Thread by @benwikler

Thread: Wisconsin Republicans now have two candidates for governor—and, attempting to out-radical each other, they’re ripping each other apart. It’s Republicans in disarray, and it’s revealing just how politically toxic they’d be if elected. Read on for more:

Kevin Nicholson announced he’s running for Wisconsin governor. #AntiChoiceKevin is bad for Wisconsin—supporting, as our new site explains, a total ban on abortion care with no exceptions. His run for governor has sent the Wisconsin GOP spiraling.
antichoicekevin.com

Even before his entering the GOP primary, Nicholson made headlines statewide by slamming Kleefisch (@RebeccaForReal) as “dumb as a bag of hammers” after Kleefisch said Republicans should “hire mercenaries” to help with “ballot harvesting” to win in ‘22.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

Then, at a Republican caucus event, #AntiChoiceKevin put Kleefisch and the Wisconsin Republican “establishment” on blast as “a broken machine,” and threatened to fire the Wisconsin GOP chair should he win the primary.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

Both Nicholson and Kleefisch rely on support from the funders of the Stop the Steal riot: far-right billionaires Richard and Liz Uihlein. But now there’s a problem. Liz is backing #RadicalRebecca Kleefisch—and Dick is backing #AntiChoice Kevin Nicholson.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

The fight between Kleefisch and Nicholson may be brutal and cruel, but there’s one thing that unites the two: standing in front of a Three Percenters flag at a recent GOP event. The Three Percenters are a hate group that advocates for overthrowing democracy.

The Three Percenters are famous not just for their role in the January 6 insurrection—but also for their involvement in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. You’d think this group would be easy to denounce, right? Wrong.
washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04…

Confronted after the event about the flag, Kleefisch and Nicholson refused to comment. Their silence is deafening. Especially given Kleefisch and Nicholson’s penchant for speaking on just about everything else.
wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/high-pro…

For example, Kleefisch called for abolishing the Wisconsin Elections Commission and putting partisan elected officials in charge of elections—so there would be “one throat to choke.” Confronted about the violent rhetoric… she doubled down.
cbs58.com/news/kleefisch…

Violent and divisive rhetoric is not new for #RadicalRebecca. She’s made it a hallmark of her campaign. At this point, it’s clear that it’s not a gaffe—it’s a strategy. Our job is to make it backfire.

However they describe it, opposition to nonpartisan election administration is one thing that brings Kleefisch and Nicholson together. They both want Republicans in charge of deciding who wins elections.

Another thing that unites Kleefisch and Nicholson? They both think the way forward for education is to smash up the Milwaukee school district, shut down neighborhood public schools, and divert taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.
wispolitics.com/2022/wisdems-b…

When Kleefisch and Scott Walker led Wisconsin, they rejected proposal after proposal to invest in public schools, and Wisconsin’s school rankings plunged to #17 in the nation. Under Governor Evers, Wisconsin schools are back in the top 10 in the country.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

These Republicans are anti-school, anti-student, anti-democracy… and anti-each other. They’re in an arms race to see who could do the most damage to Wisconsin if they won. It’s all of our jobs to make sure neither gets anywhere close to power.

Kevin Nicholson said Republicans will lose if they nominate Rebecca Kleefisch. Most GOP operatives seem to think they’ll lose if they nominate Nicholson. Both of these radical, divisive candidates deserve to lose—and by working to reelect Gov Evers, we can ensure that they will.