Spring elections: Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson faces two challengers, forcing primary

Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-Crescent
·5 min read

Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson will face a challenge from two candidates as he seeks a fourth consecutive four-year term in office.

Nelson, Outagamie County Board member Justin Krueger and former board member Kevin Sturn all filed nomination papers to run for county executive. The deadline was Tuesday.

With three candidates, a primary election will be held Feb. 21 to narrow the field to two candidates for the April 4 election.

Nelson, 46, of Appleton first was elected as county executive in 2011, when he defeated Jack Voight. Nelson ran unopposed in 2015 and 2019. He said his record speaks for itself.

"We have been able to accomplish a triple-A (Aaa) bond rating for 12 years," Nelson told The Post-Crescent. "We've had a declining tax rate for eight years. We've fully funded all of our services, and the airport is worth almost $800 million a year (in economic activity), supporting about 3,000 jobs directly and indirectly. I'm proud of all that we have accomplished."

Nelson ran as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Ron Johnson last year but dropped out before the primary, sending his support to eventual nominee Mandela Barnes.

Krueger, 41, of Combined Locks has served on the county board since 2016, on the Fox Valley Technical College Board of Trustees since 2014 and on the Combined Locks Village Board since 2006. He said the county needs a change in leadership.

"We have 200 open jobs in Outagamie County right now," he said. "We're losing some good talent to other municipalities. I feel like we need a new leader in there to kind of respark the whole operation."

Krueger is the owner of Your Neighborhood Living Inc., which operates adult family homes in the Fox Cities.

Sturn, 49, of Greenville served on the county board from 2012 to 2020. He wants to steer the county executive's office away from politics so it can better serve as an operations manager.

"Thomas was never there when he was on his run for Senate," Sturn said. "I'm not a politician. I have no aspirations to go to Madison or Washington. This is it. I can serve in this capacity as a giveback to the community, and that's what I want to do."

Sturn has endorsements from County Board Chairman Jeff Nooyen, Sheriff Clint Kriewaldt, former Sheriff Brad Gehring and former County Executive Tony Paltzer.

More: Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson seeks fourth term in office

Candidates for office

The Post-Crescent has compiled a list of candidates in the Fox Cities for the spring election. The list contains a mix of contested and uncontested races.

Appleton Board of Education (three-year terms)

  • Board members (3): Incumbents Deborah Truyman and Kristine Sauter and challengers Sam Blackwell, Jason Kolpack and Nick Ross (Incumbent James Bowman didn't seek reelection.)

Appleton Common Council (two-year terms)

  • District 1: Incumbent William Siebers

  • District 3: Incumbent Brad Firkus

  • District 5: Incumbent Katie Van Zeeland

  • District 7: Patrick Hayden and Karl Koenig (Incumbent Maiyoua Thao didn't seek reelection.)

  • District 9: Incumbent Alex Schultz

  • District 11: Incumbent Kristin Alfheim

  • District 13: Incumbent Sheri Hartzheim

  • District 15: Incumbent Chad Doran

Buchanan Town Board (two-year terms)

  • Town Chair: Incumbent Greg Sprangers and challenger Joe Coenen

  • Supervisor 1: Incumbent Karen Lawrence

  • Supervisor 3: Incumbent Chuck Kavanaugh

Combined Locks Village Board (two-year terms)

  • President: Incumbent John Neumeier

  • Trustees (3): Incumbents Brad Schinke and Cathy Vander Zanden and challengers Ken Heckner and Jackie Jaeger (Incumbent Justin Krueger didn't seek reelection.)

Fox Crossing Municipal Judge (two-year term)

  • Incumbent Timothy Hogan

Fox Crossing Village Board (two-year terms)

  • President: Incumbent Dale Youngquist

  • Trustee 2: Incumbent Kris Koeppe

  • Trustee 4: Jason Patzwald (Incumbent Mark Englebert didn't seek reelection.)

  • Trustee 6: Incumbent Barbara Hanson

Grand Chute Town Board (two-year terms)

  • Town Chair: Incumbent Jason Van Eperen and challenger Dave Schowalter

  • Supervisor 1: Incumbent Ron Wolff and challenger Tim Bantes

  • Supervisor 3: Incumbent Walt Nocito and challenger Beth English

Greenville Village Board (two-year terms)

  • President: Incumbent Jack Anderson

  • Trustees (2): Incumbents Andy Peters and Kelly Shattuck and challenger Dean Culbertson

Harrison Village Board (two-year terms)

  • President: Incumbent Allison Blackmer

  • Trustees (3): Incumbents Julene Baldwin, Darlene Bartlein and Matt Lancaster

Kaukauna Board of Education (three-year terms)

  • Board members (2): Incumbent Sue Gertz and challengers Dale Antoine, Tracy LyBoualong and Charles West (Incumbent Joe Huss didn't seek reelection.)

Kaukauna Common Council (two-year terms)

  • District 1: Incumbent Marty DeCoster and challenger Liz Walker

  • District 2: Incumbent Kelli Antoine

  • District 3: Incumbent Brian Schell and challenger Chris Britten

  • District 4: Incumbent Pennie Thiele

Kimberly Board of Education (three-year terms)

  • Board members (2): Incumbent Timothy Handrich and Kell Bales (Incumbent Montgomery Elmer didn't seek reelection.)

Kimberly Village Board (two-year terms)

  • Trustees (3): Incumbents Tom Gaffney and Lee Hammen and Norb Karner (Incumbent Peggy Weber didn't seek reelection.)

Little Chute Board of Education (three-year terms)

  • Board members (2): Incumbents Rob Eiting and Shannon Pomeroy

Little Chute Village Board (three-year terms)

  • Trustees (2): Incumbent Don Van Deurzen and David Peterson (Incumbent James Hietpas didn't seek reelection.)

Menasha Board of Education (three-year terms)

  • Board members (2): Incumbent Maria Vera and Heidi Quick (Incumbent Joseph Gosz didn't seek reelection.)

Menasha Common Council (two-year terms)

  • District 1: Incumbent Rebecca Nichols

  • District 3: Incumbent Stan Sevenich

  • District 5: Open (Incumbent Ann Schmidt didn't seek reelection.)

  • District 7: Incumbent Ted Grade

Neenah Board of Education (three-year terms)

  • Board members (3): Incumbents Tom Hanby and Deborah Watry and challengers Lindsay Clark, Brian Roeh, Rocky Schaefer and Michelle Swardenski (Incumbent Amy Morrissey didn’t seek reelection.)

More: Neenah school board approves extension for Shattuck Middle School offer

Neenah Common Council (three-year terms)

  • District 1: Incumbent Cari Lendrum and challenger Alexander Collins

  • District 2: Incumbent Tami Erickson

  • District 3: Incumbent Scott Weber

Outagamie County Executive (four-year term)

  • Incumbent Tom Nelson and challengers Justin Krueger and Kevin Sturn (A primary election will be held Feb. 21 to narrow the field to two candidates.)

Outagamie County Judge Branch 1 (six-year term)

  • Incumbent Mark McGinnis

Winnebago County Judge Branch 2 (six-year term)

  • Incumbent Scott Woldt and challenger LaKeisha Haase

Winnebago County Judge Branch 6 (six-year term)

  • Incumbent Daniel Bissett

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke. Reporters AnnMarie Hilton and Sophia Voight contributed to this list.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson faces two challengers in primary