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By M.L. Johnson Associated Press

State Sen. Joe Leibham announces his candidacy for the U. S. House race Tuesday in Sheboygan, Wis. Leibham seeks the seat held by Rep. Tom Petri. (AP Photo/The Sheboygan Press, Gary C. Klein)

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- Republican state Sen. Joe Leibham and Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, a Democrat, announced their runs for Congress on Tuesday, with both saying that their ability to work with others made them a good choice to replace Republican Rep. Tom Petri.

Leibham, who has long been mentioned as a possible successor to Petri, launched his campaign at his parents' home in Sheboygan, where he was joined by three state lawmakers, the chairman of the county Republican Party and dozens of friends and relatives. While Leibham described himself as a strong conservative, many in the party see him as more mainstream than the two other Republicans already in the race, state Sen. Glenn Grothman, of West Bend, and state Rep. Duey Stroebel, of Saukville.

State Rep. Paul Tittl showed up to lend his support, saying afterward that while he knows and likes all three GOP candidates, Leibham's enthusiasm and work ethic make him stand out. Tittl also praised Leibham as someone who can unite conservatives and moderates and understands the district's values, which he described as "people going to church on Sunday values, people working very hard values."

"And I think they want their elected officials to understand what they are going through," added Tittl, who lives in Manitowoc.

Leibham, 44, described himself as someone who could break the gridlock in Washington even as he works to cut taxes, reduce the nation's debt and foster economic growth. He pointed to Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans' efforts to cut spending and taxes in Wisconsin as the kind of thing that should be done in Washington and noted his backing of Walker's law eliminating most public employees' union rights.

Yet at the same time, Leibham said he was willing to work with Democrats at the national level.

"Collectively, we all share the same goal ... of working to restore the greatness of this nation," he said.

Harris, 58, said he would campaign on four key issues: funding Social Security, highway repairs, raising the minimum wage and college affordability. The first Democrat to join the race, he also said he has worked with Republicans and Democrats on his officially nonpartisan county board and would bring to Washington a willingness to negotiate.

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GOP's Leibham, Democrat Harris join race for Petri's seat

Twenty years after earning distinction as the last Democrat elected from Utah County, Tim Moran died Friday at age 95.

The Spanish Fork native served in the Utah House for 12 years until 1996, when he was defeated by a Republican challenger.

Moran and his Senate counterpart, Eldon Money, were the last two Democrats serving from Utah County both from Spanish Fork. Moran won his final two-year term in 1994, while Money won his final four-year term in 1992.

Before his election to the House, Moran served four years on the Spanish Fork City Council and 12 years as mayor. He was a professional educator, ending a 35-year career as principal of Brockbank Elementary School. Services are set for Friday at 11 a.m. at the Spanish Fork LDS 12th Ward Chapel, 310 E. Center St.

Utah County Democratic Chairman Josh Hogan acknowledges that a generation after Morans defeat, it may yet be awhile before the next Democrat wins election in the biggest GOP bastion in a Republican state.

"Its going to be a long battle," Hogan says. "You need to change a lot of hearts and minds."

Hogan says the largest challenge is convincing people "Were not who you think we are."

His message is simple: "Our focus is to improve education, support livable wages and demand government transparency, and it certainly wouldnt hurt to do that in more breathable air."

Hogan praises the quality of candidates running on the Democratic ticket this year, including Zach Lewis, who is running for the House District 66 seat once held by Moran, but now occupied by Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork. "Hes a promising young man just graduating from BYU law school," Hogan says of Lewis.

The party leader concedes he wishes he had a candidate in the Utah County Commission Seat A race where newcomer Greg Graves defeated incumbent Gary Anderson to claim the Republican nomination earlier this month.

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Services slated for Tim Moran, last Democrat elected in Utah County

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Papantonio: Cowboy Bundy -- The New Face of the Republican Party
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As bans against gay marriage crumble and public opinion on the issue shifts rapidly, some Republicans are pushing the party to drop its opposition to same-sex unions, part of a broader campaign to get the GOP to appeal to younger voters by de-emphasizing social issues.

This month, the Nevada Republican party dropped statements on marriage from its party platform, making it the second state party in the nation to do so after Indiana's GOP quietly jettisoned its plank in 2012. A gay-rights group last week launched a $1 million campaign to get the national party to remove from its platform a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, while a group of major Republican donors is pushing for the GOP to become more supportive of gay rights across the board.

"There are people with sincerely held beliefs on both sides of the marriage issue, and that seems to be where the party is heading," said Jeff Cook-McCormac, an adviser to the American Unity Fund, which has been financed by wealthy donors such as hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer to push the GOP to back gay rights. "The Republican Party in Nevada is doing something that I think we're going to see a lot more of, which is appealing to the things that unite Republican voters across the country bread and butter issues."

But social conservatives warn that if the GOP abandons its core moral principles, it may also lose loyal voters.

"It is very much a mistake for the GOP to step away from marriage. The rank-and-file Republicans, mainstream Republicans, very much believe marriage is between a man and a woman," said Chris Plante, spokesman for the National Organization for Marriage. "For the GOP to give in to elites, to promises of money, and to progressives within the party is the wrong thing. It's bad politics. Marriage is a winning issue."

The greatest test will come in Nevada, a swing state where the state party also dropped its opposition to abortion during its biannual convention on April 12. The push arose from Clark County, home to libertine Las Vegas and three-quarters of the state's population.

"Younger people believe they're getting screwed by the Democrats on fiscal issues, and screwed by Republicans on social issues," said Nick Phillips, the Clark County party's political director. "Take that away, and you've got a party you can get behind."

The state has no organized bloc of socially conservative voters. The state's Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, supports abortion rights, recently decided to drop the state's defense of a lawsuit challenging its gay-marriage ban, and is so popular that no significant Democrat is challenging him for re-election this year. But there is still some bitterness over the platform within the party, which has been riven for years by infighting among rival conservative factions.

"If they come up with a totally neutered, watered-down platform that stands for nothing, they're going to disgust the base," said Ira Hansen, a Republican Nevada assemblyman. "They alienate them and humiliate them and then expect them to vote."

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Republican Activists Push Party on Gay Marriage