The actions of the U.S. military are deeply personal for Rick Crosson, who looks to upset Tony Wied in northern Wisconsin

Rick Crosson, longshot candidate for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District, comes from a military family and this race is personal to him.

Crosson is an Army brat that has lived all over the world. After 20 years of his own service, he moved to Wisconsin in 2001. His son recently retired from active service the same day President Donald Trump launched an “undeclared and illegal” war in Iran, Crosson said.

“That day was significant. February 28th is also the day that this current president launched this ill-conceived war.,” Crosson told the Milwaukee Courier in recent days. “So, if you can picture that same day, I'm celebrating my son's retirement from the military, and his Army buddies, who were still in uniform, were sitting there at that function with fear in their eyes about what are we getting ourselves into? So there were mixed emotions that day.”

The 68-year-old Democratic nominee looks to upset incumbent Republican Congressman Tony Wied in a district that includes Green Bay.

Crosson served as a lieutenant colonel and master Army aviator, flying surveillance missions along the Iron Curtain and later serving as the U.S. military liason to Mexico, working out of the embassy to help stop drug trafficking. His military background has him eager to serve again, this time as a check on the Trump administration, especially the Defense Department.

In recent days, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced plans to publicly livestream the execution by firing squad of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded dozens more in 2009. The White House overruled Hegseth following public outcry from Democrats and Republicans.

Crosson’s son was stationed at the Fort Hood military base in Texas on that fateful November day.

“He was in processing, and stranger enough, that’s where that particular individual went in and shot up their Welcome Center at Fort Hood, which is where processing soldiers go to either in process or out process from that duty station,” Crosson said. “And I remember getting the call from him saying that he personally was fine, but that he was aware that those shootings had taken place. And I worried about him then, and the soldiers who unfortunately lost their lives, and the ones who were wounded, my heart still goes out to them. So this is a personal thing for me.”

Wied won the district for the first in 2024 by about 15 points over Dr. Kristin Lyerly after Mike Gallagher decided to leave Congress. However, the seat was held by a Democrat from 2006 to 2011 and during the 2026 Supreme Court election in April, the majority of the district voted for a Democrat.

Without the influence and attention from Democratic Party bosses and lack of media coverage, though, Crosson is still considered a long shot, but he says something is happening on the ground given the political climate in America.

Crosson describes an “energy,” “momentum” and an “awakening” happening in northern Wisconsin.

“I ask the question as to why there is no coverage. Is it because of historical precedent, or because there's no large numbers of Black folks up here numerically speaking?” Crosson said.

“But I think there should be more of an open look at all of these areas that right now have just not been seriously considered. We're breaking the paradigm here. Because I knew a year ago that in order to win this, and I knew it was winnable then, I had to personally get out and connect with people in a way that personalized me. It's hard to hate somebody you know.

“And so I knew that it was gonna take that amount of time to forge genuine relationships with people across this district, and that we have done, and are continuing to do right up until Election Day, and beyond.

“These relationships are not just one and done handshakes and then we walk away. We are forming coalitions, we are forming councils, and levels of expertise in the areas of farming, in education, in healthcare. You name the topic, veterans, really tapping into veterans groups, because they represent a cross section of capability and of opportunity. That's the kind of storyline that should be highlighted. Not what had been happening in the past. We're in a new paradigm now. And I think that the media and people in general should say, okay, what is going on in this part of Wisconsin that is just so moving and is so energizing. And it's happening.

“I got Rick Crosson for Congress signs out on some very rural communities, roads because I've met those folks out there. We're doing town halls like never before. No one's ever done this before. Because we asked the people where do you want to see your congressional candidate? And so we've been doing that, and we're gonna continue to do that once I become their congressman. We're gonna do that as a matter of regularity and routine. Which, right now, the current occupant, Mr. Wied, has not done a single town hall meeting in the two years that he's been in that role.”

Wied has increased his personal net worth by over $3 million dollars since winning the special election in 2024, along with executing some shady stock trades relevant to committees he sits on.

Similar to Trump, Wied recently came under fire for running taxpayer funded campaign ads in his district. Earlier this year, Wied was a special guest at a fundraiser for a Republican Assemblyman, who once said the Bible commands him to beat his child.

The actions of Republicans in Washington and Trump have helped result in an affordability crisis for everyday people, largely driven by the war. After his service, Crosson worked in transportation logistics for trucking companies.

“There is no strategy and vision to speak of,” Crosson said of the current administration. “I'm a strategist and a visionary where we start with where does this country need to be at some point in its future? And we, as a country, should be able to articulate what that is. Right now, we're a country that's operating from what I see in terms of episodes, it's being run by a person who worked on TV shows. So it's tune in for the next exciting episode of crazy. That's not how you run a country.

“It starts with a vision, and then we backwards plan to where we currently are, which is a state and a condition that nobody wants to be in right now, with high prices, unemployment, we're at war, an undeclared and illegal war, in my opinion. And we should, in fact, have started with a vision.

“So as it relates to foreign relationships, we're part of a global family of countries, and we should be behaving that way, and we're not. And we have disrupted long existing relationships. NATO, for example, our NATO allies, Canada, for Christ's sakes, who would have thought we’d be at odds with our best neighbor? We're not moving things in the correct direction that would make this country or this world peaceful. So I'm all for the restoration of that, and putting America on the correct side of things, and certainly not being labeled ourselves as a pariah nation.

“Again, I'm a transportation logistics person, so I look at things from a supply chain perspective. We've got to fix that. It's affecting the cost of everything, from fuel to fertilizer. And so, again, this is about the relationships that we have with other countries and our world standing there. It's been severely disrupted and painted in much of a negative light.”

Crosson said “there is a very long list of things” he will need to prioritize if elected to the House of Representatives.

He doesn’t view himself as committed to any of the political philosophies that get much of the attention. “I'm an inclusive person. I think about what is best for everybody,” he said.

“We should always be striving to uplift people who are in need, we should be investing in our people, we should be investing in our infrastructure, we should think about healthcare as a fundamental human right. I don't want politicians standing between women and their doctors as far as their right to choose. And I'm for the Constitution, as it was intended to be. And Lord knows, we haven't realized the true potential of this country's possibilities.”

Crosson said he would cosponsor Medicare-for-All legislation if elected to Congress. “We've got the dollars to do this,” he said. “We can figure out how to make this work. And view it as an investment, and not necessarily a privilege. We have to have is the national will to see these things through.”

He also said he would join the Congressional Black Caucus. When asked how race has affected his career, family and life, Crosson, a father to three and grandfather to eight, said he would never let it “slow me down.”

“I don't see it as an impediment,” he said. “I am who I am, I'm very proud of it. An unapologetically Black man. But also, unapologetically a man who lives in Wisconsin, who is seeking objective truth from people.

“You name the role that I've had, I've pretty much been the first Black person to hold the role. And I tell people that my Black experience may be different than yours, but we're all dealing with some similarities that are out there that we all have to be aware of. But, we come to everything from a position of strength. I don't go into situations with my hat in hand.

“My parents told me the same thing, that being a Black person, you had to work ten times better than your white counterpart, just to get the recognition. And I said, ‘Hey, if I'm 10 times better than you, I should be paid 10 times more than you, and I should be compensated and recognized 10 times more than you.’ That's the definition of equality.

“I'm not settling for just being thought of as just as good, even though I know that my performance and my outcomes are better. So, I don't sign up for that. I don't sign up for perpetual victimhood because I'm coming at this from a position of strength, determination, and proven quantifiable results.”

Early voting is underway in Wisconsin and Election Day is Nov. 3.