The Wisconsin third congressional district Republican Party voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to endorse former Navy Seal Derrick Van Orden.
Van Orden received 73 percent of the vote during the Wisconsin third district’s caucus meeting.
“I would like to thank our Third District Caucus for their endorsement today. This is the first step in uniting our party and our fellow Western Wisconsin neighbors to bring accountability and our values back to Washington, DC. I will work tirelessly to earn this every day,” Van Orden said in a statement on Saturday.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) endorsed Van Orden for Congress.
Walker said in a statement this week:
After nearly a quarter century of Ron Kind in Congress, it’s time for someone new. Retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden is the right person to fight for the people of western Wisconsin in Congress.”
Congressman Kind pretends to be a moderate but he voted for the partisan impeachment process and consistently votes with liberal Members of Congress. It’s time for someone new. It’s time to send in a Navy SEAL to get the job done right. I am proud to support Derrick Van Orden.”
Duffy said in a statement on Saturday:
Today, I am excited to endorse Derrick Van Orden for Congress. As a retired Navy SEAL, small business owner, and father, Derrick has shown time and again what true proven leadership looks like. Now more than ever we need someone of Derrick’s character, experience and tenacity in Washington. Please join me in supporting Derrick to bring the same Wisconsin values we share back to Washington to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd district.
Former Wisconsin State Sen. Dan Kapanke and Maripat Kruger, the first vice chairwoman of the Wisconsin GOP Chairman, also backed Van Orden’s candidacy.
Krueger said in a statement on Saturday:
A lifelong Republican who served our country for 26 years as a Navy SEAL, Derrick understands what our party stands for now & how those beliefs benefit all the people of the 3. I believe Derrick Van Orden is the only candidate that can beat Ron Kind. Van Orden is the change we need.
Van Orden hopes to oust Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), who has represented Wisconsin’s third district since 1997. President Donald Trump claimed the district by 4.5 percentage points.
The former Navy Seal told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle last week that Kind’s “duplicitous” congressional track record inspired his run for high office.
Van Orden said:
I had no intention of returning to service, this is not how I anticipated the rest of my life to start working from. I firmly believe in term limits. I looked into this guy Ron Kind and we did a lot of messaging stuff when I was in the military and you look at what the person is saying and what they’re actually doing. I just found on so many different levels that he is duplicitous. He plays himself as a hometown boy, just a simple guy that went off to Washington, DC, and that he is a moderate. Well, this guy, Ron Kind, voted with Adam Schiff 97 percent of the time. Jerry Nadler, 96 percent of the time. Nancy Pelosi, 94 percent of the time. With the entire ‘Squad,’ 93.25 percent of the time, his votes matched those folks.
Van Orden told the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito he plans to expose Kind’s unproductive congressional record.
He said, “I don’t lie about people, and I speak super plainly, and I’m not going to lie about Ron Kind, not going to lie about what he has done and what he has not done. He went to less than 30% of our committee meetings for one year, I mean, what is that?”
“What I’m going to do is, I’m going to do something way more devastating, I’m just going to tell them the truth. And it’s biblical. Well, if people know about this guy, I don’t think they’re going to vote for him,” Van Orden added.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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