The Democratic Party of Wisconsin Monday called on the major Republican Senate candidates — Mark Neumann, Tommy Thompson and Eric Hovde — to take a stand on the Violence Against Women Act. The bi-partisan vote in the U.S. Senate split Republicans, with Tea Party extremist Sen. Ron Johnson voting against the bill and 15 Republicans, including John McCain, joining Senate Democrats in voting for re-authorization.
None of the candidates has thus far said whether they support Johnson’s opposition — or whether they would have voted to authorize the act, a bipartisan 18-year-old law that has been credited with a dramatic decrease in reports of sexual and domestic violence.
“It was only Republican men in the Senate who opposed the Violence Against Women Act, refusing to join with their female counterparts and every Democrat. Do all the Republican men running for the Senate nomination stand with Ron Johnson, or do they reject his radical views and stand with Wisconsin women, and their children, who are at the threat of violence?” asked Democratic Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Maggie Brickerman Monday.
“Secretary Thompson, Eric Hovde and Mark Neumann have already lurched to the right on issues important to Wisconsin women, including limiting health care options and opposing pay equity. We hope their collective extremism does not extend to the re-authorization VAWA and those critical protections for women who are victims of violence.”
