Republican Rep. Shannon Zimmerman faces Democratic newcomer Kevin Knoke in a newly competitive district where healthcare access, rural hospital closures, and control of the Wisconsin Legislature are all on the line.
As Americans head to the polls in November, Wisconsin voters will have a rare opportunity to flip both chambers of their state government. Across the state, several seats in each chamber are poised for major change if Democratic voters rally.
In Assembly District 30, where local hospitals have closed in recent years after the state failed to approve Medicaid expansion, the race will come down to a Republican incumbent and a Democratic newcomer.
Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, a Republican, is seeking reelection against challenger Democrat Kevin Knoke in the November midterm election. Each is running unopposed in the August 11 primary.
Assembly District 30 was recently redrawn, and new maps went into effect in 2024. The district now encompasses portions of St. Croix and Pierce counties, including the Town of Saint Joseph, the Town of Hudson, Glover, Kinnickinnic, and River Falls.
Experts say this reconfiguration makes the AD-30 races much more competitive.
Shannon Zimmerman (R)
Rep. Zimmerman is a conservative business owner from Madison whose time spent in state politics is his strongest edge over Knoke.
Rep. Zimmerman was first elected to Assembly District 30 in 2017 and has won reelection four times. He’s currently serving his fifth two-year term, but has much worse attendance during the 2025-2026 than in previous years.
Reporting shows Zimmerman has missed a quarter of votes during the 2025-2026 legislative session, totaling 225 missed votes during six meetings on key issues concerning constituents.
Zimmerman has raised more than $2.1 million since his first run in 2016.
According to the occupation section of his government profile, Zimmerman is classified as an executive in the Artificial Intelligence industry. He co-authored a bill adding new regulations for data center operations in the state that passed the Assembly in January, just 11 days after it was introduced.
But Democrats argued that the bill was rushed and said it stopped short of providing real protections for residents, many of whom are concerned about utility costs and environmental impacts.
“This bill balances the strategic and economic benefits of AI and data centers to the state while balancing concerns that ratepayers may have over energy, and that some may have over environmental implications,” Zimmerman said during a press conference.
The bill failed in the Senate in March.
Zimmerman’s residence was another subject of scrutiny in 2021, when filings showed he was claiming a tax credit reserved for primary residences on a home he owned outside of Assembly District 30. He attributed this to an oversight, and the Elections Commission rejected complaints that he had violated the law.
The same year, he was accused of leaving his Florida vacation rental business out of filings filed with Wisconsin’s Ethics Commission.
Kevin Knoke (D)
A schoolteacher and political unknown from Hudson, Knoke describes himself as “fiscally conservative and socially progressive.” A former member of the United States Army Reserve, he was deployed in 2002 and served for a total of eight years. He taught for the Hudson School District for 26 years.
In his February campaign announcement, Knoke, 58, said he wants to put working families first.
“From addressing rising costs, funding education, supporting our veterans, helping our small businesses succeed, and lowering taxes for working families, there is more the state can be doing to make our state a place where everyone can thrive,” he said in a statement.
Knoke, who is also a geologist, has been endorsed by the 3.14 Action Fund. The organization focuses on electing scientists—specifically those concerned with climate change and healthcare systems—into public office. As a veteran, Knoke also received an endorsement from Vote Vets, an organization of veterans who support Democratic candidates.
Knoke earned his masters degree from the University of Minnesota in 1999 and describes himself as an avid outdoorsman, often sharing photos and videos of himself fly fishing and hunting on social media.
As of June 30, Knoke’s profile on the Wisconsin Campaign Finance website does not display any fundraising statistics, but the first filing deadline isn’t until July 15.
Healthcare, rural issues at stake in the midterms
Of the districts with assembly races on the ballot this fall, AD-30 is one of two that have been affected by recent rural hospital closures.
In 2024, two major hospitals about an hour outside of the district closed. While they’re not encompassed by AD-30, Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls served as specialty treatment centers for many constituents from the district.
Wisconsin has not adopted the Affordable Care Act’s full Medicaid expansion, which many fault for the closure of hospitals that partly rely on those funds. A March study by Public Citizen showed five other hospitals in the state remain at risk of closing, following cuts to Medicaid under the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
In February, Zimmerman missed a vote to address care shortages after the Chippewa Falls hospital closed.
“We had a vote that established a grant through the Department of Human Services that would fill that gap and build a new hospital for this,” Wisconsin State Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) told UpNorthNews.
The bill passed in Zimmerman’s absence, securing funding for expanded mental health services in the region.
Knoke has repeatedly said he supports affordable healthcare, especially in rural areas, but has not laid out clear plans for how he would address the issue.
