Wisconsin Republicans hear a blunt election warning from ex-governor Tommy Thompson

WEST ALLIS – Political old pro Tommy Thompson issued his party a blunt warning Sunday about the November election, saying Democrats appear more determined to take back power than Republicans are to keep it.

“I’m here today not (as) the tooth fairy saying, ‘All is well,’ because it isn’t,” said Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor, who spoke to a group of activists celebrating the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“We have to become just as energized as the other side, and we are not,” he said. “I don’t see this is going to be a very good Republican year.”

The GOP veteran cited the special election last week for the 10th District Senate seat in western Wisconsin, where a Democratic upset in a district that Trump carried last fall by 17 points captured national attention and rang GOP alarm bells.  

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, up for re-election, has said it is a “wake-up call for Republicans in Wisconsin.”

Thompson, who won four consecutive elections for governor from 1986 to 1998, said, “You can find all kinds of reasons that you want — that the Republicans stayed home, that the suburbs were more energized — but the truth of the matter is we got beat.”

Thompson said with a good economy and soaring stock market, “I should not be afraid of this election, but I am.”

He pointed to past elections when the party in power was certain of victory only to be shocked at election time.

“I have been through it when we have gone from the majority to minority. And I was a candidate for governor when nobody thought I had a chance in 1986. I am here to tell you we were energized (in that race), we wanted a change in Wisconsin, we Republicans, and that is where the Democrats are today,” he said.   

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Thompson told Republicans that if they want to re-elect Walker, they are going to have to become as energized as the other side.

 “We’re going to have one hell of a tough fight on our hands and I’m not going to sugarcoat it, because they are much more organized, much more energized and much more passionate,” he said of Democrats.