Terry Katsma, who is completing his 5th 2-year term as the Representative to Wisconsin’s 26th Assembly District, announced that he will not run for a 6th term in November. The announcement comes amid significant changes in Wisconsin’s political landscape after Wisconsin’s Supreme Court selected a redistricting map that was intended to better represent the political will of the various urban and rural populations of Wisconsin. Some of those changes had incumbents now set to battle one another for their party’s chosen candidate going forward, and in the case of Katsma’s 26th District, which used to cover the southern 3/4 of the City of Sheboygan south to the Sheboygan/Ozaukee County line realignment forced substantial changes. The “New 27th”, as Katsma now calls it, the Towns of Holland and Sherman are excluded with the remainder of the district extending westward to Lake Winnebago. Katsma said that the redistricting had no bearing upon his decision not to run.
In a Friday morning interview, Katsma told WHBL news when asked if the decision was difficult, answered by saying: “Yes, and no. Last year my Wife and I became eligible for medicare, and it’s been 10 years that I’ve served and it’s been a wonderful, wonderful time. But things change, and I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my life.
As to any immediate plans, Katsma said he had nothing planned. “I was just selected to serve an office in my church, and I look forward to serving in that capacity.”
Katsma wanted his constituency to know that “I’m honored to have been elected, and it was really a privilege for me, and I’m really proud of the accomplishments that we’ve done, and we’ve pretty much achieved what we wanted to do.”
Representative Katsma was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2014 and he currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the powerful Joint Committee on Finance and is a member of the Assembly Committee on Financial Institutions.
Katsma’s departure leaves Republican Lindee Brill as the only registered candidates for the 27th Assembly District. His former 26th District, which includes the City of Sheboygan, will so far see a race between former 25th District Representative Republican Amy Binsfeld, and former SASD Superintendent and past Executive Director of the SCEDC Joe Sheehan, who announced on Thursday that he’s running as a Democrat.
(Editors note: The announced candidacy of Lindee Brill for the 27th was omitted from the original story in error.)
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