Redistricting made the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin more competitive, and the incumbent Republican is facing the first serious challenge of his young political career.

By Peter Cameron, THE BADGER PROJECT

Democrats may be coming hard for his seat, but U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil has plenty of cash and other built-in advantages to defend it.

The 43-year-old Republican incumbent from Janesville is facing the first serious challenge of his political career from another experienced politician who once held the seat. The 1st Congressional District stretches from Beloit to Kenosha, Racine and the southern tip of the Milwaukee suburbs.

Steil has raised more than $4 million in the 2024 election cycle so far, leaving him with nearly $5 million in the bank, according to the most recent campaign finance reports filed last month.

His campaign reported spending about $1 million in the first six months of the year.

The Republican’s challenger is Peter Barca, a 68-year-old Democrat from Kenosha.

He reported raising nearly $800,000 in the three months since he announced his candidacy in April. He reported spending more than $160,000 so far this year.

Barca represented the congressional seat for one two-year term from 1993-1995, but lost his reelection attempt in a tight race. Republicans have held it ever since.

Barca also served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for nearly two decades, including seven years as Minority Leader. And he was the Secretary of Revenue in Gov. Tony Evers’ administration from 2019 until earlier this year.

Steil was first elected to Congress in 2018 after its previous holder, then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, stepped down. Steil had previously worked in the private sector, and one year working for Ryan’s office.

Steil won about 54% of the vote in 2022 running for the first time in the less favorable district. In 2020, Donald Trump won the current district by just two points, according to an analysis by the Daily Kos.

TOP DONORS TO EACH CANDIDATE

An individual can donate a max of $3,300 to a congressional candidate per election, per federal law. Since candidates must run in a primary and a general election, individuals can give $6,600 per election cycle.

Political action committees, as long as they are donating to multiple candidates, can give congressional candidates $5,000 per election for a total of $10,000 per election cycle.

Steil sits on the Financial Services committee in the U.S. House, where policy and bills on that topic are shaped before going to the full body for a vote. So it’s no surprise that the PACs of many large banks, including Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and BMO, have made the maximum $10,000 donation to his campaign, according to his campaign financial reports.

He has also received the maximum donation from many PACs of big businesses in other fields, including Comcast, Deloitte and Koch Industries.

The PACs of businesses cannot take money from their own coffers. They must raise the money from individuals, usually from their executives and other employees.

Barca has received the maximum from Milwaukee-area left-wing donors Lynde Uihlein, Deborah Kern and John W. Miller. Other notable donors include Kevin Conroy — CEO of Exact Sciences in Madison — who has given $4,500, former Wisconsin state legislator Dana Wachs, an Eau Claire attorney, who has given $4,500, Sage Weil, owner of Civic Media, a network of Wisconsin news radio stations and a partner of The Badger Project, who has given $3,300 and Alex Lasry, a former Milwaukee Bucks executive and former candidate for U.S. Senate, has given $2,000.

“The amount of money does make a difference as Steil can have more TV spots,” Ed Miller, a UW-Stevens Point political science professor emeritus, wrote in an email. “Incumbents are typically difficult to raise money against. Maybe after the primary the Democratic Party will spend for Barca.” 

ISSUES

Both candidates have a long list of priorities, and the pair have similar stances on issues like public safety, border security, working to lower prices and supporting veterans.

But the candidates differ on partisan issues like abortion, with each candidate taking his party’s side in the debate. Steil also stresses the Second Amendment on his campaign website, as well as the importance of cutting government spending to reduce the debt and deficit.

On his campaign website, Barca notes traditional liberal values of worker rights, reproductive freedom and affordable health care. But running in a right-leaning district, he also stresses support for bipartisanship and other centrist positions.

STILL FAVORED IN TWEAKED DISTRICT

The race is rated “likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report, which means the district “is not considered competitive at this point but (has) the potential to become engaged.”

Steil’s 1st Congressional District became friendlier to Democrats in the 2021 round of redistricting, before the election that flipped the Wisconsin Supreme Court majority from right to left.

After the court ruled that new political districts in the state must take a “least changes” approach to the old, heavily gerrymandered ones, Gov. Tony Evers submitted maps to the court that made the district slightly more favorable to his party. He moved Beloit and parts of Whitewater and the Milwaukee suburbs into the 1st, while moving out some right-leaning rural areas. That swung the district from one that favored Republicans by 14 percentage points to just six, according to the political website FiveThirtyEight.

“Being known in the area with lots of legislative experience, Barca has a chance,” Miller said.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.

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