Wausau Democrat announces run six days after special election defeat

By Jalen Maki

Tomahawk Leader Co-Editor

WISCONSIN – Democrat Tricia Zunker will face off against Republican Representative Tom Tiffany for the state’s 7^th Congressional seat again, this time in November’s general election. Zunker lost to Tiffany in the special election held Tuesday, May 12.

Tiffany formally resigned from the State Senate on Monday, May 18 and was sworn into the United States Congress on Tuesday, May 19. He will have to run again in November to defend the seat.

Zunker serves as President of the Wausau School Board and as an associate justice on the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court.

Although Tiffany defeated Zunker by 14 points, the margin of victory was narrower than President Donald J. Trump’s 20-point win in 2016 in the deep red, 18,500-square-mile district, something Zunker pointed to as evidence that “Wisconsin is trending blue for the fall.”

“I ran on affordable health care, help for our small businesses and family farmers, and protecting our environment, and that message resonated with people throughout Northern Wisconsin,” Zunker said in a statement following her loss. “Despite a global pandemic and the lack of universal mail-in voting, we showed what can be done, and we laid the groundwork for this seat to turn blue in November.”

Zunker said that while her campaign “came up short in the special election under unprecedented circumstances, the situation will be very different in November.”

“Now more than ever, the people of northern Wisconsin need a voice in Congress fighting for them – people like the family farmers and working people I come from,” Zunker stated.

If necessary, a primary election will be held in August.