Leah Vukmir

Early life and education

Vukmir was born Leah Papachristou in Milwaukee on April 26, 1958, the daughter of immigrants from Greece. She graduated from Brookfield East High School in Brookfield, Wisconsin in 1976. She worked as a registered nurse and a pediatric nurse practitioner.

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.

Vukmir announced on June 25, 2009, that she was challenging incumbent Democratic State Senator Jim Sullivan for the 5th district seat in 2010. 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. On November 2, 2010, Vukmir defeated Sullivan for reelection. 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. 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.

During Republican-led redistricting efforts after 2010, email communications showed that Vukmir called for redistricting changes that aided her politically (gerrymandering), such as making her district more Republican. At one point, she wrote, "This is such a big task. So glad we are in control!"

Vukmir is on the board of directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), 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. 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.

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."

2018 U.S. Senate election

Main article: 2018 United States Senate election in Wisconsin

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

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.

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.

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

Electoral history

Personal life

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

References

References

1. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. ''[https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/blue_book/2009_2010/200_biographies.pdf State of Wisconsin 2009-2010 Blue Book]''. Madison: Wisconsin Legislature Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, 2009, p. 29.
2. (March 6, 2019). "Former Wisconsin legislator Leah Vukmir joins conservative National Taxpayers Union". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
3. "Senator Leah Vukmir". Wisconsin State Legislature.
4. Matt Hrodey. (September 22, 2016). "How Leah Vukmir Built a Fortified Position for Herself in the State's Conservative Battleground".
5. 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.Ricardo Torres, [https://journaltimes.com/news/local/vukmir-pleads-her-case-to-the-voters/article_e118b106-a574-5e2d-9593-c3f9a9df287c.html Vukmir pleads her case to the voters], ''Journal Times'' (August 3, 2018).
6. "2017 Wisconsin State Representatives".
7. link. (2011-07-18)
8. Maley, Mark. (August 25, 2010). "Vukmir, Sullivan getting cash from everywhere". Wauwautosa Now.
9. "Vukmir Defeats Incumbent State Sen. Sullivan - Milwaukee News Story - WISN Milwaukee".
10. (December 15, 2009). "Sides square off in state Legislature over medical marijuana". Winona Daily News.
11. (December 15, 2009). "Wisconsin politician accuses medical marijuana supporters of secret agenda". Duluth News Tribune.
12. (August 2012). "Documents cast new light on redistricting process, reveal partisan motivations {{!}} Local Government {{!}} madison.com".
13. "Board of Directors". American Legislative Exchange Council.
14. Marley, Patrick. (September 12, 2013). "Sen. Leah Vukmir tries to sidestep open records suit". [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]].
15. Stein, Jason. (March 28, 2014). "State to pay $15,000 in settlement of suit against Vukmir". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
16. (December 7, 2017). "John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walker gathered millions of pages of records from Republicans". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
17. (December 10, 2017). "State Sen Leah Vukmir is 'certain' the collection of her private messages was 'politically motivated'". Capital Times.
18. (December 10, 2017). "An Attack on My Privacy in Wisconsin's Political War". Wall Street Journal.
19. Glabuer, Bill. (September 7, 2017). "Leah Vukmir enters Republican U.S. Senate race in bid to unseat Democrat Tammy Baldwin". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
20. 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.
21. Bauer, Scott. (May 12, 2018). "Wisconsin GOP Senate Candidate Vukmir Wins Party Endorsement". US News.
22. Greenwood, Max. (August 14, 2018). "Establishment-backed Vukmir wins Wisconsin GOP Senate primary". [[The Hill (newspaper).
23. 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.
24. "Tammy Baldwin's win - the largest in a top race in Wisconsin in 12 years - offers road map for 2020".
25. "Election results: Wisconsin and Milwaukee-area fall primary election". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
26. [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk2003 Barish, Lawrence S., ed. ''State of Wisconsin 2003-2004 Blue Book'' Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 2003; p. 29]