The day after Wisconsin Right Now posted, “Who knew asking a candidate in a major race, ‘What is your job?’ would be so controversial,” 7th District congressional candidate Michael Alfonso, who has been under fire from some GOP county chairs, suddenly revealed that he has a current job working for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hayward as a parish accountant. But the woman who answered the phone at the church told Wisconsin Right Now that Alfonso, 26, only works part-time.
Secretary/bookkeeper Mary Costley said the priest wasn’t there. When asked whether Trump-endorsed Alfonso, 26, was an employee there, she said, on March 17, “No,” but then quickly clarified, “He is a part-time employee, though. He does work in the accounting department.” Alfonso, who lives in a home owned by his father-in-law Sean Duffy (per his voter registration) in Hayward, didn’t mention the parish job in lengthy interviews last week or in October but suddenly revealed it on social media on March 17.
Alfonso’s work history has been under increasing scrutiny in the race, in which he and four other candidates are competing for the Republican nomination. John Righeimer, GOP chair in the county where Alfonso now lives (Sawyer), slammed the candidate for having “minimal life experience and job experience,” and said he is being pushed by a “machine,” adding, “They are trying to make it a coronation versus competing. I had no idea who he was until this late fall.”
Righeimer is supporting Ashland County GOP Chair Paul Wassgren, who has worked as a corporate lawyer. His comments came after the 7th congressional district, which is comprised of 20-plus county parties, declined to endorse any candidate Saturday, despite Alfonso’s Trump endorsement.
Shortly after this criticism about his work history, Alfonso revealed that he has the job at his local church. But, as of March 17, Alfonso is not mentioned on the website staff list for St. Joseph’s Church in Hayward, which still lists two other people, Costley and Ben Quicksell, as “bookkeepers.” The job isn’t mentioned on Alfonso’s campaign website, either, which touts construction and podcast producer work.
The Diocese of Superior is a non-profit; churches are prohibited from “engaging in any political campaign activity.” Alfonso, who talked about his strong Catholic faith on the Ben Dryden podcast in October but didn’t mention the parish job, announced the job on his Alfonso for Congress Facebook page, posing with the parish priest in a photo. We have reached out to the Diocese of Superior for comment. “Some people have asked what I do for a living. I have the privilege of working as an accountant for my local parish, St. Joseph’s in Hayward,” Alfonso wrote. “In many ways, it is perfect preparation for Congress-balancing budgets while being reminded every day that I ultimately answer to no one but Jesus Christ!”
Alfonso has a math degree from UW-Madison (he told Dryden in October that he “dropped out” of college for a time but went back to graduate.) An Alabama-based “Northwoods Future PAC,” which received $1 million from his father-in-law’s campaign committee (per FEC records), has painted Alfonso as a “working class fighter” in a campaign ad. See that ad here. “Time and time again, Washington politicians get rich while Wisconsin gets ignored, but working-class fighter Michael Alfonso serves us,” it says.
It’s not clear whether the parish job is paid or volunteer, or how long Alfonso has had it.
Michael’s wife, Evita Alfonso-Duffy, also appeared on Dryden’s podcast in February. “He’s working as he’s campaigning. He has a regular job too,” she revealed, but she didn’t mention what it was.
Alfonso didn’t mention the parish job during an interview published just seven days ago, when he told WSAW-TV, describing his employment history, “I just happened to have worked construction for a long time, but I transitioned to media production and now running for Congress.”
Costley said the priest was “gone for the week.” Wisconsin Right Now asked her how long Alfonso has held this parish position, and she said she wasn’t sure what she was allowed to say and declined to comment further. She said we could email her more questions for the priest.
We then sent the priest a couple of questions through her and are awaiting a response.
When did Michael start working in this position? (Which date?)
How many hours does he work per week?
Is this position paid or volunteer?
Was the position advertised? How did he get it?
Pinning Down Michael Alfonso’s Work History: Conflicting Answers About How Long He Worked in Construction
It’s been an arduous journey trying to figure out the current job of the just-turned 26-year-old Sean Duffy son-in-law, who wants to replace Tom Tiffany in Congress. It is hardly an unfair question to want to know the current job and work history of a candidate seeking a congressional seat, who is touting an endorsement from the Leader of the Free World. Rather, it’s kind of a basic biographical fact, which seems like something voters have a right to know.
Alfonso has talked repeatedly about working in construction, and he was a podcast producer for Dan Bongino in Florida for about a year. There is conflicting information about how long Alfonso worked construction, though; he told WSAW-TV that he worked in construction for six years. But his wife, Evita Duffy-Alfonso, who railed at journalists as “liars,” told Dryden that Alfonso worked in construction for seven years.
Evita Alfonso-Duffy told Dryden that Michael “worked for construction for seven years.” She said he worked for Olson Paving in Wausau and Hayward Concrete in Hayward.
“What has experience ever gotten us?” Alfonso asked in the WSAW-TV interview, adding, “And, I have had experience. I’ve worked since I was 14 years old. I worked in construction for six years. I paid my way through college. And, I do think I have as much experience as really anyone in this because it’s about life experience.”
Which is it? We can’t seek clarification because the campaign says it won’t answer any of our questions or give an interview, after we asked four times. At one point, Alfonso said he would grant one, but it never happened.
Alfonso’s campaign website says, “Michael paid his own way through college at UW–Madison by putting on boots and working 10-hour days building houses, paving roads, and laying concrete,” although it’s unclear how he could work 10-hour days while attending college full-time, although there was the aforementioned dropout period. Furthermore, Evita revealed in a Facebook post that, during COVID, “Michael and I spent about two years living in Wausau with our families while our college classes were remote.”
Evita has also posted online that Alfonso helped her with columns she wrote for the Federalist (“Michael, as always, helped me with the article,” she wrote at one point in a post slamming former conservative talk-show host/now podcaster Meg Ellefson, who has also criticized Alfonso). However, the Federalist columns bear only Evita’s name (Alfonso did write a column about New Richmond recently, but nothing else comes up on his author page). He said on a podcast that she was writing for the Federalist, without mentioning any contributions from him. As for Bongino, her parents’ podcast described Evita as Bongino’s managing producer, although it’s not clear how long she had that role; Alfonso’s website says he was a producer there. Evita told Dryden that she wasn’t Alfonso’s boss.
“In fact, as a percentage of his life, Michael has lived in district longer than anyone in this race,” Evita claimed. It should be noted that former Iran hostage/businessman Kevin Hermening, 66, who is also running, has lived in the 7th congressional district for more than 40 years.
In the Dryden interview last October, Alfonso criticized H1B visa holders for getting “part-time accounting jobs,” but never mentioned having a part-time accounting job himself (Alfonso was born in Chicago but raised in Vilas and Marathon Counties.)
Alfonso last voted in Florida.
A Job in the Treasury Department That Was Not Fully Realized
On WSAW, Alfonso revealed that he once obtained “a job in the Treasury Department,” for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), but he was waiting for its head Benjamin Black “to get through the Senate confirmation process,” a process that lagged for months. Then, Charlie Kirk was shot, and Tiffany decided to run for governor, opening up the congressional seat, so Alfonso decided to run for Congress instead for his father-in-law’s old seat. Black was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 7, 2025.
The part-time parish accountant’s job is still not mentioned on Alfonso’s campaign website, even as of March 17, 2026. His campaign website bio says, rather, that he worked construction in college (the 10-hour days) as well as working construction again right after college, and then he became the producer for Dan Bongino in Florida.
On March 10, when Alfonso gave the interview to WSAW-TV, he did not mention his part-time parish accountant’s job then, either. That article is headlined, “7th District candidate Alfonso downplays experience, Trump endorsement means more now.” Alfonso told WSAW that he worked for Bongino “for a year,” and he said he had been back in Wisconsin “for about a year.” (He told Dryden that he returned to Wisconsin in June 2025.)
The WSAW reporter asked Alfonso about ads calling him a “working class fighter” and asked him to define working class. He said working class means people “who are out every single day providing for their family, whether that be blue collar or white collar.” He said they are “people who tie their shoes every morning and go to work.”
Alfonso praised Trump profusely in the interview, saying, “He’s ended more wars than I’ve ever seen ended in my lifetime.”
The other candidates in the race are Hermening (who runs a finance company, was Marathon GOP chair, was president of the local school board and was a hostage in Iran); Wassgren (who has worked as a corporate lawyer and resurrected the Ashland County Republican Party); Jessi Ebben (who works in government and public affairs for Ashley Furniture and worked in Minnesota government); and Niina Baum (a dog musher who started a non-profit for young professionals.)
Michael Alfonso Explained Briefly Dropping Out of College
Alfonso gave some other biographical details to Dryden last October. Alfonso said he was born in Chicago, and his family moved to Vilas County when he was 2, and he lived there until age 12. He went to middle and high school in Wausau. Then, he went to college at UW-Madison. Then, he came back to Hayward and worked construction, Alfonso told Dryden. “I was working construction during college a lot too.” Then, he went to work for Bongino as a producer, he said.
He received the degree in math because the “liberal arts stuff at UW-Madison is a nightmare.” Alfonso said he once said his pronouns in college, and he felt ashamed about it, and he decided to be a “brave person on campus” and never do something like that again.
Between his freshman and sophomore year, Alfonso told Dryden that he “dropped out of school” because he “had enough of the nonsense on college campuses,” and he decided to focus on construction. “I dropped out. I missed the first semester of my sophomore year,” he said. Evita encouraged him to go back to school, so he did so.
He said Evita was “writing for the Federalist,” which he described as a remote publication online.
They decided to go to Hayward. “I told her I will do construction for a little bit longer. I’ve never minded it.” And then they got the “crazy opportunity to work for Dan” and moved to Florida for a year, which he said he “hated,” referring to the state, not Bongino. They moved back to Hayward in June 2025, he told Dryden.
He decided to run for Congress. After Charlie Kirk was shot, he decided it “was time for people to step up.” Character and conviction matter, Alfonso said, not “age and experience.”
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