Leah Vukmir adds Scott Pruitt's former EPA spokesman to campaign team

Bill Glauber | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir's campaign bulked up with two hires Tuesday, adding Kristin Hopkins as Wisconsin fundraising consultant and Jahan Wilcox as communications director.

After beating Kevin Nicholson in the GOP primary, Vukmir is gearing up for the fall campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

“Senator Baldwin has already spent $5 million in commercials, and her first general election ad went negative," Vukmir said in a statement. "These additions to my team with significant Wisconsin experience will give us additional fire-power in exposing Two-Faced Tammy for the hypocrite she is."

Hopkins was finance director for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's winning campaign in 2016.

Wilcox, a longtime Republican operative, recently served as a communicators adviser to Scott Pruitt, the former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator who resigned in July after months of ethics controversies.

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During his role with the EPA, Wilcox appeared to have a rocky relationship with some reporters, once telling Elaina Plott of the Atlantic, “You have a great day, you’re a piece of trash.”

The Washington Post detailed other examples of Wilcox's work at EPA, claiming he personified "Pruitt’s anti-media attitude."

A 2005 graduate of St. Norbert College, Wilcox worked with former Gov. Tommy Thompson's U.S. Senate campaign in 2012. Thompson lost to Baldwin.

Wilcox worked on successful GOP campaigns for Gov. Doug Burgum in North Dakota and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in Iowa,

In 2016, he worked on the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).