Adam Neylon Wins 98th Assembly District Primary

Adam Neylon, a 28-year-old entrepreneur, narrowly won the special Republican primary election for the 98th Assembly District Tuesday — defeating Pewaukee Police Chief Ed Baumann by just 30 votes.

Baumann, Todd Greenwald, Matt Morzy, Neylon and Jeanne Tarantino ran in a five-way Republican race to replace Paul Farrow, who was elected to the 33rd Senate District seat in December. With no Democrat challenger in the mix, Tuesday's primary election was essentially winner take all. Neylon will be unopposed in the April 2 special election.

Neylon, who celebrated Tuesday quietly surrounded by friends and family, said he hopes to usher in a new generation of GOP leaders in Wisconsin.

"I'm excited. We worked very hard on this campaign, and I'm looking forward to working for Wisconsin," Neylon said. "I think the Republican Party needs to do a better job reaching out to the younger generation, and I'm in a good position to start that." 

Baumann, who lost in a tight race, said he is unsure whether he would seek a recount of the results. He was happy with the way his staff ran his campaign. 

"First and foremost, congratulations to Adam. I'm extremely happy with the people I worked with on this campaign," Baumann said. "This was something we did at a grassroots level with a group of people who weren't politicians. I think we ran an ethical and stand-up campaign."

Here are the final, unofficial results:

Neylon is a 28-year-old local business owner, and he’s also logged more than five years working for U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and state Rep. Bill Kramer. Neylon said his hybrid background as a job creator with his window cleaning business, and his experiences in the Capitol separated him from the other four candidates. Neylon said he drafted two bills that became law in the last Assembly session.

In Sussex, Neylon was the top vote-getter, receiving 42.9 percent of the vote, or 353 total votes. He was followed by Baumann, who garnered 33.5 percent, or 276 votes. Tarantino grabbed 15.1 percent of the vote, or 125 votes. Morzy and Greenwald repectively garnered 4.8 percent and 3.5 percent of the vote.