Bryan Steil

Incumbent Republican US Rep. Bryan Steil faces Democratic challenger Mitchell Berman in the closely watched district

On a chilly fall night in late September, dozens of people packed into the pews at Greendale Community Church.

One year prior, the church was the site of Mitchell Berman’s first campaign event. Now, he’s back inside of the building for a town hall event.

Berman, an emergency room nurse who lives in Racine County, is the latest Democrat to attempt to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville.

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Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District has been in Republican hands for 30 years. But Berman thinks voters in the district are ready for a change.

“People want to know that the person representing them understands what they’re dealing with,” Berman said.

Steil has held his seat since getting elected in 2018, easily winning recent elections to represent the district. He said he’s running for reelection to build on his years of service in Congress.

“I’m running because I do believe we have made real progress on important issues, but there’s more work to be done,” Steil said.

The district was held for 20 years by former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan. It stretches along the southeastern corner of the state, and includes Kenosha and Racine counties, the majority of Walworth County and parts of Rock and Milwaukee counties.

In the last round of redistricting, the district added some new Democratic areas around Beloit and Janesville, while losing a portion of Waukesha County, which typically votes Republican.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has selected the district as part of its “Red to Blue” program in an effort to boost Berman’s chances.

Lilly Goren, a political science professor at Carroll University, said this seat used to be an easy win for Republicans.

“But in a blue wave year, or potentially a blue wave year, with the district lines slightly reshaped, it could be a much closer race than in the past,” Goren said.

Berman, 40, grew up in Peshtigo. He lives in Racine County now, in Raymond. He has worked as an emergency room nurse, including 11 years at the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Milwaukee and North Chicago. He’s currently working at an Ascension hospital, as he had to resign from his position at the VA because federal employees are prohibited from running for a partisan office.

When asked why he decided to run for office, he said he wants to make a difference.

“I look at this opportunity as a way to just have such a incredible impact on people’s lives here, and to make sure that you know, they have a better tomorrow than they had today,” Berman said.

Steil, 45, is an attorney who spent around a decade working in the manufacturing industry before he ran for office. The Janesville native and former Ryan staffer said he worked for Regal Rexnord Corporation, formerly Regal Beloit Corporation.

He’s the chair of the Committee on House Administration and the chair of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.

“This is all about going out, speaking directly to voters, and having those conversations about what we need to do to continue to move our country forward,” Steil said. “And I’m going to take that same hardworking attitude that I’ve had in the past elections into this election.”

At Berman’s town hall event, he fielded questions about immigration enforcement, the environment and data centers.

Becky Magallon was sitting near the front of the church. The Saint Francis resident already planned to vote for Berman, and she brought her sister to hear him speak, too.

Magallon, who works in marketing, said women’s rights and immigration are important issues to her. She’s also worried about the cost of living.

“I can pay my bills, but there’s a lot of people that can’t,” Magallon said. “And we’re tight right now, and we haven’t been tight in so long.”

Magallon thinks Democrats could flip this district because voters are so upset at President Donald Trump, and the Republicans who’ve enabled him.

“They’re standing behind the corruption of the president and his cabinet, ” Magallon said. “We can’t support that anymore.”

Tom Schaefer, the CEO of Pioneer Products, is a Steil supporter. Steil visited the manufacturing company in Racine in October to tour the facility and meet some of the employees who work there.

“He’s all about Wisconsin,” Schaefer said of Steil. “He’s all about making sure that our communities are safe, helping the economy grow. He’s everything I could ask for in a congressman.”

Schaefer said he’s a Republican voter, but he said he’s also a “common sense voter.”

“When I look at the issues, I think what is best for myself, for my family, for my community, and I vote on the people that support those type of decisions,” he said.

“I think he’s all about our community and what’s best for the future generations,” Schaefer said.

Steil said he plans to continue to work to reduce the tax burden for Wisconsin residents, while working to, “make life more affordable for hardworking families.”

“We got to build on our work, delivering a reduction in taxes for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security,” Steil said.

He said he plans to protect programs for senior citizens, like Medicare and Social Security.

“Those are promises we made and promises we need to keep,” Steil said.

Steil said he’d also work to “root out waste, fraud and abuse” as he mentioned people being, “convicted and sentenced for stealing federal taxpayer dollars inside of Medicaid.”

“I think what we have shown is a systemic challenge inside of some of these programs, where there’s significant waste, fraud, and abuse,” Steil said.

Steil, who was recently endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at Fairbanks Morse Defense in Beloit, called that city a, “historical Democratic community.”

“Those are the voters we’re speaking directly to, people who the national Democrats have left behind, who have suffered under the policies of the radical left, and we are taking no vote for granted as we have time and again,” Steil said.

Berman said he’s focused on the cost of living.

“Folks are really struggling to be able to afford rent, pay utilities, put gas in their car, afford food,” Berman said.

Another issue for Berman is ensuring people have access to affordable healthcare.

“When people find themselves down and out and unable to afford their medication or unable to afford their utilities, that manifests into disease and illness, which we see in the ER,” Berman said.

Berman said he also wants to address “corruption” in Washington D.C. If elected, he said he would work to reverse Trump administration policies. He said he’d also seek to restore subsidies in the Affordable Care Act and “fully fund Medicaid.”

“And we need to hold this administration accountable, and all of those in it who are unjustly and corruptly enriching themselves,” he said.

Berman said he’s speaking directly with voters who are motivated and ready for a change.

“We’re talking about issues that affect people across the board,” Berman said. “We’re talking about how we’re going to fix them. We’re talking about improving lives for working and middle class people here in this district.”

During the only debate for the seat, both Berman and Steil agreed that the cost of living was a top issue. But they differed on how they would address it.

Berman said he’d work to repeal Trump administration tariffs, while Steil said he’d work to deliver tax relief for residents.

Steil has been one of Wisconsin’s best fundraisers. So far this cycle, he has raised $6.3 million, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Berman has raised $1.3 million.

But over the past few months, Berman’s fundraising outpaced Steil’s, as Wisconsin’s 1st District grabs more people’s attention.

In October, the political site Sabat