http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/13/conservative-combat-vet-seeks-gop-senate-nomination-in-wisconsin/
MADISON, Wis. — The outcome of a hotly-contested “insider versus outsider” Republican primary in Wisconsin could potentially decide which party holds the Senate after November.
The outsider is Kevin Nicholson — a young, decorated veteran-turned-businessman who walked away from the Democratic Party during his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. The insider is state lawmaker Leah Vukmir — a nurse-turned politician with almost sixteen years in the Wisconsin legislature. The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin in what Democrats are treating as a vulnerable seat this year. Baldwin has a large war chest, but her attempt to moderate away from her hyper-liberal, Madison-centric former congressional district has been marred by several controversies that offer the eventual GOP opponent plenty of ammunition.
Republicans tried to seize this seat in 2012 when then-Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl retired. As it turned out, a bad year for Republicans nationally compounded by an aging GOP nominee who had spent his entire adult life in elected or appointed office gave Baldwin the opening she needed.
Nicholson knows this history, and so his biography as a problem-solving businessman and veteran who is running for office for the first time represents a different formulate for winning the seat. Politico — hardly a friend of conservatives — touted him as a Republican “dream candidate” with one small caveat: he used to be a Democrat.
His Democratic past isn’t something Nicholson r