• Milwaukee boxer Daniel Blancas is scheduled to fight Raul Salomon in Las Vegas on May 2.
• The 24-year-old super middleweight holds an undefeated professional record of 14-0.
• Blancas, who still trains part time in Milwaukee, is part of two-class champion David Benavidez’s team.
• He began boxing at age 8 and won a championship for Team USA at the 2017 Junior Olympics.

Daniel Blancas will be back on the big stage May 2.

Fighting in Las Vegas. Every boxer’s dream.

At T-Mobile Arena, no less, the biggest room in the entertainment capital short of an NFL stadium.

Not bad for a kid who trained at the United Community Center on Milwaukee’s south side and frequently still does as an adult.

But Blancas has been here before. Two experiences of the night stand out.

“The atmosphere is amazing,” Blancas said recently. “Just watching through the tunnel leading into the ring, your mind is just everywhere. You’re feeling a bunch of emotions.

“Especially because at the end of the day, it’s just you and your opponent in the ring. It’s just myself and them fighting. Honestly, you’re excited. You’re anxious to get in the ring.

“Some people might feel nervous, you know?”

Not Blancas, though. At that point he’s prepared, he says, and if you’re prepared, why be nervous?

That’s the start of the night. The memorable start.

Then if all goes as planned – as has happened 14 times in 14 fights – comes the experience the 24-year-old Blancas loves most about the sport. The feeling that makes all the sweat and the miles and the getting hit in the face and the gut worthwhile.

A new Democrat has announced he’ll challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin.

And while many national Democrats have been focused on flipping Wisconsin’s sharply competitive 3rd District, in the western part of the state, Milwaukee Alder Peter Burgelis said in his announcement Sunday that he thinks Steil’s district is flippable, too.

“We need a candidate who can get national attention, national money to counteract what Bryan Steil and his billionaire buddies are going to put in the race,” Burgelis said, announcing his bid on WISN-TV’s UpFront.

Burgelis joins a crowded Democratic primary with no clear frontrunner, up against Steil, who has held the seat since 2019 and is a notedly successful fundraiser.

And the district has been in Republican hands for three decades, and notably held by former House Speaker Paul Ryan for 20 years.

But the district has changed shape since Steil first took office. In new congressional maps drawn by Gov. Tony Evers as part of a redistricting lawsuit in 2022, the district became more competitive.

It lost parts of Milwaukee’s conservative suburbs in Waukesha County, and gained ground around Democratic-leaning Janesville and Beloit. Now, it covers Racine and Kenosha counties, most of Walworth County, part of Rock County and a sliver of southern Milwaukee County.  

Burgelis stands out from the current crop of Democratic hopefuls, including union nurse Mitchell Berman and Racine ironworker Randy Bryce, in part because he has held elected office before.

Still, it’s a longshot for a Democrat to unseat Steil, said Anthony Chergosky, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“It would take a very good year for Democrats, plus a lot of money and the right candidate with the right message to be able to defeat Congressman Steil,” said Chergosky.

The district is on the list of 44 Congressional seats nationwide being targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in a quest to flip the U.S. House this November. But according to the Cook Political Report, it leans Republican.

By comparison, the battle for western Wisconsin’s 3rd District is considered a toss-up — and has sparked the national fundraising numbers to match.

And according to Chergosky, Steil is a particularly strong candidate.

“He is an excellent campaigner. He has a full campaign war chest, and his approach to politics seems to resonate fairly well — or better, quite well — with the people in that region,” said Chergosky. “So if the bottom truly does fall out for Republicans, then I can imagine this district becoming competitive, but it would take a truly disastrous cycle for the GOP for Congressman Steil to be in serious jeopardy.”

Back in southeastern Wisconsin, Burgelis starts out with one big factor against him: he doesn’t currently live in the district. The Wisconsin Republican Party quickly seized on that fact Sunday, releasing a statement saying Burgelis will be more focused on Milwaukee than on 1st District constituents.

“Southeast Wisconsin can’t afford an out-of-district Milwaukee politician like Peter Burgelis,” stated WisGOP Spokesperson Anika Rickard. “He needs to decide who he wants to represent: the people of Milwaukee, where he lives and serves as alderman, or the hardworking families of the 1st District, where he has never lived.”

Burgelis responded to that critique, saying that his message of affordability will resonate anywhere.

“Voters don’t care where you live or what the driver’s license address is in my wallet. Voters care where you stand,” he said.

Burgelis has served on Milwaukee’s Common Council since 2024, and is the first openly LGBTQ+ alder. Before that, he was on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, during which time he was reportedly chastised for the way he treated female staffers.

Milwaukee elected officials say the recent arrest and charging of a Milwaukee landlord in a sprawling drug case showed the city needs to take problematic landlords and the tenants who report them more seriously.