Dan Bukiewicz wants Oak Creek to believe the neighborhood is rallying behind him. His campaign’s own Facebook page tells a different story about who is doing the rallying.
“The doors don’t lie,” his campaign posted on Facebook, bragging about a day of canvassing in Oak Creek.
That would fit a pattern Illinois Democrats are not hiding. New Trier Democrats in Winnetka, one of the wealthiest suburbs on the North Shore, are running carpools every weekend through Election Day “to knock doors in Wisconsin.” Their pitch is about flipping governments, not about Oak Creek’s property taxes.
Bukiewicz is not a political newcomer who needs help finding the doors. He is Oak Creek’s mayor and president of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee calls the 21st “one of the most competitive districts in Wisconsin” and says it is backing him to “flip this seat.”
That tells you what this race is to the people paying for it. It is a seat. Republican Rep. Jessie Rodriguez is retiring; she held the district by about 3 points in 2024.
So the question for Bukiewicz is simple. If his record as mayor sells itself, why does his campaign need out-of-state people to deliver the message? A volunteer from Winnetka does not pay Oak Creek property taxes, does not send kids to Oak Creek schools, and will be back across the state line by dinner.
Bukiewicz also did not answer WUWM’s candidate questionnaire. He found time for a feel-good post about the doors. He did not find time to tell voters in writing where he stands.
His opponent, Republican Dylan Pfaffenbach, is a seventh-generation Wisconsinite campaigning on property tax relief and parents’ rights. He may be young, but he lives here.
Illinois has spent decades running up taxes, debt, and population loss. Its activists now want to help pick Wisconsin’s lawmakers. Oak Creek voters can decide whether the man welcoming them is running to represent the 21st District or the Democrats’ Assembly map.
