Jon Richards, Susan Happ and Ismael Ozanne
It was a tough campaign, but this morning, the three Democratic candidates for attorney general put that behind them and came together to let the state know that all of them are firmly backing nominee Susan Happ in her upcoming battle with the GOP candidate, Brad Schimel.
Jefferson County DA Happ--who won 52% of the vote on Tuesday, leaping past Milwaukee state Rep. Jon Richards and Dane Co. DA Ismael Ozanne--said she was focused on providing a positive campaign focused on protecting our rights, not taking them away.
"People are tired of the divisiveness," Happ told the Shepherd. "They're tired of the haves and have-nots, the people who are in power and in control and the regular folks. I want to get us back on track. As I said throughout the campaign, it really is about protection. Protecting our communities and our kids, protecting our environment and our consumers and most importantly protecting our rights and our values. We've seen a lot of litigation that is directly attacking our rights. Our right to vote, our right to marry the person we love, the right to make our own health care decisions."
And how personal is the Republicans' attack on our rights?
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"We're having conversations about birth control," Happ said with disbelief. "It's 2014!"
Happ also fielded questions about gun violence, and reaffirmed her support for background checks on gun purchases, something Richards had championed in the Legislature.
Happ's an interesting addition to the Dems' statewide ticket. She's a rare Democrat who has won election--and re-election--in a Republican county, and she owns a gun and rides a Harley. She's campaigned on her crossover appeal and now she's got a chance to prove it.
No matter what, Democrats have two strong women running statewide campaigns--Happ and Mary Burke, the gubernatorial nominee. Republicans may not want to talk about some of the radical anti-women votes they took in lock step with party bosses--votes not only attacking women's health choices, but votes rolling back equal pay protections and the safety net that women disproportionately rely on. Happ and Burke will no doubt be too happy to remind voters of just what we've lost in the past four years.
