A former Racine Police Officer is among Republican challengers who successfully ousted an incumbent. Van Wanggaard defeated Democratic State Senator John Lehman. Van Wanggaard credits in part his approach in the race. “We kept our campaign positive, we didn’t go negative. We thought talking about the issues was what we should be talking about and obviously the voters felt the same way.”
Wanggaard has served on the Racine County Board since 2002. “I will stay on the county board until after the first of the year, I’m not planning on tendering my resignation until after that. I cannot do justice to both positions.” Wanggaard says bringing jobs and cutting spending are priorities. “The primary objective is going to be jobs and dealing with that issue and the spending issue.”
Wanggaard said it’s going to take bipartisan cooperation to fix the problems. “This isn’t a Republican or a Democrat problem, this is a problem that we all need to work on to solve. We need to create an environment for business to grow here, especially in Racine. We’ve been one or two for unemployment here for the past decade and a half and that is just unacceptable. I want my children and grandchildren to have the opportunities that I had, and they don’t have that now.” Lehman is finishing his first four-year term in the Senate after serving in the Assembly for 10 years.
Tom Karkow, WRJN