Primary: Four Republican candidates for U.S. Senate

Updated

MADISON (AP) — The four Republican candidates for U.S. Senate answered questions related to their campaigns and issues in the race. The primary election is Tuesday. The winner will advance to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin in November.

The Republican candidates are state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, hedge fund manager Eric Hovde, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann and former Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Biographical information

Tommy Thompson

-- Party -- Republican

-- Age -- 70

-- Resides -- Madison

-- Education -- Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1963, law degree from University of Wisconsin Law School in 1966.

-- Career -- Served in the state Assembly from 1967 to 1987. Elected governor in 1986 and re-elected three times. Served as President George W. Bush’s health secretary from 2001-2005. He briefly ran for president in 2007 before dropping out. Thompson joined a prominent Washington law firm and worked for a number of health care clients and others since leaving office.

-- Personal -- Married, three children

Eric Hovde

-- Party -- Republican

-- Age -- 48

-- Resides -- Madison

-- Education -- Bachelor’s degrees in economics and international relations from University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986.

-- Career -- Started Hovde Financial in 1987, offering consulting services to saving and loan banks and Hovde Capital Advisors to manage his family’s assets, offering financial advice and running a hedge fund focusing on the financial sector, including community banks. Hovde also serves as chief executive officer for Hovde Properties LLC, which purchases, develops and manages real estate in Wisconsin. Hovde is also a shareholder and board member of ePlus, Inc., a value-added reseller of technology products.

-- Personal -- Married with two daughters

Mark Neumann

-- Party -- Republican

-- Age -- 58

-- Resides -- Nashotah

-- Education -- Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1975, master’s degree in supervision and instructional leadership from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1977.

-- Career -- Taught high school and college math for 10 years. Entered the real estate business in 1980 and continues to run multiple development and home building companies. Elected to U.S. House in 1994 and re-elected in 1996. Ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold in 1998 and against Scott Walker for governor in the 2010 Republican primary. Also operates three religious-based schools in Milwaukee and a fourth nonreligious school in Phoenix.

-- Personal -- Married, three children

Jeff Fitzgerald

-- Party -- Republican

-- Age -- 45

-- Resides -- Horicon

-- Education -- Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1989.

-- Career -- Formerly worked as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. First elected to state Assembly in 2000, re-elected five times. Served as speaker of Assembly since 2011.

-- Personal -- Married, two children

Question

All four candidates are in near agreement on the major issues in the race. What do you see as the biggest difference on an issue or issues between you and your opponents?

Fitzgerald

While my opponents continue to beat the tar off each other with negative attack ads, I’m running a positive campaign focused on the reforms Governor Walker and I enacted here in Wisconsin and my plan to bring that same battletested approach to Washington. Conservative voters know what they are going to get with me. I just delivered on collective bargaining reform, concealed carry, voter ID, and other bills making up the most conservative agenda in a generation. Electability is the other difference between us. My primary opponents have many strengths but also some considerable weaknesses that could cost this Senate seat for the Republicans in November. My only weakness is that I haven’t raised enough money during the primary. That won’t be a problem in the general election.

Hovde

Having spent my entire career in the private sector, I approach challenges with private sector, free-market solutions. I understand broader global financial markets, which have driven so many of our economic problems over the past two decades. As a result of my business and foundation activities around the world, I have traveled to 71 nations. This has given me a deep appreciation of how different countries and cultures operate. This enables me to thoughtfully craft legislation and respond to the geo-political events that the U.S. will face. I am not running to advance or cap-off a political career. I am running to serve our country as a citizen legislator for a term or two, and will make the tough decisions for our country instead of worrying about re-election.

Neumann

I’m the proven conservative. Every candidate is saying they’re a conservative, which is great, but I’m the only candidate rated Wisconsin’s “Most Conservative” Congressional member of the last 30 years. I’m the only candidate who’s actually helped balance the federal budget. I was considered a principal architect of the 1998 balanced budget, the first in decades. And today I’m the only candidate with a plan to solve today’s debt crisis. My plan eliminates or cuts 150 government programs worth trillions of dollars. And I’m the only candidate who two years ago collected 25,000 petitions opposing ObamaCare. I’ve been endorsed by the biggest conservatives because they know I’ll stand-up to Barack Obama. I’m endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life, Sens. Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, and others.

Thompson

Experience. Voters in Wisconsin can trust me to do in Washington what I did in Wisconsin. The situation isn’t that dissimilar, a sputtering economy, a government intent on taxing and regulating rather than encouraging opportunity. In Wisconsin during my term as governor we grew 750,000 new jobs, cutting taxes 91 times and using my veto pen nearly 2,000 times to slash $300 million in spending. I delivered the two largest tax cuts in state history, and am ready to do it again as the state’s next U.S. senator. I’ve always believed it’s individuals who create opportunity, and not government and have a record of getting government out of the way — something those in Washington seemingly just don’t understand. I am the only candidate in this race with the right experience to be Senate-ready day one.

Question

What is your plan for balancing the federal budget?

Fitzgerald

First, we must go back to before the failed stimulus, TARP, and the auto bailouts to restore federal spending to pre-2007 levels and then lock in those cuts with enforceable spending controls. Second, we should pass Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget, reforming entitlements to secure them for future generations. Third, we should pass a balanced budget amendment. Achieving these goals will take the political courage we’ve shown in Wisconsin these past 18 months.

Hovde

Our excessive spending and government growth have driven our country to a 103 percent debt to our total economy, which has placed our nation at risk of a financial collapse. First, we must execute a top-down plan of attack by reducing spending to 2007 levels before the government started spending an additional $1 trillion per year. This spending has not had any meaningful effect on unemployment or economic growth rates. We must also enact a bottoms-up approach by asking three simple questions of each of the 1,300 government agencies: 1) Is the mission of the agency still relevant? 2) Is the role of the agency being duplicated? 3) Is the agency acting in a cost efficient manner? Through these top-down and bottom-up approaches, I believe we can balance the budget.

Neumann

I’m the only candidate with a plan to balance the budget. My plan balances the budget in five years by repealing ObamaCare and cutting trillions. And it doesn’t raise taxes a dime. The plan eliminates or cuts 150 government programs. It would cut the non-defense federal workforce by 15 percent. It’d eliminate Amtrak subsidies. It’d get rid of ridiculous projects like a taxpayer-funded study of the impact cocaine has on the sex habits of the Japanese quail. We need a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Thompson

Nothing speaks more clearly to the failure of current Senate leadership than their unwillingness and inability to pass a budget. Today is the 1,057th day with no federal budget. This is an outrage and an affront to the hardworking Americans who pay for Washington’s out-of-control spending. To start, if the U.S. Senate doesn’t pass a budget by April 30, they don’t get paid. I fully and wholeheartedly endorse Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity and will take all necessary steps to ensure the U.S. Senate takes up the plan. My number one priority as a U.S. senator would be to introduce and push a balanced budget amendment. I’d couple a balanced budget amendment with a cut and cap of federal spending to 18 percent of the GDP as well as cap revenues 18.5 percent of the GDP.

Question

You have said you are opposed to the federal health care overhaul recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and would vote to repeal it. What would you do if Republicans don’t have the majority in the Senate or Obama wins re-election?

Fitzgerald

ObamaCare’s central pillar is morally bankrupt. Government shouldn’t require Americans to purchase products from private companies virtually as a condition of citizenship. It’s bad economic policy discouraging job growth while increasing our debt. I pray we are able to elect a president and Senate that are willing to repeal and replace ObamaCare. If we fail in that goal, I will do what I did as Assembly Minority Leader. I will articulate the ways in which ObamaCare threatens individuals’ liberties and our nation’s economic success to win more voters to our cause, and I’ll fight to elect a majority that will repeal the law. In 2010, I put into place a statewide operation that took 14 seats from Assembly Democrats. I’d work toward the same goal in the U.S. Senate.

Hovde

It is still necessary to try to repeal and replace the president’s trillion-dollar health care mandate with commonsense, free-market reforms that lower the cost of care while putting patients in control of their health care decisions. Short of repealing the law, we must start to eliminate the most egregious parts of ObamaCare by using the power of the purse strings to defund it.

Neumann

When I served in Congress in the 1990s we had divided government with a Democrat in the White House. People said we’d never be able to balance the budget. But I, and fellow conservatives, didn’t quit. When I said we were going to balance the budget the Washington politicians looked at me like I was a naïve country boy from Wisconsin. But I laid out a plan and worked with everyone to get the job done. And when I left Congress in 1998 we had the first balanced budget in decades. That’s the same attitude that’ll get ObamaCare repealed.

Thompson

If Obama wins re-election, and/or the U.S. Senate stays in Democrat control, the job of defeating Obamacare may become easier looking ahead as the quality of care decreases and the cost of care increases and Americans garner first-hand experiences with the failed system they were sold. At a federal level, ballooning deficits driven by Obamacare would provide added pressure upon the president and Congress to disassemble an ill-planned system of health care.

Question

What specifically would you do in the Senate to improve the country’s economy?

Fitzgerald

I would advocate for a simpler flatter tax system with individual rates of 10 percent and 25 percent, a corporate rate of 25 percent, and fewer deductions and loopholes. A simpler system would immediately improve the competitiveness of small businesses and create the certainty needed to bring more investment capital to the market. Next I would take on our regulatory system, as Governor Walker and I did in Wisconsin last year. Far too many of Washington’s regulations are set up to benefit crony capitalists to the detriment of entrepreneurs. I would require a cost-benefit analysis of new regulations, particularly those being issued by the EPA, and mandate congressional approval for those shown to have a significant economic impact. I’d call for an audit and overhaul of the Federal Reserve, and would repeal Dodd-Frank.

Hovde

It is critical to eliminate our government deficits that are putting our country on the path of a financial collapse. As we cut government spending, we must create pro-growth economic policies to get our private sector expanding. Three decisive actions can be taken; reform and simplify our tax code and lower our 35 percent corporate tax rate, which is the highest in the world. Further, to allow our small and medium businesses to compete, we need to eliminate corporate tax loopholes and welfare. It is critical to cut excessive regulations that now total 81,000 pages. This is choking America’s job creators and costing an estimated $1.8 trillion per year. Passing these pro-growth policies and balancing the budget will provide job-creators with the confidence and certainty to start hiring again.

Neumann

There are two things I would do immediately. I would cast my vote to repeal ObamaCare and I would work with Ron Johnson and my other colleagues in the Senate to balance the budget. Every day I speak to Wisconsin business owners and I look at the nationwide data and it all tells the same story. Businesses are afraid to hire because they are unsure about the economy, taxes, the deficit and that they can’t predict how much ObamaCare is going to hit them. Getting the budget balanced will alleviate much of the stress that burdens our economy. We will be able to pay down the national debt and our nation’s credit rating will improve. All these things business owners see as signals of a stable hiring environment.

Thompson

I believe we can restore America by rebuilding our economy through bold reforms, innovative solutions and commonsense conservative leadership. RESTORE America is a comprehensive plan to get America back on track through reforming entitlements, simplifying taxes, and overturning regulatory excess. I have announced my RESTORE policy initiatives that tackle our country’s most pressing economic issues, including: tackling our burgeoning debt through entitlement and budget reform; repealing Obamacare and replacing it with market-based solutions; boosting our economy through tax simplification and reduction; reforming our budget process and cutting wasteful spending, such as excessive federal worker pay; and enacting a pro-growth energy policy

Question

What would be the first bill you would introduce in the Senate?

Fitzgerald

Runaway entitlement spending is the policy crisis of our time. By 2045, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and ObamaCare will eat up ALL federal revenues leaving not a penny for defense, education, infrastructure, or anything else. I would make entitlement reforms along the lines of what Paul Ryan has been offering a priority. Another step I would take right out of the gate would be to enact economic reforms to jump start the economy through a simpler, flatter tax code and a reduction in the regulatory burdens placed on small businesses. Also, I would really like to repeal the ridiculous light bulb ban.

Hovde

In order to spur growth and put our economy back on the road to recovery, I would introduce my tax plan. America has the highest corporate tax rate in the world at 35 percent. This causes companies to ship investment and jobs overseas. Worse, our tax code is littered with corporate welfare to special interests that distorts our economy. The individual tax code is hopelessly complicated. It is estimated that Americans spend between $160 billion and $300 billion on tax preparation each year. For these reasons, I would include lowering the corporate tax rate to 25 percent and eliminating all corporate welfare. I would also create two individual brackets of 10 percent and 25 percent, while eliminating many loopholes and deductions. By creating a competitive and simplified tax code, we will create American jobs and improve the financial position of American families.

Neumann

If I were in the senate today the first bill I’d introduce would be to repeal ObamaCare. That’s the first step towards stopping Barack Obama and solving America’s debt crisis.

Thompson

The first bill I would introduce as Wisconsin’s next senator is a balanced budget amendment. America is in a serious fiscal crisis that can’t be ignored. Our country is struggling with stubborn unemployment, record home foreclosures and business bankruptcies. The national debt has spiked to more than $15 trillion, growing by 40 percent since Barack Obama became president. Our nation was built on a simple promise — that the next generation will be better off than today’s. Today, that promise of a more prosperous and secure tomorrow is in serious jeopardy. We must begin by getting our country’s fiscal house in order starting with a balanced budget amendment, and that means spending no more than we bring in, like families across our country are forced to do on any given day.

Question

What, if anything, should be done to change the way the federal government subsidizes dairy farmers?

Fitzgerald

The farm bill spends almost $1 trillion over the next decade, far too much. Worse yet, it’s riddled with handouts for the politically connected. The largest 10 percent of recipients receive more than two-thirds of the subsidies. This distorts the markets benefiting mega-agribusinesses to the detriment of Wisconsin’s family dairy farmers. The greater scandal is the Obama Administration’s use of the farm bill to dramatically expand the welfare state. A decade ago, government spent $20 billion a year on food stamps. That has grown to almost $80 billion, the lion’s share of the $100 billion a year farm bill. Food stamps should exist as a safety net for those in a time of need but the administration is sadly making them a way of life for more than 46 million Americans.

Hovde

We need to reduce the amount of subsidies in agriculture. Because of our federal government’s debt problems, it is not in a position to continue to provide massive farm subsidies. Subsidies distort our free market system. Fortunately, with commodity prices having risen tremendously, including food prices, it is a perfect time to reduce farm subsidies.

Neumann

I would eliminate federal subsidies.

Thompson

I own and operate the working family farm in Elroy, a great source of pride for many generations. The current farm bill has been extended through 2012, and includes crop insurance programs, food stamp programs and subsidies. My belief is that the intent of the farm bill has been lost through a myriad of programs, while likely well-intended, don’t address the basic needs of assisting family farmers in their times of greatest need-rather than subsidizing large corporate farming operations. Our country is at a fiscal crossroads, government-as-usual is no longer acceptable, and we must re-examine the intent of our programs across the board to make sure they are best-addressing needs.

Question

What should be the U.S.'s exit strategy for the war in Afghanistan?

Fitzgerald

Whatever, our exit strategy from Afghanistan becomes, it is vital that the U.S. achieves two goals in the process. First, we mustn’t let Afghanistan become a terrorist safe haven. To do this we must maintain a regional military presence, better on-the-ground intelligence than we have in the past, and potent rapid response capabilities to take out threats to America and our allies as they develop. Second, we can’t let the power vacuum created in the wake of our withdrawal destabilize Pakistan putting its nuclear arsenal in jeopardy or leading to a humanitarian and strategic crisis. Our Pakistani policy must make better use of the carrot, U.S. direct aid and the stick, our relationship with Pakistan’s archrival India to achieve our goals and prevent the destabilization of the region.

Hovde

While I was in strong support of striking Afghanistan after the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, I believe the U.S. should immediately end combat operations in Afghanistan. We should no longer place our young men and women at risk, nor do we have the treasure that is required of this sustained offensive. History has proven that nation-building in Afghanistan is near-impossible, and would require an investment in time, resources, and lives, that the U.S. cannot afford. I fully support keeping strike forces in-country outside of harm’s way or at bases nearby in order to attack if needed, but I do not believe that America should continue to engage in full-scale combat operations.

Neumann

Nothing is more important than protecting the lives of the men and women that fight for our freedoms day in and day out. That’s why before we even go into any military conflict we need to: identify why we are acting; define the mission, and; identify goals for that mission. This president has failed at all three. Why does this president think we should still be there? What is our mission and how will we know when we have accomplished it. To me, the first question isn’t how do we get out of Afghanistan, it’s why are we there? And how do we leave in a way that the country does not instantly become a haven for Islamic terrorists who threaten our security?

Thompson

Make no mistake, our own security at home depends on denying Al Qaeda and other terrorists a safe haven to operate, and our efforts must include full-cooperation from countries with an unfortunate history of providing a base of operations for such threats like Afghanistan. The engagement in Afghanistan is an unfortunate necessity demanding careful considerations for the safety of both our Armed Forces and citizens. We must continue to press leadership within the country to take a stronger role in self-governance, void of corruption and immune to terrorist threats. As long as we remain committed to the battle in Afghanistan, we must equip our soldiers with the best possible equipment, allowing them the best possible opportunity to return to safely return to their families.