Green Bay School Board member Kristina Shelton on Tuesday convincingly beat freshman Rep. Staush Gruszynski, who was kicked out of the Assembly Dem caucus after he sexually harassed a Capitol staffer at a Madison bar.
Unofficial returns posted at the Brown County Clerk’s website had Shelton at 78.8 percent of the vote.
Shortly before the final numbers were posted, Shelton spokeswoman Eliza Cussen told WisPolitics.com Shelton was holding off on declaring victory.
“We feel very good, very proud and very grateful for everyone in the district who turned out and all the poll workers who made it possible,” Cussen said.
Along with being pushed out of the caucus, Gruszynski was stripped of his committee assignments by Assembly Dem leaders, who endorsed Shelton.
Gruszynski has said in interviews that since the incident came to light, he has been sober. But some Dems said they believed Gruszynski downplayed what he did and were also irritated by his stated expectation that he would be reassigned to committees in the coming session if he won.
The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee also took the unusual step of giving in-kind donations to a challenger of an incumbent lawmaker. What’s more, the ADCC spent heavily in doing so. Shelton’s latest campaign finance reports showed $124,521 in in-kind donations from the caucus, which did mail and radio on her behalf.
Grusynski congratulated Shelton in a post on his campaign Facebook page while bemoaning the “Madison money that poured in.”
“We ran a positive campaign built on our vision for the community. Green Bay is an amazing place to live and has big challenges to meet,” he said. “I wish Kristina nothing but the best in her run in the general election.”
