After mulling it over the last several days Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickles says he will not seek the Democratic nomination to fill either the Sixth Congressional District or the Ninth District state Senate seat. “Right now, my opportunities I see are for the city of Manitowoc. There are a lot of things that I still want to do and still need to be done, that are very important to me. My heart is in Manitowoc,” he told WOMT.
Republican Tom Petri of Fond du Lac is not seeking reelection for the congressional seat he’s held since 1979, while Joe Leibham of Sheboygan is giving up his state Senate seat to seek the GOP nomination for Petri’s seat.
“Just because I made this decision today doesn’t mean I’m not going to look at it potentially in the future, but I love what I do,” Nickles said. For now, Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris is the only Democratic candidate.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that former Scott Walker campaign treasurer John Hiller talked with Petri about running. Hiller, a real estate developer in the Milwaukee suburb of Bayside, reportedly expects to announce his plans by the end of the weekend. If he runs, Hiller would join three other Republicans in an August primary — Leibham, fellow state Senator Glenn Grothman, and state Representative Duey Strobel.