Rep. John Nygren, representative from the 89th Assembly district since 2006, announced that he would challenge 10-year Senator Dave Hansen of Green Bay for the 30th Senate District Seat. This makes him the 2nd candidate to be challenging Hansen, the first being Brown County Board supervisor Mary Scray. It's my assumption that Rep. Nygren will dispatch Scray pretty quickly, but this means that the primary election for the republican recall nomination will be held July 12.
The District is decidedly right-leaning. All its Assembly districts are held by Republicans, including District 88, where two-term Democratic Rep. Jim Soletski was defeated by John Klenke by a 300 vote margin last fall.
However, Sen. Hansen is a moderate and a leader in his party, having served as the Assistant Majority Leader behind Russ Decker, and usurping Sen. Decker as a figurehead Majority leader when he voted to oppose contracts with state workers last December 15.
This is the district where rumors have circulated heavily that as many as 30-40% of signatures may eventually be ruled ineligible due to sloppy or fraudulent work by out-of-state canvassers. In a recall election that will be a referendum on the policies of Governor Walker, just as in the race that will play out between Sen. Jim Holperin and tea party candidate Kim Simac, its entirely possible a message about Sen. Hansen having left the state may not drive Republican turnout the way many on the right would hope.
One last thing to keep in mind is that this is means a primary in the 30th District. If we have a bunch of elections on July 12th and an odd number (1 or 3, I'd guess) of primaries, there's a chance things could come out to a tied Senate, where the balance hangs in races which held July 12th primaries. That's when things could get really interesting.
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