A Racine County nurse is the latest Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil in the 1st Congressional District.

Mitchell Berman, a political newcomer, announced his bid for the congressional seat early Tuesday morning.

In a statement, Berman introduced himself as a Veterans Affairs and emergency room nurse, a first-generation college graduate and union member from the village of Raymond.

“As a nurse, I’ve seen patients forced to choose between care and paying rent while Washington looks the other way,” Berman said. “I’m running for Congress because our health and well-being should come first, not corporate profits.” 

The district in which Berman is running includes Beloit, Janesville, Kenosha and Racine. It’s been represented by Steil since 2019, when he replaced retiring Congressman and former Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

It’s one of 35 House districts Democrats hope to flip in the 2026 midterms, and one of two Wisconsin districts seen as competitive — but any Democratic bid is still a longshot. Steil handily won his fourth term in November 2024 with 54 percent of the vote, and it’s been in Republican hands since 1995.

In a video launching his campaign, Berman said Steil “isn’t looking out for families like mine.”

“He spent his career shipping jobs overseas and serving his billionaire donors. I’ve spent mine helping people,” he said. “We deserve a government that works for us, not the elite.”

Berman is not alone in his bid for the seat. Randy Bryce, who once made national headlines challenging Ryan for the seat, announced his candidacy in late May. Racine-based activist Gage Stills has also launched a Democratic campaign, according to the Federal Elections Commission, although he has not filed any fundraising data.

In a statement, the Wisconsin Republican Party called Berman “radically left.”

“Steil is running for reelection, and he will win. Just like last cycle when Peter Barca was propped up by millions of dollars in out-of-state dark money, and Steil still won by more than 10 points,” said WisGOP spokesperson Anika Rickard, referring to Steil’s most recent reelection campaign.  

Berman has been an activist in local school district

While Berman has not previously run for or held elected office, he’s been involved in activism related to the school district in Raymond, a village of about 4,000 people northeast of Racine. Those actions included a recall attempt of board members, two complaints to the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a lawsuit against the district.

In 2023, the principal of the pre-K-8 Raymond School filed a discrimination complaint against the district, alleging his contract had not been renewed because he is gay. Before he was placed on leave, parents including Berman attended school board meetings in support of the principal.

At the time, Berman told WPR he felt the principal was being targeted by people who support banning books.

Around that time, Berman filed an open meetings complaint, alleging board members had held an illegal private meeting to discuss district business. That became a full-blown lawsuit in 2024, which was settled with the district acknowledging it had violated state open meetings law.

Berman also filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission about the Raymond School Board’s election earlier in 2023, and another one against the same board in early 2024. Both of those complaints to WEC were dismissed.

He was also treasurer of a local committee attempting to recall two school board members over allegations of improper campaign practices.

Berman told WPR those experiences tie into his overall position as an advocate.

“My goal is to basically make sure that my kids have the same opportunities that I had,” he said. “We’re advocating for safe spaces for our kids, and that everything is being done in an equal, fair and transparent way.”

Candidate cites health care, rural background

In an interview with WPR, Berman said his experience as a nurse motivated his run.

“I’ve worked in health care for the last 23 years, and so helping people has been my focus,” he said. “When I look around in the community, and when I listen to patients at the bedside tell me they have to ration their blood-pressure medication because they can’t afford their rent … that was getting harder and harder to listen to every day.”

He criticized Steil’s vote for President Donald Trump’s signature tax and immigration legislation, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes cuts to Medicaid.

“This is going to cause hospitals to consolidate care,” he said. ”So this is not something that only affects people on Medicaid. This is something that affects everybody.”

A spokesperson for Steil’s campaign did not immediately provide comment for this story.

Berman also pointed to his background as a first-generation college student and argued he’s lived a similar lifestyle to the working- and middle-class people of his district.

“I’ve walked in their shoes,” he said.

Those aspects of his background could be appealing to voters in a district where Democrats are at a disadvantage, said Anthony Chergosky, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He said health care is an important policy issue and Democrats have been consistently losing ground among rural voters —so Berman’s career and small-town roots could give him a boost.

But Democrats face headwinds in the district, which the Cooke Political Report ranks “likely Republican” and where Steil has won by comfortable margins over four campaigns.

Steil “has built a political brand that has enabled him to do well in a district that is somewhat competitive on paper, and Steil is an outstanding fundraiser,” said Chergosky. “So any Democrat who runs against him would have a real uphill battle in trying to have a credible campaign operation and a credible campaign effort.”