A Democrat who originally hoped to be the party’s 1st Congressional District candidate in 2024 is making his second run for the party’s nomination this year.

Lorenzo Santos is leaving his job as Racine County’s emergency services director in April after declaring his candidacy at the end of February. While focusing on rising costs that average Wisconsinites are bearing, he also holds himself out as having a depth of experience and knowledge that will make him more effective if he is elected in November.

Santos’ entry this cycle follows announcements from a half-dozen Democratic hopefuls for the 1st CD — more than have run at one time for the seat in the last two decades.

But the ground is shifting under the feet of candidates — and voters — in the  district. Two hopefuls dropped out earlier this year, and a third hasn’t been heard from since the end of January. That leaves three active candidates in addition to Santos.

Santos said he decided to try again as he saw the fallout from Trump administration policies, ranging from tariffs that have sent prices soaring to federal immigration officers being turned loose on immigrant communities. He focuses his campaign message on the Republican 1st CD incumbent, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, not on his Democratic rivals.

“I think they’re all great people,” Santos said of the rest of the Democratic field. But, he added, he believes his experience makes him best positioned to serve effectively in the House.

“We’re about to have a majority,” Santos said. “And it’s going to be important that that majority bring that knowledge to the forefront so that they can hold this president and this administration accountable and make sure that the worst instincts are not allowed to run amok like they have done.”

The 1st CD runs from Lake Michigan to Rock County. Until 1994 it had been reliably Democratic for about two decades. From 1998 to 2018, Republican Paul Ryan held the seat, rising to Speaker of the House and repeatedly winning by roughly a 2-to-1 margin.

Steil, a corporate lawyer and former Ryan aide, ran and won the seat in 2018 after Ryan retired. His opponent was ironworker Randy Bryce, who came closer to winning that year than previous Democrats had during Ryan’s 20 years in office.

In 2024, Santos was one of two Democrats in the 1st CD Democratic primary contest when Peter Barca entered the race. Santos and the other Democrat withdrew and endorsed Barca — a longtime Assembly leader and then Department of Revenue secretary. Barca also was the last Democrat to represent the 1st CD in Congress — for a single term three decades earlier.

Steil went on to win his fourth term. But Santos said he has no regrets about his decision to step aside for Barca in 2024.

Bryce is also running again this year. The other Democrats are Mitchell Berman, an emergency room nurse, and Miguel Aranda, a university administrator.

Gage Stills, a Racine activist, dropped out of the contest in January, citing family responsibilities. Enrique Casiano, a Janesville nurse, ended his campaign in March. A third declared candidate, Travis Beckius of Kenosha County, has not posted on his campaign’s Facebook page since January, and his campaign website has lapsed.

Santos served in the U.S. Navy, then worked as a manufacturing sales manager. He moved to Wisconsin after accepting a job reassignment to a 12-state region centered on the state. He went on to get a graduate degree in Homeland Security and switched careers to emergency management, working for local and county government.

Santos is focusing his congressional campaign on what has become a nearly universal theme for Democrats in 2026. He said he’s running  because “one of the biggest things we’re seeing right now is we’re having an affordability crisis.”

When the government shutdown in October and early November 2025 cut off food assistance benefits, known as SNAP, President Donald Trump “basically was fighting against people all across the country” who had relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Santos said. “That’s a microcosm of how this administration looks at people that are struggling and that need support.”

Trump’s tariffs on imports are further hurting the public, he said.

“He believes that it’s going to help us take in more money,” Santos said of Trump. “But the punchline there is that that’s coming from the end consumer. That’s coming from everyday consumers that are already struggling, and we’re taking more money out of their pockets.”

His message to 1st CD voters is that the Republican majority in Congress — including Steil — is failing to represent their interests, Santos said. That goes back to the tax- and spending-cut bill that Republicans passed and Trump signed in 2025 under the name of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” he said.

“We watched this big beautiful bill — which is really just a huge ugly lie. That is one of the biggest tax cuts in the nation’s history for the wealthy and corporations while we raise the cost of health care or eliminate it all together for everyday Americans,” Santos said.

“Bryan Steil voted for that. The president signed it into law,” Santos said, and congressional Republicans are “rubber-stamping” Trump.

 “They’re enabling someone who frankly does not actually understand government,” Santos said. “And we need a Congress that is going to be able to hold the line and fight for working families, especially when they’re struggling.”

He also criticized the war on Iran that the U.S. and Israel launched at the beginning of March, and criticized Republican congressional leaders for not asserting their authority over warfare.

“We need to ensure that we have a Congress that is clear-eyed about what this administration is doing,” Santos said. “They are sending us head-first into another protracted conflict with no meaningful objectives and no clear exit strategy.”

Steil, he added, “has not said anything to that effect because, frankly, he’s just there to rubber stamp anything the president wants to do.”

The Cook Political Report has rated the 1st CD as “Likely Republican” in its most recent summary, dated March 12, and Steil reported having nearly $5 million on hand as of late January.

Santos said he intends to overcome that advantage by persuading voters “that we’re here for them.”

“We will definitely be putting forward an operation that can compete with his fundraising,” Santos said. But, he added, “it’s not all about the fundraising. It’s also about having a candidate that actually stands up for their constituents.”