Primaries To Be Held Tuesday For 3 Seats In State Legislature

Primary elections will be held Tuesday for three seats in the state Legislature: two in the state Assembly and one in the state Senate.

The Senate special election is for the seat formerly held by Republican Sen. Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls. Gov. Scott Walker appointed Harsdorf to be the new secretary of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in November.

Two Republican state representatives — Rep. Adam Jarchow of Balsam Lake and Rep. Shannon Zimmerman of River Falls — are running against each other in the GOP primary for that seat.

The Democrats facing off in the primary are Reuben Herfindahl, the owner of a technology company, John Calabrese, a woodworker and state director of advocacy group WOLF-PAC, and Patty Schachtner, the St. Croix County medical examiner and a former town board member.

Brian Corriea is running as a Libertarian in the race.

Two state Assembly seats will also have primaries.

One of Assembly races is to fill the seat left by Republican Rep. Bob Gannon of West Bend, who died unexpectedly in October.

Four Republicans will face each other in that primary: Tiffany Koehler, Spencer Zimmerman, Rick Gundrum, and Steve Stanek.

Koehler was a former aide to Gannon and, if elected, would be the first African-American to serve as a Republican in the Wisconsin state Legislature. Zimmerman is an Air Force veteran and calls himself a “Trump conservative.” Gundrum is the Washington County Board chairman and Village of Slinger trustee. Stanek owns a waste disposal and environmental consulting business in West Bend.

The Democrat in the race, who has no opponent in the primary, is Dennis Degenhardt, the president and CEO of Washington County’s credit union. The GOP winner will face Degenhardt in a Jan. 16 special election.

The other Assembly seat on the ballot is for the district formerly served by Democratic Rep. Cory Mason, who resigned after being elected mayor of Racine earlier this year.

Two Democrats, John Tate II, a member of the Racine Common Council, and Greta Neubauer, a former Mason aide, are competing to fill the seat.

With no GOP candidate on the primary ballot, the winner of that race will be unopposed in January.