Mark Neumann said he came to consider Kenosha as his adopted home when he traveled here frequently on his congressional campaigns in the 1990s.

Now he expects to be back, this time as a candidate for governor.

Neumann, 55, filed papers Wednesday to join what is now a three-way race for next year’s Republican gubernatorial nomination.

The state’s 1st District congressman from 1995 to 1999, he now has his sight set on unseating Gov. Jim Doyle, who is expected to seek a third term.

Neumann’s top priority: making Wisconsin competitive in the global job race.

“I’m a grandparent, and I look at the future for our children and our grandchildren, and I look at the loss of jobs in the state of Wisconsin and what that means for their opportunities in the future,” Neumann said in a telephone interview. “We just plain have to get things in place so we restore the job market in Wisconsin.”

To do so, Neumann said he believes the state must dramatically reduce taxes by cutting spending.

“Our tax structure is such that, here, businesses are making the decision to go elsewhere because of high tax rates,” Neumann said.

Neumann said rules and regulations imposed upon businesses, particularly concerning the environment, need a look. While he said he supports the goal of lowering carbon emissions, Neumann said it must occur in a way that creates jobs rather than hurting business.

He also said he would focus on making sure Wisconsin kids become the best educated students in the world.

Neumann must first, however, survive what could become a high-profile primary against Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, 41, and Appleton businessman Mark Todd, 44, a relatively unknown political newcomer.

A Walker spokesman said the campaign would not speak on Neumann’s entrance into the race, as it has opted to decline comment on any other challengers’ announcements.

Todd touted his lack of political experience. His platform includes a proposal to offer tax breaks to businesses that bring jobs to Wisconsin and to those that have done business in Wisconsin for decades.

“Traditional politicians will beg a business to stay in Wisconsin, and that just doesn’t work,” Todd said. “You need to think like a businessman, which I am. I own three businesses, and my businesses are often business-to-business, so I’ve been talking to businessmen — sometimes 10 or 20 a day — for the last nine years, and I understand how businessmen think.”

Todd has a past link to Kenosha.

He said he spent about a year in the city in the early 1990s, working on community service projects to revitalize properties.

Neumann’s ties to the area go deeper. Though he lived in Janesville at the time, Neumann represented the area in the House until he ran unsuccessfully to defeat Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in 1998.

Now a Waukesha County resident, Neumann owns a home-building company and is co-chairman of a non-profit organization that runs three Christian choice schools in Milwaukee and one public charter school in Arizona.

Neumann said he believes the race will boil down to the candidates’ experience.

“I think when we go to the voting booth a little over a year from now, it’s going to come down to the decision of who’s the most qualified to bring jobs back to Wisconsin,” he said.

Doyle, who has never lost a statewide election, told the Associated Press Wednesday that he was now focused on implementing the state budget he signed into law Monday.

“I’ll worry about the politics of all of this some other time,” he said.