Two Waukesha County Republican lawmakers want voters to send them back to Madison in November even as they chase a different job entirely: Waukesha County executive. State Sen. Chris Kapenga and state Rep. Adam Neylon are both running in a special election to fill the remaining months of the late Paul Farrow's term, all while appearing on the same November ballot seeking reelection to their current legislative seats.
A Double Run With a December Deadline
According to Urban Milwaukee, the special election for county executive is set for Dec. 15, and the deadline to file nominating signatures to get on that ballot was Oct. 20. If both Kapenga and Neylon qualified, a primary would be held Nov. 17 — the same stretch of the calendar when both men are also asking voters to return them to their legislative posts. The Waukesha County Clerk's Office lists the special election date as Dec. 15, 2026.
The race exists because of the death of Paul Farrow, the county's former executive. Tom Farley, previously the county's lead attorney, was sworn in as interim county executive on July 30 after the county board nominated him, the outlet's report notes. Whoever wins the special election will serve only the last few months of Farrow's four-year term, with a separate regular election for a full term scheduled for April 2027, per the same report.
Two Campaigns, Two Timelines
Kapenga announced his county executive candidacy on July 13, while Neylon entered the race in early September, the site's reporting states. That timing matters because both are simultaneously running for reelection to the Legislature: Neylon faces Democrat Stephen Tryon for his Assembly seat, and Kapenga faces Democrat Mike Van Someren for his Senate seat, according to the Wisconsin Examiner.
Winning both races at once would not let either man keep both jobs. State law bars simultaneous service in the Legislature and as a county executive, so whichever lawmaker is certified as the winner of the special election would have 60 days to resign from the Legislature, Urban Milwaukee reports. There is recent precedent for this kind of legislative shuffle in Waukesha County: Farrow himself created a Senate vacancy when he won the county executive race in 2015, and Kapenga won the special election that filled Farrow's old Senate seat that July, the Wisconsin Examiner notes.
Where the Candidates Agree — and Where They Differ
On one of the county's bigger fiscal questions, the two Republicans are aligned: both oppose implementing a local county sales tax, according to the same outlet's reporting. Waukesha is one of only two counties in Wisconsin that do not impose a local tax on top of the state's 5% sales tax, the Wisconsin Examiner reports.
Kapenga has framed his approach around cutting costs rather than raising revenue. In a conversation with Wisconsin Right Now, he said his focus is “reducing people's tax burden through increased efficiency in operations.” Kapenga also pointed to an affordability squeeze in the county, saying it is “facing an affordability crisis with both housing for young families and commercial space for business,” and proposed selling and developing underused county property to help address it. He has also pledged to crack down on crime spilling over from Milwaukee, telling the outlet, “We are going to build a law-wall to put a stop to it.”
Neylon, in his own interview with Wisconsin Right Now, pledged a similarly tax-averse approach, saying, “I will fix the budget without raising taxes.” He has also raised concerns about how much county money flows to the state, citing the 2025 Executive Budget's figures showing the county collected $11,621,500 in real estate transfer fees, with $9,297,200 — 80% of the total — sent to Madison. Separately, Neylon identified modernizing the Waukesha Expo Center and County Fairgrounds as one of the county's major challenges ahead.
Not every detail of how the special election will unfold is settled. Under the relevant state statute, the county clerk is required to order a special election within seven days after a vacancy occurs in the executive's office, following the applicable procedures outlined by the Wisconsin Legislature. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Kapenga and Neylon will indeed face off for the seat, setting up a campaign stretch in which Waukesha County voters will be asked to weigh in on both legislative and executive races within weeks of each other.
