Douglas Alexander (Wisconsin)
Douglas Alexander (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Wisconsin. He was disqualified from the Republican primary scheduled on August 13, 2024.
Biography
Douglas Alexander was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He earned a bachelor's degree from Bucknell University and a graduate degree from North Carolina State University. His career experience includes working as a high school social studies teacher and as an account executive in technical sales.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2024
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Wisconsin
Incumbent Tammy Baldwin defeated Eric Hovde, Phillip Anderson, Thomas Leager, and John Schiess in the general election for U.S. Senate Wisconsin on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tammy Baldwin (D) | 49.3 | 1,672,777 |
 | Eric Hovde (R) | 48.5 | 1,643,996 | |
 | Phillip Anderson (Disrupt The Corruption Party)  | 1.2 | 42,315 | |
 | Thomas Leager (America First Party) | 0.8 | 28,751 | |
 | John Schiess (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 26 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 2,922 | ||
| Total votes: 3,390,787 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joshua Harrington (No Party Affiliation)
- Scott Aubart (American Independent Party)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin
Incumbent Tammy Baldwin advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tammy Baldwin | 99.8 | 639,049 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 1,198 | ||
| Total votes: 640,247 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin
Eric Hovde defeated Charles Barman and Rejani Raveendran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Eric Hovde | 86.2 | 477,197 |
 | Charles Barman | 7.4 | 40,990 | |
 | Rejani Raveendran | 6.3 | 34,612 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 748 | ||
| Total votes: 553,547 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Dan Helm (R)
- Matthew Harvey (R)
- Stacey Klein (R)
- Patrick Schaefer-Wicke (R)
- Kyle Corrigan (R)
- Douglas Alexander (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Alexander in this election.
2022
See also: Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2
Incumbent Mark Pocan defeated Erik Olsen and Douglas Alexander in the general election for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mark Pocan (D) | 71.0 | 268,740 |
 | Erik Olsen (R) | 26.9 | 101,890 | |
 | Douglas Alexander (Independent) | 2.0 | 7,689 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 218 | ||
| Total votes: 378,537 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2
Incumbent Mark Pocan advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Pocan | 99.8 | 106,595 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 198 | ||
| Total votes: 106,793 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2
Erik Olsen defeated Charity Barry in the Republican primary for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Erik Olsen | 49.8 | 21,774 |
 | Charity Barry | 49.7 | 21,711 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 225 | ||
| Total votes: 43,710 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Douglas Alexander did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Douglas Alexander completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Alexander's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
My campaign will be educational. Congress holds the purse strings of all our tax dollars. They have become corrupt. THIS IS WHY I'M RUNNING, to get you all focused on the real problem and what we can do to address it. The leadership in Congress--both Democrats and Republicans--are drunk on power and don’t represent our interests despite what they say. The solution is putting term limits on Congress (TLoC).
82% of registered voters (both Dem and Rep) consistently poll in favor of TLoC. Did you know that? If not, why didn’t you know that? …I’ll tell you why: the power brokers in D.C., including the press, don’t want you to know that.
If all of you in SW WI who want TLoC vote for me, we’ll win and I’ll take our mission to a national platform. And I’ll represent all of you. I won’t be beholden to a party: I’ll listen to all sides of every issue that arises.
Democrat politicians tell us the problem is “those Republicans;” Republican politicians tell us it is “those Democrats.” They all get re-elected, they all are becoming millionaires, and nothing gets done.
Don’t take their bait! Don’t throw away your vote. I’ve stepped up as an independent to give you a chance to make your vote count for REAL change. This is your opportunity. Don’t pass it up.- My #1 issue is generating momentum to impose term limits on members of Congress. The idea behind term limits is 1) to get rid of career politicians, and 2) attract an entirely different person to run for Congress, with entirely different motivations once in office. They would much more likely have the heart of public servants. Did you know this is truly a bi-partisan issue? A recent national poll on Oct 16, 2021 shows 82% of both Democrat, Republican and Independent voters poll in favor of term limits on Congress. In 2018 a similar poll showed the same results. For details on these polls, search on “Oct 16 scott rasmessen term limits” and also “M&A poll voters overwhelmingly support term limits for Congress”
- Unless term limits are enacted, this #2 and following won’t occur, but if we start sending citizen legislators to Congress, we’ll be able to 1) pass genuine, no-loophole-legislation to create a level playing field vis-a-vis money in campaigns, and 2) pass a rule/law prohibiting exiting members of Congress from taking a revolving door job. By that we mean a job with a lobby organization, typically located near the capital on K street. Although campaign donations are a lobbyists’ #1 way to get members of Congress to do their bidding, a second, powerful incentive is the promise of a job at a lobbyist--or on the board--of the company to which they have been routing billions of our tax dollars while in office.
- Congress needs to clean up their own corrupt practices, and also seriously perform their duties of oversight of the executive branch. One example of their own corrupt practices is our farm bill. Members of the Agriculture Committees receive hugh donations from Monsanto and other big food businesses, and in return use our tax dollars to subsidize their dysfunctional food practices that are making our entire society fat, obese, depressed and brain-fogged, and ultimately kill millions via mitochondrial dysfunction, diabeties, and heart disease. Examples of executive branch oversight? You tell me. The FDA, the CDC…read about it in this CNBC report: cdc-admits-covid-response-fell-short
Dad was calm, gracious, slow to speak and wise with his words. He lived a life of integrity and humility. The older I get I recognize tendencies in myself that I admire in him and seek to fan those flames and strengthen those tendencies!
"Tightrope" by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
2) Integrity
3) Integrity
4) Enough intelligence to discern what advantage power brokers are angling for within various pieces of legislation, and understanding what is required to prevent them from hijacking legislation such they they get the majority of funding. Also enough intelligence to prevent them from inserting language that is deleterious to small business and/or the public at large, giving them an unfair advantage.
2) Be open to all legislation, not just voting as a party dictates. Seeking to improve it, and if unable, vote against it and always explain in straightforward language why you voted the way you did.
3) Listen to experts, learn a lot. Seek out experts who are not lobbyists, esp. in your district.
4) Listen also to common constituents who are affected by federal legislation
My first real job, after college, was as a Naval Officer, going though the "Officer & a Gentleman" Naval Candidate School in Pensacola, FL, then flight training, then assigned to a squadron in Jacksonville, FL from where we deployed to Sigonella, Sicily and Rota, Spain over a span of three years. My shore tour was teaching an officer leadership class to junior officers. After seven years, I got out and became a 9th grade Social Studies teacher in Raleigh, NC, but finished my twenty years in the Naval Reserve.
Let me expand on that. Currently--while we still don't have term limits on the legislative branch even though we do on the executive branch--members of the House have to sit on the back bench for ~ten years before they start to have any real influence. What are they doing during that time? Besides the typical local constituent support, voting in lock-step with their party, etc. they are spending hours raising money for their party and their re-election campaign. Why would anyone want to contribute two years of their life as a public servant under that dysfunctional dynamic? But once we have term limits imposed, such movers and shakers in our communities can come for two years and still spend time keeping their careers going from afar, probably spending 5-8 hours a week lending expertise back to their companies when especially needed. That's because they would not need to fundraise at all. Obviously some might want to stay for a 2nd or 3rd term, but there would be many that plan on only one term from the start. They don't need to add one nickel to their campaign fund. And there is nothing wrong with them spending a little time on their real job: from the start it was assumed representatives had work back at their farm or shop in the district, and were only in Washington, D.C. part time.
Once enacted, term limits will change the dysfunctional dynamic in Congress for the following reasons:
Term limits means no one in Congress can become a career politician.
That means they don’t need to wait for seniority to be effective.
That means they don’t need to focus on re-election.
That means they don’t need to stay loyal to their party.
That means they don’t need to dial for dollars.
That also means they don’t have to agree to lobbyist demands.
That means they have the freedom to do what’s right for their constituents and the country as a whole.
Party loyalty will take a back seat to fulfilling one’s campaign promises and getting bills passed that address the issues of the day.
I imagine, once citizen legislators replace career politicians, they might do what is unthinkable now: they might announce to the county their priorities for the next session! What a concept!
“The deficit Congress”
“The immigration Congress”
“The healthcare Congress
“The climate change Congress”
Obviously they would handle all sorts of bills each session, but signaling ahead to the country their top 1-2 priorities would signal experts in those areas to consider sacrificing their careers to be public servants for the majority of a two-year period. Many could/would not, but some would. They would bring an energetic, urgent attitude to Congress of “We've gotta get this done during these two years.”
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-joint-resolution/6?s=1&r=58
--Because they are entrenched career politicians. They’re more concerned about winning elections than getting anything significant accomplished. Incumbents in Congress win reelection 93% of the time. Is that a level playing field?
Another reason for the dysfunction: the Seniority system. Congress chooses to follow this norm--they don’t have to--whereby members have to get reelected 5-6 times & prove their party loyalty before they earn powerful committee chairs.
A third reason is Adverse pre-selection. (see below for more on this.)
Congress has devolved to the following dynamic. Freshman congressmen and women are ushered by their party into a caucus and told the ropes:
If you want to get that pet project for your district approved, you must obey the party leaders.
If you go renegade, don’t expect any $$ for your district, nor for getting re-elected.
You must raise thousands of dollars a day for the party and your own reelection fund. (Search Youtube “Dialing for dollars David Jolly” where 60 minutes interviews Rep. David Jolly, who states that his 1st responsibility was to raise $18k per day.)
You must fight the other party at every step: you must vote along with us and support our position on the issues.
The solution: there is a movement in this country--of which I am a part and invite you to partner with me--o get a Constitutional Amendment proposed to limit Representatives in the House to three terms; in the Senate, two.
In the latest national poll of registered voters, 82% polled in favor of imposing term limits on Congress. It is bi-partisan desire: Registered Democrats and registered Republicans poll >80% in favor. (search on “Rasmussen poll term limits”)
(JUST kidding!)
Now, most members of Congress are dead set against limiting their terms. This is the best job they will ever have! Perks:
$174,000 per year
Pension:
$18,000 @ 6 years
$44,000 @ 15 years*
$59,000 @ 20 years
The Members' annual Representational Allowance (MRA) for personal, office, and mailing expenses averages $1.25m per year.
In 2015, a bill demanding members fly only coach was floated. In 2021 an effort was made to deny members of Congress the right to purchase individual stocks. House leadership rejected both outright; they never came to a vote.
The exclusive House gym, which provides the latest in cardio and weight lifting machines, offers a swimming pool, basketball and paddleball courts and flat-screen TVs.
Most receive health insurance through DC Health Link, an exchange under Obamacare. Last year, the exchange offered 57 plans in the gold tier.
Congress is only in session 145 week days out of the 261 week days in a year. If we allot three weeks vacation, that means 160 work days are accounted for. Thus, members have100 free work days each year to spend as they wish. Certainly they will spend some time in their district. What do they do with those other days? “Fact-finding trips to Europe?” They have no boss; the closest persons to hold them accountable for their time would be their party supporters back in the district. But whom do you think they invite on those trips?
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 22, 2022
