MADISON – Racine County resident and Veterans Affairs emergency nurse Mitchell Berman is taking a shot at unseating Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil from Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District seat.
Berman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he is joining the Democratic primary for the seat because the working class needs a better advocate to fight for them. Berman is set to face Randy Bryce in the Aug. 11, 2026, primary election.
“Right now people are struggling. Bryan Steil has made a lot of promises and he had four terms to come through on them. And he hasn’t,” Berman said, adding that he knows what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck because he worked three jobs to put himself through college.
Berman, a board certified emergency nurse, said one of his top issues is affordability, noting that Steil’s vote for President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act reduced Medicaid and food assistance programs many Wisconsinites depend on.
Democrats across the country are making the legislation a focal point of 2026 midterm campaigns.
About one in five Wisconsinites receive health coverage and services through Wisconsin’s Medicaid programs, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
If elected to office, Berman said his main goal is to focus on “kitchen table issues” that “resonate” with people across the district, which includes access to affordable health care, child care and groceries.
“I think that working in nursing really transitions well into being a representative in Congress. My sole job as a nurse is to identify problems and take care of people,” Berman said. “As a nurse, I’m the last line of defense for the patient … I’m the patient’s advocate. In the same way a representative in Congress is fighting for their constituents.”
While Berman has never run for public office prior to this race, he has been an active community member at the local level.
In 2024, Berman filed a suit in Racine County Circuit Court alleging the Raymond School District’s board violated open meeting laws. As part of a resulting settlement, board members conceded that a board retreat in December 2022 violated state law.
Berman told the Racine County Eye in December 2024 that the case is a “reminder of the indispensable role community members play in holding elected officials accountable.”
Earlier this year, two Wisconsin Elections Commission complaints filed against former Raymond School officials by Berman related to election integrity were dismissed.
WEC determined both do “not raise reasonable suspicion” under state law, writing in its closure letter that Berman “has not done anything more than make a general allegation, unsupported by details or evidence, that the affidavits submitted by signatories who wished to have their signatures removed from the recall petition contained false information.”
Republican Party of Wisconsin spokeswoman Anika Rickard told the Journal Sentinel Berman has entered the race after these complaints were dismissed to “determine which political activist is more radically left” in the Democratic primary.
“Steil is running for reelection, and he will win. Just like last cycle when Peter Barca was propped up by millions of dollars in out-of-state dark money, and Steil still won by more than 10 points,” Rickard said.
Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District and 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, are considered the most competitive in Wisconsin.
Aides to Steil and Bryce did not respond to a request for comment.
This story will be updated.
Anna Kleiber can be reached at akleiber@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet Mitchell Berman, a Democratic challenger taking on Bryan Steil for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District
Reporting by Anna Kleiber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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