Leah Vukmir

Leah Vukmir (née Papachristou; born April 26, 1958) is an American politician and nurse who served as a member of the Wisconsin Senate. A Republican, she represented Wisconsin's 5th District. She previously served in the Wisconsin Assembly.[1] Vukmir was the Republican nominee in the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Wisconsin, running unsuccessfully against incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin. In March 2019, Vukmir became vice president of state affairs at the National Taxpayers Union.[2]

Leah Vukmir
Member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 5th district
In office January 3, 2011 – January 7, 2019
Preceded by	Jim Sullivan
Succeeded by	Dale P. Kooyenga
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 14th district
In office November 5, 2002 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Scott Walker
Succeeded by	Dale P. Kooyenga
Personal details
Born	Leah Papachristou April 26, 1958 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	George Vukmir
Children	2
Education	Marquette University (BSN) University of Wisconsin–Madison (MSN)
Website	Official website

Early life and education

Vukmir was born Leah Papachristou in Milwaukee on April 26, 1958,[3] the daughter of immigrants from Greece.[4] She graduated from Brookfield East High School in Brookfield, Wisconsin in 1976.[3] Vukmir received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Marquette University in 1980, and a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1983.[5] She worked as a registered nurse and a pediatric nurse practitioner.[4]

Career

Wisconsin legislature

Vukmir was first elected in November 2002, succeeding Scott Walker (R), who was elected in a special election as Milwaukee County Executive. She was the ranking member of the Assembly's Committee on Health and Health Care Reform. She was also a member of the committees on Public Health, Education Reform, Education and Criminal Justice.[6]

Vukmir announced on June 25, 2009, that she was challenging incumbent Democratic State Senator Jim Sullivan for the 5th district seat in 2010.[7] The race attracted large amounts of out-of-state campaign contributions, with 7% of Sullivan's donors and 14% of Vukmir's donors being residents of Wauwatosa.[8] On November 2, 2010, Vukmir defeated Sullivan for reelection.[9] She was succeeded in her Assembly seat by fellow Republican Dale Kooyenga.

Vukmir opposes medical marijuana and has said that there is no medical reason to use it.[10] At a public hearing in 2009, she was booed after accusing fellow legislators Jon Erpenbach and Mark Pocan of using dying cancer patients to further a secret agenda of legalization.[11]

Vukmir is on the Board of Directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),[12] a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. In June 2013, the Center for Media and Democracy sued Vukmir, contending she had violated Wisconsin's open records law by not turning over records related to her involvement with ALEC. Vukmir responded by claiming she could not be sued while in office.[13] The lawsuit was settled in 2014, with the state of Wisconsin agreeing to pay $15,000 and Vukmir turning over e-mails from her personal Yahoo! account that she said she had withheld due to technical issues.[14]

In December 2017, the Wisconsin Department of Justice released a report criticizing a secret state investigation into Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. During the course of the investigation, the state had seized the personal emails of 35 Republican lawmakers, including Vukmir. Included among the emails was correspondence between Vukmir and her daughter that included private medical information. Some of the emails were placed into a folder on state computers marked "opposition research." Vukmir wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal criticizing the investigation, which she said was politically motivated and "un-American."[15][16][17]

2018 U.S. Senate election

On September 7, 2017, Vukmir announced that she would seek the 2018 Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.[18]

During the primary campaign, Vukmir ran ads in which she attempted to link Baldwin with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the September 11 attacks, calling them "Team Terrorists". PolitiFact rated the claims as "Pants on Fire" wrong.[19]

On May 12, 2018, Vukmir secured the endorsement of the Wisconsin Republican Party at the state convention with 73 percent of the vote, besting former Marine Kevin Nicholson. Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus praised what he termed Vukmir's proven track record of advancing a conservative agenda.[20]

Vukmir won the Republican primary election on August 14, 2018[21] and was afterwards endorsed by President Donald Trump.[22] She lost to incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin in the general election by eleven percentage points on November 6, 2018.[23]

Electoral history

Wisconsin 5th Senate District election 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Leah Vukmir	36,852	52.15
	Democratic	Jim Sullivan (incumbent)	33,702	47.69

Wisconsin 5th Senate District election 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Leah Vukmir	55,869	73.6	+21.45
	Libertarian	Wendy Friedrich	20,020	26.4

Republican U.S. Senate Primary Election, 2018[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Leah Vukmir	217,023	48.9%
	Republican	Kevin Nicholson	190,840	43.0%
	Republican	George Lucia	18,803	4.2%
	Republican	Griffin Jones	8,764	2.0%
	Republican	Charles Barman	7,937	1.8%
Total votes			443,367	100%

2018 United States Senate election, Wisconsin

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Tammy Baldwin	1,471,240	55.43%
	Republican	Leah Vukmir	1,182,929	44.57%
Majority
Turnout

Personal life

Vukmir attends Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa.[4] She was at one time an active speedskater: a member of the West Allis Speedskating Club and an Amateur Speedskating Union referee.[25]

References

1. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. State of Wisconsin 2009-2010 Blue Book. Madison: Wisconsin Legislature Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, 2009, p. 29.
2. Glauber, Bill (March 6, 2019). "Former Wisconsin legislator Leah Vukmir joins conservative National Taxpayers Union". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
3. "Senator Leah Vukmir". Wisconsin State Legislature. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
4. Matt Hrodey (September 22, 2016). "How Leah Vukmir Built a Fortified Position for Herself in the State's Conservative Battleground". Milwaukee Magazine.
5. Ricardo Torres, Vukmir pleads her case to the voters, Journal Times (August 3, 2018).
6. "2017 Wisconsin State Representatives". www.legis.state.wi.us. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
7. Wispolitics Vukmir Announces Run Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
8. Maley, Mark (August 25, 2010). "Vukmir, Sullivan getting cash from everywhere". Wauwautosa Now. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-11-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Sides square off in state Legislature over medical marijuana". Winona Daily News. December 15, 2009.
11. "Wisconsin politician accuses medical marijuana supporters of secret agenda". Duluth News Tribune. December 15, 2009. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012.
12. "Board of Directors". American Legislative Exchange Council. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
13. Marley, Patrick; Jason Stein (September 12, 2013). "Sen. Leah Vukmir tries to sidestep open records suit". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
14. Stein, Jason (March 28, 2014). "State to pay $15,000 in settlement of suit against Vukmir". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
15. Marley, Patrick; Stein, Jason (December 7, 2017). "John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walker gathered millions of pages of records from Republicans". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
16. Pasque, Lisa Speckhard (December 10, 2017). "State Sen Leah Vukmir is 'certain' the collection of her private messages was 'politically motivated'". Capital Times. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
17. Vukmir, Leah (December 10, 2017). "An Attack on My Privacy in Wisconsin's Political War". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
18. Glabuer, Bill (September 7, 2017). "Leah Vukmir enters Republican U.S. Senate race in bid to unseat Democrat Tammy Baldwin". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
19. Kertscher, Tom (May 18, 2018). "Pants on Fire for attack that, without evidence, links U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin with 9/11 mastermind". politifact.com.
20. Bauer, Scott (May 12, 2018). "Wisconsin GOP Senate Candidate Vukmir Wins Party Endorsement". US News.
21. Greenwood, Max (August 14, 2018). "Establishment-backed Vukmir wins Wisconsin GOP Senate primary". The Hill.
22. Donald J. Trump. "Congratulations to Leah Vukmir of Wisconsin on your great win last night. You beat a very tough and good competitor and will make a fantastic Senator after winning in November against someone who has done very little. You have my complete and total Endorsement!". Twitter.
23. Glauber, Bill. "Tammy Baldwin's win - the largest in a top race in Wisconsin in 12 years - offers road map for 2020". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
24. "Election results: Wisconsin and Milwaukee-area fall primary election". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
25. Barish, Lawrence S., ed. State of Wisconsin 2003-2004 Blue Book Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 2003; p. 29

External links

• Profile, committees and bills at the Wisconsin State Legislature
• Leah Vukmir official campaign site
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Appearances on C-SPAN