In June 2023, The Hill reported that Republicans “are facing an uphill climb in the Wisconsin Senate race after Rep. Mike Gallagher decided against a bid next year, hurting their chances to unseat Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin.”
Baldwin was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 by defeating Republican former Governor Tommy Thompson.
[Note: Trump supporter Ron Johnson is Wisconsin’s other senator, who narrowly won reelection (50.2%) to a third term in November 2022.]
On August 9, Rejani Raveendran, a 40-year-old college student and chair of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College Republicans, announced her candidacy for the 2024 election. She is the first Republican to officially enter the race. This is her first political race.
As seen in her first TV interview below, Raveendran — who is a single mother of three children — is running as “a regular mom, a regular person.”
[Note: Baldwin became the first openly LGBT woman elected to the House of Representatives and to the Senate in 1999 and 2013, respectively. She does not have children.]
According Raveendran’s own published biography, she immigrated to the United States in 2011 from India, became a U.S. citizen in 2015, and became a resident of Wisconsin in 2017. She says she is a survivor of domestic abuse and that in 2020, she and her children moved into a family crisis center and stayed for two years.
If elected, Raveendran says she will work to eliminate illegal immigration, and to “fight against the woke agenda and preserve the innocence of our children,” among other things.
My fellow Americans, my Name is Rejani Raveendran and I am running to be your next Wisconsin U.S. Senator! Below is my Bio and Platform feel free to reach out with any questions.
— Rejani Raveendran (@RejaniforSenate) August 9, 2023
Sincerely,
Rejani pic.twitter.com/aDkkFr8h5c
Raveendran told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and is supporting him again in 2024.
