On a day that saw local U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., win an easy re-election, state Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-Campbellsport, was victorious in Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District Tuesday.
Pocan, who represents Wisconsin’s 2nd District, which includes the UW-Madison campus, won a second term. Pocan defeated Republican challenger Peter Theron, a Madison math teacher.
“I will advocate for you and you alone,” Pocan said to constituents in his victory speech.
Grothman, who faced Democratic Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, was vying to replace U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., who announced his retirement in April after representing Oshkosh, Sheboygan and surrounding areas in the U.S House since 1979.
“We are glad that voters are flocking to Glenn’s message of smaller government, limited government and conservative values,” Grothman campaign spokesperson Andy Post said in a release early Tuesday.
Grothman earned a reputation as one of the more conservative voices in his decade-long tenure in the state Senate, aggressively promoting Wisconsin’s voter ID laws and attacking abortion and welfare benefits. He served in the state Assembly from 1993 to 2003 before launching a bid for state Senate in 2004.
The congressional campaign was characterized by clashes between the two candidates. Grothman touted his conservative voting record and insisted in a speech that he wouldn’t be “at the beck and call” of Harris in scheduling debates.
Harris hit back in an interview in October, saying Grothman and other conservatives “think that what is good for them is good for everyone.”
Grothman also criticized Petri, saying in a debate that he would be insulted if people made him out to be just like the representative. Petri responded by refusing to endorse his party’s nominee, a rare political move.
Dana Kampa contributed to this report.
