Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, announced his candidacy for congress last week in Oconomowoc.
Fitzgerald, whose current term ends in 2022, is seeking to fill the position in Wisconsin’s fifth district left by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-WI, who announced last week plans to not run for reelection. Sensenbrenner has held the position since 1973.
“Send me to Washington and let’s get to work,” Fitzgerald said. “Washington is a mess and for too long liberals and the elite have ignored the needs of the working-class people.”
The Juneau resident stated he will not step down from his current legislative duties during his campaign. Fitzgerald has been a fixture in the state legislature, serving for the past 25 years. Additionally, he has led the Republican Senate caucus all but three of the last 15 years.
"We've still got a lot of work to do in the Wisconsin Legislature this fall," Fitzgerald said.
There is concern, however, as to the stability of the long-time republican-held seat. Fitzgerald was an early Trump supporter before his election in 2016 when many of his colleagues had not yet supported the current President. The fifth was the only GOP-held Wisconsin congressional district that Trump performed worse than 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
The majority leader praises both federal and state-level initiatives to improve the economy.
"I feel good about where we are not only in regards to Wisconsin's economy, which continues to expand, but it's the federal government as well which can tweak certain things and keep us in a good place," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald is the first of a long line of presumptive Republican candidates to declare for the seat, including former state senator Leah Vukmir and former Gov. Scott Walker’s son, Matt. Democrat Tom Palzewicz poses as the only challenger to Fitzgerald in a general election.
