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Justin Vernon’s manager Kyle Frenette, running for Congress, raises $250k in first weeks of campaigning in Wisconsin

Frenette’s fundraising haul shows momentum against Duffy in Wisconsin-07th district

 Hudson, WI–In six weeks since launching his campaign, Democratic Candidate Kyle Frenette received over 700 individual contributions, with more than half of those totaling $50 or less, bit totaling over $250k. He has over $190K on hand.

Frenette’s fundraising success, coupled with a recent victory of Judge Rebecca Dallet to the State Supreme Court, reportedly prompted Rep. Sean Duffy to warn Dallet’s victory was “a huge wake up call” on Twitter and then caused the veteran Congressmen to schedule a series of town halls in the district last week.

Frenette has an uphill battle.  Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District includes Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Clark, Douglas, Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, St. Croix, Taylor, Vilas, and Washburn counties. Portions of Chippewa, Jackson, Juneau, Monroe, and Wood counties are also in the district.

The current representative of the 7th Congressional District is Sean Duffy (R) and following the last redistricting, The Hill published a list of the Top Ten House Members who were helped by redistricting. Duffy ranked 7th on the list.

Frenette was born and raised in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. He said he’s running for Congress to ‘bring Wisconsin back to Washington.’

With roots in Chippewa Falls and Cornell, Kyle was raised in a working-class family. His father is an inventory manager at a telecom company and his mother is a secretary. Inspired by his grandfathers – both were entrepreneurs  – Kyle built on his  public education with a scholarship to a music college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. While there, he founded an independent record label to shine a light on talent emerging back home.

After earning his two-year degree in business, Kyle moved back to Wisconsin to continue building his record label and began managing Eau Claire musician Justin Vernon and his band Bon Iver. He navigated the band’s rise – which included sold-out tours worldwide, multiple Grammy Awards, and gold and platinum selling albums – and founded Middle West, an independent artist management firm. At its peak, Middle West maintained the careers of 30-plus artists. In 2011 Kyle was included in Billboard’s and Forbes’ “30 Under 30” lists for music.

Kyle sits on the board of April Base, a Wisconsin non-profit recording studio and arts organization, and Dissonance, a mental health advocacy group for the arts. He’s an avid runner and resides in Chetek.

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Frank Parlato

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