By Rolf Lindgren

The 50th Assembly seat is wide open. The incumbent democrat Jenna Jacobson decided to run against State Senator Howard Marklein. The 50th Assembly district includes all of Green County and a small chunk of southern Dane county, including the City of Oregon.

In 2024, hard-working Republican activist candidate Rich Johnson won Green County outright, but lost the Dane County section by a few thousand votes.

And now in 2026, new-on-the-scene businessman Jon Aleckson is making a serious challenge to win!

Aleckson is running on stronger farms (popular in Green County) and smarter schools (popular everywhere). Aleckson is running a high-octane campaign garnering free media and aggressive fundraising. He already outraised his democratic opponents according to the July quarterly financial report.

I want to mention two big factors why Aleckson could win in November:

1. Trump isn't running. In 2024, thousands of Democrats in Dane County voted because they didn't like Trump. This year, maybe 3000 fewer democrats probably won't vote in this district because Trump is not on the ballot.

2. Senator Marklein is running and he has coattails. Senator Marklein always outperforms the top of the ticket by at least 13%. He is very popular with independents and some moderate democrats. 1000 democrats and 1000 independents could switch to the GOP this fall, enough for victory for Aleckson.

Jon Aleckson is becoming very popular, too, and I project big things for him this fall.

Rolf Lindgren is the Pints & Politics Director of the Republican Party of Dane County. He is also a singer known as 'Wisco Rolf' and his website is http://www.wiscorolf.com