For the first time in years, the northern shores of Lake Winnebago in Neenah and Menasha feature a competitive Assembly race. 

After retiring from his decades-long political career in 2021, former Neenah mayor and state Rep. Dean Kaufert is returning to politics in a bid to represent the 53rd Assembly District as a Republican. Challenging him is lifelong Neenah resident and Democrat Duane Shukoski, a political newcomer who previously worked as an environmental health manager at Kimberly Clark.

Current Rep. Mike Schraa was drawn out of the district and unsuccessfully ran in the 55th Assembly District Republican primary. Now, the competitive 53rd could become a deciding seat in Democrats’ quest to gain control in the Assembly.

Kaufert is running on a conservative platform supporting a referendum on a 14-week abortion ban, lowering taxes and continuing public funding to private voucher schools. Shukoski is running a progressive campaign to ensure abortion access, repeal anti-union legislation and expand Medicaid funding.

Redistricting

For more than a decade, Neenah has been represented in the Assembly by Republicans, sharing the 55th Assembly District with rural parts of Winnebago County. Neighboring Menasha, meanwhile, has consistently remained a Democratic stronghold, as it has shared the more urban 57th Assembly District with Appleton.

Since redistricting, the two Fox Valley cities have been grouped together in the 53rd Assembly District. Now, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis, Democrats and Republicans in the district are separated by less than five points, ranking the 53rd Assembly District among the most competitive races in Wisconsin’s Legislature.

‘I’m not an extremist’

Kaufert has a lengthy resume — after starting his political career on the Neenah City Council in 1986, he won a bid to represent the 55th Assembly District in 1990 and remained there until 2015, after he was elected Neenah mayor.

His voting record includes opposing Medicaid expansion, favoring the repeal of iron mining restrictions and supporting anti-abortion measures. Kaufert received a 96.43% lifetime ranking from the American Conservative Union. 

But in an opening statement during an October candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Kaufert refrained from identifying as a conservative and emphasized bipartisanship. 

“I’m not an extremist on any issue,” Kaufert said. “This isn’t working, the partisan divide (in Madison). I’m a proven person that was well respected on both sides of the aisle.”

Kaufert did not make himself available for an interview for this story.

A progressive proposal

Shukoski, a lifelong Neenah resident, grew up under the state’s foster care system before working up the Kimberly Clark corporate ladder, starting as a union worker and eventually becoming environmental health manager. 

“I’m not a politician,” Shukoski said during the October candidate forum. “I’m a retired Kimberly Clark employee. I come from the working class and I care about the working class.”

When asked about his political ideology, Shukoski said that he “would lean more progressive.” He identified a strong social safety network during his youth as a large source of support, and he counted his background as a strong influence on his political positions.

“The fact that Winnebago County and the state took care of me has inspired me to run and to give back to my community,” Shukoski said.

Shukoski’s platform includes accepting federal funding to expand BadgerCare, to enshrine Roe v. Wade into the state’s constitution and to repeal 2011 Act 10, a law that crippled public sector unions in the state.

Cost of living

Some of Shukoski’s main focuses are poverty and the cost of living. In a statement on his campaign website, Shukoski said that he hopes to “ease the cost of living and make childcare more affordable.”

Shukoski also spoke about rising housing costs and homelessness, referencing his previous work as a volunteer for Pillars, an organization focused on providing housing and other resources to populations experiencing homelessness.

Kaufert had a different perspective on the cost of living.

“Things seem to be going a lot better than they used to, other than inflation,” Kaufert said. “Minimum wage is raised in this country, more people are working. Salaries are up.”

While unemployment rates have remained low and median household incomes have increased in recent years, Wisconsin’s minimum wage has remained at the federal level of $7.25 per hour since 2009.

Kaufert also spoke against implementing social welfare programs. “There’s no doubt that there’s a shortage of adequate quality affordable housing,” Kaufert said. “But rent control, things like that, aren’t the answer.”

Kaufert claimed individual financial choices are the cause of the problems for people experiencing poverty.

“You see people who don’t have the financial means to do the things that they should be doing, but they all got a 65-inch screen TV. They got cigarette butts on the front porch. They got a $1,000 cell phone,” he said. “I’m not willing to give a handout.”

Labor

Both Kaufert and Shukoski claim to support unions.

Kaufert, one of only four Republicans who voted against Act 10, said he has worked with unions in the past. “I know the leaders and we work well, and to be painted as an extremist just isn’t fair,” he said.

But Kaufert now defends Act 10, calling it “the best thing that ever happened to this state.” He spoke against the idea of repealing Act 10, saying that “to just come and say we’re going to overturn everything is not the right answer.”

Kaufert also received a lifetime score of 27% from the AFL-CIO in 2014, indicating that he voted against the union’s positions in the vast majority of votes. He has been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.

Shukoski, on the other hand, has openly called to overturn Act 10, saying that it is one of the first things he hopes to achieve in office.

A former union member, Shukoski has received endorsements from several unions, including UAW and AFL-CIO. Shukoski spoke in favor of unions, saying that with stronger unions, “we’re all lifted up. The economy does better. Wages are better.” 

According to a 2023 Treasury Department report, unions “serve to strengthen the middle class and grow the economy at large.”

“I raised a family on union wages back in the ‘80s. You can’t do that today,” Shukoski said. “We need to strengthen our unions.”

Abortion

In a September Facebook post, Kaufert said that he would support a “statewide referendum on (the) 14-week abortion bill,” echoing AB 975, a Republican-backed bill that sought to ban abortions after 14 weeks.

In the post, Kaufert also said that he was pro-life and would support “exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother” and “legislation for birth control to be sold over the counter by pharmacist(s).”

Kaufert has previously supported anti-abortion legislation, including 2013’s SB206, which forced those seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound and mandated that physicians provide a verbal description of the fetus.

Shukoski, who has been endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, said that he hopes to “enshrine Roe into the State Constitution.”

“It’s none of my business. It’s none of the government’s business for what women do in situations like that,” Shukoski said.

Education

Kaufert and Shukoski diverge further on education in Wisconsin.

Over a decade ago, Kaufert introduced legislation to give tax credits to parents who enroll students in private schools. Instead the state expanded the Milwaukee private school voucher program statewide. Kaufert said he would continue the expansion of school choice.

He also said Wisconsin’s public schools are adequately funded.

“Public school spending has increased every single year of the state budget,” Kaufert said. “To people that say public schools aren’t being funded adequately, public schools are.”

Public school spending has increased every year except in 2011, when Kaufert joined Republicans in passing a budget with an $834 million cut to Wisconsin’s K-12 budget. The lost funding to schools was offset by requiring teachers to contribute more to retirement and health insurance premiums. Between 2002 and 2020, Wisconsin’s public school system experienced the third-lowest school funding increase in the nation, and the state’s growing school voucher system continues to divert hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars toward private schools each year.

Nearly half of all Wisconsin school districts are seeking additional funding through referendums this year.

Shukoski, on the other hand, is critical of the voucher program and said that public education spending has to increase. 

“Schools in this district have closed. My elementary school has closed,” Shukoski said. “This is what happens when you defund or you underfund schools for 14 years.”

Shukoski, who was endorsed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, also called for additional restrictions on the voucher program in a candidate survey put out by the League of Women Voters and the Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education, agreeing with calls to disclose voucher costs on taxpayer bills, reevaluate the need for the voucher program and charter schools, and develop accountability measures for private schools that would be similar to those of public schools.

Climate

On environmental issues, Kaufert said that “climate change probably exists.”

He also said that it “is more of a global problem than it is a Wisconsin problem,” adding that more has to be done federally and internationally to address the issue.

Kaufert received a 0% rating from the Sierra Club during the 2013-14 legislative session, indicating that he voted against the environmental group’s preferences in every identified issue that year. He also co-sponsored a Republican-led effort to weaken requirements for mining permits in the state in 2011.

Shukoski cited his environmental work at Kimberly Clark when speaking about climate change, saying in a statement on his campaign website that he had worked closely with the Department of Natural Resources and had helped improve environmental standards at several Kimberly Clark facilities.

Shukoski also called for increased funding in the event of future climate emergencies, citing recent disasters such as Hurricane Helene.

“We all know climate change is real,” Shukoski said. “When we fire our scientists and we don’t fund the DNR or underfund, that hurts the state.”

Shukoski has been endorsed by the Sierra Club.

Health care

Kaufert spoke against accepting increased federal funding for BadgerCare. He also warned that federal child care subsidies would be “one-time money” and that it could lead to increased tax costs.

Shukoski said that he would support programs to increase child care funding in the state, saying that “our working families need the help.” He also favors BadgerCare expansion, saying it would “improve healthcare access, support local hospitals, and prevent medical bankruptcies” in a statement on his campaign website.

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Candidates clash over opposing goals for the future of the Fox Valley is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A family stood outside the doors of St. Francis Community Free Clinic at 4:55 p.m. on a recent Monday, five minutes before it was set to open. 

A volunteer receptionist switched on the Oshkosh, Wisconsin, clinic’s “open” sign and welcomed them inside. Within minutes, more patients filed into the waiting room. Volunteers called people back to see Dr. Weston Radford on a first-come, first-served basis.

The clinic technically closes at 7 p.m. on Mondays, but Radford, who volunteers here weekly, said he often stays to treat patients past 8 p.m. — 14 hours after starting his workday as an internal medicine doctor at a private clinic nearby. 

Still the free clinic in its limited hours can’t reach everyone who needs it, including many who lack adequate health insurance.   

“Health care is still a big need that we’re not really filling,” Radford said. 

Health care is on the minds of plenty of Wisconsin residents ahead of the November election. 

More than two dozen people who responded to WPR’s America Amplified project said they want politicians to prioritize health care access. Eight called for expanding access to Medicaid, the joint state and federal aid program to help low-income residents afford care.

Wisconsin is home to more than 1.2 million Medicaid recipients and an estimated 310,000 people who lack insurance.  

Voters weighing their options for president have heard little from former President Donald Trump, a Republican, or Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, about Medicaid policy. Still, their past records and party affiliations paint drastically different possibilities for the program after November, according to the health policy research firm KFF.

“Medicaid and its future, whether it faces existential threats, will depend on the outcome of this fall’s federal election,” said Edwin Park, a public policy professor at Georgetown University.

Trump previously pushed Medicaid cuts 

Residents could lose Medicaid access, experts say, if Trump as president successfully revives his past proposals to shrink the size of the program — leaving more low-income adults reliant on busy clinics like St. Francis.

Project 2025, a plan for a second Trump administration published by the far-right Heritage Foundation, including chapters written by former Trump administration officials, proposes major cuts to federal Medicaid spending and toughened eligibility requirements. 

Those proposals align with Trump’s track record. His administration increased scrutiny over eligibility for recipients, allowed states to add work requirements and proposed trimming around $1 trillion over 10 years from the federal Medicaid budget — cuts that Congress did not pass in 2017.

Nevertheless, Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025.    

“Only President Trump and the campaign, and NOT any other organization or former staff, represent policies for the second term,” Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser for Trump’s campaign, wrote in a statement to WPR and Wisconsin Watch.

The campaign did not respond to questions about whether Trump supports Project 2025 proposals to limit state Medicaid funding through block grants and impose lifetime limits on benefits. 

“President Donald J. Trump is unwavering in his mission to lower costs for seniors and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” Jacob Fischer, a Wisconsin spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, told WPR and Wisconsin Watch.

A 16-page Trump policy plan promises protections for Medicare, the government health coverage for seniors and adults with disabilities, but never mentions Medicaid.

Harris touts high Medicaid enrollment with few specifics

Meanwhile, an 82-page Harris campaign document touts record-high coverage levels during her administration with President Joe Biden, but it doesn’t articulate specific Medicaid policies. 

A Harris campaign spokesperson did not directly answer when asked about specific Medicaid proposals.   

“Donald Trump is campaigning on a promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act and would spike costs under his extreme Project 2025 agenda, a stark contrast from Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan to take on Big Pharma and bring down health care costs for families across Wisconsin,” Brianna Johnson, the campaign’s Wisconsin spokesperson, responded via email.

Harris pushed a more dramatic health care overhaul in 2019 while running in the Democratic presidential primary. She cosponsored the failed “Medicare for All” bill, which would have granted Americans universal coverage to replace private-pay insurance and Medicaid. 

Harris has since sought to distance herself from Medicare for All. Trump has attacked Harris for having “flip flopped” on what his campaign calls a “socialist” proposal, and he has spread misleading claims about what it would have meant for immigrants who entered the country illegally. 

Harris does not mention Medicare for All in her current platform. She instead describes plans to bolster Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare” — a law Trump has repeatedly pushed to repeal. 

What does Medicaid policy mean for Wisconsin?

Wisconsin has a smaller proportion of uninsured residents than most states, but it remains among just 10 that haven’t expanded Medicaid to cover adults below 138% of the federal poverty line, around $20,800 a year for a single adult. 

Adopting expansion would allow Wisconsin to extend government coverage to up to 90,900 additional adults and reap a net benefit of $1.7 billion over two years, according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum estimate. 

Trump’s Affordable Care Act repeal efforts would have ended Medicaid expansion nationwide. The federal government can’t force states to expand coverage, but Congress during the Biden-Harris administration approved financial incentives to encourage expansion.

Wisconsin’s Republican-led Legislature rejected the most recent expansion proposal. Legislators have argued it would cause more residents to overly rely on the government, increase private insurance costs and burden future taxpayers.

Republican expansion critics point out that of the states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, Wisconsin is the only one without what some call a coverage gap. 

That’s because the state’s Medicaid program covers low-income adults making up to the federal poverty level — the same point at which they qualify for subsidized plans on the federal Health Insurance Marketplace.

But Medicaid is seen as more comprehensive coverage than Marketplace options. Wisconsin’s Medicaid program covers dental care. But a Marketplace enrollee may need to pay an extra premium for dental coverage.

Two-thirds of respondents in a KFF poll of non-expansion states, including Wisconsin, said they favored expansion.

While voters in six Republican-led states approved Medicaid expansion through ballot initiatives since 2020, Wisconsin voters lack the ability to put referendums on the ballot.

Some experts see Wisconsin’s new electoral maps as a potential path for expansion.

This is the first election after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to draw new state Assembly and Senate district boundaries. The new maps create the possibility of Democrats gaining a majority in the state Assembly due to more competitive districts. 

While a Democrat-led Senate remains unlikely, control over one chamber could still move expansion debates forward, said Philip Rocco, an associate professor of political science at Marquette University.

“Even if there’s not a victory immediately, it might create some political momentum for one to happen eventually,” Rocco said.

Radford isn’t sure why Wisconsin hasn’t expanded Medicaid, but he remains hopeful.

It would ease some of his work at his day job at the private clinic. Having more people on Medicare or Medicaid could decrease worries about denials or big out-of-pocket costs.

“It’d be nice just to be able to treat the people what we think medically is the best for them,” Radford said.

Even under expansion, plenty of Wisconsin residents will still need to visit free clinics like St. Francis. 

‘We just take care of them’ 

Each week Radford sees patients who lack adequate private insurance, are in between coverage or can’t qualify for Medicaid because of their citizenship status.

Such needs aren’t new. Radford’s dad volunteered at St. Francis for around 30 years, spanning several  presidential administrations.

While health care policies have changed over time, the clinic’s mission hasn’t. No one at the front desk asks questions about insurance or other types of payment. No one gets turned away.

“People got to be seen,” Radford said. “So we just take care of them.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Medicaid covers 1.2 million in Wisconsin. The election will determine its future is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Voters in northeast Wisconsin will choose a new representative in Congress next month, with both candidates for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District coming from the private sector. 

Republican Tony Wied, a businessman from De Pere, and Democrat Kristin Lyerly, an OB-GYN from De Pere, are both running for the seat previously held by former U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican who resigned earlier this year. 

Wied and Lyerly will each be on the ballot twice on Nov. 5, for both a general and special election. The special election will allow the winner to finish Gallagher’s term in Congress.

Wied, who owned a chain of Dino Stop convenience stores until 2022, received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump when he entered the race as a political unknown.

During a crowded GOP primary race, he leaned into the Trump endorsement, and he’s also campaigned on his experience as a small business owner.

“I will take the approach that I’ve always taken when running my business, raising my family and conducting myself over 48 years,” Wied said at a recent debate. “I’ll take a pragmatic approach. I’m not one to scream and attack people. I’m one to attack problems.”

Lyerly has been an outspoken advocate for reproductive rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. She became a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s pre-Civil War abortion law.

She ran for an Assembly seat in 2020, but lost to incumbent state Rep. John Macco, R-Ledgeview. She said she voted Republican for much of her life.

“I never voted for a Democrat until I was probably in my 30s, and I never became a Democrat until right before I ran for office,” Lyerly said at the debate. “I’m an independent thinker. I’m somebody who listens to people, just like I do in the office when I’m talking to a patient.”

From inflation to abortion, Wied and Lyerly at odds on the issues

During their recent debate, Wied and Lyerly squared off on inflation, abortion, immigration and education. 

On inflation, Wied said he wants to cut government spending to bring costs down, calling inflation a “tax” on the lower and middle classes.

“It’s no different than each and every one of you in your own households. You have to look at every single budget, and that’s what I will bring to Congress,” he said. “We have to have a balanced budget. We have to move towards less spending.”

Beyond government spending, Lyerly argued that “corporate greed” also played an outsized role in driving inflation. She proposed creating new federal programs to help address rising housing costs, which have contributed to inflation.

“We can use federal lands for public development,” she said. “There are many things that we can do as members of Congress that will help to take the pressure off of the housing market and get first-time home buyers into their homes.”

On abortion, Wied has said he believes the issue is one for the states and not the federal government. During the debate, he was asked what he believes Wisconsin’s abortion policy should be. He didn’t expressly answer.

“It won’t be at the federal level, so that’s not on my plate,” Wied said. “I am going to continue to work hard on the things that I can control in the United States House of Representatives.”

Meanwhile, Lyerly said she believes women should “have the freedom to make our own choices” about their bodies. She called Wied’s position of leaving abortion policy up to the states a “cop-out.”

“That tells me that in states with bans, where mothers die at a rate three times greater than in states without bans, you’re OK with that,” she said. 

On immigration, Wied said he is in favor of bringing back the pandemic-era “Remain in Mexico” policy and completing the border wall.

Lyerly said she would support a bipartisan border security bill that was negotiated by Senate Republicans and Democrats, but was derailed by Trump.

“The people who pulled my opponent’s strings said no (to the bill),” Lyerly said. “They said no because they want to use it for politics. They want to use it to induce fear.”

Wied argued the bill didn’t do enough to reestablish the policies of the Trump administration.

“This bill does not go far enough,” he said. “We need to close this border down (and) find an effective immigration policy.”

During the debate, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student asked both candidates for their views on bringing the cost of college down, and on student loan relief. 

Wied was not in favor of student loan forgiveness, but Lyerly said she was open to the idea. Both said more needs to be done to get students into the skilled trades, but Lyerly criticized Wied for his support for ending the U.S. Department of Education.

“By eliminating the Department of Education, that would eliminate a number of funding streams for students,” Lyerly said. “Not only that, but it would drive states and local municipalities into chaos.”

Wied said he believes the Department of Education is essentially micromanaging schools.

“You should have the control to run your schools here locally, and I do not believe in the federal government teaching our children,” he said. “We have federal bureaucrats continuing to get involved in our children’s education.”

What do their supporters say?

Whether it’s Wied or Lyerly, the winner of the 8th District will be a first-time officeholder. Supporters for both think their candidate is up for the challenge.

De Pere resident Bob Gryboski said he’s known Wied for years. Gryboski runs a construction company with his brother and thinks Wied’s business background makes him the right candidate.

“Being a small business owner, you get to meet people on all scales of the income scale, and you need to interact with those people and work together to get things done,” Gryboski said. “He’s going to have a really good sense of the community in general.”

Gryboski said he thought Trump’s endorsement would help Wied, even as he acknowledged the former president had been “a polarizing individual.”

“I agree with many of the policies that (Trump) supports,” Gryboski said. “By Tony getting that endorsement, that would indicate that he obviously also will be supporting a lot of the policies.”

Shawano resident Lora Perdelwitz is a Lyerly supporter who got to know the candidate at a few campaign stops in Shawano. She says she feels like Lyerly listens to voters in the same way she listens to her medical patients.

“I want someone representing me who has that trait because if you’re listening to the people you’re representing, you can represent what their wants and needs are,” Perdelwitz said. “The things she talks about are in alignment with my wants and needs at this point, as far as reproductive rights.”

Perdelwitz said Trump’s endorsement of Wied is “incredibly concerning,” saying the Jan. 6 insurrection remains top of mind for her. 

“To me, that’s a huge red flag,” she said. “If you’re using his endorsement to get you votes, that’s a little frightening.”

As of Sept. 30, Lyerly had raised and spent more money than Wied, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

Lyerly raised more than $2 million dollars, spent roughly $1.4 million and had roughly $603,000 of cash on hand heading into the final leg of the race. Wied raised more than $1.3 million, spent about $1.1 million and had roughly $230,000 of cash on hand.

The 8th Congressional District has been held by Republicans since 2011, and the Cook Political Report rates the seat as “solid Republican.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Tony Wied, Kristin Lyerly face off in race for northeast Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

According to the candidates running for Wisconsin’s 30th Senate District, some of the top issues this year for northeastern Wisconsin voters are rising living costs and politicians’ inability to get along with their colleagues across the aisle.

Both Jim Rafter, a Republican and Allouez village president, and Jamie Wall, a business consultant and third-time Democratic candidate, are wearing bipartisanship as a badge of honor in their respective campaigns. It’s a strategic move for both parties amid the state’s increasingly polarized political landscape, reflecting the competitive nature of a Senate district that covers Green Bay and some of its suburbs.

From calls for tax cuts to redistributing Wisconsin’s surplus among municipalities, the two candidates share positions on many issues. But they do differ on some issues — Wall more openly sides with Democrats in calls for increased abortion access and taking federal funds to expand Badgercare, whereas Rafter has been a more vocal proponent for the closure of Green Bay Correctional Institution.

Redistricting has removed rural northern parts of Oconto and Marinette counties from the 30th Senate District in favor of more urban settings in Allouez and Ashwaubenon south of Green Bay. The district now reflects the more densely populated and politically varied region of metropolitan Green Bay instead. In response to redistricting, current Sen. Eric Wimberger, a Republican, announced in March that he would run in the more rural 2nd Senate District instead.

While Wimberger won by a margin of nearly 10 points in 2020, the open seat now ranks as the state’s closest Senate race this year, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis. 

Bipartisanship

Rafter, who has served on the Allouez board for 10 years, including eight years as president, said political polarization is one of the biggest issues in the state.

“Nothing’s getting done because people won’t talk to each other,” Rafter said. “I like to talk to people and get things done.”

Wall, a business consultant who is returning to the political sphere after two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in 2006 and 2012, seems to agree, saying that his experience in the private sector will help him bring politicians together.

According to Wall, polarization is a decades-long problem, and constituents are tired of it.  “They’ve seen all the dysfunction and all the partisan fighting,” Wall said. “We’ll get more done for the people of the state if we’re willing to work together across party lines and compromise.”

In terms of compromise, both hope to leverage bipartisan support to divert more of Wisconsin’s $3 billion surplus toward local funding and tax cuts.

Rafter said his decade in Allouez politics has demonstrated a need to appropriate more funding toward local governments.

“In Allouez, we’re a very small community, and we have absorbed tremendous increases in costs of operations such as building roads and just maintaining our infrastructure,” Rafter said. “There’s lots that local communities need to be able to do, and that money would go a long way in helping.”

“I don’t believe state government should be sitting on that money,” Rafter said. “If it doesn’t come back to the local communities, it should go back to the residents.”

Wall, similarly, hopes to see legislators compromise in order to allocate the surplus.

“It’s a sign that how things work in Madison is kind of broken,” Wall said in a September interview with WisconsinEye. 

Budgeting the surplus, he said, should have the goal of “reducing health care costs … working to bring down the cost of housing for regular people, and providing a little bit of targeted tax relief for the people who need it the most.”

Taxes

One of Wall’s central campaign promises is a tax cut, enabled by the state’s current surplus, that he says will be directed toward working families. 

Wall also has attacked Rafter’s tax policies, criticizing him for supporting an increase in Brown County’s sales tax during his tenure as Allouez village president. Rafter advocated for the continuation of a 0.5% county sales tax during an Allouez village board meeting in 2022.

Rafter, however, views his past in a more practical light. 

“I’ve seen and read how much money that half percent sales tax has saved the taxpayers of Brown County in terms of debt reduction, in terms of being able to do more roads and more buildings,” Rafter said.

Rafter, who also said that he would support a bill to cut taxes in order to address the rising cost of living, defended his record on taxes in Allouez. “Our existing tax rate has remained relatively flat over the last nine years I’ve been on the board,” Rafter said. 

When asked whether or not he would oppose any future sales tax increases, Wall said he is “not a big fan of the sales tax.”

Abortion

On the issue of abortion, Wall is critical about past Republican attempts at restricting abortion access in the state. In a statement on his campaign website, he said he “supports preserving and expanding (reproductive health care) rights.”

Rafter said his position differs from anti-abortion Republicans like Wimberger. He said he hopes to reduce the amount of abortions through “education and guidance,” and that if elected, he would not enter with a steadfast position on the matter.

“As a community we need to come together and figure out what the right solution is. We need to protect the rights of women. We also have to make every effort to protect the rights of the unborn child,” Rafter said. “I hope that we can find a way to reduce the number of abortions in the state of Wisconsin.”

Green Bay Correctional Institution

Rafter takes a harder stance on the issue of Green Bay Correctional Institution, having become an outspoken advocate for its closure. The maximum-security prison, which has been plagued with dangerous living conditions in addition to problems relating to understaffing and overpopulation, is located in Allouez.

Wisconsin’s prison system as a whole, Rafter said, is riddled with problems. 

“Our criminal justice system just needs a lot of help … the system that has been built, from what I’m learning, is not working,” Rafter said. “There are an awful lot of people working in our Department of Corrections that deserve better. There are inmates who deserve better. There are families of the inmates who deserve better. And from a financial perspective, every taxpayer in the state of Wisconsin deserves better.”

Wall said that he agreed with other local politicians that GBCI needs to be closed, but he did not specify support for any specific proposals going forward.

When asked about GBCI, Wall said that he wanted to “have a bigger conversation about what the state prison system ought to look like.”

“I’d like to be a part of that conversation,” Wall said.

Health care

On the topic of health care, Wall backed taking federal funding to expand BadgerCare. He said it should be a no-brainer.

“We can start off by taking federal Medicaid expansion monies, which 40 other states have done,” Wall said. “We’re paying taxes for people’s health care in 40 other states and not benefiting as a result of that.”

Rafter was less certain on his position, saying that health care is an important issue but that he’s unsure as to what problems currently exist or what a good solution might be.

“Just accepting (federal) money isn’t the right answer,” Rafter said. “I don’t have an opinion except that we have to come together and figure it out.”

School funding

The two candidates have some disagreements on school funding. Schools across the state have turned to referendums to obtain funding, and Wisconsin is trailing nationally in percentage increases in school funding over the past decade.

Both candidates called for increased funding to K-12 schools. Rafter also voiced support for funding private voucher schools while Wall said that “public dollars ought to go to supporting public schools.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Two moderates race to the middle for Green Bay state Senate seat is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Child care is a hot topic in this year’s presidential election. It was the subject of a question in the vice presidential debate earlier in the month.

It’s an issue that hits close to home, too.   

Child care in northeastern Wisconsin is expensive, it’s hard to find, and at the same time, child care workers receive low compensation.  

Local families can expect to pay between $9,000 and $15,000 a year for one infant to attend a child care center, median cost data from late 2023 shows. Waitlists are common, with staffing shortages making care even harder to secure.  

That’s not to mention program closures. Sally Van Rens, director of Green Bay’s Kidz in Motion Child Care Center, said that in her area, multiple local child cares close each month.   

Ultimately, child care affordability and access issues threaten to take parents out of the workforce, a report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum said.   

And it stands to get worse, child care providers warn. But, they say, Wisconsin legislators can help.  

We asked northeastern Wisconsin child care providers, as well as other early learning experts, what the Legislature can do to help with the state’s child care issues. The answers varied, but there were many throughlines.  

We also posed this question to candidates in contested legislative races across northeastern Wisconsin.  

The one thing most agreed on? It’s going to take more than one solution to clean up Wisconsin’s child care mess. 

Child care providers say public investment is needed to prevent industry collapse

The Child Care Counts program routinely distributes federal pandemic era funds directly to Wisconsin’s regulated child care providers. Some providers told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin the funds kept their business open during the pandemic. It also helped many increase wages, hire more staff, weather inflation and make other program improvements without having to pass the full cost onto families. 

But Child Care Counts is set to end in June 2025 when the federal pandemic relief funds propping it up will run out. Many in the early learning industry are calling for Wisconsin to invest state dollars to continue the program, or a program like it.  

Without continued investment, the already fractured child care system stands to collapse, said Julie Stoffel, owner and administrator of Cradle to Crayons Learning Center in Kimberly.  

Programs would have to largely increase their prices just to maintain staffs’ current wages, which are notoriously low compared to other fields, she said. Without better pay, turnover will worsen, so more classrooms, if not entire programs, will close from staffing shortages. And if care gets so expensive that parents can’t pay, programs could also close from low enrollment, she warned.  

“People need to wake up and smell the coffee,” Stoffel said. “You talk about a pandemic, we’re going to see a pandemic with child care closures if we don’t invest.”  

Ultimately, closures mean children suffer, too, said Taylor Vande Vyver, a Kimberly mom whose two young children attend Cradle to Crayons. If the center closed, her husband would likely have to leave his job to care for the children. 

“I feel like my kids are better set up for success by being around other kids and learning from someone who knows the ins and outs of birth to 5,” Vande Vyver said. “At the end of the day, child care is for the kids — it’s so they have a quality upbringing, a quality education and a quality diet.”   

The state Capitol saw a flurry of child care proposals last session on both sides of the aisle. Ruth Schmidt, executive director of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, said that sometimes in the midst of these discussions, what’s best for children gets lost.  

She said this isn’t the case with public investment, as it allows child care businesses to continue providing quality care.  

“At a minimum, we need to stabilize care by having state investment into it as a public good,” said Wisconsin Early Childhood Association Executive Director Ruth Schmidt. “Once we do that, then you can move into talking about other models.”  

For a while, disagreements in the state’s Legislature positioned Child Care Counts to end in January, but Gov. Tony Evers prolonged its life with unused federal pandemic relief funds from other areas.  

There’s a seat at the table for employers to help with child care

It’s often said that addressing child care issues requires a three-legged stool: help from families, government and employers. 

The exact role employers should play, though, is up for discussion.  

Rep. David Armstrong, R-Rice Lake, and Sen. Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, both running for reelection, spearheaded two bills last session to incentivize businesses to help their employees with child care struggles. Both drew support from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.  

One of the bills was signed into law, establishing a new credit under the business development tax credit program for up to 15% of investments made in establishing a child care program for their employees beginning in the 2024 tax year.  

The other, which never made it to Evers’ desk, aimed to create state tax credits for employers who help their workers access and afford child care. 

Not all businesses may be in a position to take such leaps, though, so such initiatives don’t help all families, Stoffel said. She said one thing that may be more achievable is to allow flexible work schedules.  

While employers can help, they alone cannot save the day, Schmidt said, referencing figures from a recent report by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It found that if the providers surveyed could operate at full capacity — many cannot because of staffing shortages — they could serve a total of 33,000 more children. To fill those slots, the state would need roughly 4,000 more early childhood educators, Schmidt said.  

And that doesn’t even consider all of the children in Wisconsin needing care.  

“The numbers are so big you can hardly conceive what the shortage is of teachers for child care is right now, and you’re not going to get that fixed by independent, individual businesses without state government being there to help out,” Schmidt said. 

Finding more ways to support the child care workforce

Because of their tight budgets, child care programs often find it difficult to offer their employees benefits. Candy Hall, executive director of Kimberly-based Child Care Resource and Referral, said that in order to incentivize potential workers, child care centers often give them free or reduced priced child care.  

But doing so diminishes their revenue.  

That’s why Van Rens and Hall suggest Wisconsin take a note from states like Kentucky, where child care workers are eligible for their state’s child care subsidy program, regardless of their household income.  

Such policy would help Wisconsin child care businesses to recruit and retain workers, therefore allowing them to serve more children. At the same time, it wouldn’t take as big of a dent out of child care businesses’ budgets, Hall said.  

Expanding child care options

Wisconsin has two main types of licensed family child care programs. Group child care is typically center-based. Licensed family child care programs are usually operated in a provider’s home and can care for fewer children than group centers, specifically between four and eight children depending on their ages.  

Rep. Joy Goeben, R-Hobart, and Sen. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan — both are running for reelection — introduced a bill last session that would have created a licensed large family child care provider category, which would allow up to 12 children with two providers. The exact number of children these programs could serve would also depend on the ages of the children enrolled. 

The bill authors said this could boost the state’s child care capacity. 

Hall said that because neighboring states can do it (Minnesota has a similar “group family child care” designation), Wisconsin can find a way to make it work too.  

With some adjustments and more consideration, large family child cares could be especially valuable to rural areas, most of which are considered child care deserts and often rely on family providers, Schmidt said. That’s why, even though the bill didn’t make it to the governor’s desk, Schmidt said she’d support the new designation if more research shows it can be done safely.  

But Schmidt and Nicole Leitermann, who runs Impressions Family Child Care out of her Kimberly home, said that without bigger changes, the new designation won’t make a difference. If family child care providers cannot pay themselves a decent wage, Leitermann asks: How could they pay another person well? They also couldn’t offer benefits.  

“This does not solve our state’s problem in child care,” Leitermann said. “We need the state to invest in child care, just as they do for 4K and kindergarten through grade 12.”  

What candidates are saying

Here’s what candidates in contested legislative races across northeastern Wisconsin say the Legislature can do to help child care providers and families with the high price of care:  

SENATE DISTRICT 2

• Kelly Peterson, Democrat: Peterson said the Legislature can use funds from the state’s record surplus to help.  
•  Eric Wimberger, Republican: Wimberger declined to participate in this questionnaire.  

SENATE DISTRICT 18

• Kristin Alfheim, Democrat: Alfheim said the Legislature should focus on increasing access to affordable child care options to help families and small businesses that are struggling to find staff.  
• Anthony Phillips, Republican: Phillips said he does not support government spending that “just (throws) money at the problem” without tackling the root causes. Phillips said the child care industry needs an adequate workforce so it can expand, from which point he said market forces will decrease costs. He also said Wisconsin can consider enhanced tax credits, subsidies for low-income families or direct per-pupil payments to providers.  

SENATE DISTRICT 30

• Jim Rafter, Republican: Rafter said the Legislature can craft policy to address the field’s workforce challenges by incentivizing people to go into the child care profession. He said there’s opportunity to forge partnerships to have child care within Wisconsinites’ work environments, and for schools to provide child care programs.  
• Jamie Wall, Democrat: Wall’s website says he supports the Child Care Counts program. He stressed that child care helps the economy, as it makes it easier for people to gain and maintain paid employment.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 1

• Joel Kitchens, Republican, incumbent: Kitchens supports a multifaceted approach to this issue that is keeping people out of the workforce. This includes incentivizing businesses to get involved in solutions and expanding tax credits, especially for low-income families, he said. He said there would be a lot of resistance to “direct payments.”  
• Renee Paplham, Democrat: Paplham said the state needs to use its historic surplus to fund the Child Care Counts program. She said last session’s expansion of the state’s Child and Dependent Care Expenses Tax Credit was a “good start,” but that the Legislature needs to work together to find more sustainable solutions.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 2

• Alicia Saunders, Democrat: Saunders said, if elected, she will work with others in the Legislature to come up with a plan to address the high price of care, as well as provide child care workers with a sustainable and living wage.  
• Shae Sortwell, Republican, incumbent: Sortwell said it’s important to make it easier for in-home child care businesses to operate. He discussed changing some slot regulations, and allowing centers to count teen employees toward the number of staff who can supervise children. This, he said, could increase the number of slots available.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 3

• Jason Schmitz, Democrat: Schmitz sees child care as a workforce issue. He said Wisconsin Shares, a subsidy that helps Wisconsin families pay for child care, currently does not offer enough assistance. He said there also needs to be more supports for families who do not qualify for Shares, and there needs to be a system to financially help child care facilities. 
• Ron Tusler, Republican, incumbent: Tusler hopes to re-visit an idea he was considering last session that he calls “the Antigo model.” Previously in the Langlade County community, businesses paid a certain amount per month for slots at a child care program, ensuring their employees priority access to care and a discount. This gave the child care program an additional revenue stream, allowing them to pay their employees more. He is wary of giving large government subsidies to child care providers, stating he does not want to create an industry that heavily relies on those subsidies.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 4

• Jane Benson, Democrat: Benson considers child care as an economic issue. She said Wisconsin faces a “moral decision” when it comes to child care: As the federal funds that have propped it up the last couple of years wane, will Wisconsin direct state funds and support families?  
• David Steffen, Republican, incumbent: Last session, Steffen helped introduce a bill that sought to expand Wisconsin’s Child and Dependent Care Expenses Credit. It was eventually signed into law. He said he does not support Child Care Counts.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 5

• Joy Goeben, Republican, incumbent: Goeben, a former child care provider, said Wisconsin needs to add more child care spaces and reduce costs. Last session, she introduced several bills related to child care, including one that supports having 4-year-old kindergarten programs within child care centers to increase their profits. If reelected, she plans to revise some of these bills, she said.  
• Greg Sampson, Democrat: Sampson said Wisconsin’s working families are diverse, and therefore child care solutions should be, too. If elected, Sampson said he would build off existing child care supports, and would consider state tax credits as a solution.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 6

• Elijah Behnke, Republican: Behnke said the government should not be raising Wisconsin residents’ children. As a parent, he knows child care is expensive, and said incentivizing child care programs to open will improve competitiveness. He mentioned converting existing infrastructure, such as empty former school buildings, into child care centers.  
• Shirley Hinze, Democrat: Hinze supports providing funding to encourage people to open child care centers. More child care businesses could yield competitive prices, she said.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 52

• Chad Cooke, Republican: Cooke said Wisconsin needs to encourage people to enter, and stay in, the child care industry, and the state’s surplus could fund this. This will increase child care slots, and opening more facilities would create competition and hopefully decrease the price families are charged for care, he said. He said this could be coupled with tax breaks or vouchers for parents, and that there’s no single solution.  
• Lee Snodgrass, Democrat: Snodgrass, who currently represents the 57th district, said child care providers should not have to choose between paying their staff competitive wages and keeping care affordable for parents. The only way to prevent that, she said, is state investment in the industry. She supports continuing Child Care Counts or a similar program and stressed child care is a workforce issue.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 53

• Dean Kaufert, Republican: Kaufert described the state’s child care issues as complex and important. He supports tax incentives for child care facilities to help increase wages, increasing the Child and Dependent Care Expenses Credit for medium- and low-income families and reducing red tape that prevents child care facilities from safely increasing their capacity.  
• Dane Shukoski, Democrat: Shukoski said he will work tirelessly to fund Child Care Counts, stating the program helped providers afford to keep their doors open, therefore keeping workers in Wisconsin.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 54

• Lori Palmeri, Democrat, incumbent: Palmeri said the Legislature could take multiple actions to help with child care issues, the most important being to pass a state budget that helps fund Child Care Counts.  
• Tim Paterson, Republican: Paterson said the cost of child care can be a barrier for people to work. He said he recommends giving families a tax credit for when they use child care, finding a way to subsidize child care businesses such as a grant or scholarship, and providing a tax credit for child care workers to incentivize working in the industry. 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 55

• Nate Gustafson, Republican, incumbent: Gustafson said there is a lot of red tape from the government when it comes to child care. Referencing proposed legislation from last session, he suggested revisiting child-to-staff ratios within group child care centers, adding a large family child care designation and adjusting the state’s requirements to be an assistant child care teacher. To help parents with costs, he wants to change taxes so they have more money for child care.  
• Kyle Kehoe, Democrat: Kehoe said there are multiple approaches to addressing the state’s child care issues, from revising training opportunities within child care facilities to expanding early education programming within schools. He also mentioned needing to address the wage issues within the field and said there’s not enough child care providers.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 56

• Dave Murphy, Republican, incumbent: Murphy said the government has invented large programs in the past, and he does not “want child care to become a new entitlement program.” Instead, he supports giving people tax incentives so they can afford child care, and therefore can work.  
• Emily Tseffos, Democrat: Tseffos said child care is infrastructure. She said the state and employers need to be involved in coming up with child care solutions. She wants to see the state support the industry via Child Care Counts. 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 88

• Benjamin Franklin, Republican: Franklin said he feels part of the reason why child care is so expensive is because there’s a shortage of child care businesses compared to the number of children who need care. He said making child care positions more attractive can help drive costs down.  
• Christy Welch, Democrat: Welch said the state can provide tax incentives or breaks to families with children in child care. She said Wisconsin could also provide subsidies directly to child care programs so that they can pay their staff better wages, which will help them recruit the staff needed to operate at full capacity, she said. 

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 89

• Patrick Buckley, Republican: Buckley said he believes companies can help come up with innovative child care solutions. He said the state needs to address child care benefit cliffs, describing this problem as being when a family works more, they lose access to their child care benefits. 
• Ryan Spaude, Democrat: Spaude supports a fully funded Child Care Counts program and making quality child care more affordable for families. He added this can help programs recruit and retain quality employees. He said the budget surplus can help do this.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 90

• Jessica Henderson, Republican: Henderson did not respond to interview requests.  
• Amaad Rivera Wagner, Democrat: Rivera Wagner supports Child Care Counts. He said there needs to be policy tax incentives and more child care options. Referencing the latter, Rivera Wagner said he helped lead the effort for multicultural child care options in Green Bay. Helping providers get regulated helps build wealth in traditionally marginalized communities, he said.  

Reporters Duke Behnke, Kelli Arseneau, Jeff Bollier, Benita Mathew, Rashad Alexander, Jesse Lin and Nadia Scharf contributed to this report.

Election 2024 is a big one for child care in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The three most crucial legislative races in the Green Bay area for both parties follow a trail of money that ends in Madison.

The Press-Gazette compared 607 pages of September expense report data in contested legislative elections to an analysis from earlier in the year and found over $2 million poured into the races for Senate District 30 and Assembly Districts 88 and 89. Put another way, these three races received almost 2½ times more money in just over a month than all the local races got in the eight months before the Aug. 13 primary.

But the candidates don’t have millions of dollars to spend. It’s Wisconsin’s Democratic and Republican parties that are spending the very millions they injected into these three races they believe are the most important to keep an eye on in the state’s northeast and crucial to which party controls the state Legislature.

“Lower costs and better wages start with Republicans keeping control of the state Assembly and Senate,” Wisconsin GOP chair Brian Schimming told the Press-Gazette. He was confident Wisconsin residents would choose “common sense conservatives” in November to that end.

For the state’s Democratic Party, it’s “excited that voters have a real choice on the ballot this November” in the first election to use redrawn maps approved by Gov. Tony Evers that reshaped the boundaries of these three districts, which now make a tight perimeter around Green Bay and its suburbs. The state party’s communications director Joe Oslund told the Press-Gazette that the party is eager to support the Democrats running in these races.

Keeping the 14-year streak of Republican control in the Assembly and Senate versus the opportunity to take that control away translates into the multi-million-dollar game both parties are playing in Green Bay laid bare in financial statements — and yes, graphs — that paint a picture of it all.

Triple, quadruple, sextuple the money

Before the Aug. 13 primary, there was already an emphasis on the races between:

• Senate District 30: Republican Jim Rafter and Democrat Jamie Wall.
• Assembly District 88: Republican Benjamin Franklin and Democrat Christy Welch.
• Assembly District 89: Republican Patrick Buckley and Democrat Ryan Spaude.

Just over two-thirds of the $2.15 million going to local races went to the candidates in those three districts.

After the primary, the proportion skyrocketed to 93.3% of all September finances in greater Green Bay.

The focus on these races stems from the new Senate District 30 boundaries that no longer reach up to Oconto County or down to Denmark. Its limits are now tightly wound around Green Bay and its immediate neighbors and contain Assembly Districts 88 and 89.

A side-by-side comparison of the new borders with the 2020 presidential election results shows just how competitive these districts are. Assembly District 88 has precincts that voted for Donald Trump by 0.8% and Joe Biden by 0.7%. The margins are even closer in Assembly District 89 that has neighborhoods that voted for Joe Biden by six votes and those that voted for Trump by three. And Senate District 30 that holds both Assembly districts includes a precinct that tied, 367 to 367.

The down-ballot fight to tip these margins means these three highlighted districts saw nearly three, four and six times more money in just over a month than they got in rest of the year combined.

Party coffers flowed free

While individual donors gave the majority of the money raised before the primary, Democratic and Republican party political action committees are now the biggest source of candidates’ dollars through in-kind contributions — non-monetary gifts like T-shirts or TV ads paid for the candidate on behalf of another source — or transfers-in, which is money directly wired to a candidate from a PAC or other campaign.

From January until the primary, just over 59% of money in all local races came from individual donors. That ratio inverted after Aug. 13; these in-kind contributions and transfers-in from large PACs took off in September, making up 81.9% of all money flowing into local races since the primary.

Just six PACs contributed over $1.63 million in that timeframe. In other words, nearly all of the PAC money flowing in came from:

• “Republican Party of Wisconsin”
• “Democratic Party of Wisconsin”
• “Committee to Elect a Republican Senate”
• “State Senate Democratic Committee”
• “Rep Assembly Campaign Committee”
• “Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee”

The money from Democratic and Republican PACs came in waves with each party determined not to let the other out-do its performance. Republican donations peaked Sept. 8, followed by Democratic donations Sept. 12, followed by Republicans Sept. 16 and Democrats Sept. 20.

Madison controls spending for Assembly District 88, 89 candidates

As expected with 93.3% of all money going to these three local races, the same three contests accounted for 94.7% of all September spending.

Over $850,000 in expenses goes unaccounted for when only looking at what the local candidates themselves decided to spend on.

That’s because for Assembly District 88 and 89 candidates, their money was largely spent for them by the large PACs based in Madison. It went to the airwaves, mailers and online ads.

Wall and Rafter of Senate District 30, however, got much more money that they could spend as they pleased from the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively; they still spent it on ads that have inundated the online feeds, TV channels and mailboxes of locals.

Franklin, of Assembly District 88, received $229,317.81 in September; nearly all of it was in the form of online advertising and mailers by the Republican Party on Franklin’s behalf that never touched the candidate’s bank account. The other three Assembly district candidates also got a deluge of high monetary value “in-kind” media and ads that need to be accounted for in campaign finance reports but never entered their bank accounts.

Franklin’s opponent, Welch, received $12,350 in direct monetary transfers that she could spend on what she wished; the Democratic Party spent nearly $140,000 on TV and online ads and mailers on her behalf.

Spaude, Welch’s counterpart in Assembly District 89, received $9,750 in “transfers-in” compared with the $107,158.67 spent on TV ads, mailers, and wages to campaign staff by Democratic Party-affiliated PACs. His opponent, Buckley, got $16,350 in direct monies to his account from large PACs versus the $211,198 spent exclusively on mailers and online ads.

Almost all of Wall’s expenses in September — $581,350 worth of spending — went to Great American Media for television ads, far outpacing the $137,155 the Democratic Party spent on mailers, as well as consulting fees and wages for his staff. Rafter countered with $200,080 in his own ads paid for in part by the $352,000 directly wired from Republican-affiliated PACs.

Attention on these three districts by the state parties converted into getting the public’s attention is only expected to intensify with every spending attack and counterattack in the home stretch to Election Day.

More than $2 million injected into 3 Green Bay legislative races is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In early September, Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys sat in a conference room for a dry run of what a “man-made” threat to public safety on Election Day might look like.

The training brought together officials from the City Attorney’s Office to the Green Bay Metro Fire Department, not to mention representatives from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The exercise was led by a facilitator from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Jeffreys couldn’t provide details of the scenario officials ran through. But she said it evolved from the city receiving a “concerning” piece of information into something that would pose a real risk to election workers and voters.

“Worst case scenario is something that you plan for and not necessarily something that you communicate to the public because you don’t want to scare people,” she said. “But people would be concerned if some of the things that we discussed happened.”

The exercise was meant to help the city identify where it may have vulnerabilities and to think through what officials’ priorities would be if there was a real threat to public safety on Election Day. 

It was a much larger version of a similar training the city conducted ahead of the 2022 midterms, Jeffreys said. That year’s training was a first for the city of Green Bay.

After 2020, Jeffreys said the frequency and intensity of verbal assaults and threatening interactions with the public forced the city to develop a “very robust security protocol and profile around elections.”

In many ways, Green Bay has been a microcosm of backlash officials faced across the country in the wake of the 2020 election. 

President Joe Biden’s roughly 20,000-vote victory in the state four years ago made local officials the target for baseless claims of election fraud, spearheaded nationally by former President Donald Trump.

In Green Bay, where Biden won by around 4,000 votes, those false claims led to harassment and threats toward local officials and an ongoing level of animosity that has continued in the years since the election.

Through court filings, the city has gone public with at least three incidents of members of the public “verbally assaulting” either city staff or a local newspaper reporter in recent years.

“Those years following the 2020 election were some of the most fearful, stressful and unconventional life experiences I’ve ever had,” said Amaad Rivera-Wagner, who has worked in the Green Bay mayor’s office since 2020 and now is a Democratic state Assembly candidate.

Some are worried this election, with Trump back at the top of the Republican ticket, could result in additional threats.

The Green Bay experience

Almost immediately after the 2020 election was called, Rivera-Wagner said city officials and staff had their emails and phones flooded with threats from people all over the country, sending a “wave of fear” through City Hall. Rivera-Wagner said he personally became a target of harassment.

“It ended up setting me up to be doxed, harassed, stalked,” he said. “I had death threats. They stopped my husband at his job because they didn’t believe that he was real.”

The same day rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the results of the 2020 election, protesters gathered outside Green Bay City Hall for a “Stop the Steal” rally. The protest was organized by now-Ald. Melinda Eck, who was elected to the city council in 2022.

Eck did not return repeated requests for an interview, but at the protest, she told WTAQ-FM that Trump supporters wouldn’t back down, saying, “There’s a bunch of patriots out there and they are going to fight for their freedom.”

Green Bay has been a central focus for others who’ve echoed Trump’s claims, including former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was hired by the Wisconsin Assembly to investigate the 2020 election. As part of his investigation, Gableman called for Mayor Eric Genrich’s arrest. 

The mayor declined to comment for this story, but described the fallout of Gableman’s probe in a 2023 interview about a threat he received during his reelection campaign.

“We received a lot of emails and communications suggesting treason and all kinds of things because of the election conspiracy theories that have been circulated for a very long time,” Genrich said last year.

Earlier this year, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher stepped down before his term ended and told The Washington Post that threats to his family led to the decision. Gallagher had famously called out Trump supporters during the Jan. 6 insurrection, calling the events of that day “Banana Republic crap” in a video recorded from his Capitol office.

Former U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, a Republican and outspoken Trump critic who represented Green Bay from 2011 to 2017, has a theory on why the city has been such a focus for some of the former president’s most ardent supporters. In short, they view Green Bay as winnable.

“In Milwaukee and Dane County, they believe the Democrats are going to ‘steal’ it no matter what,” Ribble said. “The bigger issue is this whole idea that the elections themselves aren’t safe, when, in fact, they are.”

A statewide issue

While some local officials have faced intense pressure in Green Bay, it’s hardly the only place where it felt like running elections changed after 2020. In fact, a 2023 Brennan Center survey of local elections officials around the country showed 45 percent were concerned for the safety of other election officials and workers in future elections.

In Dane County, Madison’s clerk received multiple death threats, and Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe was granted a security detail due to concerns for her safety.

Election Day safety training exercises, like the one in Green Bay, have become more common across Wisconsin, especially after the Jan. 6 insurrection, said Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell. 

McDonell said he’s participated in several of them with municipalities in his county in recent years and has a few more set for this election cycle. He said they can range from preparing for cyber attacks to bomb threats.

“It really does feel a bit like we’ve turned into more of an emergency management department than an election department,” he said.

Sam Liebert, Wisconsin state director for the voting rights group All Voting is Local, said local clerks across Wisconsin have increased their coordination with local law enforcement in preparation of the 2024 election and possible safety concerns.

“They have done more training around things like mass casualty or active shooter-type events,” he said. “A lot of clerks are or have installed silent alarms in their offices if something were to happen that goes directly to law enforcement.”

Liebert said his organization held town halls with clerks around the state this year, and “a large number of clerks” plan to put their families up in hotels or have them stay in another city the night before the election and on Election Day in case “things go sideways.”

“It’s a very real threat,” Liebert said. “It’s a very real concern.”

Bracing for 2024

The Republican Party of Brown County has promoted poll watching and has held election observer training sessions ahead of the November election.

Party Chair Doug Reich declined to be interviewed, but provided a statement via email.

“There was a number of issues regarding that (2020) election which caused people to question election integrity,” he said. “As a result, nationwide there has been advocacy to improve election integrity.”

For clerks, Jeffreys said there’s a balancing act between preserving the right of the public to observe elections and preserving the right of voters to cast private ballots.

In April 2022, according to court documents, an election observer in Green Bay “verbally assaulted” staff in the city clerk’s office after a voter delivered an absentee ballot, which resulted in the voter crying and being escorted to her vehicle.

Jeffreys said the incident was part of an effort by some election observers to “police elections.” She said she welcomes poll watchers but said they should not try to insert themselves into election processes.

“Unfortunately, that continues to this day,” she said. “I’m confident that in November, we’ll have even more of that.”

Following the 2020 election, Jeffreys said her office has worked closely with the Green Bay Police Department to develop a security protocol for elections, both at City Hall and at polling locations. It’s unclear if Green Bay officials will face harassment and threats in November, but she said the city is prepared for “every eventuality.”

Jeffreys said Green Bay will ensure that eligible voters are registered and that their votes are counted. Beyond doing that work to the letter of the law, she said everything else is out of her hands.

“We are going to do everything that we are required to do to ensure that people’s votes are counted,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we are ready.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Green Bay spent years rehashing the 2020 election. Now the city is bracing for November. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Talking about politics can be stressful, even in the best circumstances — and moderating a class full of teenagers, all with different backgrounds, news sources and levels of political knowledge, in a historic election year is generally not ideal circumstances.  

Teachers across the country are facing decisions on how to talk about elections in an increasingly polarized world. In Wisconsin, there are a lot of factors that may influence that decision, from district policies to heightened division to teachers’ individual comfort with the subject.

Wisconsin standards require teachers to discuss voting. Starting in third grade, standards state students should learn about citizens’ role in government and elections. By sixth grade, they’re starting to learn about political parties and interest groups, and by ninth grade, students are putting together the pieces of partisanship, societal interests and voting. 

But with politics becoming increasingly contentious, the question remains: How should teachers address this year’s election in the classroom? 

In the Howard-Suamico School District, teachers don’t shy away from the debate. Having civil discourse in classrooms is a way for students to learn to think critically and engage with their community, said Howard-Suamico curriculum and development coordinator Krista Greene.  

“Our staff is always looking for ways to make sure that, regardless of what’s going on in American society, we’re equipped in our classes to deal with those things that may be perceived as contentious out there,” Greene said. “We make them not contentious. We boil it down to the facts.” 

Students learn to articulate their ideas in different types of discussion methods, such as Socratic seminars and fishbowl discussions. Some teachers provide sentence starters, which can make it easier for students to express complex viewpoints. 

The district wants to develop civically minded students, Greene said. While teachers contact parents before bringing potentially contentious issues into the classroom, they also explain why that discussion is important. 

“Students learn best when they know that the skills and knowledge that they’re learning are going to be applicable in their lives. And what could be more applicable than learning how to be a citizen?” Greene said. “There’s never a ‘why do I need to know this’ factor about government.” 

Jennifer Morgan, a 31-year teacher in West Salem in western Wisconsin, generally uses elections to teach about media literacy. But she avoids getting too in the weeds about politics: It’s not worth it, particularly now that people are so divided on historical facts, she said.  

The important thing to her is that students learn to support their opinions with facts. She talks to her students about using diverse sources and walks them through how propaganda and biased information have been used throughout American history. 

“You can say that candidate X is the best candidate, but they can’t say ‘because my mom and dad said so,’” Morgan said. “Don’t just tell me, ‘this is what Vice President Harris says.’ Say, ‘OK, where did you get that, and why is it important to your argument?’”

Morgan is president of the National Council for Social Studies. This year, she said, she and many council members may avoid discussing the election at all. For Morgan, it’s too early in the school year for her students to feel like her classroom is the safe space she’d need it to be for a topic like this, she said.  

Morgan’s school doesn’t have policies preventing her from talking about the election. But for other teachers, lesson plans may not be allowed to go beyond the basics, as some districts do restrict how teachers can discuss controversial issues like the election in the classroom. 

Do school policies restrict how teachers talk about elections?

The Madison Metropolitan School District allows teachers to discuss controversial issues as long as they do what they can to keep bias and prejudice out of the classroom. In the Kenosha Unified School District, teachers can discuss these issues if parents are notified. Milwaukee Public Schools has no controversial issues policy in place.  

Policies differ in the Green Bay area. In the Green Bay School District, teachers are strictly limited to the curriculum; while they can discuss elections, they’re not teaching about the 2024 election. The De Pere School District and Ashwaubenon School District both allow teachers to discuss controversial issues in the classroom, as long as they’re related to the subject being studied and appropriate for students. 

Wisconsin students aren’t required at the state level to take a government class. Some districts may have their own requirements, or government classes may be offered as an elective, but that lack of a state requirement can prevent students from learning about government itself, much less discussing and understanding current political events, said Jeremy Stoddard, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a researcher in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

How Wisconsin schools handle the election is often based on the local community, Stoddard said. In these partisan local communities, teachers are more likely to focus on political theory or related issues like Morgan’s media literacy lessons than issues that may lean partisan. 

“They’re sort of avoiding some of the national political rhetoric, focusing it on, what are the issues that you know that folks stand on? Because in some cases, they’re not actually that far apart,” Stoddard said.

Helping teachers to address controversial subjects

Stoddard recently hosted a conference for teachers focusing on how to discuss election-related issues in the classroom, and where they can access outside resources to help.

One way that districts might skirt criticism while still discussing politics is by using university or PBS materials. One example of those materials is Stoddard and his team’s own PurpleState, a free curriculum where students simulate working in a communications firm for a state political campaign. It’s meant to help them understand politics and political communication at the state level, where students may be able to have more of an impact in their real lives. 

Engagement is what’s important, Stoddard said, and focusing on election partisanship can make people tune out. The challenge teachers face is to find their way around that — and to do so while balancing district policies, concerned parents and political misinformation. 

“(The goal is) to find ways to engage people meaningfully in something like an election, which should be an event that we revere as a democratic institution and peaceful transfer of power,” Stoddard said. “I think it shouldn’t be this challenging to do it, but that’s the current sort of partisanship that we’re in.”

Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@gannett.com or on X at @nadiaascharf.

This story is part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab’s series covering issues important to voters in the region.

Elections can be polarizing. How are Wisconsin teachers bringing them into the classroom? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Around 19 states have implemented driving permits, or driver’s cards, for immigrants living in the United States without proof of legal residency, giving them the ability to drive to essential daily activities like work and school.

These immigrants in Wisconsin aren’t able to receive driving permits or licenses, but with the new electoral maps, some activists and lawmakers say this may change. This year, the state Senate and Assembly races reflect the new electoral maps — signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers. The maps were created to more evenly divide the legislative districts between Democrats and Republicans.

With the new maps, Amanda Garcia, executive director of Casa ALBA Melanie in Green Bay, said she hopes driving permits for undocumented people will be brought before legislators again.

Driving permits were available for immigrant drivers for decades, until a federal law blocked it in 2007. Since then, it’s been up to individual states to determine whether to give that access back, Garcia said.

There are around 67,000 immigrants ages 16 and older living in Wisconsin without proof of legal residency. They would be eligible for a driver’s permit if access were granted. Around 32,000 undocumented people in Wisconsin have children younger than 18, according to data for Wisconsin from the Migration Policy Institute.

Restoring driver’s permits would allow them to take their children to school, the doctor and get themselves to work without fear of being stopped by police, Garcia said.

A common misconception about driving permits for immigrants is that the permits “somehow give them legal status” or grants them access to certain services like welfare services, Garcia said.

“The only thing that driver’s licenses do is they allow you to drive a vehicle,” Garcia said.

How would driving permits impact Green Bay if reinstated?

“Restoring drivers licenses will keep families together, it will increase economic opportunities for working families, it will ensure safer roads and will boost state revenue,” Garcia said.

In 2022, the total number of people ticketed in Green Bay for driving without a license was 742. In 2023, that number jumped to 1,007, according to data from the Green Bay Police Department, obtained by the Green Bay Press-Gazette through an open records request.

Chris Davis, Green Bay police chief, stated in 2021 that his goal is to honor the current state law, but to prioritize traffic safety instead of seeking out and regulating those driving without a license specifically. In 2024, he said his stance has not changed.

“We’re not an immigration enforcement business,” Davis said. “Among other things, we do try to stop people from driving without licenses just because … there is some level of correlation between driving without a license and involvement in traffic crashes.”

If driving permits were to be reinstated, Davis said it would make it easier for the police department to identify those in accidents and reach out to their family in cases where an injury is involved. Also, reinstating driving permits would allow those who are undocumented to get car insurance, which is crucial in an accident.

“It would make it easier to identify people when they need our help and for a much smaller percentage of people who get involved in some kind of criminal activity,” Davis said. “A lot of folks that I talked to in those situations, want to follow the law, they want to get a driver’s license, have insurance and meet all their obligations so they’re able to drive and do so safely … I hear it all the time in some of our immigrant communities.”

What do some candidates for state Assembly have to say about reinstating driving permits?

Some lawmakers have stated that if this issue is brought before state Legislature again, they will vote against it, including Rep. David Steffen, Republican candidate for the 4th Assembly District.

“I will vote against any legislation that expands government spending or state rights to those who have broken the law. Our state and country should remain welcoming to legal immigration but should never be supportive and welcoming to illegal immigration,” Steffen said.

However, some people on both sides of the aisle, including several candidates for state Assembly, have expressed interest in reinstating driving permits for immigrants living in Wisconsin without proof of legal residency if the matter is brought before the Legislature again.

Alicia Saunders, Democratic candidate for the 2nd Assembly District, said that with the new maps, Wisconsin is looking at the possibility of a very different Legislature, and along with that comes an opportunity to “take a fresh look at some of these policy changes.” If elected, Saunders said, she would vote for driving permits to be reinstated.

“A framework for this will need to be worked out in the Legislature. This needs to include strong privacy protections for those who are undocumented,” Saunders said. “Proper testing ensures that everyone on the road is licensed and insured, improving public safety. It’s a practical approach that benefits our community, makes our roads safer, and helps these individuals continue to contribute effectively to Wisconsin’s economy.”

Rep. Peter Schmidt, Republican candidate for the 6th Assembly District, said the Dairy Business Association and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation are supportive of legislation to allow undocumented immigrants access to a driver’s license due to the need for workers. However, he said he does not support allowing undocumented immigrants to have “official driver’s licenses.”

“I would be interested to learn more about what is termed a ‘driver’s card’ that would not undermine the REAL ID Act, and then the state and federal government could track who is in Wisconsin,” Schmidt said.

Alexia Unertl, Democratic candidate for the 4th Assembly District, said she would vote in favor of reinstating driving permits or driver’s cards for undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin. If elected, she would vote to ensure that “everyone who is physically able to drive can do so lawfully.”

“State-issued driving tests and licenses are essential for ensuring the safety and lawful operation of motorized vehicles on public roads,” Unertl said. “By allowing people who can physically drive the ability to do so legally, Wisconsin will strengthen its workforce by allowing greater freedom of movement and to reduce the risk of accidents caused by unlicensed and uninsured drivers.”

Who would vote yes and who would vote no?

The Press-Gazette reached out to Green Bay-area candidates in contested races for the Assembly, state Senate and 8th Congressional District to determine their stance on driving permits and how they would vote if the issue was brought before Legislature once again.

Who is supports reinstating driving permits?

• Kristin Lyerly, Democratic candidate for 8th Congressional District, said she will be working at the federal level in Congress to help secure the border and reform our immigration system. “However, it is important that those residing in Wisconsin, whether documented or undocumented, be productive members of society, and this includes the ability to drive,” she said.
• Kelly Peterson, Democratic candidate for Senate District 2, said that “without the labor of undocumented immigrants, Wisconsin’s workforce shortage would be even further exacerbated … I understand Wisconsinites are worried about the border, but demonizing undocumented workers here in Wisconsin isn’t the way to address these concerns.
• Jamie Wall, Democratic candidate for Senate District 30, said he hopes to “work with law enforcement, farmers and other affected people to find a bipartisan path forward that’s both safe for our community and right for the economy.”
• Alicia Saunders, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 2.
• Alexia Unertl, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 4.
• Amaad Rivera-Wagner, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 90, said he would vote in favor of reinstating driver’s permits, but there would need to be language included in the bill that would allow refugees and other asylum seekers to obtain driving permits as well.

Who is against reinstating driving permits?

• Milt Swagel, Republican candidate for Assembly District 1.
• David Steffen, Republican candidate for Assembly District 4.
• Darwin Behnke, Republican candidate for Assembly District 4.
• Peter Schmidt, Republican candidate for Assembly District 6..
• Elijah Behnke, Republican candidate for Assembly District 6, said he understands the need for labor in the dairy industry, but would not vote for the bill as previously written.
• Phil Collins, Republican candidate for Assembly District 88.
• Patrick Buckley, Republican candidate for Assembly District 89, said he would “support the current system.”

Who did not respond to our questions?

• Republican candidates for the 8th Congressional District Andre Jacque, Roger Roth and Tony Wied.
• Eric Wimberger, Republican candidate for Senate District 2
• Jim Rafter, Republican candidate for Senate District 30
• Joel Kitchens, Republican candidate for Assembly District 1.
• Renee Paplham, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 1.
• Shae Sortwell, Republican candidate for Assembly District 2.
• Jane Benson, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 4.
• Greg Sampson, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 5.
• Joy Goeben, Republican candidate for Assembly District 5.
• Shirley Hinze, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 6.
• Benjamin Franklin, Republican candidate for Assembly District 88.
• Christy Welch, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 88.
• Ryan Spaude, Democratic candidate for Assembly District 89.
• Jessica Henderson, Republican candidate for Assembly District 90.

Alyssa N. Salcedo is a reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. She can be reached at asalcedo@gannett.com

With new electoral maps, some hope to bring back driving permits for undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A primary battle in the rural Green Bay 4th Assembly District seeks to test whether redistricting can uproot an entrenched incumbent, pitting a five-term lawmaker campaigning on his decade-long record against a local party leader and self-described “Christian conservative.”

Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, currently represents the 4th Assembly District, covering a mostly urban region of Green Bay to the city’s south and west. Following redistricting, Steffen will still reside in the 4th Assembly District, but the region’s borders now include much of rural Oconto County in the north.

The new district more closely resembles pre-2024 borders for the 89th Assembly District, where Rep. Elijah Behnke, R-Oconto, currently serves. Elijah Behnke was drawn into the 4th Assembly District, but he decided to run against incumbent Rep. Peter Schmidt, R-Bonduel, in the 6th Assembly District instead of remaining to run against Steffen. Elijah Behnke has said that Schmidt being an “easier target” had “something to do” with his move.

Darwin Behnke, Elijah’s father, is now challenging Steffen instead. While Elijah and his brother Micah have run campaigns for public office in the past, this marks the elder Behnke’s first attempt at an elected position.

Behnke introduced his campaign to a group of supporters in May at the Log Jam Saloon in Oconto, standing in front of a wall of Trump flags.

“I’m just another old man who’s grumpy and irritated about what’s going on in Wisconsin,” Behnke told the crowd.

Behnke told Wisconsin Watch he was motivated to run for Assembly because he’s frustrated with how state government is run, viewing the decision as a necessity.

“I’m stepping up because I feel somebody should do it. I wish it wasn’t me,” Behnke said. “I don’t want Steffen, or any RINO, to run unopposed.”

Asked why he considers Steffen as a RINO, which stands for “Republican in name only,” Behnke said Steffen “calls himself a conservative, a Christian, but fiscally and morally I don’t see him taking a hard stance.”

Steffen, who has represented the district since 2015, received a 90% lifetime rating for “Conservative Excellency” from the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2023. 

Steffen has historically aligned himself with conservative factions among Republicans on several occasions, notably leading efforts to decertify 2020 election results in Wisconsin. Steffen is also a coauthor of Assembly Resolution 18, which called for the impeachment of Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe.

Steffen declined multiple interview requests.

Behnke said if elected he wants to decrease state budget allocations and “go back five or six years” to previous state budget amounts. He also suggested cutting state spending as a whole to address the possibility that “someday we’re not going to get the tax dollars that we get from the federal government.”

In statements on his campaign website, Steffen criticized “raising taxes to further grow government programs” and said that he would “continue fighting for a middle-class tax cut and tax-free retirement for our seniors.” 

Behnke also said that he thinks schools in the state are “trying to change children,” and he suggested that schools should produce better results considering “the amount of money we’re spending.”

A July 2022 report found that while school spending per pupil in Wisconsin, unadjusted for inflation, has increased since 2002, education spending nationwide has increased at a much higher rate. Only two states, Idaho and Indiana, had lower increases in school spending during the two-decade period.

Steffen said on his campaign website that he would support parents’ “right to know what’s happening in their child’s classroom,” mentioning his introduction of AB 510, a proposed bill of educational changes previously vetoed by Gov. Evers. The bill has been identified as anti-trans legislation by independent research organization Trans Legislation Tracker. 

The controversial bill proposed 15 “parental rights,” such as allowing parents to determine their children’s religion, to opt their children out of classes or educational material and to determine their children’s name and pronoun usage in school settings. It also proposed requiring schools to notify parents of any instance when a “controversial subject” would be taught or discussed, specifying that such subjects would include “instruction about gender identity, sexual orientation, racial identity, structural, systemic, or institutional racism, or content that is not age-appropriate.”

On his campaign website, Steffen also proposed to “dramatically increase local funding” for law enforcement and frontline workers.

The candidates contrast more in their home turf. Behnke resides in Oconto County and is currently vice chair of the Oconto County Republican Party, and Steffen is more prominent in Brown County.

Ken Sikora, chair of the Oconto County Republican Party, said that while the party doesn’t make an official endorsement, he remains skeptical of Steffen because of his long tenure as a representative and his lack of rural experience. 

“He’s not familiar with this district, and that’s a big disadvantage,” Sikora said. “People don’t know him.”

However, after a campaign ad mailer attacked Behnke for having “trouble with money,” the Oconto County Republican Party promoted Behnke’s campaign on social media and criticized Steffen for the advertisement.

Steffen responded on social media, saying that the mailers “were funded and sent by an Eau Claire-based PAC” that he did not know about.

“Personally… I want somebody new,” Sikora said. “Anybody that’s been in politics and in Madison for more than 10 years is part of the problem.”

When asked if he had any qualms with Steffen’s performance as a representative, Sikora said that while he did not know of any, he still wanted a change.

“I think a lot of people right now want someone outside,” Sikora said. “We want the next Donald Trump.”

Whoever wins the Republican primary will face one of two Democratic challengers, though the district is a safe GOP seat leaning 62-36 based on past election results. According to Dixon Wolf, member at large of the Brown County Republican Party, the party plans on supporting whichever Republican candidate wins the Aug. 13 primary.

“We will support any candidate post-primary that is conservative,” Wolf said.

Longtime GOP incumbent faces rural challenger in new Green Bay area district is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A returning candidate and local community organizer squares off against a political newcomer and environmentalist for the unlikely chance to flip a safe Republican seat in the rural Green Bay 4th Assembly District Democratic primary on Aug. 13.

Two years ago, Jane Benson challenged state Rep. Elijah Behnke, R-Oconto, for his seat in what was the largely rural and heavily Republican-leaning 89th Assembly District. Benson lost that election by more than 8,000 votes, but she credits her campaign for boosting Democratic voter turnout to help Gov. Tony Evers win reelection.

Now, after being redrawn into the 4th Assembly District, the Suamico resident and League of Women Voters organizer is running for office once again. This time, she faces political newcomer Alexia Unertl, a working parent and environmentalist who also resides in Suamico. 

For both candidates, the challenge of running as a Democrat in a largely conservative district is obvious. Past voting patterns suggest the district skews Republican 62% to 36%. But the recent redistricting has given Democrats across the state more hope that they can compete in legislative races in November.

“The new 4th District is still very Republican, I know that,” Benson said in an interview with Wisconsin Watch. “But I also know there is a lot of repressed desire among Democrats to step up and participate. There is a new energy unleashed from the voting maps having been redrawn, and we can use that energy to bring people out to vote.”

The 4th Assembly District covers a largely rural region that lies northwest of Green Bay, encompassing Suamico and spreading north toward Oconto. Incumbent David Steffen, R-Howard, has represented the district for nearly a decade and now seeks reelection, facing a primary challenge from Darwin Behnke, the father of Elijah Behnke. The newly drawn borders have made the district more rural compared to its previous region of southwestern Green Bay and Ashwaubenon.

Steffen, Benson said, is out of his element. “He’s lost the more urban area of Ashwaubenon, and now he’s more in the rural area of Oconto County… that will be unfamiliar to him,” Benson said.

Key to both Benson and Unertl’s campaigns is a set of policy positions that they say will be extremely important for rural voters. Both Democrats align on these issues, including shared concerns about pollution in the district’s many waterways, a commitment to accepting federal Medicaid funding to expand BadgerCare and plans to expand broadband internet access throughout the state. 

“Just those few things would make a huge difference in the lives of Wisconsinites,” Unertl said in an interview with Wisconsin Watch. “I don’t see why we couldn’t make that happen.”

Unertl, who currently serves as vice chair for Brown County’s Conservation Congress, also cited concerns surrounding PFAS contamination in private wells and homes. 

“This contamination can happen without us really knowing, and there isn’t a lot of testing that happens to private wells,” Unertl said. “The Department of Natural Resources should be able to address that directly. One of my goals would be to establish an emergency response for (water contamination).”

Benson, who is a board member at the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin, said she is frustrated with Republican proposals for PFAS contamination cleanup. 

“Businesses are not being held accountable for contamination, and no one has to declare the results of the testing that’s done,” Benson said in reference to SB312, a Republican-led bill vetoed by Evers during the 2023-24 legislative session. SB312 included provisions to shield polluters from accountability for PFAS cleanup as well as a clause to prohibit the DNR from disclosing PFAS testing results without notifying landowners at least 72 hours beforehand.

Benson also echoed frustrations with recent efforts to restrict abortion access in the state, citing Republican-led efforts to enforce an 1849 abortion law as a total ban on abortion and to prosecute health care providers involved in the process of an abortion. 

“When I think of how Republicans treat pregnant people in Wisconsin, the word abandonment comes to mind,” Benson said. “It’s unhinged, and it needs to stop.”

“The state has no business getting between a woman and her doctor,” Unertl said. “If a woman needs an abortion, she should be able to receive it from a qualified professional.”

Both candidates said that they would support taking federal Medicaid funding to expand access in Wisconsin. Unertl also argued in favor of increasing state funding for rural hospitals and health care providers. 

“Right now, there’s such a risk of these facilities not getting the funding that they need and not being able to provide care to their communities,” Unertl said.

While Benson and Unertl share many policy positions and goals, they differ in their backgrounds. 

“I have been deeply involved in issues like clean water and fair voting maps, and I have a lot to offer,” Benson said. Benson brands herself as an activist, and she emphasizes her past political experience as a candidate and as an organizer. 

“There is a woman running against me, and she is a newcomer,” Benson said about Unertl. “She seems to be running kind of unaffiliated and doing her own thing. She doesn’t have experience with elected office.”

Unertl, who filed her candidacy and is running as a Democrat, does not shy away from being called a newcomer. Her experience working in supply chain and being a parent, she said, has prepared and led to her decision to run for public office.

“This is my first time running for anything … I don’t have that kind of party mentality,” Unertl said. “(I can) talk to everyone and understand where they are coming from without having these allegiances.”

Overall, Unertl is glad to have more options on the ballot and to have a primary election for Democrats.

“Having more options for people to choose from is always a good thing.” Unertl said. “It’s up to the people to decide who they think would represent them better.”

In rural Green Bay, two Democrats seek chance to challenge Republican seat is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin voters will soon decide whether to give the Legislature more power to choose how federal funding is spent. Some warn the decision could have consequences for the child care industry.   

Currently, state statutes allow the governor to accept and allocate federal funds that the state receives in certain circumstances, while other cases require legislative approval of some sort. The Aug. 13 primary ballot will carry two referendum questions that ask whether Wisconsin’s state Constitution should be amended to shift such power away from the governor.    

The questions stem from Gov. Tony Evers having sole discretion over how to spend more than $3.7 billion of the $5.7 billion the state received in federal pandemic relief funding. The proposed amendments are the latest in a series of Republican lawmakers’ attempts to change the way future federal funds are allocated. The amendments, they say, will ensure no one person will have too much power over how federal funds are spent.

Some are raising concerns that the proposed amendments would instead concentrate too much control over federal funds in the Legislature. Brown County Democratic Party Chair Christy Welch, who is running for Wisconsin’s 88th Assembly District, called the amendments a “GOP power grab” at a press conference that urged people to vote “no” on the referendum questions.

But amendment authors note that that the same rules would be in place no matter what party controls the Legislature.

“I often hear from residents that ‘you need to work together in Madison.’ Well, that is exactly the goal of the referendum questions,” said Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Racine, who co-authored the amendments. “This is not a partisan issue, but a matter of good governance. It’s working together, not exclusively with one individual (deciding).”

Why would the amendments affect child care?

There are unanswered questions about the amendments — namely, the processes by which the Legislature would allocate the federal funds in question — that make it difficult to pinpoint the effects the amendments would have.  

What’s not in question is that the amendments would affect how the governor could use federal funding for child care, said Jason Stein, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, which published an analysis of the ballot questions. 

Within the past few years, much of the support that Wisconsin has directed to child care has been via federal funding — specifically using pandemic relief funds. 

How have federal funds been allocated to child care recently, and how would this have been different under the proposed changes?

Federal pandemic relief funds used for child care were funneled to Wisconsin via two main pathways.

The first was through existing federal block grants, which have more flexible requirements and can be used for broader purposes than most other federal grants. The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance must approve the allocation and spending of these funds.

The second method was through discretionary funding that the governor could direct without legislative approval, a power Evers — or any governor — would no longer have should the proposed amendments go through.  

Child Care Counts, which directs stabilization payments to child care providers, is one of the most well-known child care supports born out of the pandemic. Since its inception, it has relied on both pathways, explained Britt Cudaback, communications director for Evers’ office.

The program was set to run out of money by January 2024 as federal pandemic relief waned and Republicans declined to devote state dollars to the cause. That is, until Evers used his statutory power in fall 2023 to allocate $170 million in federal pandemic-related emergency funding to extend its life through June 30, 2025.  

Why are some concerned the proposed amendments would blow back on child care?

Opponents of the amendments argue that requiring the governor to gain legislative approval before allocating federal funds could slow getting help to those who need it.  

This could be particularly critical in the case of crises — such as the pandemic, natural disasters and economic recessions. It could also affect the spending of federal funds in general, not just those related to emergencies.  

Some opponents of the amendments say that, if Evers did not have the authority to funnel $170 million into extending Child Care Counts and the funding were to cease completely, an estimated 2,000 child care programs could have closed.  

Corrine Hendrickson, a New Glarus child care provider and co-founder of the advocacy organization Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed, said the $170 million did not fix all of the industry’s problems and that more investment is needed, but it did keep many programs from closing. It also allowed them to maintain the pay raises they gave with previous rounds of Child Care Counts, she said.

Christina Thor, a Green Bay mom who advocates for what she sees as a family-friendly policy, questions whether the child care industry would see any meaningful help should the referendums pass.  

“It’s giving more power to the Republicans who may not see (child care) as an investment in the workforce,” Thor said. “Historically speaking, and also from recent experience in leading and supporting care bills, especially child care and paid leave, they were not on board.”  

Thor cited the Republican-controlled Legislature’s refusal to put Child Care Counts in the state budget and its quick adjournment of a special session called by Evers that was to be largely about child care issues.

The state’s 2023-25 biennial budget set aside $15 million to help child care providers; Cudaback said the fact that the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee did not release those funds per Evers’ request shows it is “not interested” in funding child care and that it cannot act quickly.  

Republicans favored a different approach to addressing problems in the child care industry, arguing that grants will not solve the underlying issues within the industry. They introduced several proposals they hoped would be more sustainable, including changing regulations, opening more child care slots and creating a loan program. Few of their proposals made it to the governor’s desk, and even fewer were signed.

Republicans did, however, bring about some changes to help families pay for care. During the state budget process, the Legislature allocated millions in federal funding to expand Wisconsin Shares, the state’s child care subsidy program. Republican lawmakers also put forth a bipartisan plan to expand a state tax credit for care expenses, which Evers later signed into law.  

How are amendments’ authors responding to these concerns?

A common argument against the amendments is that requiring the Legislature’s involvement could delay getting federal funds out the door. But, said Wittke, the Racine lawmaker, improvements in transportation and communication mean the Legislature can now gather more quickly than it could back in the 1930s, when the law giving the governor discretion to distribute federal money was enacted.

Involving the Legislature will better serve constituents, Wittke argued.  

“The Legislature is the closest to the people, and it is their responsibility, under the Constitution, to hold the ‘power of the purse,’” Wittke said. “The taxpayers of Wisconsin should have a say in how their tax dollars are spent.”  

Wittke also said that in non-crisis situations in which an influx of relief funding flows into the state, most of the federal funding Wisconsin receives for child care is via federal block grants that require legislative signoff. Wittke said this process of disbursing would remain even if the amendments are approved.  

Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who co-authored the amendments with Wittke, did not respond to a request for comment.

This story is part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab’s series covering issues important to voters in the region. The lab is a local news collaboration in northeastern Wisconsin made up of six news organizations: the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Appleton Post-Crescent, FoxValley365, The Press Times, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Watch.

Constitutional amendment questions on Wisconsin’s August ballot could affect child care, providers warn is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.