State Revenue Secretary Peter Barca, who’s leaving his position next month after five years on the job, is considering a run for the 1st CD, an office he held 30 years ago, multiple Dem sources say.
If Barca runs, it would give Dems a high-profile candidate to take on U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil in a GOP-leaning district that the Janesville Republican won by more than 9 points two years ago. A high-profile race could also boost Dem turnout, helping President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in their reelection efforts, operatives said.
Barca, 68, won a 1993 special election for the 1st CD and then lost his bid for a full-term in the 1994 GOP wave. Having served in the Legislature for eight years before he joined Congress, Barca returned to the Assembly in 2009 representing Kenosha and later became minority leader. Dem Gov. Tony Evers tapped him to be Revenue secretary starting in 2019.
Evers announced late yesterday Barca will depart, effective April 9, calling him a “dedicated, enthusiastic, and effective leader for the Department of Revenue.”
Steil, who first won the office in 2018, had built up a $3.6 million warchest by the end of 2023. To date, only Lorenzo Santos, the Racine County Emergency Management deputy coordinator and a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, and Diane Anderson, a health care professional, have announced plans to run for the Dem nomination. Santos had $2,660 in the bank at the end of 2023, while Anderson hasn’t reported any fundraising activity to the FEC yet.
Though Steil has yet to officially draw a well-known opponent, the Dem group Opportunity Wisconsin has run a series of ads in the district over the last year targeting Steil on various issues. According to AdImpact, the group has spent nearly $1.8 million going after him since early 2023.
Insiders noted Dems would likely need a strong performance at the top of the ticket to make the 1st CD competitive this fall.
As U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, won reelection this year by 1 percentage point, he took the southeastern Wisconsin seat by 4.3 points. Evers, meanwhile, lost the 1st to Republican Tim Michels by 472 votes out of 302,703 cast, as he won that race by 3.4 percentage points.
The state GOP was quick to take a shot at Barca, calling him “a career politician who’s been running for office since 1984.
“He’s a relic of the past & his policies are out-of-touch with the people of #WI01,” the party posted on X. “If he makes the mistake of running against Rep. Steil his campaign will end the same way his last race did 30 years ago.”
See the Evers release.
