Freshman Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), who picked up a seat for the Republicans in the 2010 wave, now has his first declared challenger, with former Wisconsin state Sen. Pat Kreitlow launching his campaign.
Kreitlow was elected to the state Senate in the Democratic wave of 2006, after a news broadcasting career in western Wisconsin, defeating a Republican incumbent. He then lost his race for re-election in 2010.
Duffy was elected to Wisconsin’s 7th District in 2010, after having served as a district attorney (and earlier starring on MTV’s The Real World), winning the seat that Democratic Rep. David Obey had held for over 40 years until his retirement.
Recently, Duffy was the subject of high profile embarrassment when he publicly stated at a local event that he was “struggling” on his Congressional salary of $174,000 per year. The local Republicans then attempted to pull the video from the Internet — which then led to Duffy’s office complaining about TPM’s surviving excerpt, saying it was selectively edited. Eventually, Duffy admitted that his words were “poorly chosen.”
