It gets even more confusing when we realize that there is no clear frontrunner. Usually, a big entity like this wants to wait for the field to clear out before they back the eventual winner. At only 1% in the polls and lagging the rest of the field in fundraising, nobody would pick Roys as the likely winner of the primary.
She does take perhaps a more strident pro-union position in that she is seemingly vowing to actually kill Wisconsin’s voucher program. She claims that it has “failed.” That’s a curious indictment for a program that is the choice for 60,000 families and growing.
Another possibility is the union doesn’t like what they’ve seen so far with Rep. Francesca Hong in the lead with 14% and Mandela Barnes at 11%. They may view those candidates, as I do, as the weakest to go up against Tom Tiffany in November. But if that were their strategy, there’s nothing about Roys, who is a credible candidate, that makes her stand out as more electable than other credible candidates Sara Rodriguez, Joel Brennan, David Crowley or Missy Hughes.
So it’s head-scratching. But even if she loses, Roys will still be a state senator while her party is very likely to gain the majority there. So, she’ll be in a position to help them no matter what. And I suppose that this is the most plausible reason of all.
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Related: Act 10.
Milwaukee County pension scandal trial primer