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‘A thin skin’: Questions over Derrick Van Orden’s temperament color race for key Wisconsin congressional district

Minutes after he posted a tweet accusing the Republican running in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District of manufacturing outrage and failing to offer solutions, Eric Buxton received a reply from the candidate.

“Is that really your picture?” Derrick Van Orden publicly responded three minutes later. “So your real name is Eric Buxton?”

Van Orden then reshared the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy professor’s July 13th post, asking Buxton for his home address, who he works for, who he’s contributed to and who he’s voted for. He threatened to publish the man’s public information unless he stopped his “Stalinist practices.”

Less than an hour later, Van Orden tweeted four screenshots of Buxton’s LinkedIn profile. “This you, hero?” Van Orden wrote for his thousands of Twitter followers to see.