Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Area voters had several primary choices to make Tuesday, setting the stage for general election match-ups in November.
Mike Gallagher, of Green Bay, was headed toward a lopsided victory over two opponents for the Republican nomination for the District 8 Congressional seat being vacated by Reid Ribble.
With 67 percent of precincts reporting, Gallagher had won 73 percent of the vote over Frank Lasee, of De Pere, with 20 percent, and Terry McNulty, of Forestville, at 6 percent.
Gallagher, a former Marine, served as national security adviser for Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign last year. Gallagher had Ribble’s support and picked up late endorsements from a slew of GOP heavyweights.
“I commend both of my primary opponents for throwing their hats into the ring, fighting hard during this campaign, and working to make this country safer and more prosperous,” Gallagher said in a victory statement Tuesday night. “We are lucky to have such strong conservatives here in Northeast Wisconsin.”
“Now the real work begins,” he said. “We’re going to build off tonight’s momentum and continue to spread my common-sense conservative vision to voters across the district. We are going to fight every single second until November to take our government back from the career politicians.”
In November, Gallagher will go up against Tom Nelson, of Kaukauna, the Democratic Outagamie County executive who ran unopposed. Nelson is a former state representative.
In the primary for the Democratic nomination for the 35th Assembly District, Renea Frederick looked on track to defeating opponents Derek Woellner and Erik Pfantz, all of Merrill, for the chance to challenge incumbent Republican Mary Czaja, of Tomahawk, in November.
With 86 percent of precincts in, Frederick had 48 percent of the vote compared to 30 percent for Woellner and 22 percent for Pfantz.
AT A GLANCE
Other highlights from Tuesday’s primary election:
- Democrat Russ Feingold easily dispatched his longshot primary challenger to set up a rematch with Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. Feingold defeated Kenosha private detective and polygraph examiner Scott Harbach. Johnson ousted Feingold, an 18-year incumbent, from the Senate in 2010. Libertarian candidate Phil Anderson, of Fitchburg, will also be on the ballot for that race in November.
- Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy defeated primary challenger Donald Raihala to advance to the general election. Duffy is running for a fourth term representing the 7th District. Duffy easily won Tuesday’s primary over Raihala, a real estate agent from Superior who ran for the seat twice before.
- Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind defeated his primary challenger for his seat in Congress. Unofficial returns Tuesday showed Kind defeated former high school history teacher Myron Buchholz, of Eau Claire, in the race for western Wisconsin’s 3rd District. No Republicans ran for the seat.
- Democrat Sarah Lloyd will take on Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman in his first re-election bid. Lloyd beat Michael Slattery in Tuesday’s primary in the 6th District, in east-central Wisconsin. Independent Jeff Dahlke of Mequon also is running.
- Milwaukee Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore fended off a primary challenge from a convicted felon and former state senator. Moore defeated Gary George. She advances to face Libertarian Andy Craig in the Nov. 8 general election for her 4th District seat.
- Former state Sen. Dan Kapanke has won the Republican primary for a shot to take on the highest ranking Democrat in the state Senate. Kapanke defeated John Sarnowski in Tuesday’s primary. He will face Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling in the Nov. 8 general election. That will be a rematch of the 2011 recall election that Shilling won in the wake of the Act 10 budget battle. Shilling beat Jared Landry in Tuesday’s primary.