Scott Walker's campaign baffles Wisconsin voters who mistake him for more famous namesake

Sep 11, 2024 11:03 PM - 742 words

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (AP) — Scott Walker loves unions, thinks women should have the right to an abortion and wants to expand health care coverage.

If you're confused, get in line.

This Scott Walker isn't the former Wisconsin governor whose battles with teachers and other public unions made him one of the most polarizing political figures in the battleground state's recent history. That was Scott Kevin Walker. This is Scott Abbot Walker, a Democratic country doctor running for the state Legislature.

"Sometimes you get people who are openly hostile," Walker said of voter reactions when he introduces himself. "Sometimes they're closing the door as I say my name because they're unhappy.”

Walker is running against 14-year Republican incumbent Travis Tranel in the 49th Assembly District, which covers a swath of rolling farm country across Grant and Crawford counties in Wisconsin’s far southwestern corner. The district’s largest municipality is Platteville, a city of about 11,000 people whose biggest claim to fame is a small state university.

Walker goes into November as a distinct underdog in the decidedly red district. Former President Donald Trump won it in both 2016 and 2020 and Tranel has held the Assembly seat since 2011.

Grant County Democratic Party Chair Joyce Bos and Walker the candidate discussed how to approach the name thing when he got into the race. They briefly considered branding him “Dr. Scott” or “Dr. Walker" but ultimately decided to let it ride. Walker does wear a button letting people know he's “the other Scott Walker," though.

“It’s the elephant in the room,” Scott Abbot Walker said of his name. “But going door-to-door, it’s an advantage. I never have to say my name twice.”

Tranel downplayed his opponent's famous moniker, saying voters are more concerned about inflation. He said people should be worried about Walker's “socialist polices” and criminal background.

Walker the candidate was fined $700 in 2018 after he was charged with pointing a shotgun at his housekeeper. According to court documents, the housekeeper hadn’t been paid and showed up at Walker’s house demanding property as compensation. Walker pointed the gun at her when she refused to leave.

He told The Associated Press that he was depressed at the time and going through bankruptcy. He said he didn’t have a phone to call the police when the woman refused to leave, so he pointed his shotgun at her car tire. He insisted he never pointed the gun at her.

The differences between the two Walkers couldn’t be starker.

The former governor is 56 years old with dark hair, doesn’t have a college degree and currently serves as president of Young America's Foundation, an organization that supports young conservatives. As governor, he stripped public unions of their bargaining rights in early 2011, prompting weeks of protests at the state Capitol and an unsuccessful recall attempt. Democrat Tony Evers eventually defeated him in 2018.

Asked through a spokesman for comment on the candidate Walker sharing his name name, the former governor responded with a statement saying Tranel “is the real deal” and he is proud to support him. He did not comment on Walker the candidate.

Walker the candidate is 66, tall, with silver-white hair. He holds a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and runs a clinic for the underinsured in the 49th. He supports unions and has Planned Parenthood's endorsement.

So far, at least, voters have greeted Walker's candidacy with a mixture of amusement and puzzlement.

Democrats who stopped to pick up Walker yard signs at the Grant County Democratic Party headquarters in Platteville jokingly suggested the candidate should change his name. “Go with Scotty or something," 71-year-old Denny Fuseth of Lancaster told him, eliciting chuckles from the candidate.

Fuseth said he was confused when a friend told him that Scott Walker was running.

“Why would we go back?" Fuseth said. "We got rid of him once.”

Ron Johnsen, 64, at first didn't seem to grasp which Walker was on his porch when the candidate knocked on his door to hand him a flyer. Johnsen, a retired University of Wisconsin-Platteville maintenance worker, informed Walker that he wasn’t happy about losing his union rights and had signed the recall petition.

“I looked at him, and he don’t look like the (Scott Walker) I remember,” Johnsen said.