Michael Alfonso, the 26-year-old son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, is the clear favorite for the Republican nomination in Wisconsin’s deeply red Seventh Congressional District.
Here are five things to know about Mr. Alfonso, who has never held public office.
1. He has his father-in-law’s support — and money. Republican candidates in a crowded field for the congressional seat have called out Mr. Alfonso, who is married to Mr. Duffy’s daughter Evita, for leaning on family connections. Mr. Duffy held the office from 2011 to 2019, and more recently he has regularly traveled to the rural, northern Wisconsin district to stump for his son-in-law. Mr. Alfonso’s campaign received $1 million from Mr. Duffy’s old congressional campaign account, as well as donations from lobbyists connected to industries regulated by Mr. Duffy’s Transportation Department. The campaign told The Wall Street Journal that questions about nepotism come from people with “nothing better to do than attack a well-respected member of the administration and his family.”
2. He received Donald Trump’s endorsement. The president, who won the district by at least 20 percentage points in each of the last three presidential elections, in January called Mr. Alfonso a “young STAR” and a “MAGA warrior.” If nothing else, the primary will measure just how strong the president’s grip remains in the district. Mr. Alfonso is a virtual unknown with not much more to show than the word of Mr. Trump, and his primary opponents include a survivor of the Iran hostage crisis. But he appears to be on a path of little resistance to Congress.
3. He would be the youngest member of Congress. At age 26, Mr. Alfonso, if elected, would handily dethrone the current holder of that distinction, Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida, who is 29.
4. He worked for Dan Bongino’s podcast. Mr. Alfonso has a thin track record in politics. According to his campaign, he worked for a year as a producer on a podcast hosted by Dan Bongino, a former deputy director of the F.B.I. in Mr. Trump’s second term. Mr. Alfonso has said he has worked in construction and holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
5. Some have questioned his residency in Wisconsin. Mr. Alfonso has said he was born and raised in Wisconsin, and he called Mr. Duffy’s daughter Evita his “best friend from high school.” But Mr. Alfonso was recently registered to vote in Florida, re-registering in Wisconsin with an address for a cabin owned by Mr. Duffy and his wife, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.