Recently retired Wisconsin Secretary of Revenue, Peter Barca (D), announced today that he will enter the race to challenge Rep. Bryan Steil (R) in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District. It was previously reported that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the U.S. House Democrats’ campaign wing, had been pressuring Barca to enter the race.
With immigration at the top of voters’ minds, Barca will face questions this election cycle for his fervent opposition to efforts to ban sanctuary cities in Wisconsin during his time in the Legislature, with the GOP already pushing advertising in the District declaring the Secretary “Open Borders Barca.” Another broken promise from Barca stems back to his brief stint in the Congress during which he promised to oppose then President Clinton’s proposed energy tax, and later voted in support.
Sec. Barca enters the race behind the curve with the period to collect nomination petition signatures to secure ballot access having already begun, with a deadline of June 3. Furthermore, Republican Rep. Bryan Steil’s most recent campaign finance report showed that on March 31, he had over $4 million cash on hand to support his re-election bid.
While the map of the First District does not differ widely in the 2024 election versus the 1993 map that Barca previously represented, there have been wide shifts in the demographics and political leanings of the area in the 30 years since his stint in Congress. In fact, Barca’s home county, and one of the major population centers of the District, Kenosha County has undergone a dramatic political transformation in just the last decade. In 2016, Kenosha County voted to support President Donald Trump—the first GOP nominee the county had supported since 1972—and in 2020 Trump’s lead in the county grew even larger. Furthermore, in 2022, Kenosha County elected its first Republican County Executive, Samantha Kerkman, to office.
Barca retired as Democratic Governor Tony Evers’ Secretary of Revenue earlier this month, a position he had served in since Evers entered the Governor’s Mansion in 2019. The now former Secretary, previously served in the State Assembly for two separate stints from 1985-1993, and 2009-2019. His first stint in the Legislature ended when he made a successful run for Congress in the same seat he announced for today. His election as the Representative for the First District 1993 took place in a special election to replace Democratic Rep. Les Aspin. Then, the following fall, Barca lost re-election to the seat to Republican Mark Neumann.
