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Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson announced that he's preparing to run for the Senate and has already filed campaign documents for the race, on WTMJ Radio.

"I've filed my corporation documents today, which allows me to build my organization, raise money, so I can go out there and tell the story," Thompson told conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes. "An announcement will be coming very soon... we're doing it in steps because that's what the federal law requires."

He said that one of his major campaign themes will be entitlement reform. Thompson, as governor of Wisconsin in the 1990s, was one of the first GOP governors to tackle welfare reform. Some of the ideas were later implemented at the federal level, under then-President Bill Clinton. He later served as Health and Human Services Secretary under former President George W. Bush.

Thompson faces a competitive primary against former Rep. Mark Neumann. Neumann has already been endorsed by the anti-tax Club for Growth, which has already been advertising against Thompson's campaign. Neumann unsuccessfully ran for governor against Gov. Scott Walker in last year's Republican gubernatorial primary, and ran against former Sen. Russ Feingold in 1998.

Democrats are already rallying around Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who represents the party's progressive base in Madison.