Assembly races in Green Bay area: Incumbents Shelton, Steffen, Macco win reelection; Schmidt wins District 6 race

State Rep. Kristina Shelton, a Green Bay Democrat, handily defeated Republican challenger Micah Behnke in Tuesday's election, capturing a second term in 90th Assembly District of the Wisconsin Legislature.

Shelton captured 9,885 votes to 6,818 for Behnke, according to unofficial results.

Shelton is a former Green Bay School Board member who won her first term in the state Legislature in 2020.

Overall, Republicans came up short Tuesday in their quest for a supermajority in the state Legislature. A supermajority would give lawmakers the power to override the governor's vetoes. As of midnight Tuesday, Democrats held onto their seats in northwestern Wisconsin, the Fox Valley, the western Milwaukee suburbs and the Racine/Kenosha area.

In the 90th, both candidates cited high costs affecting average Wisconsinites, but differed somewhat on how they'd address it. Shelton said she would continue to author legislation reducing costs for state residents, citing the Badger Care Plus Option Act, which would allow businesses with fewer than 50 employees to purchase Badger Care coverage for employees. Behnke cited too much being collected via taxes, saying the state should return some of its surplus to taxpayers.

The candidates also differed on the question of whether local school districts were properly funded. Shelton cited the more than 50 districts seeking a total of $1.93 billion in extra funding through referenda, increasing student needs and infrastructures that are aging as reason the state should improve its school-funding formula. Behnke cited districts continuing to go to referendum while student performance declines as a reason why there needs to be greater transparency among the schools.

More: Wisconsin State Senate results | Wisconsin State Assembly results

4th Assembly District

Veteran Republican lawmaker David Steffen of Howard cruised to defeat newcomer Derek Teague, an Allouez Democrat, and keep his seat in the 4th Assembly District

Steffen, who's finishing his fourth term representing the 4th District, comfortably defeated Teague, who had not previously sought public office. The final margin was 15,348 to 12,284, or 55.5% to 44.4%, based on unofficial results reported late Tuesday by Brown County.

Steffen ran as a Republican who's willing to work across the aisle to get legislation passed, particularly an area on which he prides himself: conservation. He was willing to support some modifications to traditional party positions, such as exceptions to the abortion ban in cases where women were the victims of rape or incest, but stopping well short of being willing to support legalized abortions.

Teague differed from Steffen significantly in his views on abortion. Teague said the state needs to pass a law codifying access to the procedure. Teague said the state should not have a law blocking access to terminating a pregnancy.

6th Assembly District

Republican primary winner Peter Schmidt easily outpolled Democrat William Switalla and Republican write-in Dean Neubert in the 6th Assembly District. Schmidt will take the seat currently held by Republican Gary Tauchen of Bonduel, who didn't seek reelection.

In Shawano County, where most of the district lies, Schmidt got 5,914 votes to 3,535 for Switalla and 2,414 for Neubert. Schmidt was also the top vote-getter in the small portions of the district in Brown and Outagamie counties.

The race was unusual in that it had three candidates: Schmidt; Switalla, a Democrat who had no opposition from within his own party; and Neubert, the Republican candidate his party chose to endorse though he didn't win the primary.

Neubert ran as a write-in candidate with the support of the local GOP, including at least two of the candidates who had run against Neubert and Schmidt in the primary.

88th Assembly District

Republican John Macco won a fifth term overwhelmingly in the 88th Assembly District, outpolling University of Wisconsin-Green Bay senior Hannah Beauchamp-Pope 14,451 to 10,381.

Macco chairs the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and is vice chairman on the Assembly Committee on Audit. He founded a regional financial-planning business and a regional retail business, both of which are now owned by family members.

Beauchamp-Pope is scheduled to graduate in May as a triple major in democracy and justice studies, psychology, and sociology and anthropology. She has experience as a board member with the political organization Leaders Igniting Transformation, and was co-organizer of Green Bay's largest rally for social justice.

The candidates were significantly divided on the questions of abortion, and on protecting the democratic process and ensuring election integrity.

Macco said the state should not return to legalized abortion and noted current Wisconsin law allows procedures that can save the life of the mother whose pregnancy places her life in danger. Beauchamp-Pope said the Legislature should overturn the law that makes it a crime for a physician to perform an abortion, saying the procedure, for some, is needed health care.

On election integrity, Macco said Republicans in the Legislature approved 18 pieces of legislation to repair election statutes, but Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed all 18. Beauchamp-Pope said the Legislature is the problem in the equation, arguing that the panel wasted time questioning the integrity of the system rather than making it better so that it serves greater numbers of Wisconsinites.

1st Senate District

State Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, defeated Democratic challenger Andrea Gage-Michaels by more than 15,000 votes.

With over 98% of the precincts reporting, Jacque had received 47,608 votes, 59.7% of those cast, to 32,137 (40.3%) for Gage-Michaels. This will be Jacque's second consecutive term as a state senator after representing the 2nd Assembly District for four consecutive terms from 2011 to 2019.

1st Assembly District

Rep. Joel Kitchens will serve a fifth term in the Assembly by easily defeating challenger Roberta Thelen for the 1st District seat. With 91% of the votes counted, Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, had 19,864 votes, or 62.5% of ballots cast, while Thelen, D-Baileys Harbor, had 11,915 votes (37.5%).

2nd Assembly District

State Rep. Shae Sortwell was reelected in the 2nd Assembly District, according to unofficial results. At 10 a.m. Wednesday, approximately 78% of the votes were counted and Sortwell held 16,112 votes while challenger Renee Gasch held 11,090 votes. "What this shows is this district supports somebody who thinks, who sticks up for their values and sticks up for northeastern Wisconsin; someone who sometimes takes tougher votes and be willing to stand on his principles," Sortwell said to the Herald Times Reporter Wednesday.

89th Assembly District

Republican Elijah Behnke easily held off the challenge of Democrat Jane Benson to win reelection to represent the 89th Assembly District. With 82% of precincts reporting, Behnke, R-Oconto, had 12,540 votes, 65.9% of those cast, to 6,498 (34.1%) for Benson, D-Suamico, who was seeking political office for the first time.

Christopher Clough, the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Shelton defeats Micah Behnke to win Wisconsin Assembly District 90