MILWAUKEE (AP) - State Rep. Duey Stroebel ended a week of speculation Saturday by announcing he’ll run for Congress, becoming the second Republican to enter the race for the seat being vacated by longtime GOP congressman Tom Petri.
Stroebel, 54, told The Associated Press he’s in the race because he wants to bring strong conservative principles to Washington.
“I’m running for Congress to create a stronger future for my children and all of Wisconsin,” he said. “I’m committed to running a strong, well-financed campaign based on conservative principles that put power back into the hands of the people.”
Stroebel, a father of eight, said he was born and raised in the district, which has helped him keep in close touch with the needs of local constituents.
He’d been considering a run for several days. He said his decision became easier Friday, when Petri said he planned to announce his retirement Monday.
State Sen. Glenn Grothman was already in the race before Petri’s announcement. Two other Republicans who have said they’re considering a run are state Sen. Joe Leibham and John Hiller, who has worked with Gov. Scott Walker.
Stroebel, who owns a company that manages and develops real estate, has served in the Assembly since 2011. Among the bills he authored were ones that would limit the hours and days that voters could cast in-person absentee ballots; allow jail guards to strip-search anyone who’d be incarcerated with other prisoners; and base pension payments to public workers in the Wisconsin Retirement System on the average of their last five years’ salary instead of three.
Stroebel cast his relative lack of lawmaking experience as an asset.
“Being a citizen-legislator is a huge advantage over being a career politician,” he said. “We have too much of that in (Washington,) D.C.”
Petri, 73, has held the 6th Congressional District seat for 35 years. The district covers Columbia, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Manitowoc, Marquette, Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Waushara counties, as well as parts of Dodge, Milwaukee and Winnebago counties.
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Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde@ap.org.
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