It's not a position that an incumbent Senator wants to be in but State Senator Jeff Plale looks like he's in big trouble with his voters.  The Democratic base has come out and is knocking on doors for candidate Donovan Riley.

Plale has angered democrats from the democratic wing of the democratic party but siding with republicans on some key issues.  Plale's district has always been diverse with the east side leaning heavily toward a liberal ideology and the South Milwaukee / Oak Creek areas supporting more Republican ideals.  Plale's background as a conservative democratic State Assembly Representative served him well in South Milwaukee and Oak Creek but east side liberals (represented by Jon Richards in the Assembly) aren't happy about Plale's apparent abandonment of their principles.

So you would think that Plale would embrace his core South Milwaukee / Oak Creek voters by supporting policies they want right?  Nope.  Plale teamed up with Republican Jeff Stone (Greenfield) to fight for a plan to turn the Milwaukee County owned Mitchell International Airport over to an unelected board.  That would mean that if voters weren't happy with what was going on with the airport, well that would just be too damn bad.  Since the South Milwaukee / Oak Creek portion of Plale's district is in the fly zone, Plale's not winning any friends in that area.

Then take the third assembly district in that State Senate Seat — the Bay View and St. Francis neighborhoods currently represented by Christine Sinicki.  Those areas are changing. Young, educated professionals who would have otherwise loved to live on the east side if not for skyrocketing property values, have embraced Bay View as Milwaukee's new east side.  Traditionally, Plale would have been able to count on these voters but with a rapidly changing, more educated demographic, those voters tend to be more liberal.  In and of itself, that would bode poorly for Plale.

But what is shaping up to be Plale's real Achilles Heel in this race is the swarm of volunteers that appear to be going door to door in the district supporting Riley.  Few voters know of Plale despite his years in the legislature.  That doesn't bode well for an incumbent.

This is not to say that Plale doesn't have a chance.  Riley generally has a reputation as being a glad hander who is relying on his volunteer base to knock on the doors as he focuses on other issues.  Until recently, Riley didn't even live in the district but it's unlikely that voters will care if he's a carpet bagger.  Riley, not by his own doing, but by the actions of Plale, has managed to motivate the base to work hard for progressive issues.  Glad hander or not, this means Riley has a very real chance of ousting Plale in the upcoming primary challenge this September.