OCONTO COUNTY, Wis.— Two men are vying for the Wisconsin state assembly seat that sits vacant.
John Nygren represented Wisconsin’s 89th Assembly District for nearly 14 years before resigning in 2020.
Republican Elijah Behnke and Democrat Karl Jaeger are running in Tuesday’s special election to fill the seat for the remaining year and a half of the current term.
Behnke says he’s a God-fearing family man with traditional Wisconsin values. He wants to reopen schools; combat PFAS contamination; be an advocate for farmers and rural communities; wants free and fair elections; and wants help small business owners like himself recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic.
He says he wants to be a different kind of Republican than what he’s seen in office in recent years.
“The path they’ve walked over the past couple of years was maybe divisive,” Behnke says, “I’m trying to run as a like a respectful Republican or a conservative.”
Jaeger was not available to be interviewed for this story. However, on his campaign website he identifies himself as a family man, not a professional politician. His site says he’s running to turn Wisconsin into a place where his children will want to stay and raise their kids.
Jaeger’s platform consists of battling PFAS contamination; he’s against all sulfide mining; he wants to use Federal Medicare dollars to expand BadgerCare; he wants to increase funding for public schools; and wants to expand high-speed broadband to rural communities.
Whichever candidate voters choose April 6, it will mark a new era of leadership for Wisconsin’s 89th Assembly District.