Wisconsin GOP legislative candidate removes anti-abortion essays from website after Heartland Signal reporting on them

Wisconsin state Senate candidate Stacey Klein appears to have removed a trove of political essays that were originally published to her campaign website.

Klein, whose main political experience is her tenure on the Trempealeau County Board of Supervisors, came to prominence last year when she initially attempted to become the Republican nominee that could unseat Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D). She dropped out of the race in late March as the party coalesced around Eric Hovde and instead focused on the state Senate.

However, the 21 editorial pieces published by Klein were taken down after Heartland Signal published an article last week highlighting three of Klein’s essays — although direct links to the files are still active.

Much of Klein’s writing focused on attacking her then-opponent. Klein claimed, for example, that “the utter destruction of the American family seems to be the goal of Tammy and her pal’s leftist agenda.” 

Abortion was one of the primary topics that Klein used to attack Baldwin’s record. In one post, Klein mocked Baldwin’s concern for victims of sexual violence that seek reproductive healthcare. 

“Less than 5% of all abortions are because of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life, yet Tammy’s leftist friends parade around stories that tug at your heart,” Klein explains. “These numbers tell us that instead of protecting women’s health, Tammy’s politics destroy over three hundred thousand baby girls every year, little women just getting started in their young lives.” 

Klein also consistently targeted Baldwin for her perceived ties to social justice movements centered around racial and gender inequality. 

“[The Left] movement favors policies that put filth in our classroom curriculum and classrooms instead of allowing parents to decide what books their kids should read,” Klein wrote. “They ask our daughters to change in front of and compete against biological boys and men rather than celebrating the uniqueness and amazing qualities that define what we women are.

“And while we’re talking about women, I cannot understand how Tammy or the left can claim to be feminists yet build their identity around hating women? Let’s ask Tammy to wiggle her way out of that!”

The strategy to remove the essays may be an effort to make Klein appear less partisan than she actually is. In Wisconsin, some 29% of Republicans and 42% of Democrats identify as “moderate.” Before removing the posts, Klein blamed “Democrats” for highlighting her articles and “cherry picking from an opinion piece to twist one of my stances-abortion.”