Ron Kind
Ronald James Kind is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for, since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is located in the western part of the state and is anchored by La Crosse, Eau Claire, Platteville, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, Prescott, and River Falls.
Early life, education and career
Kind was born and raised in La Crosse, the third of five children born to Greta and Elroy Kind. His is the fifth generation of his family to live in the area. Kind's mother formerly worked as the assistant director of personnel in the La Crosse School District. His father had a 35-year career as a telephone repairman and union leader at the La Crosse Telephone Company.Kind attended the public schools in La Crosse and became a standout student athlete at Logan High School in both football and basketball. He accepted a scholarship to Harvard College, from which he graduated with honors in 1985. While attending Harvard, Kind played quarterback on the football team and worked during the summer for Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire in Washington. While working for Proxmire, he took part in investigations that helped determine the "winners" of the famous Golden Fleece Awards, presented by the senator to those responsible for government waste.
Kind went on to receive a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. He practiced law for two years at the law firm of Quarles and Brady in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Kind returned to his hometown of La Crosse to become a county prosecutor. He later served as a special prosecutor in several counties in western Wisconsin.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee assignments
- Committee on Ways and Means
- *Subcommittee on Health
- *Subcommittee on Trade
Caucus memberships
- Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus
- United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Upper Mississippi River Congressional Caucus
- Congressional Arts Caucus
- New Democrat Coalition
- Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
- Climate Solutions Caucus
- U.S.-Japan Caucus
Tenure
On October 10, 2002, Kind voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
Kind has supported women's issues, poverty reform, veterans issues, social security, environmental issues, education, and civil rights.
Kind was the lone Wisconsin Democrat to support free trade with China, despite pressure from unions that claimed trade with China is costing jobs.
After the failed effort to recall Governor Scott Walker in an April 2012 vote, Kind said that Democrats should be proud of forcing recall elections despite the outcome. He said that his conversations with voters had convinced him that the only reason that Democrats lost was because people didn't think it was a proper use of the recall process.
Kind stated he opposed Nancy Pelosi's bid for the Speakership of the House during late 2018, noting he voted against her two years back, saying to The Hill: “I've been consistent in saying we're in desperate need of new leadership on both sides, as we move forward in the new Congress”.
On December 18, 2019, Kind voted for both articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump.
Political positions
Childhood obesity
Kind and Senator Mark Udall introduced the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act, aimed at encouraging and supporting children's outdoor activities.He is the House sponsor of the FIT Kids Act, federal legislation that would require school districts to report on students' physical activity and to give youngsters health and nutritional information.
In 2011, Kind wrote a piece about "the childhood obesity epidemic," in which he promoted both the FIT Kids Act and the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act. He said that healthy bodies lead to healthy minds, and that his FIT Kids Act would push parents and the public by requiring states and school districts to report on children's physical activity. As for the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act, it "provides state-level incentives to develop five-year state strategies to connect children, youth and families with nature and promote outdoor recreation in communities."
Agricultural issues
While he represents some of the country's most productive dairy farms, Kind opposes agricultural subsidies. Kind co-sponsored a bill that would have eliminated subsidies for those earning over $250,000 while increasing funding for conservation and rural development. Nancy Pelosi, who had worked to make the original bill accommodating for Democratic interests, was upset with the bill. Agricultural Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said Kind was "a lone ranger on this, and he's dividing the caucus, and I don't appreciate it."Trade
The La Crosse Tribune reported in January 2014 that Kind was coming “under increasing criticism from those on the left who say his support of new free-trade agreements will kill jobs.” For example, he urged fellow House members to vote for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “As a member of his district I'm frustrated with Ron Kind because I've been a supporter in the past,” said activist Karli Wallace. “It's a little embarrassing to me that he seems to wants to position himself as the fig leaf of bipartisanship that can help this skate through Congress somehow.” Kind also supported a measure that would allow future such deals to be negotiated without congressional involvement. “It's actually a crippling of democracy,” said Bill Brockmiller, president of the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “Whether or not you support the TPP, fast-track authority to a lot of people's thinking is an archaic way of passing things and an offence to democracy."At the Democratic National Convention in 2016, Kind was scheduled to speak to a group of Wisconsinites when he was silenced by protesters from his state who opposed his support of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal. “There's confusion; people are conflating trade with trade agreements,” Kind insisted. “The trade that's going on absent trade agreements has not worked well for us: China, Brazil, India. We don't have trade agreements with those countries."
Gun control
Up through and during the 2012 campaign, Kind opposed any form of enhanced gun control, but after the Sandy Hook massacre he seemed to be open to it, saying, “We're going to have to have a discussion while also keeping in mind the concerns of law-abiding, safety-conscious gun owners in America.” He added, “I just don't see where armed guards or teachers with guns in our schools means freedom for our children."WIZM reported in February 2018 that Kind was one of a relatively small number of Democrats who had received contributions from the NRA. Since 2009, he had accepted $7,950 in from various NRA political action committees. He had also collected $5,400 from the Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, which calls itself "The Firearms Industry Trade Association." The NRA endorsed Kind in 2010.
Muslim ban
When then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called in 2015 for temporarily banning all Muslims from entering the United States, Kind said Trump was “playing in the same huddle as ISIS” and was making ISIS recruiting easier by playing into the terrorist group's narrative.In January 2017, Kind issued a statement in which he maintained that “President Trump's Executive Order blocking refugees and people from select Muslim countries from entering the United States does not reflect who we are as a nation. We cannot start discriminating based on religion. Instead of helping keep our country safe it will jeopardize our national security by giving ISIS and other terror groups another recruitment tool and making it harder for our allies in Muslim nations to work with us on counter-terrorism operations."
Student aid
In 2010, Kind supported the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.Retirement planning
Kind was an early co-sponsor of the bipartisan SECURE Act of 2019, which contained a number of provisions to expand access to retirement planning options and to encourage employers to set up retirement plans for workers. The bill, originally introduced in late March 2019, was passed into law in December 2019 as part of the fiscal year 2020 federal appropriations bill.Tax
On October 20, 2017, Kind rejected tax cuts, questioning their ability to invigorate the economy.Health care
Kind supported Obamacare, denying at a public event that insurers were cancelling insurance. Rather, they were signing customers up “with new plans that are compliant with ACA.” He insisted that under five percent of the population would lose their insurance under Obamacare and that most would “get a much better deal in the healthcare exchange - good price and much better benefits than what they were paying before.” He added that young people are “probably going to get a real good deal” under Obamacare.Kind voted against the 2017 Republican health-care bill. "I thought it was a bad piece of legislation,” he said, “both in the process of how it came together and the impact it will have for people back home."
Immigration
In October 2014, Kind said he supported “comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, helps our farmers and businesses meet their labor needs, and fairly addresses the millions of undocumented individuals in the shadows."On October 20, 2017, Kind spoke up for DACA, saying that Dreamers “are as American as anyone else's children."
Environment
In October 2017, Kind announced a plan to protect the Mississippi River. It involved “four main parts: creating jobs by supporting recreation, tourism and navigation; maintaining railroad safety; supporting the Mississippi River Restoration Program; and promoting the 'Conservation on the Farm' bill.Iraq
In October 2002, Kind voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq. He later regretted that vote: “It was the wrong war at the wrong time for the wrong reason,” Kind explained.In a January 2007 letter to President Bush, Kind and a dozen-odd other Members of Congress wrote that success in Iraq “requires regional cooperation and positive engagement from all neighboring states. The history of the Middle East is too vast, too complex and too tumultuous to expect progress without an integrated diplomatic effort and multinational support from all of Iraq's neighbors. History is replete with centuries of marked violence and failed crusades, perpetrated by ignorance, arrogance and dogma."
ISIS and Syria
In September 2014, Kind said that he opposed “sending any military combat troops in order to deal with ISIS,” but expressed support for President Obama's “decisions to use targeted airstrikes in Syria and Iraq to degrade and destroy ISIS, and to send service members to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training and intelligence."VA Hospitals
Kind announced in May 2014 that he would ask for the establishment of an independent bipartisan commission to investigate conditions at VA hospitals.Medical marijuana
Kind has said he supports legalizing medical marijuana but opposes “the full legalization of recreational marijuana."Child labor
In February 2012, Kind applauded the U.S. Department of Labor for agreeing to re-examine a proposed rule that would prohibit children from working on family farms. “These rules would create an unnecessary burden on our family farmers,” said Kind. “They dont make sense and dont take into account the way our family farms operate."In July 2014, Kind introduced a bill that would prohibit the import of goods made by child labor, slave labor, or forced labor. “The United States must be a leader in elevating labor standards around the world. As a nation, it's critical that we stand united against exploitative labor practices in any country,” said Kind.
Political campaigns
1996
Kind was first elected to represent in November 1996. In September 1995, he had announced his intention to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat being vacated by 16-year incumbent Steve Gunderson. Kind later won a five-way race for the Democratic nomination and went on to defeat his Republican opponent, James Harsdorf, 52 percent to 48 percent, becoming only the third Democrat to represent this district in the 20th century and only the second in 88 years. Kind didn't face another contest nearly that close until 2010.1998
Kind defeated Republican Troy Brechler in 1998 with 128,256 votes to Brechler's 51,001.2000
Kind defeated Susan Tully in the general election, 64% to 36%.2002
In the 2002 election, Bill Arndt, the Republican, received 69,955 votes, Kind received 131,038, and Jeff Zastrow, Libertarian, received 6,674.2004
In 2004 he defeated Republican Dale W. Schultz, who received 157,866 votes to Kind's 204,856.2006
In 2006 he defeated Paul R. Nelson with 65 percent of the vote.In the 2006 election for Kind's seat, the main difference between Kind and his primary challenger, Chip DeNure, was “whether to set a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq.” A majority of Americans, like DeNure, supported a timetable. DeNure believed the 9/11 attacks were “an inside job by terrorists within the U.S. government."
2008
In 2008 he won with 63 percent of the vote.2010
In late 2009, Kind considered running for Governor of Wisconsin in 2010 but ultimately said that instead, he would push in Congress for health-care reform. “My first responsibility must be to get affordable and accessible health care reform passed this year for all Wisconsin families,” he said. “That is why I cannot run for governor. I have a responsibility and duty to the people of Wisconsin to continue work on the health care reform agenda ahead of us." The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, however, that he had given up on running for governor “after a poll showed that few Wisconsinites knew him."In 2010, local media described Kind as facing “what is widely considered his toughest re-election challenge.” His Republican opponent, state Sen. Dan Kapanke, who represented much of the central portion of the district, “focused almost exclusively on three core GOP issues - less spending, lower taxes and smaller government."
His opponent, Kapanke, criticized Kind for allegedly solicing thousands of dollars in 2007 from a group of Eau Claire doctors.
He defeated Kapanke with 50 percent of the vote.
2012
There was talk that Kind might run for the U.S. Senate in 2012 to replace the retiring Herb Kohl, but he decided not to mount a primary challenge to Tammy Baldwin, who had already announced a senate run. There was also a push to draft Kind to run for governor in 2012 against Scott Walker.Kind ultimately decided to run for reelection in the 3rd district. He faced retired U.S. Army Col. Ray Boland in the November election and won.
2014
Kind defeated Republican Tony Kurtz, 56% to 43%.2016
Kind defeated Myron Buchholz, 81% to 19%, in the primary, and faced no challenger in the general election.2018
The Hill reported that Kind was a “prime target” in the 2018 election.In February 2018, Kind's primary opponent Juliet Germanotta was arrested in New York City on an outstanding warrant for grand theft. She had bought a $4,800 ring from a jewelry store, then received a full refund after returning a less valuable ring.
On November 6, 2018, Kind was easily reelected, defeating Republican Steve Toft by a margin of 19.4%.
Personal life
Kind and his wife, Tawni, live in his hometown of La Crosse. She is an official court reporter for the County Court system. They have two sons, Johnny and Matthew.Kind is a member of the La Crosse Optimists Club, a leader in the Boys and Girls Club, and the La Crosse YMCA. He is also on the board of directors for Coulee Council on Alcohol or Other Drug Abuse. His wife organizes the annual Congressional Art Competition for high school artists in western Wisconsin.