The election for the Assembly seat in District 13, which includes most of Wauwatosa, is a race between Mike Morgan, a 64-year-old Republican and Tosa resident who was a Common Council member for six years, and Amy Zimmerman, a 39-year-old Democrat from Brookfield whose civic experience includes serving on that city’s Parks and Recreation Commission since 2022.
Through redistricting and demographic shifts in recent years, Assembly District 13 is now seen as favoring Democrats — the district last elected Rep. Robyn Vining, the Democratic incumbent, by a 15-point margin in 2024 — though within the district's boundaries are politically diverse suburban communities and neighborhoods from East Tosa to Elm Grove to the north side of Brookfield along Capitol Drive.
Vining isn’t running for re-election this year because she is instead on the ballot seeking the Senate District 5 seat. In hoping to succeed Vining, Morgan and Zimmerman are both running for state office for the first time, though they have taken differing paths to their current face-off in the Nov. 3 general election.
Tosa Forward News Staff
In mid-October, as the two campaigns were gearing up for their final sprints to the finish line, Tosa Forward News contacted Morgan and Zimmerman about opportunities for in-person interviews on the campaign trail to learn more about their outlook on state politics and to share with readers some of the candidates’ interactions with supporters and voters.
Morgan responded by text with an invitation to a campaign event at O’Sullivan’s Public House on North Avenue in Brookfield, just west of the Tosa city line. It was a Brewers watch party.
Oct. 15 was game four of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Morgan, surrounded by friends, family and fellow elected officials, sported a Brewers hat and jersey while sipping an Old Fashioned. Sitting to Morgan’s left was Rob Behlmer, an old high school friend from Whitefish Bay, where they both grew up rooting for the Brewers. “We went to many games together,” Behlmer said.
Others included Cheryl Milnes, an Elmbrook School Board member, who thanked Morgan for his support of her successful election to the board in 2025. And across the table sat Robin Moore, who ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for the Republican nomination in the Assembly district that at that time included much of Tosa.
Morgan has been active for years behind the scenes in local Republican Party circles, including as director of the WisRed initiative in Waukesha County. He registered as a candidate for the District 13 seat in May, about a month after losing re-election to the Wauwatosa Common Council.
“Thank you for stepping up,” Moore told Morgan. She added that Morgan was running “a refreshing campaign” that emphasized direct interaction with voters.
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When Tosa Forward News inquired with Zimmerman, she suggested meeting in East Tosa, where she and campaign volunteers had been knocking on doors and leaving campaign materials in their get-out-the-vote effort. Like Morgan, Zimmerman said she had been putting in long hours to reach voters across the district.
Zimmerman may not have the same name recognition in Wauwatosa as Morgan, who was known as a fiscally conservative voice on the Common Council. On the other hand, Zimmerman had a significant head start on Morgan in campaigning. She registered as a candidate in District 13 in July 2025
Unlike Morgan, Zimmerman faced a primary challenger, David Sanchez, and she narrowly defeated Sanchez in the Aug. 11 election to win the Democratic nomination. Her signs have been popping up in front yards all year, and she has been working to meet as many residents face to face as possible.
On Oct. 23, Zimmerman was making her way down North 70th Street with a list of addresses and a handful of campaign door-hangers. Her floral-print baseball hat featured a Brewers team logo. Joining her in this round of door-knocking were Tosa residents Chris and Annette Rockwood.
Chris Rockwood is known in Tosa for running unsuccessfully for the state Assembly and U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat several times since 2012. He last sought an Assembly seat in 2018 but withdrew to instead support Vining, who won her first election that year. Now the Rockwoods are all in for this year’s Democratic nominee in District 13.
“We’ve been big Amy supporters from the beginning,” Annette Rockwood said.
“She’s an absolute ideal choice to take Robyn’s spot,” Chris Rockwood said.
“And to make her own mark,” Annette Rockwood said.
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The candidates’ backgrounds, in their own words
Wauwatosa’s city limits overlap with four Assembly districts, none of which span as much of the city as District 13.
Tosa Forward News Staff
So who are Zimmerman and Morgan, and why are they running to represent District 13 in the state Legislature? Here is what the two candidates said when asked to summarize themselves in writing.