David Michael Miller
Last week, Gov. Scott Walker signed a lot of bills. He put out a really silly tweet about it; Twitter had a lot of fun lampooning said tweet.
Among the bills Walker signed into law is one that bars a state lawmaker from serving simultaneously as a county executive. Only one county executive in Wisconsin is running for a seat in the Legislature — Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, who happens to be a Democrat. Who also happens to be running for the Republicans’ most vulnerable Senate seat.
When conveniently timed bills like this are announced, Republican leaders usually don’t admit that they happen to give them an advantage in the next election. But this time, several legislative leaders, including the bill’s author, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, admitted the bill was written specifically because of Harris’s candidacy.
Now, it is law. But Harris says he is staying in the race. Barring some national turbulence, like an unexpected Republican sweep across the nation in November, Harris is the favorite to win the race. His county executive seat is up for re-election in March. If Harris wins a Senate seat and resigns his old post, an interim replacement would only serve a few months.
I mean, the TV ad writes itself:
“I’m Mark Harris and I’ve never liked bullies. So I wasn’t happy when I learned that Scott Walker and the Legislature want to bully me out of the state Senate race. They passed a law to try to force me out of the race. The folks in Madison don’t have the time to help our neighbors find a job but they have the time to pass a law telling you who you can and can’t vote for.
“Well, I don’t back down from a challenge. As county executive, I’ve balanced budgets and boosted infrastructure investment. And I’ll keep working for our community as your state senator. Join me on Nov. 8th and let them know we won’t be bullied around.”
By trying to push him out of the race, Walker and Fitzgerald look scared of Harris. When you appear scared of your opponent, you give them strength, you give them legitimacy. The guy who titled his book Unintimidated, is intimidated by a guy running for something as nominally powerful as a minority party Senate seat. There’s real power and there is perceived power. Perceived power is sometimes just as important as real power. Walker just gave Harris a ton of perceived power.
This is a tremendous boost for Harris’s political ambitions. Any damage he sustained from being routed by Glenn Grothman in the 2014 House race is washed away, particularly because Grothman was always favored to win. Harris will walk into the Senate with clout. He’ll even be in a good position to make a run for the Democratic nomination for governor, something he wanted to do in the last cycle before party leaders rallied around Mary Burke.
Somewhere in that pile of bills Walker proudly signed, he might have inadvertently empowered his next opponent.
