Former Wisconsin Rep. Mark Neumann on
Monday announced he'll run for the U.S. Senate in 2012 as a
Republican, setting up a possible match-up between openly lesbian
Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin and a stridently anti-gay competitor.
Neumann, who lost a bid for the state's
GOP gubernatorial nomination to Governor Scott Walker last year, made
his announcement on the Charlie Sykes radio show.
The two-term former congressman told
his host that he believed he would face Baldwin, who has yet to
formally declare her candidacy, in the general election: “I
believe our opponent is Tammy Baldwin and I believe it is essential
that we bring Tammy Baldwin's record to the forefront.”
Writing
at GayPolitics.com, Denis Dison of the Victory Fund reminds us of
Neumann's anti-gay rhetoric.
In 1996, Neumann said, “If I were
elected God for a day, homosexuality wouldn't be permitted.” Four
years later, during an interview with The New York Times, he
added: “The part about me being God for a day is the problem with
that. I'm not God, don't intend to be and hope I never have that
much power. … I regret talking about the fact that I would be God.”
He's also said being openly gay is
“inappropriate.”
“If somebody walks in to me and says,
'I'm a gay person, I want a job in your office,' I would say that's
inappropriate, and they wouldn't be hired because that would mean
they are promoting their agenda.”
If elected, Baldwin would become the
Senate's first openly gay member.