ICYMI: Ron Kind is the “Biggest Tease in Wisconsin Politics”

[Madison, WI] – In case you missed it, Rep. Ron Kind has been coined the “biggest tease in Wisconsin politics” due to his 20-year history of talking about running for higher office but failing to follow through.

Ron Kind’s failure to deliver, however, is par for the course. The entirety of Kind’s career has been one big bait-and-switch, from his efforts to get attention by broadcasting that he is considering running for higher office, to his claims to be bipartisan while simultaneously voting with Nancy Pelosi 96 percent of the time. The only thing consistent about Ron Kind is his failure to keep promises to Wisconsin voters.

Fortunately for Wisconsinites, they now have an alternative in Derrick Van Orden, who isn’t a career politician, isn’t bought and paid for by the DC special interests and will actually work on behalf of Americans in Wisconsin’s third congressional district.

Read more from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel here or find excerpts below.

Bice: For two decades, U.S. Rep. Kind has been all talk but no action on running for higher office
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Daniel Bice
April 6, 2021

For more than two decades now, Kind has talked about running for higher office and then not followed through.

The first time this happened was in 2000 when the Wisconsin Democrat said he was “taking a real hard look at” running for governor in less than two years.

He decided not to run.

Now, Kind is kicking around the idea of running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate next year, saying he was “taking a look” at the idea.

Sound familiar?

“Nine hundred times the bridesmaid and never the bride,” joked one prominent Wisconsin Democrat.

An exaggeration, of course. But it is true that Kind has broached the idea of running for statewide office — four times for governor and three for U.S. Senate — on a total of seven occasions in the past 21 years.

Instead of taking the risk, however, the moderate Democrat has always chosen to stay in his relatively safe congressional seat representing the La Crosse area since 1997, for 13 terms in office.

Will this time be different?

Kind and his staff preferred not to engage on the topic. They recycled a statement saying the guy is really busy in Washington, D.C., right now.

[…]

No political insider on either side of the aisle is taking Kind’s most recent talk seriously.

He has become the Chicken Little of Wisconsin politics. No one trusts what he says about his political future.

“It’s just not going to happen,” said one veteran Democratic campaign consultant.

[…]

Kind had his toughest race in a decade in 2020, and the Republican-controlled Legislature will soon be redrawing district lines for congressional seats, a matter that could end up in court. As a result, he might not want to run for reelection.

[…]

All Kind has done is talk.

But that is something he is good at, keeping his name circulating in the conversation about various political contests.

“Every politician likes to be loved,” said Graul, the GOP campaign consultant.

And Kind seems to need it every election cycle.