***UPDATE: April 18, 2022 - Tommy Thompson announced that he will not run for Governor in 2022. That suggests he will throw his support to Tim Michels IF Michels enters the race.
Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (shown right) and businessman Tim Michels (shown left) have agreed that one of them will enter the Republican Primary for Governor with the support from the other.
The decision is expected as soon as this week (as of this writing April 18th) according to leading conservative talk radio host Mark Belling of WISN 1130AM who broke this surprising story.
Current Republican frontrunners are Rebecca Kleefisch (2-term Lieutenant Governor with Governor Scott Walker) and Kevin Nicholson (former GOP Primary candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018). Another candidate State Representative Timothy Ramthun is a recent entrant who does not seem to have a viable shot at winning the primary in August.
A Tommy Thompson Candidacy
Tommy Thompson most recently served as interim-President of the University of Wisconsin System, is Wisconsin’s longest serving Governor, is a voracious campaigner, remains popular amongst Wisconsinites, and would probably have the best name ID in the race on Day 1. He might possibly have even have better name ID than incumbent Governor Tony Evers.
Thompson was elected Governor of Wisconsin a record FOUR times (1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998) and may never have left office had he not been appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2001 by President George W. Bush. He was rumored to have preferred to be referred to as "Governor" even while serving as Secretary and for certain after he left as Secretary of DHHS. Thompson won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2012, but lost to Senator Tammy Baldwin in the General Election.
Currently 80 years old, and age 81 at the time of inauguration, Thompson would perhaps seem to some as too old, or even far too old, for elected office. His would-be General Election opponent, Governor Evers is often criticized by opponents as old and lacking energy while being 10 years younger at a wee 70 years old. However, if anyone in Wisconsin has found the fountain of youth it just may be the seemingly tireless Tommy Thompson.
A Tim Michels Candidacy
Although the lesser known of the two, Tim Michels did run a statewide campaign for U.S. Senate in 2004, falling to incumbent Senator Russ Feingold. The bruising defeat (55% to 44%) was in part because Michels failed to build statewide name ID and the Republican National Committee shifted national funding to races in other states. Then Sen. Feingold focused in part on Michels' lack of experience in elected office which in modern politics could be seen as a plus by a larger portion of the electorate. (Click to see 2004 Feingold-Michels debate)
Despite falling to Feingold, Michels did build strong relationships within the Wisconsin GOP grassroots and has maintained behind-the-scenes party engagement at the state and national level according to Belling.
Michels has run a statewide general election campaign as the lead name on the ticket unlike Kleefisch who ran with Scott Walker as the lead name on the ticket, and Nicholson who lost in the Republican Senate Primary in 2018 has yet to be on the ballot in a November election. Like Nicholson, Michels has served in the military. Michels served 12 years as an Airborne Ranger Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army.
Currently 59 years young (by political standards anyways), Michels owns and runs Michels Corporation described on the company website as “…one of the largest, most diversified energy and infrastructure contractors in North America.” Michels would have the ability to self-fund his theoretical candidacy, at least in part. During his 2004 U.S. Senate bid he put in $1.691 million of his own money.
Why the need for a new entrant?
According To Belling’s report and some internet rumors, Beloit billionaire businesswoman Diane Hendricks has lost faith in current GOP Primary frontrunner Rebecca Kleefisch despite endorsing her earlier in the campaign. The Belling report suggests poor head-to-head polling performance by Kleefisch against Evers and poor fundraising numbers as key concerns.
The report seems to very much be from the perspective of Republicans in the Walker-Kleefisch camp. There is still some bad blood amongst GOP grassroots and party insiders from his failed 2018 Primary race against State Senator Leah Vukmir. Nicholson's shortcoming is perhaps that he has had strong financial support from Illinois billionaire Dick Uihlein. Complicating things further, Dick Uihlein's wife Liz Uihlein, however, has been making maximum donations to Kleefisch. Why can't the billionaires just get along?
Belling's report does not cite widespread misgivings about Kleefisch or Nicholson as the GOP nominee from the grassroots or the electorate at large, so this may be a few party power brokers stoking the egos of a few heavy-hitters in Thompson and Michels hoping for another shot at electoral glory.
Michels or Thompson making a late entry into the race gets support from Eric Hovde (who lost to Thompson in the GOP Senate Primary in 2012). Hovde, who announced he will not run for Governor in 2022, said he is strongly considering a U.S. Senate bid in 2024.
According to WisPolitics.com:
Hovde said he has exchanged text messages with Thompson, who beat him for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in 2012. Hovde said he has the “utmost respect” for Thompson and called Michels “an impressive guy.”
He said it would be “healthy” to have more people in the GOP field.
“I am not at all one of these people who believes we should be anointing someone with party insiders,” Hovde said in the phone interview. “This is no negative comment about Rebecca at all. Candidates are made better by rigorous debate on stage, having to be in front of the public and really having to make their argument. That sets us up better for a general election run.”
The full report from Mark Belling is available on his website.
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