With a little more than six weeks until the Aug. 11 primary election, Democrats in the 13th Assembly District are feeling optimistic about the party’s chances of keeping the seat. First, however, they will need to decide whether to back David Sanchez, a lawyer who lives in Wauwatosa’s Tosa East Towne neighborhood, or Amy Zimmerman, a small business owner from Brookfield.
About 50 voters took advantage of a recent opportunity to size up the two Democratic candidates whose names will be on the ballot in the 13th District. On June 24, CelticMKE hosted a forum in its Tosa Village headquarters that was organized by Blue Sky Waukesha County, a left-leaning voter engagement organization. Zimmerman and Sanchez took the stage together to answer a series of moderated questions during the hourlong event, and voters had additional time to meet with the candidates before and after the event.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done a forum in person,” Kristin Hansen, who founded Blue Sky Waukesha County in 2019, said in her opening remarks. It is important to educate Democratic primary voters now, she added, because the 13th District is seen increasingly as a reliably blue district due to demographic shifts and legislative redistricting in recent years.
“It is very likely that whoever wins the primary for the 13th District will win in November,” Hansen said.
David Paulsen
The 13th District includes most of Wauwatosa, all of Elm Grove and the east side of Brookfield. The incumbent, Rep. Robyn Vining, a Democrat, is not running for re-election to her Assembly seat because she has declared her candidacy for the 5th Senate District.
The winner of the Democratic primary in the 13th Assembly District will face Mike Morgan in the Nov. 3 general election. Morgan, a former Wauwatosa Common Council member, is the only Republican candidate in the race.