Wisconsinites will vote for state Assembly and Senate candidates in a primary on Aug. 11 and in the general election Nov. 3, 2026.
This is the second election under more competitive district maps.
One Republican and two Democrats are running for Assembly District 21. The Democrat to receive the most votes Aug. 11 will advance to the November election against the Republican candidate.
What do the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly do?
The Wisconsin Legislature is made up of 99 Assembly representatives and 33 senators from across Wisconsin. Together, they have the power to create, amend and repeal laws.
The Legislature plays a major role in deciding how to use taxpayer-funded state revenue every two years in the biennial budget. Whether more or less money is spent on education, economic development, tax relief — that is decided by the majority in the Legislature, along with Wisconsin's governor, who has to sign the budget, and other bills, into law.
What's at stake?
The Wisconsin Legislature has been firmly controlled by Republicans for more than a decade, under gerrymandered legislative maps.
Those maps were thrown out by the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2023, which prompted the Legislature to approve new maps proposed by Gov. Tony Evers.
Democrats now have a chance of winning the majority in the state Senate, if they win a handful competitive districts.
Republicans are likely to maintain their majority in the Assembly. According to JR Ross with WisPolitics.com, Democrats would have to sweep almost all of the "swing" seats and hold on to a few they won by the skin of their teeth in 2024, to have a chance of gaining a majority in the Assembly.
The Republican-held swing seats include Assembly District 21.
Assembly District 21
Wisconsin Assembly District 21 includes Oak Creek, parts of Milwaukee, and a small part of Greenfield. Current Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, a Republican, is not running for re-election.
WUWM sent a questionnaire to the candidates. Their responses below may be edited for length and clarity.
Meet the candidates
Dylan Pfaffenbach (Republican)
Dylan Pfaffenbach did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions. The information below is from his campaign website.
Pfaffenbach's campaign website says he is a seventh-generation Wisconsinite who will "bring a fresh perspective to the state Assembly."
He says his top priorities are:
- Addressing rising costs by lowering the tax burden, including property taxes.
- Prioritizing quality and affordable healthcare by requiring hospitals to be transparent with their pricing, supporting postpartum care for mothers, and protecting people with pre-existing conditions.
- Empowering parents and putting kids first by "prioritizing additional resources directly to the classroom paired with accountabilty to ensure students are learning and succeeding."
Daniel J. Bukiewicz (Democrat)
Daniel J. Bukiewicz did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions. The information below is from his campaign website.
According to Bukiewicz's campaign website, he was elected president of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council in 2014, representing more than 15,000 union tradeswomen and tradesmen. He is also mayor of Oak Creek.
Bukiewicz says his top priorities if elected to the Legislature are: keeping our communities safe, lowering costs for families and supporting public education.
David Liners (Democrat)
Current occupation: Retired. Former Executive Director of nonprofit WISDOM.
Why are you running for this office?
I am running for the Wisconsin State Assembly because I believe there is an urgent need for our state to take bold and decisive action to re-build our public schools, to save our environment, to get smart about public safety, and to give property taxpayers a break by ensuring that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.
In WUWM's election survey, affordability is the top concern listed by voters. How would you work to address cost of living issues in Wisconsin?
There are two main ways we can impact affordability in the short term:
- Property taxes. We need corporations and top earners (those making more than $400,000/year) to pay their fair share in taxes. With that, the state can go back to taking its historic responsibility for school funding and for aid to municipalities and counties, and we can reduce property taxes.
- Utilities. We need to strengthen the Public Service Commission's authority over utility companies and rein in unreasonable rate increases (even as the utilities have record profits). I also support the utility rate cap of 2% of family income.
A Marquette poll earlier this year found 70% of WI voters think the costs of large data centers are greater than the benefits they provide. How do you plan to address concerns about data centers?
We need an immediate pause on new construction of data centers in Wisconsin. We need an open, public discussion of the environmental costs, the utility costs, and more. We should NOT give mega-corporations tax breaks to build data centers. And, we should NOT build new fossil-fuel-burning power plants to provide electricity to data centers.
What are your top state budget priorities?
- We need to fully fund public schools. This includes a 90% reimbursement for Special Education and ESL expenses. The state needs to return to its historic commitment to paying 2/3 of the total cost for public education.
- We need the state to subsidize the cost of childcare for working families.
- We need to raise the rate for the top tax bracket (those making over $400,000/year) by 1% and we need a new tax bracket for those making over $1 million/year. This, along with cannabis legalization and other measures are needed to have the revenue for other priorities.
How do you plan to remain accountable to the people of Wisconsin?
I live in a very competitive district. I need to be accountable! Beyond that, my experience is as a community organizer. I believe we need to listen more to the voices of the community, and especially to the voices of people who are not represented in Madison by lobbyists. I have loved knocking on doors and meeting voters, and I intend to keep doing that after I am elected.
Please list any notable endorsements you've received.
Citizen Action Wisconsin
State Senator Chris Larson
American Federation of Teachers, Local 212
Assembly Representative Ryan Clancy
Our Wisconsin Revolution
Assembly Representative Francesca Hong
Wisconsin Electoral Socialists
County Supervisor Steve Shea
County Supervisor Caroline Gomez-Tom
