Wisconsin GOP endorses candidate who called Sen. Baldwin a terrorist

The primary that will decide the Wisconsin GOP’s nominee to take on Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin will not take place until August. But Republican officials made their choice for who they hope voters will pick — and it is predictably awful.

At the state party convention in Milwaukee this weekend, the Wisconsin GOP endorsed to state Sen. Leah Vukmir, with a speech in her favor delivered by former RNC chair Reince Preibus, who went on to serve as Trump’s chief of staff — until Trump fired him on Twitter.

Priebus praised Vukmir, who garnered 72 percent of the delegate vote at the convention, as a “proven, conservative, Christian, principled Republican.”

Vukmir recently made headlines for a press release in which she said Baldwin is on “Team Terrorists” for being skeptical of Trump CIA nominee and torture overseer Gina Haspel. The release also accused Baldwin of wanting to give terrorists like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed “hugs and safe spaces” — a ridiculous and inflammatory attack.

A longtime far-right lawmaker who has worked with a tea party group, Vukmir also helped derail legislation to protect LGBT teenagers from bullying in school.

But incredibly, Vukmir may still have been the Wisconsin GOP’s most viable candidate.

Her main primary opponent is Kevin Nicholson, a former Marine who has the endorsement of some Republican U.S. senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. Nicholson recently drew outrage for saying he questions the “cognitive thought process” of any veteran who votes for Democrats.

In a public humiliation, Nicholson’s own parents donated the legal maximum to Baldwin’s campaign.

In other words, both major Republican candidates in the Wisconsin Senate primary face scrutiny for their incendiary, politicized comments about national security.

Wisconsin isn’t the only state in which Republican efforts to hold the Senate are threatened by a laughably weak bench of candidates.

In Virginia, for example, even some Republican officials are admitting they do not have “anybody” capable of beating Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine. And in Arizona, recent polls show Rep. Kirsten Sinema beating all three Republicans vying for the nomination to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.

With such poor options to challenge Democrats this November, it’s no wonder Republicans are worried that in addition to losing the House, they might not even be able to hold on to the Senate.