Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy
Thompson on Monday said he would join the race for the Senate seat
being vacated by Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl.
“I filed my incorporation documents
today which allows me to build my organization, raise money so I can
go out there and tell the story,” Thompson said on WTMJ-AM 620
radio, the Chicago
Tribune reported.
Thompson, who as a four-term governor
carries high name recognition in Wisconsin, joins two announced
candidates for the GOP nomination: former Rep. Mark Neumann and
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald.
Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin is the
first and so far only Democrat to formally declare her candidacy for
the seat.
The openly gay Baldwin is a perennial
favorite in her district and has never lost a race. However, she
remains untested in a statewide election. If elected, she would
become the first openly gay U.S. senator.
Baldwin has already said her candidacy
would not be about her sexual orientation.
“I have always since the beginning of
all my adult life been out and honest about my sexual orientation,
and I think that voters appreciate the values of honesty and expect
integrity in their elected officials.”
The race, Baldwin added, “won't be
about me.”
Thompson's record on gay rights
includes him saying in 2008 that he believes businesses should have
the right to fire gay employees. The next day during an appearance
on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, he profusely denied he
believes in discrimination in the workplace based on sexual
orientation, explaining that he was not feeling well and did not
answer the question correctly.