As Tiffany runs for governor, seven candidates compete for 7th Congressional District seat

Listen to this article

By LAURA SCHULTE

USA Today Network

MADISON – Republicans running to succeed U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in the 7th Congressional District raised the most for their campaigns in the latest reporting period, with the Democrats vying for the solid Republican district also posting fundraising totals.

Several candidates made large personal contributions to their campaigns.

The race in the 7th district is one to succeed Tiffany, who is running for governor and picked up President Donald Trump’s endorsement in that race. Both parties feature contested primaries in the district. Tiffany carried the district by more than 25 percentage points in 2024.

The 7th Congressional District is the state’s largest in terms of land and covers much of central and northern Wisconsin.

Voters will head to the polls on Aug. 11 for the primary election and Nov. 3 for the general election.

Here’s who’s running so far, and how much they’ve raised.

Michael Alfonso, Republican

Alfonso has raised just over $313,000 since Oct. 1 and has spent nearly $34,000.

He ended the year with $279,398 on hand.

Alfonso, 25, is the son-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, who now serves as the secretary of the Department of Transportation under President Donald Trump.

Trump endorsed Alfonso in late January, calling the young congressional hopeful a “MAGA Warrior,” and celebrating his adherence to the Trump agenda.

Jessi Ebben, Republican

Over the course of 2025, Ebben raised more than $316,000 and contributed $50,000 of her own money to the campaign. She spent $101,141 and ended the year with nearly $267,000 on hand.

Ebben, 35, is a public relations professional who lost a 2020 GOP primary for the state’s western 3rd Congressional District against now-U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden. She was the first Republican to enter the 7th District field.

She was born in Stevens Point and grew up in Westfield and moved to Stanley last year to be closer to family and work after the birth of her first child.

Paul Wassgren, Republican

Wassgren has raised nearly $100,000 since Oct. 1 and contributed $1.5 million of his own money to his campaign.

He spent nearly $167,000 and ended the year with more than $1.4 million on hand.

Wassgren, 49, an Ashland lawyer, entered the race last fall and declared himself a “proud supporter of President Donald Trump.” He decided to run for Congress because “we need more successful businessmen like Donald Trump and Ron Johnson to shake up the status quo and revitalize our communities.”

Kevin Hermening, Republican

Hermening, 66, has not officially declared his candidacy, and said in an email to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he plans to make a formal announcement in mid-February.

But he did raise money over the course of 2025. Since Oct. 1, he contributed more than $1 million to his campaign and raised about $210 in donations. He spent just over $38,000 and ended the year with about $1 million.

Hermening is a former U.S. Marine who was held hostage during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and a financial planner. He formerly served as chairman of the Marathon County Republican Party.

Fred Clark, Democrat

Clark raised nearly $160,000 since launching his campaign last year and is entering the next phase of his campaign with $116,000 on hand.

He spent about $48,000 since launching his campaign.

In a media release, Clark touted grassroots fundraising and donations from many of the 26 counties that make up the district.

“Every single day of this campaign I hear the frustration with a broken Congress that has abdicated its constitutional authority to serve as a check and balance on an executive branch that has broken faith with the American people,” Clark said in the release. “Republicans, Democrats and independents alike have had it with politicians who aren’t doing a damn thing to lower costs for working families.”

Clark, 66, most recently served as the director of Wisconsin’s Green Fire, an environmental advocacy group. He lives in Bayfield and in the past served as a member of the Natural Resources Board and as a Wisconsin Assembly Representative from 2009-2014.

Chris Armstrong, Democrat

Over the course of 2025, he raised about $20,000 and spent just over $7,000.

He ended the year with nearly $13,000 on hand.

Armstrong, 60, of New Richmond, owns a small IT business with offices in Hudson and New Richmond. He grew up on the Apple River, north of Star Prairie in St. Croix County, and launched his campaign to defend the “inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” according to his campaign website.

Ginger Murray, Democrat

Murray raised about $109,000 since Oct. 1, including $100,000 of her own money. She spent about $1,600 and ended the year with just over $107,000.

Murray, 56, is the former city attorney of Crandon and has worked as a public defender and as a special prosecutor in both Forest and Florence counties. She owns a small business in Crandon and is running based on her experience with the “daily struggles and realities families and small towns navigate,” according to her campaign website.