Super PAC backing Kevin Nicholson raises additional $1.5 million in race against Tammy Baldwin

A super PAC backing potential Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson said Thursday that it raised $1.5 million from April through June.

Overall, Solutions for Wisconsin has raised $3.5 million this year, with all of the money coming from GOP mega-donor Richard Uihlein.

Uihlein, who lives in Lake Forest, Ill., is founder of the Pleasant Prairie-based Uline company. Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth, contributed $23.6 million to federal candidates and other groups during the 2016 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Nicholson, a U.S. Marine veteran and businessman, is expected to make the plunge into the GOP race to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2018.

Other potential Republican candidates include state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield, Madison businessman Erick Hovde, state Rep. Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.

“If Dick Uilhein is so interested in being a senator, he should pick up and move to Wisconsin and run instead of using a straw man who needs a poll to figure out what party he belongs to,” said Gillian Drummond, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.