This Wisconsin firefighter plans to ride Independent wave into Congress

Mike Thurow wants to challenge six-term Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman with backing from a group supporting Independent “working class” candidates in a handful of states.

A Mequon firefighter running for Congress believes voters are more ready than ever for candidates who belong to neither the Republican or Democratic parties — and want more candidates who have “blue collar” backgrounds.

Mike Thurow, a fire captain and father of four, announced his candidacy last month in the 6th Congressional District in eastern Wisconsin. 

“I knew Congress was bad, but I didn’t know how bad,” Thurow told UpNorthNews. “Only 2% of Congress right now comes from working class backgrounds (jobs involving manual labor, service, or clerical work).”

When blue collar workers run, they receive some extra attention — think of US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), a former waitress and bartender, or ironworker Randy Bryce, who ran unsuccessfully against Wisconsin US Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) in 2018 — but they remain elusive when it comes to making the commitment to run for office.

“In terms of understanding why these issues aren’t being dealt with, why the cost of groceries isn’t the number one thing people are talking about, why child care is being talked about, is they just don’t know,” he explained.

Thurow said Congress needs more members who prioritize working families rather than party agendas. He said he will not accept corporate PAC money and will work with anyone serious about solving real problems. for example, Thurow mentioned the tax cuts passed by Congress since 2005.

“They’re going to the top 1% and corporations,” Thurow said. “But we’ve seen no real action in those 20 years of actually making sure childcare is more affordable, making sure housing is more affordable. So the issues that actually matter to people aren’t being dealt with. And they really believe the two-party system is a huge reason for what’s going on right now.”

Last week, Thurow and two other independent candidates were endorsed by Working Class Heroes Fund, a political action committee formed by Dan Osborn, a union steamfitter who ran an unusually close US Senate race in Nebraska in 2024 as an independent.

“Mike Thurow is exactly the kind of working-class leader we need in Washington,” said Megan Osborn, Dan Osborn’s spouse and the organizing director of Working Class Heroes Fund. “As a firefighter, Mike has spent his career running toward danger and standing with families on their hardest days—not serving party bosses or corporate donors.”The 6th Congressional District is represented by Republican US Rep. Glenn Grothman, who was first elected in 2014 following the retirement of Republican Tom Petri after 36 years in office. The district has part or all of 11 counties, running from the Milwaukee suburbs in Ozaukee County up the Lake Michigan shoreline through Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties, and farming communities in Waushara and Columbia counties. In the past 80 years, only one Democrat has won the seat, for a two-year term in the 1960s.

“Mike understands what it takes for Wisconsin families to get by, and he’s running to break the two-party stranglehold and give working people a real voice,” Osborn notes.

Working Class Heroes Fund is endorsing two other independent candidates for Congress: a Marine Corps veteran and firefighter in Washington State and a commercial fisherman and former school superintendent in Alaska. The group says it has “previously backed independents, Republicans, and Democrats committed to fighting for the working class [and] made significant contributions to workers organizations and strike funds.”