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Paul Beseler, a 47-year-old former Marine and grocer, said he will run as an independent.
Like the other candidates, Beseler lists health care, jobs and education as major issues facing the rural district, which includes Buffalo and Tremp-ealeau counties and the town of Springfield in Jackson County.
Beseler also lists tax reform, jobs and immigration as important.
He said he is running to represent “people issues, not party issues.”
“I have a long road ahead of me to get to Madison … without a major party to support me,” Beseler said. If elected, he said, he would work with “whoever wants to get the job done.”
A Trempealeau native, Beseler served eight years in the Marine Corps and studied printing and publishing as well as criminal justice. He has not held an elected office before but has volunteer experience, including stints as chief and assistant chief with the Pickwick (Minn.) Volunteer Fire Department and the Boy Scouts.
Beseler last worked as a grocer at a Piggly Wiggly store owned by Dave Hegenbarth, one of two Republican candidates for the seat.
“I think I’m a little more in touch with the working people,” Beseler said.
The other Republican, David Anderson, officially announced his candidacy in a news release Friday. Anderson ran against Gronemus in 2004 and 2006.
Democrats in the race include Marge Baecker of Independence, Wis., Chris Danou of Trempealeau, Wis., Jeff Hauser of Whitehall, Wis., Arcadia Mayor John Kimmel and James K. Kraft of Durand, Wis.
The primary will be Sept. 9, and the general election is Nov. 4.
State Rep. Barbara Gronemus, a Democrat who has held the seat since 1980, is retiring.
