For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Contact: Brad Bainum, bradb@wisdems.org
MADISON — This week, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, a right-wing group that supported alleged serial sexual predator Roy Moore during his failed U.S. Senate campaign in Alabama, cropped up in Wisconsin’s own U.S. Senate race — this time, in support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson.
Yes, months after Moore’s loss in Alabama’s December U.S. Senate election, Roy Moore-connected groups and individuals are still flocking to support Kevin Nicholson — and Nicholson is apparently feeling the love, tweeting his thanks at the group’s chair, who previously praised Moore as “a strong conservative.”
Here’s a rundown of Kevin Nicholson’s Roy Moore ties:
- Dick Uihlein, Nicholson and Moore’s top megadonor — Most prominently, Nicholson and Moore share a top megadonor: Illinois billionaire Dick Uihlein. In November, Uihlein was exposed as the top donor to a super PAC supporting Moore‘s candidacy in Alabama. Uihlein had at the time already donated millions to groups supporting Nicholson — not to mention $5,400 to Nicholson’s own campaign — but Nicholson nevertheless declined to disavow Uihlein and reject his dirty money. And in return, Uihlein has continued to shower Nicholson with campaign cash: since the start of 2017, Uihlein has distributed more than $17 million across 10 groups supporting Nicholson’s campaign.
- Steve Bannon, Nicholson’s top out-of-state backer and Moore’s “master strategist” — When Kevin Nicholson first received Steve Bannon’s endorsement in October 2017, he bragged about it on Twitter. Then, Nicholson’s campaign ran ads touting Bannon‘s support. In the intervening months, Nicholson has reverted to a “Steve Bannon? Never heard of the guy” routine with respect to Bannon, but there was a time in the not-too-distant past when Nicholson was infatuated with the man Roy Moore dubbed his “master strategist.”
- Breitbart — The right-wing, white nationalist website that ran a malicious shadow campaign to discredit Roy Moore’s accusers has also run puff pieces boosting Nicholson and attacking his Republican primary opponent. And Nicholson and Moore have the joint — and highly dubious — honor of being named members of Breitbart’s “League of Extraordinary Candidates.”
- Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund — And then there’s Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, funded by more $3 million from — who else? — Dick Uihlein. The group endorsed Roy Moore in September 2017 — the same month that Uihlein gave the group $1,000,000. And now, seven months later, they’re declaring for another Uihlein candidate, Kevin Nicholson, in Wisconsin’s GOP U.S. Senate primary. Yes, the group’s chair, who once dubbed alleged child predator Roy Moore “a strong conservative” is now heralding Wisconsin’s own Kevin Nicholson as a the “clear” choice for conservatives. Who could have seen that coming?
