A Republican Assembly member announced Sunday he will run for state Senate in southwestern Wisconsin to replace one of the longest tenured legislators in the state.

Rep. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said in a statement he will challenge incumbent Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, in a possible primary for the 2014 election.

“With a strong campaign team already in place, I’m excited and energized to hit the ground running and look forward to meeting area residents over the coming months,” Marklein said.

As a former accountant with private sector experience, Marklein said he is campaigning on the platform the government should provide businesses tools to grow, rather than create obstacles to economic success.

If elected, the representative said he will continue to push policies that eliminated the deficit last legislative session.

“I look forward to building upon the achievements and accomplishments of the previous legislative session, in which we were able to enact legislation that promoted job creation and improved the economy, as well as budget reforms which eliminated the deficit and left us with a surplus.” 

Schultz, who has held the seat since 1983, said in a statement he is currently focused on representing the people of his district and will not decide until after the beginning of 2014 whether to run for re-election again.

According to Schultz, Marklein’s decision to attempt to unseat him was “not a surprise, but it was unexpected.”

“After 30 years in the state Legislature, nothing surprises me anymore,” Schultz said. “However, with a 98.7 percent Republican voting record, as compared to my Leader in the state Senate last session, I thought that would’ve been enough to stave off a primary challenge.”

Despite Schultz’s tenure in the Senate, he has taken a great deal of criticism from fellow Republicans for voting against party lines on key bills during the past two legislative sessions. 

In 2011, Schultz was the only Republican to vote against a bill that limited collective bargaining rights for many public sector unions. He also opposed a mining bill, which would ease regulations on iron ore mining, preventing the Senate from passing that legislation in 2012. Schultz also voted against a version of the mining bill that passed in February.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin Executive Director Robert Kraig said he believes Marklein is running for Senate because right-winged Republicans’ primary election voters are trying to purge moderates from office.

“This is a very, very conservative primary election,” Kraig said of the likely voters in August 2014 primary. “The incumbent might do well as a moderate in the general election, but only if he’s able to get out of the Republican primary. We really have had a shift over the past 30 years where the Republican Party has become a very consistently right-winged party.”

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is optimistic Marklein’s decision to potentially challenge Schultz in a primary could help secure a Democratic majority in the Senate next term, as 56 percent of voters in the district supported President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.

“The good news is double for Democrats – not only will we be able to defeat Howard Marklein in a general Senate election, his Assembly seat in a Democratic-majority District now is ours for the taking as well,” DPW said in a Monday statement.