Grothman Would Have Larger Audience For His Firebrand Rhetoric In Congress

If current results hold in the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District, state Sen. Glenn Grothman could become a leader of the state’s Republican party, thereby getting a much bigger stage for his controversial political rhetoric.

As a senator representing West Bend in the very conservative Washington County, Grothman has gained a reputation for speaking his mind, on everything from Kwanzaa (which he has declared was “built on a very racist, Marxist agenda”) to Department of Revenue agents (whom he has described as “unnecessarily mean and heartless”).

Grothman has come down on protestors, saying: “Normal people don’t sit cross-legged, pounding on drums all the time or carrying signs.”

He’s also said that government programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit amount to welfare and promote single motherhood, preventing women from getting married.

If Grothman went to Washington, he’d be one of just eight U.S. Representatives from Wisconsin, giving him much more prominence and a bigger bully pulpit. State Democratic Party spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said that it’s fitting because the state Republican Party is now in step with Grothman’s politics.

“Things that he’s wanted to pass for years, they’re passing,” she said. “Women are subjected to forced ultrasounds, women have a harder time making their own health care decisions. These are ideas of Glenn Grothman’s that are ideas of the Republican Party.”

There may yet be a recount in the 6th Congressional District GOP primary, where the latest tally shows Grothman beating fellow state Sen. Joe Leibham by just 214 votes.

Even if Grothman wins the primary, he’d still have to defeat Democratic Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris in the general election. But given the conservative makeup of the new 6th Congressional District, the race would be Grothman’s to lose.