Republicans United to Win 60th District Seat after Stroebel Takes Spot

Republican Duey Stroebel eked out a victory in the primary election for the 60th Assembly District seat and will face Democrat Rick Aaron in the special election May 3.

Strobel, 59, said he met with Gary Wickert, a fellow Republican who got just 61 fewer votes in Tuesday’s primary. All of the Republican candidates attended a reconciliation breakfast early Wednesday morning, after the election.

"I won," Strobel said. "All of the candidates shook my hand. We’re now well on our way to defeat Mr. Aaron."

The district, located in Ozaukee and Washington counties, traditionally voted Republican in large numbers. Tuesday was no exception.

Aaron, 61, acknowledged that he has a tough job ahead of him if he is going to go to Madison.

"I’m a realist," said Aaron, of Bayside. "There were 3,300 votes cast for Democrats and over 12,000 for Republicans."

Still, the fight is not over, said Aaron.

"I have to show that the Democrats are not just all about taxing and spending," Aaron said. "I have to show that the conservative mantra about small government isn’t always good. When Hurricane Katrina struck, we had a government that couldn’t respond. Government has a place."

Stroebel said the protests in Madison surrounding Gov. Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill are an indication of the importance of races like this one. 

Wickert, the number two vote-getter in the seven-way Republican race, said he is not sure if he will ask for a recount. He has three days to make the decision.

"At this point, I feel as if I’m bickering with one of my fellow Green Bay Packers and we are about to enter the Super Bowl," Wickert said. "I’ve known Duey for a long time. We go to the same church. I hold no grudge if he wins. I will support him if that is the case."

Wickert said he had been at an Ozaukee County Republican gathering earlier Wednesday. He and Stroebel shook hands, he said.

"In the end, this race is just a footnote on a footnote of the important race," Wickert said of the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. "That race is the centerpiece of this election."

The jury is still out on who won the high court race. Justice David Prosser Jr., who has served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for 12 years, split the statewide vote with challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general. Prosser served in the Assembly for 18 years as a Republican and Kloppenburg made donations to a handful of Democratic candidates. They traded barbs during the campaign, each saying the other could not be impartial. Judicial races are nonpartisan.

The hotly contested Assembly race helped bring out the vote for Prosser, Wickert said.

The attention paid to my race just served to get out voters for Prosser," he said. "I am confident that every door was knocked, every phone was called."