Michael Alfonso wins Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, defeating Fred Clark

Republican Michael Alfonso has won the race for Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Fred Clark.

The Associated Press called the race for Alfonso at 10:02 p.m. Tuesday night. Unofficial results showed Alfonso with 56.1 percent of the vote, compared to Clark's 43.9 percent, with 79 percent of votes counted.

At 26 years old, Alfonso will become the youngest member of Congress. He's the son-in-law of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who previously represented the district.

Alfonso will replace Republican Tom Tiffany, who gave up the seat to run for Wisconsin governor.

Clark reacts to election results

While Alfonso celebrated his victory with supporters, Clark gathered with his own supporters at an election-night watch party at Lost Apostle Brewing in Washburn.

Speaking after the race was called, Clark reflected on the outcome.

"Obviously we're disappointed, and a lot of our supporters are," Clark said. "But the things we achieved in this election, where we moved the needle in a big way, we still don't know the final numbers yet, but we had a ton of support coming from former Republicans and independent voters. And of course we knew we'd need that to win."

Clark also talked about the campaign events he held throughout the district and the conversations he had with voters.

"We had town halls in every community that everyone was invited to. They were publicly announced. I was open to any debate. I was open to any conversation about our government and what we need. Hard questions always welcome, and I learned a lot from that. And I think voters took inspiration from that," Clark said.

When asked what advice he had for Alfonso as the district's next representative, Clark emphasized the importance of reaching voters across party lines.

"My advice to any new representative would be to go to places that aren't familiar to you. Go to places with people who didn't vote for you, and have those conversations because your job as a representative is to represent everybody," Clark said.