for Hillary Clinton. And Sanders, who easily won the Wisconsin primary in 2016, remains a popular figure among activists there.
“I think to the extent that she is more Sanders-esque, that’s a good thing,” said Wisconsin Democratic operative Paul Maslin, who was in charge of polling and strategy for pro-Baldwin outside groups in 2012.
In a state as polarized as Wisconsin, mobilizing base voters is critical. A Marquette University Law School poll in June found that as many voters viewed Baldwin favorably (38 percent) as unfavorably. The same went for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who’s also up for reelection next fall: 48 percent approved of his job performance, while 48 percent disapproved.
“This is shaping up as a purely partisan and ideological divide,” Charles Franklin, who conducted the poll, said of the Wisconsin Senate race. “It’s hard to see how either of the sides is going to have a strategy that amounts to a whole lot of crossover votes.”
One area where Baldwin and the president share common ground, though, is trade and manufacturing, which could help her win back some Trump voters. Earlier this year, Trump endorsed Baldwin’s “Buy America” legislation, which would require the government to use U.S. manufacturers for certain projects. A key reason for Baldwin’s victory in 2012 was her success in the rural north and western parts of the state, areas where Trump performed well in 2016.
“The one thing Senator Baldwin is very good at is that on-the-ground, grassroots work. … She gets around the entire state. She does not ignore rural areas like some U.S. senators are prone to do,” said former Rep. Reid Ribble, a Republican from Green Bay. “I absolutely believe she’s beatable, but I think whoever’s going to win [the GOP nomination] will have to outwork her.”
Baldwin may be to the left of the average Wisconsin voter, but there are some fundamental factors working in her favor. She’s an incumbent running in a midterm when the opposite party is in power. She’s a strong fundraiser with nearly $4 million in the bank. And her Republican challengers are relatively unknown. After Trump’s surprise victory, though, Democrats aren’t taking anything for granted 13 months out from Election Day.
“2018 follows a very tumultuous period in Wisconsin and the nation. We’re all cautiously optimistic as Democrats, but let’s face it,” Maslin said. “I don’t for the life of me know precisely what kind of election we’re going to have next year.”