Senator Tammy Baldwin

Party: Democrat
State: Wisconsin
What you need to know: Baldwin was was one of only 68 Representatives to oppose the U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation deal.

Democrat - Open Seat
Endorsed for U.S. Senate by Council for a Livable World

Wisconsin has been the hotbed of the Republican assault on workers and unions since the triumph of tea party conservatives in 2010. The result has been a series of hard-fought recall elections and demonstrations by tens of thousands of Wisconsinites that have kept the state in turmoil for months.

In the 2010 election, Republicans not only elected Tea Party Governor Scott Walker, they rousted progressive champion Senator Russ Feingold in a major upset. Now the GOP is hoping to capture the second seat.

Running for retiring Senator Herb Kohl’s seat is U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin, another staunch progressive who is exciting voters in Wisconsin and supporters around the country.

In 1998, Baldwin became the first openly gay non-incumbent candidate to win a House seat in American history. She represents a district that includes Madison, the home of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the second largest city in Wisconsin, as well as rural and suburban areas.

In her first race for Congress, Baldwin was supported by Council for a Livable World’s PeacePAC. She has proved worthy of the endorsement by scoring a perfect 100% on Council for a Livable World’s PeacePAC voting scorecard over the past six years.

Baldwin was one of the first House opponents of President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq when she joined with 18 colleagues in a press conference months before the conflict began. She has voted for early withdrawal of American troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan.

She has opposed deployment of National Missile Defense and attempts to build new generations of nuclear weapons. She was one of only 68 Representatives to oppose the U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation deal that undermined worldwide nuclear non-proliferation efforts. She advocates negotiations with Iran to eliminate its nuclear weapons program while some of her colleagues have advocated launching a military attack.

If Baldwin is elected, she will strongly advocate Senate approval of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that has languished since its signing in 1966.

Tammy Baldwin was born in 1962 in Madison and attended Smith College in Massachusetts and the University of Wisconsin-Madison law school, earning a J.D. and practicing law beginning in 1989. Before entering the House, she served in the Dane County Board of Supervisors and the Wisconsin State Assembly.

In the House, Baldwin serves on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she has focused on universal health care, energy independence and renewable fuels. She wrote laws expanding breast cancer screening and increasing veterans’ benefits. She also helped lead efforts in Congress to repeal federal restrictions on stem cell research.

Baldwin’s Senate election will be difficult. While she has proved she can win votes from rural and suburban voters in her district with a progressive voting record, she will now have to appeal to blue collar voters across the state.

Baldwin is unchallenged in the Democratic primary at this point, while Republicans will engage in a multi-candidate primary. Former four-term Governor Tommy Thompson is the early favorite for the GOP nomination, but he has not been on the ballot since 1998. Former Rep. Mark Neumann (R) has announced for the seat, and has been endorsed by the ultra-conservative Club for Growth, and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R ) is also running. The Republican battle will not be settled until next summer.

An August 2011 Public Policy Polling survey showed Baldwin narrowly trailing her potential Republican opponents. The political experts all rate this contest a toss-up.

The poll showed Baldwin has 56% name recognition in the state, meaning she has to introduce herself to 44% of Wisconsin voters who do not know her or her record. At the end of the last reporting period, she had $1.1 million in her campaign treasury, and estimates she will have to raise more than the $12.7 million Feingold spent in 2010.

Although the coming election looks to be a hard-fought contest, Wisconsin has a long history of electing iconoclastic progressives to the Senate such as Feingold, William Proxmire and Robert La Follette. Tammy Baldwin is a fighter and an advocate for health care for all and sensible nuclear weapons policies.

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