GREEN BAY — Darwin and Elijah Behnke entered the primary election in Wisconsin as a father-son duo with newly drawn absentee ballots; according to unofficial results, only Elijah won.
Father and son were competing for legislative seats in two neighboring districts and faced thousands of dollars in mail, text messages and phone calls from opposition from the Stronger Wisconsin Fund, a political campaign fund that spent nearly $450,000 to influence the results of the Republican primary in northeastern Wisconsin districts.
Darwin had less than $4,000 in campaign funds since Jan. 1, less than the cost the Stronger Wisconsin Fund had to cover to send a round of counter-mails on July 23. He said he was a reluctant candidate after his son Elijah moved to the neighboring district.
Elijah Behnke had more than $26,000 to offset the more than $24,000 spent on attack ads against him in the weeks leading up to the primary.
Here are the results of other contests. Incumbents are marked with (i). Winners are in bold.
8th Congressional District
Tony Wied won the Republican primary in the 8th Congressional District to fill both the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher’s term and a two-year term. Wied defeated former Senator Roger Roth and 1st Senate District incumbent Andre Jacque.
1st Assembly District
With 97% of the votes cast, incumbent Joel Kitchens has made it to the November election, where he will face Democrat Renee Paplham:
- Joel Kitchens (i): 77.2%
- Milt Swagel: 22.8%
4th Assembly District
Democratic primary
With 90% of the votes cast, Jane Benson will run against incumbent MP David Steffen.
- Jane Benson: 79.2%
- Alexia Unterl: 20.8%
Republican primary
With 82.5% of the votes in:
- David Steffen (i): 69.2%
- Darwin Behnke: 30.8%
6th Assembly District
With 91.7% of the votes cast, Elijah Behnke is running against Democrat Shirley Hinze.
- Elijah Behnke: 58.8%
- Peter Schmidt (i): 41.2%
88th Assembly District
After 99% of the votes cast, Benjamin Franklin will face Democrat Christy Welch.
- Benjamin Franklin: 67.9%
- Phil Collins: 32.1%
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering Green Bay and politics in northeast Wisconsin. Reach him at 920-431-8247 or [email protected].
