Trump's pick for Wisconsin seat faces nepotism claims from rival

Delta, Southwest, Lockheed PACs donate to Alfonso campaign

President Trump’s endorsement of 26-year-old Michael Alfonso has not cleared the Republican field in Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District, where four challengers remain in the race ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Alfonso, the son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, received the president’s endorsement following lobbying by Duffy, and Tuesday’s primary will test whether the endorsement and the secretary’s connections to the district can send a political newcomer to Washington.

One of the four challengers, Kevin Hermening, calls the contest a classic case of political nepotism. Hermening, who runs a financial-planning firm, previously chaired his county’s Republican Party for 24 years, helping GOP candidates get elected at all levels of government, including Duffy, his former congressman. He acknowledged that he and the other candidates challenging Alfonso are probably long shots.

“It for sure is,” he said. “I’ve not heard anybody say it’s not.” Hermening argued that nepotism is less common among Republicans, although there are plenty of examples in modern history involving both parties. “We are a party of merit,” he said.

Alfonso has received campaign contributions from entities within his father-in-law’s purview at the Transportation Department, including $5,000 from Delta Air Lines PAC, $2,500 from Southwest Airlines PAC, $2,000 from Lockheed Martin Corporation Employees’ PAC and $1,000 from the U.S. Travel Association PAC. A super political-action committee backing Alfonso has received $1 million from Duffy’s old congressional account and another $1 million from Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, whose shipping and packaging business is Wisconsin-based.

Invitations shared with The Wall Street Journal show Duffy, who once held the seat, was listed at least three times as a likely attendee for fundraising events to benefit his son-in-law, including in Naples, Fla.; Wausau, Wis.; and the Washington, D.C., area.

Alfonso declined an interview request. His campaign provided a statement suggesting questions about nepotism are from people with “nothing better to do than attack a well-respected member of the administration and his family” and stressing his work ethic.

“My father-in-law was a strong conservative who fought with unwavering loyalty for Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District,” Alfonso said. “I won’t apologize for being proudly married to my best friend—his daughter, who I met at my middle school.”

Nathaniel Sizemore, a Duffy spokesman, said the secretary’s attendance at campaign events is in his personal capacity, and DOT ethics officials screen events before his participation. “The secretary is proud to support his son-in-law,” he said.

Alfonso, a few years out of college, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a math degree, according to his campaign. He worked construction before, during and after college and is currently a part-time bookkeeper at his parish. In 2024, he moved to Florida for about a year to work on a podcast hosted by Trump supporter and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.

Hermening was a Marine guarding an embassy when he became one of 66 American hostages held by Iran for 444 days starting in 1979. He knocked on doors for Ronald Reagan, pushed conservative positions for 16 years on a local school board, and served on the 2016 Electoral College that formalized Trump’s first election. He has lent his campaign almost $1.5 million and says his private polling shows he’s competitive.

“I wouldn’t be reinvesting in my campaign if I didn’t think we were going to win,” he said in an interview.

Hermening knows something about running for Congress at a young age. After the fanfare of returning to Wisconsin as a released Iran hostage, he ran in 1986, when he was the same age Alfonso is now. He lost by 25 percentage points to the Democratic incumbent.

“The voters told me I just wasn’t ready,” he said.

His return to Wisconsin in 1981 brought out 3,000 people, the governor, Milwaukee Brewers players and a lifetime pass to Major League Baseball games, he said. “We didn’t know people had put yellow ribbons around the trees,” he said.

Supporters of Duffy’s son-in-law have pointed to Hermening’s role as county GOP chairman in 2023, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was invited to speak at a fundraising dinner before he announced he would challenge Trump for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, seeking to suggest Hermening is not as strong a Trump supporter as Alfonso. Hermening said he also attended Trump events in Wisconsin and talks about the president’s accomplishments in his professional life and on the campaign trail. His campaign ads have included images of Trump.

Another candidate, Jessi Ebben, a furniture executive, also has powerful donor backing. Uihlein’s wife donated $1.5 million to a PAC supporting Ebben, who has the support of the Club for Growth and Diane Hendricks, a billionaire building-materials executive from Wisconsin and a megadonor.

Hermening said he would like his next chapter to be representing Wisconsin in Congress but realizes he is up against major GOP forces.

“We are all underdogs to Mr. Alfonso’s campaign,” he said. “But underdogs can prevail in a fragmented campaign.”

Wisconsin’s sprawling Seventh Congressional District, which includes the Northwoods region as well as rural areas and small cities, backed Trump by more than 20 percentage points in the 2024 election, meaning the GOP primary winner will likely be its next member of Congress. The seat is being vacated by Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is vying to become the state’s governor.