Republican Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, won the race to represent Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District Tuesday — clinching the same seat his father-in-law once held.
Alfonso led Democrat Fred Clark, a former state lawmaker, by 12.2 percentage points with nearly all the ballots tallied.
“Michael will be the youngest member of the new Congress & the first one born in this century,” Alfonso’s mother-in-law, Fox News personality Rachel Campos-Duffy, posted on X early Wednesday. “Go Gen Z! Time to lead the way!! Michael you are a true sign of hope on a tough election night.”
Alfonso is married to the Duffys’ eldest daughter, Evita. He will replace 29-year-old Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) as the youngest member of the House.
Duffy, the MTV “Real World” alum turned congressman, won the remote northern district in the 2010 Tea Party Wave, ending four decades of Democratic control over the seat.
The now-55-year-old served until 2019, when he resigned ahead of the birth of his ninth child, who had a heart condition.
Alfonso, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, worked in construction and produced conservative personality and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast before launching a House campaign in October 2025, pitching himself as the voice of Zoomer Wisconsinites.
President Trump endorsed Alfonso in January, calling him a “MAGA Warrior.”
The road to the Republican nomination was not smooth. Alfonso’s chief primary rival was Kevin Hermening, a Marine veteran who was one of 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days following that country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hermening went on to spend decades chairing the Marathon County GOP — and helped elect Duffy himself.
Alfonso overcame his older rival in a five-way August primary with the help of Trump’s endorsement and $1 million from his father-in-law’s dormant campaign account routed through a super PAC, according to PBS Wisconsin.
Delta Air Lines — whose planes cannot leave the gate without the blessing of the department Duffy runs — was among the sponsors of a December fundraiser where Duffy was billed as a special guest, according to ProPublica. Delta’s PAC also gave Alfonso’s campaign $5,000.
The Transportation Department said Duffy supported Alfonso only in a “personal capacity.”
Clark, a 67-year-old former state legislator and forester from Bayfield, ran as a self-proclaimed “independent-minded” Democrat and argued the race was district’s first real contest in 15 years.
Alfonso will succeed Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), who gave the seat up to make an unsuccessful run for governor, losing to Democrat David Crowley.
