Republican Michael Alfonso won Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District Tuesday night, beating Democrat Fred Clark and keeping Tom Tiffany’s old seat in Republican hands.
Alfonso, 26, is set to become one of the youngest members of Congress. He takes over a seat his father-in-law, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, held for nine years before Tiffany won it in 2020.
The win comes on a tough night for Republicans across the country, but northern Wisconsin did what northern Wisconsin does. The 7th District stretches across 26 counties and more than 18,000 square miles of farms, small towns and Northwoods, and it has voted Republican since 2010.
Alfonso ran as a proud Trump conservative, endorsed by the president, on a platform of affordable homes, help for American farmers, and protecting the unborn. He paid his own way through UW-Madison working construction, building houses and laying concrete, before earning his math degree.
Clark, a 67-year-old former DNR forester, ran on limiting data centers and expanding government health care. Northern Wisconsin wasn’t buying it.
Alfonso survived a bruising primary in August, where critics questioned his age and experience. Voters settled that question Tuesday. He’ll be sworn in this January.
