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Jorgensen on new turf with 43rd District win

MILTON — Andy Jorgensen is already getting used to his new turf.

Tuesday, the veteran lawmaker was at the Junction Pub in Milton, toasting his win in the 43rd Assembly District race.

Residents of Milton and other Rock County communities will get more used to seeing Jorgensen, the Fort Atkinson Democrat who crossed over from the 37th District this year to run against 43rd District incumbent Evan Wynn, R-Whitewater.

Jorgensen, 45, a former worker at the General Motors plant in Janesville, defeated Wynn handily Tuesday, winning by a 6 to 4 margin, according to unofficial totals in Rock, Dane, Walworth and Jefferson counties.

Carrying Jorgensen in the election were voters in parts of the 43rd District in Dane County and in Rock County, where he was favored by more than 11,000 of 18,000 voters, according to about two-thirds of totals late Tuesday.

Both Wynn and Jorgensen faced some new voters in parts of Dane County, which fell under the newly reshaped 43rd District.

But Jorgensen was not surprised he did so well in parts of the district in Rock County, where he says blue-collar people knew and recognized him from his years at General Motors.

He said the more he talked to people, the more he realized people viewed him as the 43rd District's everyman candidate.

"I always try to represent the working man," Jorgensen said. "And in this district and in Rock County, you are dealing with the working man."

Wynn's major accomplishments in his first term as a lawmaker were a handful of bills that created tax credits for disabled war veterans.

Jorgensen said he plans work to make sure that senior health care and education are major priorities in the state budget.

A three-term incumbent in the 37th Assembly District, Jorgensen ran in the 43rd District after legislative redistricting last year carved his district into four pieces.

He said the 43rd District had bits and pieces of communities where his family and friends live.

"It wasn't a new district. I worked here for years. They know me here," Jorgensen said.

By law, Jorgensen must now move because his home in Fort Atkinson is three blocks from boundary lines of the 43rd District.

He said he's put his house up for sale, and he's gearing up his family for the move.