Randy Bryce making another run for Congress, joins other early candidates

The news came in a video posted to X Tuesday morning — Democrat Randy Bryce, known as “Iron Stache,” is once again running for Congress in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.

Bryce, an ironworker and union official from Racine, got national attention when he ran to unseat Paul Ryan, then the speaker of the House, in 2018’s midterms.

But Ryan retired seven months before the election. Bryce ended up facing current Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, winning 42.3 percent of votes to Steil’s 54.6 percent.

“Well, I’ve never left a job unfinished,” Bryce said in his campaign launch video.

“Trump promised to bring manufacturing back,” he said, walking over a shop floor, hard hat in hand. “Eight years later, we’re still waiting.”

Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District — which includes Racine, Kenosha, Beloit, Janesville and the rural areas in between — is one of 35 House districts Democrats hope to flip in the 2026 midterms.

Steil won his fourth term in the district in November 2024 with 54 percent of the vote, handily beating Democrat Peter Barca, a former longtime member of the Wisconsin Assembly who had most recently been secretary of the state Department of Revenue. Barca had also served in Congress in the 1990s.

Bryce proved an adept fundraiser in his first run, raising $8.6 million. Democratic candidates in 2020 and 2022 failed to hit $1 million, while 2024 candidate Barca raised $2.3 million.

Several candidates already running for Congress in 2026

In western Wisconsin, Democrat Rebecca Cooke has already announced a 2026 congressional campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican, in the 3rd Congressional District.

Van Orden’s district is Wisconsin’s most competitive House seat, and it is also a target for national Democrats. It’s Cooke’s second time running against Van Orden — she lost narrowly to him in 2024.

Also running for Van Orden’s seat are Emily Berge, Eau Claire’s city council president, and Laura Benjamin, a marketing professional from Eau Claire.

In Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District, Democrat Ben Steinhoff is running again in 2026, the Daily Jefferson County Union reported.

Steinhoff lost to incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald in 2024, running on a platform of funding paramedic and EMS services.

Meanwhile, 28-year-old Democrat Aaron Wojciechowski is running for Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s seat in the 6th Congressional District.

Wojciechowki unsuccessfully ran for Oshkosh mayor in 2023 after serving one term on the Oshkosh City Council. According to his campaign website, he’s the assistant director of student activities at Lawrence University.