Mayor Dan Bukiewicz Wins Democratic Primary for Open Assembly Seat

Dan Bukiewicz. Photo courtesy of Bukiewicz’s campaign.

City of Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz won the Democratic primary for the seat in Assembly District 21 on Tuesday.

District 21 was left open when state Rep. Jessie Rodriguez retired after 13 years in the state Assembly. Bukiewicz, who is also president of the Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council, faced off against David Liners, a progressive and the state director of WISDOM, an organization that advocates for the rights of people who are incarcerated or have been incarcerated.

The district includes portions of the southern end of the city of Milwaukee surrounding Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and the city of Oak Creek. With all in-person votes counted Tuesday, Bukiewicz was winning with approximately 58% of the vote.

Having served as mayor since 2017, Bukiewicz ran with an existing political base in the city of Oak Creek, as well as deep ties to organized labor and the backing of the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, which is the political campaign arm of Assembly Democrats. The ADCC provided Bukiewicz more than $200,000 in campaign cash and in-kind contributions in his race against Liners.

Liners received backing from progressive state legislators, including Democratic Socialist state Reps. Ryan Clancy and Francesca Hong, and state Sen. Chris Larson.

Bukiewicz advances to the general election, where he faces Republican Dylan Pfaffenbach, an Oak Creek resident and college student at Carroll University.

Pfaffenbach is endorsed by local Republican elected officials, including state Rep. Bob Donovan, state Sen. Julian Bradley and conservative Milwaukee County Supervisor Patti Logsdon. He also received endorsements from the Milwaukee Police Association and the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriffs’ Association.

The district is expected to lean Democratic in the upcoming election, potentially providing Democrats with a pickup as they attempt to win control of the state Assembly for the first time in more than a decade.