Rebecca Kleefisch

Rebecca Ann Reed was born in Pontiac, Michigan. Her family later relocated to Ohio, where she won the Miss Ohio Teen USA 1994 title. On August 16, 1994, she competed in the nationally televised Miss Teen USA 1994 pageant as Miss Ohio Teen USA in Biloxi, Mississippi, but did not place in the competition. Reed graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[3] She was a reporter for WIFR-TV in Rockford, Illinois, and then was a reporter and later morning anchor for WISN-TV in Milwaukee,[3] before leaving in 2004. Kleefisch formed her own company, Rebecca Kleefisch Enterprises, Inc. and was a contributor to Charlie Sykes' program on WTMJ Radio in Milwaukee.

Although Kleefisch's husband Joel had been a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly since being elected in 2004, Kleefisch's own first entry into politics began when she ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2010.[4][5] During her Republican primary campaign, Scott Jensen was her strategist; she made appeals to conservative talk radio hosts and Tea Party groups,[6] as well as social conservatives and the Christian right, circulating a flier saying that, if elected, she would be "relying on the wisdom and faith she has in Jesus."[5] In the primary election, she defeated four rivals, including Brett Davis, who had support from the party establishment and was favored by Scott Walker, the Republican candidate for governor.[6] In the November 2010 general election, she won election on a single ticket as Walker's running mate.[7]

Kleefisch spent eight years as lieutenant governor under Walker.[8] Along with Walker, Kleefisch played a major role in supporting and promoting the $3 billion incentive package to Foxconn.[8][9]

In 2018, Kleefisch claimed that her campaign opponent Mandela Barnes was kneeling during the U.S. national anthem protests at the Wisconsin State Fair.[10] She later apologized for making the claim.[11]

Kleefisch opposes same-sex marriage, as well as same-sex civil unions. In 2010, she compared same-sex marriage to marrying a dog or an inanimate object, though she later apologized for what she called a "poor choice of words."[14] In arguing against same-sex civil unions, she said, "This doesn't just have roots in the Bible. This has roots in fiscal common sense. We can't, at this point, afford to just be handing out money to anyone."[14][15][16][17][18]

Kleefisch said in 2009 that there is "no consensus that people have caused climate change."[19]

Kleefisch opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and has supported efforts to repeal the legislation. She has called the ACA "an abomination."[20]

In 2012, when she faced a recall election, Kleefisch criticized the recall process, arguing that it has become a "spectacle" and were designed only to recall officials guilty of grave wrongdoing, rather than used as a way to resolve policy disputes. In 2021, however, Kleefisch championed the recall election of four Mequon-Thiensville School District over policy disputes.[21] In 2022, she proposed removing some election-related powers from the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and transferring them to the state Department of Justice, headed by the elected state attorney general.[22]

In 2020, she praised Donald Trump's trade policies, as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.[23] After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and made false claims of fraud while refusing to concede, she defended Trump's false claims of fraud.[24]

In 2021, she called for a ban on sanctuary cities, as well as a ban on the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.[25]

In January 2019,[26] Kleefisch was appointed to serve as the Executive Director of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission.[27] She served in that position until becoming a Jobs Ambassador for Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin in November 2019.[28] As a jobs ambassador, she promotes careers in the skilled construction trades.[29]

Kleefisch is married to former State Representative Joel Kleefisch, who was also a reporter for WISN-TV. They have two daughters.[38] They lived in Oconomowoc, located 16 miles west of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and were members of Crosspoint Community Church, a Christian & Missionary Alliance-affiliated megachurch in Oconomowoc. Since losing re-election, Kleefisch and her family moved to Concord, Wisconsin.[39]

In late August 2010, Kleefisch was diagnosed with colon cancer.[40] She had a tumor removed in early September 2010,[40] and finished chemotherapy treatment by April 2011.[41]

• List of female lieutenant governors in the United States

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rebecca Kleefisch.

• Campaign website
• Appearances on C-SPAN