Although Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District has been in GOP hands since 1995, Democrats are hard at work trying to flip the seat in 2022. That’s because the state’s new congressional map, created by Governor Tony Evers and affirmed by both the U.S. and Wisconsin Supreme Courts, redraws the 1st District’s boundaries to include the city of Beloit and a portion of the city of Whitewater, both of which had been carved off from the district in 2001. Restoring these traditionally Democratic voting blocs to the district has some progressives seeing a possibility for the seat to once again be blue. However, incumbent Republican Representative Bryan Steil and his GOP supporters are determined to ensure the potential “blue wave” is nothing more than talk by Democrat opponents.
Republican Bryan Steil was first elected to represent the 1st CD in 2018. In that race, he beat his well-funded opponent by 39,984 votes, capturing 54.6% of the total vote. Steil subsequently won re-election in 2020, defeating a different Democratic opponent by 75,101 votes and garnering 59.3% of the electorate. Although Steil was outspent by his opponent nearly four to one in 2018, he managed to turn the tables in 2020 spending $3.1 million compared to his opponent’s $537,000. The 2022 election appears to be shaping up similar to 2020, with Steil reporting $1.5 million cash on hand compared to his opponent Ann Roe’s reported $77,233 cash on hand.
Democratic nominee Ann Roe is a Chicago native with an MBA in finance from Northeastern University in Boston. She spent five years as executive director of the Beloit-Janesville Symphony orchestra and also lectured in marketing for more than a decade at UW-Whitewater. Her experience at UW-Whitewater led her to start a consulting firm, Custom College Solutions, to help high school students with their college search and application process. If elected, Ms. Roe promises to fight for small businesses, more jobs and better wages for workers, quality health care, and quality education.
GOP Primary Results:
Bryan Steil (i): Unopposed
Democratic Primary Results:
Ann Roe: Unopposed
