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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.”

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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.

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.

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Wisconsin Watch is previewing legislative races in toss-up districts ahead of the Nov. 5 election by focusing on key issues for voters and what candidates say they will do to address them.  See more comprehensive information about the elections in our statewide voter guide.

Thanks to new legislative maps, a Sheboygan Democrat, Joe Sheehan, has a chance at winning a toss-up district that could help flip the Republican-controlled Assembly in November. Sheehan will face off against incumbent Rep. Amy Binsfeld in the 26th District where housing, child care and education are among key issues. 

The district now covers the entire city of Sheboygan, including the city’s UW-Green Bay branch campus. Voters in the majority blue city had no chance of electing a Democratic representative to the Assembly after Republicans redrew Wisconsin’s districts to secure a majority in 2011. Under those gerrymandered maps, Sheboygan was blatantly split in half, creating two districts that stretched into rural areas favoring Republicans. 

Under new legislative maps signed into law in February, the district is a toss-up with just under a 3-point Democratic lean, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of past voting patterns. 

Sheehan told Wisconsin Watch he likely wouldn’t have entered the race if it weren’t for the new maps. He spent 20 years as superintendent of the Sheboygan Area School District and later served as executive director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. before retiring. 

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Mary Lynne Donohue, a Democrat who ran for the district in 2020 as a “sacrificial lamb,” told Wisconsin Watch that for years, left-leaning candidates almost never entered the race. 

“That’s one of the horrible characteristics of a gerrymander,” Donohue said. “People stop participating because they know they can’t win.” 

Donohue was one of the original plaintiffs in a federal redistricting case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the Republican gerrymander of the state Assembly. The case was thrown out on a technical issue. In a more recent legal challenge, a liberal majority Wisconsin Supreme Court tossed out the state’s maps that were redrawn after the 2020 Census to still favor Republicans, leading to Republican lawmakers and the Democratic governor agreeing on the current maps.

Democratic energy in Sheboygan is extraordinarily high this election year, Donohue said.

Binsfeld was first elected in 2022. She currently represents the 27th District, but decided to run in this district after being drawn into the same district as longtime Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, in the new 25th. Binsfeld serves as chair of the Speaker’s Task Force on Truancy. She did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s interview requests for this story. 

Sheehan has raised nearly $1 million more than Binsfeld, with the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee contributing more than $1 million of the $1.27 million his campaign has raised. The Republican Assembly Campaign Committee has contributed more than $220,000 to Binsfeld’s $330,000 fundraising total.

Housing 

Housing in Sheboygan has tightened, and the supply of all types of housing has not kept pace with household and employment growth. One recent study found that the city could be in need of more than 5,200 housing units over the next five years. 

Sheehan said the solution is to lower the cost of a new home for buyers while still allowing developers to make the best profit, which requires subsidies from the state. The state has the ability to incentivize the development of certain types of housing, such as workforce and entry-level housing, he said. If elected, he says he will consult with housing experts. 

He is not in favor of allowing municipalities to establish rent control, adding that this creates an artificial market that is not sustainable long term. 

In an interview with WisconsinEye, Binsfeld said that she is also against rent control and that housing is best dealt with at the local, private level. When asked if the state has any role to play, she added that the Legislature can provide some grants for specific housing projects to incentivize developers.

Child care 

Affordable and accessible child care has been a persistent issue across the state of Wisconsin, and cities like Sheboygan are no exception.

A Wisconsin Department of Children and Families child care supply and demand survey recently found that almost 60% of providers in Wisconsin have unused classroom capacity due to staff shortages. Providers report that if they were able to operate at full capacity, they could accept up to 33,000 more children. The state is losing hundreds of child care providers every year, according to DCF. 

The Economic Policy Institute found that a typical family in Wisconsin would have to spend a third of its income on child care for an infant and a 4-year-old. Based on 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services deemed child care affordable if it costs up to 7% of a family’s income.

The median hourly wage for a child care worker in Wisconsin is $13.78, according to May 2023 estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Binsfeld authored a bipartisan bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers this year, increasing Wisconsin’s child and dependent care tax credit. 

Along with her Republican colleagues, Binsfeld also helped author a slate of child care bills during the most recent legislative session. 

The GOP-backed package included bills that would have allowed parents to contribute $10,000 in pre-tax money to an account to pay for child care and established a new category of large family child care centers that could serve between four and 12 children.

Others would have lowered the minimum teaching age of assistant child care providers from 18 to 16 and increased the permitted ratio of children to workers in child care facilities. Providers and advocates argued these efforts would not help solve current challenges in the child care field.

 None of the proposals became law. 

Sheehan said those kinds of bills are not long-term solutions. He did not identify or express support for other types of child care policy, but said if elected, he would consult experts, parents and caregivers on the issue.

Education 

Sheboygan is one of 192 school districts that went or will go to referendum this year, which is almost half of all Wisconsin school districts. Many districts, including Sheboygan, have raised concerns that state aid has not kept up with inflation. In 2009, the state decoupled per-pupil revenue limits from inflation. Districts have had to manage tighter budgets ever since.

While Sheboygan’s public school district is set to go to a capital referendum in November, many districts are increasingly going to an operational referendum. Wisconsin’s per-pupil K-12 spending increased at a lower rate than every other state in the nation besides Indiana and Idaho between 2002 and 2020, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.  

Last year, Binsfeld voted in favor of legislation that increased per-pupil revenue limits in public schools and increased tax funding for private voucher schools at the same time. It was passed as part of a compromise between Republican lawmakers and Evers.

Sheehan told Wisconsin Watch he would not have supported that bill, adding that it sets public schools further behind. He expressed concerns over the amount of state funding going toward private school vouchers compared with per-pupil state aid, a figure that doesn’t account for local property taxes. 

“We’ve always supported parochial schools. They do their job, they do it well. That’s a choice people make,” Sheehan said. “But to fund them, and not only fund them, but at a higher level, that’s just wrong.”

He said the state has fallen behind in public school funding over the last decade, “and that needs to change.” He added that recurring referendums are divisive to communities and school districts. 

When asked about K-12 education in a recent WisconsinEye interview, Binsfeld expressed support for school choice and said investing more money in special education will be a top priority for her if reelected.

Sheboygan Democrat makes case in previously gerrymandered 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.

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Public education funding, child care affordability and tax cuts are key issues in the race for the 85th Assembly District — a toss-up district in north central Wisconsin that encompasses Wausau and Weston.

Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Schofield, faces a challenge from Yee Leng Xiong, a school board and Marathon County Board member who also serves as executive director of the Hmong American Center.

Snyder has served in the Legislature since 2017. Prior to serving in the Assembly, he was a morning radio host for WSAU, and he served as outreach director for U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy. Snyder was drawn into the 87th Assembly District under new voting maps approved by lawmakers in February, moving him out of the 85th by a couple of blocks. If he wins, he said he and his wife plan to continue renting an apartment in the district.

The district is among the most closely divided in the state, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of recent voting patterns, and could be influential in determining which party controls the Assembly at the start of the next legislative session in January. Xiong has knocked on 7,000 doors in an area where Democrats are hoping not only to win an Assembly seat, but help Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin improve their margins in rural areas.

Here’s where both candidates stand on important issues in the district.

Education funding

In an interview with Wisconsin Watch, Xiong said the state needs to provide additional funding to public schools in the state.

“When we invest in our teachers, when we invest in public education, we’re investing in the future of our nation,” he said.

In particular, he said the state should fund programs that help recruit and retain teachers and provide additional dollars for students with special needs. 

He also said lawmakers “need to look at the funding formula (for public schools). We need to look at it, reevaluate and see if it’s actually still effective.” Xiong noted with concern that almost half of all Wisconsin school districts will have gone to referendum by the end of the year to pay for capital projects and operating expenses. 

“That means that something’s not working,” he said.

In the short term, Xiong said, the state could tap into its sizable budget surplus to provide some immediate aid, but he added that’s not a sustainable solution. Instead, the state needs to reconsider the funding formula as a whole and determine if additional revenue streams need to be considered in order to bring long-term financial relief to public schools.

During the most recent legislative session, Snyder supported a bill that increased funding for public K-12 schools by $1 billion. The funding was tied to $280 million in new funding for private voucher schools. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed it.

Snyder did not respond to multiple interview requests for this story.

Child care affordability

The state should be doing more to address the shortage of child care providers in Wisconsin, and it should also be working to bring down the cost of child care, Xiong said.

In the immediate term, he said the state should be investing in Child Care Counts, a program created by Evers using federal COVID-19 funds to provide payments to child care providers on a regular basis to help keep their doors open. The program is credited with keeping thousands of child care facilities open during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

In October 2023, Evers extended the program through June 2025 using $170 million in federal funds. He has previously sought to include $340 million in the state budget to support the program, but that plan was scrapped by Republican lawmakers.

“Right now, the cost for child care is more expensive than tuition at (UW-Madison),” Xiong noted, a nod to a September 2023 Forward Analytics report that found that the average annual cost of infant child care in 2021 was $13,572. For the 2024-25 academic year, tuition at UW-Madison for a Wisconsin resident is $11,606.

He pointed to recent action from the Marathon County Board, which approved $200,000 to train 30 child care providers and open 240 additional child care slots in the county, as an example of a program the state should consider.

Snyder supported a slate of Republican-authored child care bills during the most recent legislative session. During the floor session, Democrats attached extending Child Care Counts as amendments to one of the bills. Snyder voted against the extension.

The GOP-backed package included bills that would have allowed parents to contribute $10,000 in pre-tax money to an account to pay for child care, created a $15 million loan program to help child care centers pay for renovations, established a new category of child care centers that could serve between four and 12 children, and increased the child-to-child-care-worker ratio allowed in some child care centers. None of the proposals became law.

Tax cuts

Lawmakers need to reduce taxes for middle class Wisconsin residents, Xiong said in an interview, criticizing Republicans for supporting a tax cut in the state’s most recent budget that would have largely benefited the state’s highest earners.

“We need to look into ensuring that what we’re doing is we’re supporting the middle class,” he said, noting that people should not have to worry “whether they can afford groceries this weekend, or whether they can afford the utilities.”

Snyder has supported significant tax cuts during his time in office. During the 2021-23 legislative session, he backed reducing the state’s third-highest tax bracket from 6.27% to 5.3% — a $2 billion cut. That rate covers income between $27,630 and $304,170 for single filers and between $36,840 and $405,550 for joint filers.

Snyder co-sponsored another plan that would have raised the annual amount of tax-exempt withdrawals from a retirement account from $5,000 to $75,000 for single Wisconsin residents age 65 and older and up to $150,000 for joint filers. It was vetoed by Evers, who said it would reduce revenue by $658 million in 2024-25 and $472 million in each subsequent fiscal year.

During the most recent budget cycle, Snyder backed a $3.5 billion income tax cut that would have focused its largest reductions on the state’s highest earners. The plan would have cut the top tax rate from 7.65% to 6.5% — a 15% reduction for high-earning joint filers who make $405,550 or more annually. It would have reduced the second-highest rate from 5.3% to 4.4%, a 17% decrease.

Evers vetoed those cuts from the budget but left in place reductions to the state’s bottom two brackets.

Democrat looks to flip GOP Assembly seat in Wausau area 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.

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Wisconsin Watch is previewing legislative races in toss-up districts ahead of the Nov. 5 election by focusing on key issues for voters and what candidates say they will do to address them.  

Housing and child care affordability, abortion rights and public school funding are key issues in the race for the 61st Assembly District — a toss-up district encompassing portions of southwestern Milwaukee as well as Greendale, Hales Corners and parts of Greenfield.

The race is a rematch from 2022, pitting incumbent Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, a longtime GOP office-holder in the Milwaukee area, against Democrat LuAnn Bird, a former executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. Donovan won the 2022 contest by just 525 votes. 

The partisan makeup of the district is an almost identical split between Republicans and Democrats, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of recent voting patterns.

The district is one of 15 that Democrats are targeting this cycle, with hopes of flipping control of the Assembly for the first time in more than a decade after the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year threw out the state’s Republican-gerrymandered maps.

Here’s where both candidates stand on important issues in the district.

Housing and child care affordability

Bird said a top priority to address burdensome costs facing Wisconsin families is to make child care more affordable. 

“It doesn’t make sense when you have to spend half your salary on child care,” Bird said in an interview. She said she supports Gov. Tony Evers’ Child Care Counts program, which provides payments to child care providers on a regular basis to help keep their doors open. The program is credited with keeping thousands of child care facilities open during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

In October 2023, Evers extended the program through June 2025 using $170 million in federal funds. He has previously sought to include $340 million in the state budget to support the program, but that plan was scrapped by Republican lawmakers.

Bird said she would support an extension of the program. “If we want to strengthen our economy, we’ve got to make it affordable to go to work for everybody,” she said.

Bird also expressed support for tossing a state law that prevents local governments from implementing rent control programs.

“We could let local governments have more control over their communities,” she said. Giving local officials additional control could help address rent hikes that have been seen in many Wisconsin communities, she said.

Donovan supported a package of Republican-authored child care bills during the most recent legislative session. During the floor session, Democrats attached extending Child Care Counts as amendments to one of the bills. Donovan voted against the extension.

Donovan did not respond to interview requests for this story.

The GOP-backed package included bills that would have allowed parents to contribute $10,000 in pre-tax money to an account to pay for child care, created a $15 million loan program to help child care centers pay for renovations, established a new category of child care centers that could serve between four and 12 children, and increased the child-to-child-care-worker ratio allowed in some child care centers. None of the proposals became law.

Abortion rights

Bird and Donovan offer starkly different views on what Wisconsin’s abortion laws should look like.

“The government should have no say in the decision,” Bird told Wisconsin Watch. “Women should be able to make their decisions without government interference.”

She criticized many of the state’s existing laws that make accessing the procedure more cumbersome, such as requiring women to wait 24 hours after an initial appointment and requiring physicians to perform an ultrasound before having an abortion.

The waiting period, in particular, disproportionately affects low-income women, Bird said, given that they likely have to take time off of work to access abortion care.

“Women should be able to choose if and when and how to start a family,” she added. “No politician can know what’s going on in a woman’s life who’s in that situation.”

Donovan joined all 62 of his Republican colleagues in the Assembly in June 2023 in voting against repealing Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban. Democrats attached the repeal provision to the state budget, forcing GOP lawmakers to vote on the issue. The 1849 law, which had been unenforceable because of Roe vs. Wade, was believed at the time to outlaw most abortions in the state. The 19th-century statute contains a vaguely defined exception for an abortion that is determined to be medically necessary to save the mother’s life, but does not make exceptions for cases of rape, incest or the mother’s health.

In January 2024, Donovan voted in favor of legislation that narrowly passed that sought to ban abortions — besides those for medical emergencies — after 14 weeks of pregnancy. Under current law abortion is prohibited after 20 weeks. That bill included a provision that would have required the 14-week ban to be approved via referendum before it took effect.

“I struggled with this legislation here before us today,” Donovan said during debate on the Assembly floor. “But I am supporting it because I believe, if enacted, it will help reduce the loss of life.”

“I am pro-life and I am Catholic,” he added. “And I believe that abortion is the taking of a human being.”

“There are objective truths in this life. And one of those objective truths is any abortion is the taking of a human life,” he said.

Public school funding

Bird said “absolutely the state should be doing more for public education.”

“I think the state should concentrate on making sure that our schools, the public schools, are well funded and producing the kind of education that we want,” Bird said in an interview. She also expressed concerns about lawmakers directing more funds toward private voucher schools, as they did in the most recent budget, when they tied $1 billion in public K-12 school funding to an additional $280 million in voucher school funding.

Bird, who has served on two school boards in Wisconsin, said she would bring her understanding of how public school funding works to the Legislature and be a “champion for what we need to do for public education.”

Donovan voted in favor of the deal that boosted funding for both public schools and voucher programs.

Democrat seeks to flip GOP seat in Milwaukee-area rematch 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.

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Wisconsin Watch is previewing legislative races in toss-up districts ahead of the Nov. 5 election by focusing on key issues for voters and what candidates say they will do to address them.  

Rural health care access, affordable child care and public education are among key issues for western Wisconsin voters in the toss-up 92nd Assembly District where Republican Rep. Clint Moses will face a Democratic challenger who is no stranger to the state Assembly. 

Former state Rep. Joe Plouff held office from 1997 to 2005, representing the area he is running in now — 20 years later.

The district covers parts of Chippewa and Dunn counties and includes the cities of Chippewa Falls and Menomonie, as well as parts of Eau Claire. Small villages like Elk Mound and Lake Hallie also fall within its boundaries.

First elected in 2020, Moses, 48, chairs the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care. He also serves on the Assembly agriculture and rural development committees. He is a farmer, chiropractor and former Menomonie School Board member.

Plouff, a 74-year-old Army veteran, was previously a member of the Menomonie City Council and Dunn County Board of Supervisors. He is a retired teacher. 

He narrowly beat Caden Berg in the district’s Aug. 13 Democratic primary. Berg is now Plouff’s campaign manager. 

Plouff said in an interview with the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce that he came out of retirement because he “fears for” what he sees in the Legislature. 

“I come from a time when we actually could work together,” Plouff said. “We used to go out with people from the opposite party, and we would enjoy a meal together …That has collapsed in the 20 years I’ve been gone.” 

Moses pushed back, saying lawmakers from both parties still work together to get things done.  

“That actually still happens,” Moses told Wisconsin Watch. “I regularly will have breakfast or lunch with one of my Democrat colleagues.” 

A Wisconsin Watch analysis of past voting patterns suggests the district is now a toss-up after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed new legislative maps earlier this year. The race is one to watch as Republicans defend their Assembly majority.

Moses has far outraised Plouff, with the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee contributing nearly $167,000 to his campaign. Plouff has raised just over $70,000 so far this year with about a third coming from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, according to campaign finance records.

Rural health care 

Access to rural health care is a key issue in this district. Two hospitals and 19 clinics in Eau Claire and across the Chippewa Valley closed this year, leaving thousands without local options for care.

Moses and other western Wisconsin lawmakers acted quickly after the closures, authoring bills to reallocate $15 million left over from the 2021-23 state budget to Eau Claire and Chippewa County for emergency room services.

Evers used partial vetoes to allow the emergency funds to be used for other health care services across the region besides just hospital emergency departments. Moses said $15 million only made a dent compared to what is needed, and after expanding the scope of the funds, the $15 million was “diluted.”

Moses said he submitted budget requests during both of his sessions for Medicaid reimbursement increases for all providers, and he plans to put in those same requests again if reelected. But he said he is not in favor of fully expanding Medicaid because it will not solve the problem. 

Plouff disagreed, stressing that expansion is essential.

In 2023 Moses co-authored a bill that proposed stricter reapplication processes for Medicaid and would have required DHS to review participant eligibility every six months. In 2022, he co-authored legislation making anyone who refuses a job offer ineligible for Medicaid. Evers vetoed the bill.

“We are not trying to kick people off that are truly needy,” Moses said in 2023. “This bill simply prevents fraud in our state and helps get the needy the services that they need.”

Wisconsin is one of 10 states — the only in the Midwest — that has not yet expanded Medicaid. A survey published in 2022 found that 70% of Wisconsin voters support fully expanding BadgerCare. The Marquette Law School Poll has similarly found 60% or greater support for accepting Medicaid expansion.

Moses hopes to expand apprenticeship programs in Wisconsin, allowing hospitals to take on and attract more potential providers, especially in rural areas. He authored a bipartisan bill signed into law this year that created crisis urgent care and observation centers that provide immediate service to patients experiencing mental health and substance abuse emergencies, the first of which will be located in western Wisconsin where there is a lack of nearby mental health facilities. 

Public education 

The Menomonie area school district went to referendum this spring, asking the district’s property taxpayers for $4.2 million to exceed its levy limit and keep up with operating expenses after citing “inequitable revenue limits and inadequate funding from the state.” It failed overwhelmingly, leaving the district to navigate a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

District administrator Joe Zydowsky told WQOW that cuts could include a reduction in programming, services and staff, as well as increased class sizes and the possibility of closing schools. 

Menomonie is one of 192 school districts that went or will go to referendum this year, which is almost half of all Wisconsin school districts. Many districts have raised concerns that state aid has not kept up with inflation. In 2009, the state Legislature decoupled per-pupil revenue limits from inflation. School districts have had to manage tighter budgets ever since.

Moses told Wisconsin Watch the state has not kept up in funding, and he is in favor of tying revenue limits to inflation again. Among the residents and property taxpayers in the district, pushing to referendum is far less popular than increasing state aid to schools, he said. 

“If we changed the levy limits, they wouldn’t have to be doing that,” Moses said. “If we did something to tie it more to inflation, I would be very much in favor of that.” 

In 2023, Moses voted in favor of legislation that increased per-pupil revenue limits in public schools and increased tax funding for private voucher schools at the same time. It was passed as part of a compromise between Republican lawmakers and Evers.

Plouff raised concerns about the amount of money taxpayers are fronting for the private school voucher system in Menomonie. He said the per-pupil funding model for public education hasn’t been adjusted consistently, and it’s time to make changes. 

“I don’t know off the top of my head what that might be,” Plouff said. 

Child care 

Affordable and accessible child care has been a persistent issue across the state of Wisconsin, and places like Eau Claire are no exception. 

A Wisconsin Department of Children and Families child care supply and demand survey recently found that almost 60% of providers in Wisconsin have unused classroom capacity due to staff shortages. Providers report that if they were able to operate at full capacity, they could accept up to 33,000 more children. The state is losing hundreds of child care providers every year, according to DCF. 

Child care deserts exist across 70% of rural Wisconsin, according to a 2021 report from the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. The Economic Policy Institute found that a typical family in Wisconsin would have to spend a third of its income on child care for an infant and a 4-year-old. 

Based on 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services deemed child care affordable if it costs up to 7% of a family’s income.

The median hourly wage for a child care worker in Wisconsin is $13.78, according to May 2023 estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Moses said more needs to be done to encourage people to enter the child care field and make it financially rewarding for them, such as tax credits, benefits, health insurance and a living wage. 

He co-authored a bipartisan bill signed by Evers earlier this year that increased the state child care tax credit. 

Last year, Moses joined his Republican colleagues in voting for measures that would have lowered the minimum teaching age of assistant child care providers from 18 to 16 and increased the permitted ratio of children to workers in child care facilities. Providers and advocates say these efforts would not help current challenges in the child care field.

“I think the biggest problem is we have this ‘one size fits all’ for child care,” Moses told Wisconsin Watch. “I think we also need to look at some of the other options that are out there, like maybe supporting family members — grandma, grandpa.” 

“The answer is not always throwing more money at it. Throwing more money at it gets you more inflation,” Moses said in 2023 in defense of a Republican-authored bill on child care, which he called a “low-cost solution.” 

Plouff had a different take. 

“He’s right, you can’t always throw money at this,” he said. “But at the same time, when you have money in your pocket and you see a problem, you can find a solution. And if that solution costs money, you spend that money.” 

Plouff said he would use tax money to temporarily subsidize child care, adding that providers positively contribute to the economy and it is important to raise the value of the job. Unlike Moses, he is concerned about grandparents and family members having to be caretakers due to a lack of child care accessibility. 

“I’m hearing from people that the parents and the grandparents are now becoming the child care providers,” Plouff said. “They almost have to. Their kids need help.” 

Marijuana legalization 

Wisconsin continues to stand out among Midwest states as one of few that haven’t legalized medicinal or recreational marijuana. 

Statewide polling from the Marquette University Law School showed in January that 83% of respondents supported medical marijuana legalization, and 63% supported full legalization.

Last year, the Wisconsin Policy Forum estimated that more than half of all Wisconsin residents above the age of 21 live within a 75-minute drive from a marijuana dispensary in surrounding states. This estimate was before neighboring Minnesota legalized recreational use.

In 2022, marijuana sales to those residing in Wisconsin generated over $36 million in sales tax revenue for Illinois, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Approximately $165 million in annual sales tax revenue was projected under Evers’ full marijuana legalization plan that the Legislature’s GOP-controlled budget committee rejected in 2023. 

In a district so close to the border of Minnesota, Moses said this issue is raised frequently. He supports medicinal marijuana legalization, but “would like to see how that goes first.” 

He is hesitant to support recreational legalization due to safety concerns, particularly marijuana potentially being laced with fentanyl. If the Legislature agrees on legalization, he said lawmakers must ensure the supply will be safe. 

Plouff said it is an embarrassment that the state hasn’t yet taken action to legalize medicinal marijuana. He said he would support recreational legalization “under controls,” preferably with professionals who can guide the consumer on safe use of the drug. 

“I believe it’s time for Wisconsin to get into it,” Plouff said, noting the revenue and tax benefits.

Former lawmaker returns 20 years later to challenge GOP incumbent 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.

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Wisconsin Watch is previewing legislative races in toss-up districts ahead of the Nov. 5 election by focusing on key issues for voters and what candidates say they will do to address them.  

Rural health care access, affordable child care and public education are key issues for western Wisconsin voters in the toss-up 30th Assembly District where Democratic candidate Alison Page will seek to unseat incumbent Rep. Shannon Zimmerman in November. 

This district covers parts of St. Croix and Pierce counties. It includes the cities of Hudson and River Falls, as well as the village of North Hudson. It also contains the UW-River Falls campus and Willow River State Park.

A Wisconsin Watch analysis of past voting patterns suggests the district is now a toss-up after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed new legislative maps earlier this year. 

Zimmerman, 52, has represented the district since 2017. He co-chairs the Joint Committee on Information Policy and Technology. He is also part of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, which oversees the state budget. He is the founder of a language translation company and owns a small business. 

Zimmerman did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s repeated requests for an interview. 

Page, 68, spent her career as a nurse and later as CEO of Western Wisconsin Health. She is a River Falls school board member and served on the Workforce Development Board of Western Wisconsin. In 2022, Page ran against Republican Rep. Warren Petryk in the old 93rd Assembly District, where she lost by more than 5,000 votes. 

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee — a national group — recently announced that Page and the 30th Assembly District are on its target list “to build Democratic power across Wisconsin” and “shift the balance of power in the Legislature for the first time in over a decade.”

“Instead of taking my agenda from the powers that be in the Republican Legislature or the Democratic Legislature, I would take my agenda from the people of this region,” Page said when asked what sets her apart from her opponent.

In a recent interview with the Western Wisconsin Journal, Zimmerman said he brings a “practical, common-sense approach.”

“I will be called too moderate for the Republicans, and not in favor with the Democrats,” Zimmerman said. “That’s probably right where you want to be because I think that’s where you get things done.”

In the last legislative session, there were 437 instances of not voting in the Assembly, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. If distributed evenly among all 99 members, that would amount to four or five instances per member. Zimmerman had 38 instances of not voting. He was granted a leave of absence for four floor sessions during which lawmakers voted on multiple bills. He told Wisconsin Watch his absence was due to a health issue.

Rural health care 

Access to rural health care is a key issue in western Wisconsin. Two hospitals and 19 clinics in the region closed this year, leaving thousands without local options for care.

Page said the solution requires the state to work with the federal government. 

Medicaid expansion, which Republicans in the Legislature have blocked, could help by allowing people earning more than the federal poverty level to access government-funded health care and bringing more money into the state, Page said. Wisconsin is one of 10 states — the only one in the Midwest — that has not yet expanded Medicaid. 

“If I could wave a magic wand and do good things for health care, I would build health care into the public school system, so that every child would have a health care check-up, and provide basic preventative health care counseling, including mental health care,” Page said. 

During the last legislative session, Zimmerman co-authored a bill that would establish a certification process and grant program for crisis urgent care and observation facilities, which treat mental health and substance use disorders.

Zimmerman has opposed efforts to expand Medicaid. In 2023, he was part of the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee that voted to remove Medicaid expansion funding from Evers’ budget proposal.

“We’re literally to the point now where the federal government is trying to buy Wisconsin into greater government dependence,” Zimmerman said of Medicaid expansion in 2021, according to WPR. “That’s absurd.”

A survey published in 2022 found that 70% of Wisconsin voters support fully expanding BadgerCare. The Marquette Law School Poll has similarly found 60% or greater support for accepting Medicaid expansion.

In 2017, Zimmerman responded to questions from the Republican Eagle and said he supported “adding provisions to the budget that established matching grant programs for rural clinics and hospitals that train advanced practice clinicians and allied health professionals.” 

Education 

The Hudson School District recently estimated it would experience a budget deficit of $7.5 million by the 2028-29 school year due to declining enrollment and frozen revenue limits. Now the district will go to operational referendum in November to exceed its revenue cap by $5 million on a recurring basis, asking property taxpayers to pay for its operations, maintenance and staffing costs.

This fall, 120 school districts in Wisconsin are holding referendums, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Many districts, including Hudson, have raised concerns that state aid increases have not kept up with inflation.

Page said the state needs to “step back,” look at other states and determine what the best, most fair way to fund public education is. The solution could be a blend of both state aid and referendums, but what’s happening now is not working, she said. 

“If the state is underfunding — so they’re not keeping pace — and you’re going to referendum for operating revenue, then you’re gradually transitioning the cost of public education from the general fund onto the real estate taxpayer, and that is not a good idea,” Page said.

She believes public education is handled most efficiently — “with the best product at the lowest cost” — through one unified public school system.  

“Siphoning off money to support schools that are not the public school system — I don’t think makes sense for the state for the long run,” Page said. 

But she doesn’t have anything against private schools and parents wanting their children to be privately educated.

“Access to a free, excellent education is a right of every child in the state,” Page said. “Access to a private education that may be part of a spiritual organization is not a right.” 

Under the current per-pupil funding model, school districts across the state, including Hudson, need to close and consolidate due to declining enrollment, Zimmerman said in a recent interview.

In 2023, legislation that increased per-pupil revenue limits in public schools and increased tax funding for private voucher schools at the same time passed as part of a compromise between Republican lawmakers and Evers. Zimmerman was on a leave of absence and did not vote on the bill.

In 2024, he voted in favor of a bill that would have repealed reductions of state aid paid to school districts under Wisconsin’s private school voucher programs — allowing funding to come directly from the state rather than from reductions in public school districts’ funds.

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Child care 

Affordable and accessible child care has been a persistent issue across the state of Wisconsin, and places like Hudson in the 30th Assembly District are no exception. The state is losing hundreds of child care providers every year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. 

Child care deserts exist across 70% of rural Wisconsin, according to a 2021 report from the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. The Economic Policy Institute found that a typical family in Wisconsin would have to spend a third of its income on child care for an infant and a 4-year-old. 

Based on 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services deemed child care affordable if it costs up to 7% of a family’s income.

Page said she would consider multiple solutions, such as supporting those who enter or want to enter the child care field, incorporating child care into the K-12 public school system and working with community religious organizations to provide child care.  

In 2023, the Joint Finance Committee voted to end funding for the Child Care Counts program — a pandemic-era subsidy program. Zimmerman was not present for that vote. 

Last year, Zimmerman joined his Republican colleagues in voting for measures that would have lowered the minimum teaching age of assistant child care providers from 18 to 16 and increased the permitted ratio of children to workers in child care facilities. Providers and advocates say these efforts would not help current challenges in the child care field. 

Income tax reciprocity 

Tax reciprocity between states is an agreement that allows people who commute to work across state lines to pay taxes in the state where they reside. It is especially important to western Wisconsin residents near the Wisconsin-Minnesota border who travel across state lines for work. 

This year, Zimmerman authored a bill signed into law by Evers that will begin the process of reestablishing income tax reciprocity between the two states, which was discontinued in 2009.

Page would support income tax reciprocity and said it’s an important issue she frequently hears from constituents in the 30th Assembly District.

GOP incumbent faces Democratic challenger in western Wisconsin toss-up 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.

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Wisconsin Watch is previewing legislative races in toss-up districts ahead of the Nov. 5 election by focusing on key issues for voters and what candidates say they will do to address them.  

Education funding, health care access and housing affordability are key issues in the 94th Assembly District — a toss-up district in the La Crosse area that could help Republicans hold on to their Assembly majority if they can defeat a longtime Democratic incumbent.

The race pits seven-term Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle — once named the most bipartisan Assembly member — against GOP challenger Ryan Huebsch in a rematch from 2022.

Located in western Wisconsin, the district covers parts of La Crosse and Trempealeau counties, including small villages like Ettrick, Holmen and West Salem. It also includes the cities of Galesville and Onalaska and part of the city of La Crosse. 

A Wisconsin Watch analysis of past voting patterns suggests the district is now a toss-up. 

Under the old legislative maps in 2022, Doyle beat Huebsch by fewer than 800 votes. It was the most expensive Assembly race that year, with Doyle spending $1.14 million, Huebsch spending $551,000 and outside groups spending almost $400,000, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks campaign spending.

But the 66-year-old incumbent still feels confident he can win. While the district looks a little different, he said it includes the “same general kind of folks” he has represented.

In 2020, the Legislative Reference Bureau found that Doyle — a La Crosse County Board member, attorney and former UW-La Crosse instructor — co-authored the most bipartisan bills during his time in office. 

His 29-year-old Republican challenger claims he will bring “fresh energy and common-sense ideas” to the Assembly. Huebsch was previously a legislative aide and campaign manager to three Republican state senators. He is now executive director of the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum. 

Huebsch is endorsed by the La Crosse County sheriff, Wisconsin Right to Life and the National Rifle Association. His father previously represented the 94th District for 16 years, including a term as Assembly speaker, and served in Gov. Scott Walker’s Cabinet.

Huebsch did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s interview requests for this story.  

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported on several offensive social media posts Huebsch made when he was a teenager — one including an ethnic slur. He has since apologized and taken the posts down.

Doyle declined to comment on the discovery of Huebsch’s posts, but added people shouldn’t base their vote solely on that. Their choice should instead be based upon who they think could do a better job in office, he said.

With control of the Assembly on the line for both Democrats and Republicans, this race is being heavily targeted by both parties. Doyle has raised more than $600,000 so far this year, most of which came from the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee. Huebsch has raised nearly $120,000 in that time, most of which came from the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee.

Education

Due to declining enrollment largely caused by declining birth rates, the La Crosse School District is facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. Fewer students mean shrinking state funding, and the Board of Education proposed a $53.5 million referendum to close and consolidate several schools in order to cut costs. 

Doyle said a housing shortage in La Crosse is also contributing to declining enrollment. Superintendent Aaron Engel agreed, adding that the area around the school district where housing for families with school-aged children can be built is limited and landlocked. 

Private school vouchers and open enrollment have also had a smaller impact on the school district’s declining enrollment, Engel said. 

Last year Doyle co-authored a bill that would have allowed public schools with failed referendums to benefit from the state’s increased revenue limits. That year, he also voted against a bill — passed as part of a compromise between Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — that increased revenue ceilings for public schools and increased tax funding for private voucher schools at the same time. 

Doyle said that education should be decided locally but funded by the state and that pushing funding to referendum is the worst way to solve budget deficits. All schools need revenue and assistance from the state, and heavy costs shouldn’t be placed on property taxpayers, Doyle said. 

On education, Huebsch supports expanding private school voucher programs and is concerned about children in public schools being taught “the latest educational fad or social justice cause.” His campaign website says he will support policies that give parents oversight on how school funds are spent. 

Child care 

On the issue of child care accessibility, Doyle supports the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program, tax credits for child care workers and the Child Care Counts program, which has subsidized child care providers with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds. 

“We can solve a little bit of the problem at the county level, but it really is more of a state issue,” Doyle told Wisconsin Watch. “We have to make it worthwhile for people to go into and to stay in that profession.” 

In 2023, Doyle co-authored a bill that would have created a new child care payment program in addition to the Wisconsin Shares program. It also would have established grants for facilities that provide child care to their employees.

La Crosse County has lost more than 350 child care facilities in the last two decades, and hundreds more have closed across the state. 

Huebsch’s campaign site does not mention plans for child care but states he will vote to lower taxes on individuals.

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Health care

The western Wisconsin region is experiencing a shortage of accessible health care in rural areas. Two hospitals and 19 clinics in the area closed this year, leaving thousands without local options for care. 

Doyle said this is just the beginning of rural hospital closures in the state, and Medicaid expansion is “an absolute necessity” but is only part of the solution. The state needs to create financial incentives for doctors to come to and stay at rural hospitals, Doyle said. 

In 2023, Doyle co-sponsored a bill that would have used federal funds to expand BadgerCare, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income adults and families.

Huebsch’s campaign site states he “will support policies that give each of us the opportunity to get the health care we deserve.” 

Housing

La Crosse, like many other parts of Wisconsin, is experiencing an affordable housing shortage.

Doyle said the state is best positioned to deal with workforce housing shortages in Wisconsin by offering incentives to developers to build that kind of housing. In 2023, he co-authored three bills signed into law that incentivize affordable housing projects in the state. 

“If we improve the availability of workforce housing, A: We’re helping people find housing they can afford. B: We’re helping our schools with their declining enrollment. C: We’re putting property on the tax rolls that is going to help balance local budgets,” Doyle said. “It’s a win, win win scenario.”

This year, Doyle authored a bill that would have allowed the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to offer loans and grants to housing cooperatives for infrastructure improvements. 

Huebsch’s campaign site mentions the price of housing is going up, but doesn’t mention specific plans for affordable housing.

“He will vote to lower the tax burden on each of us and support policies that will encourage investment in jobs and our communities,” Huebsch’s website says.

Longtime incumbent faces familiar opponent in La Crosse area rematch 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.

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A Republican incumbent who was first elected in 2022 in a GOP-friendly district faces both a primary challenger and, if he wins on Aug. 13, a Democratic lawmaker in what is now a toss-up district.

Rep. Tom Michalski, R-Elm Grove, faces political newcomer Patti Granger in the Republican primary for Wisconsin’s 13th Assembly District.

The district covers Wauwatosa, Brookfield and Elm Grove and, based on past election results, is a political toss-up. In the Nov. 5 election the GOP primary winner will face Rep. Robyn Vining, who represents the 14th Assembly District but was drawn into the 13th as part of recent redistricting.

In 2011, Republicans drew the 13th and 14th districts to ensure two Republicans would be elected. But as the Milwaukee suburbs, particularly Wauwatosa, have become more liberal, Democrats managed to win both in 2020. Republicans changed the composition of the districts to ensure the 13th would go back to being Republican, but made the 14th a Democratic stronghold. The new maps make them both toss-up districts.

Granger, who works in business process improvement, told Wisconsin Watch she stands apart from Michalski as a woman and a single mother who adopted two children.

Granger said she wants to work with both sides of the aisle. She described family issues, education and lowering crime as her biggest campaign issues, but didn’t go into specifics when asked what she would plan to change. She offered that the education system needs to incorporate more trade skills such as carpentry, electricity, sewing and cooking, Granger said.

“People’s voices just aren’t being heard or conversations are not being had on both sides of the aisle. They’re very one sided. And if you pick a topic, people just feel they’re not being heard,” she said. “I don’t want to get into specific things that are different without really having a hard look at the moment.” 

Michalski, who has been a representative since last year, was elected to the Waukesha County Board in 2016 and also is on the Elm Grove Board of Trustees. The Freeman reported in December his priorities include election integrity, support for law enforcement, mental health initiatives and education. 

Michalski did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

Last year in a March interview he told the Institute for Reforming Government his constituents are concerned about lawlessness and a decentralized judicial system. 

“Be it retail theft, reckless driving, car-jacking, and violence, all are very much on the mind of my constituents,” he said. “They do not blame the police. Instead, they hold the judicial system culpable for failing to enforce the laws already on the books.” 

Part of his goal is to require district attorneys to adhere closer to what the law prescribes, rather than exercise their own discretion, when they charge individuals arrested for crimes, he said. 

Vining, who took office in 2019, is focusing her campaign on mental health, reproductive rights and educational funding. Wisconsin is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid access for low-income people. She said her constituents want better and affordable health care and access to abortion services, birth control and IVF. 

“We’ve spent the last couple years fighting for affordable child care. It’s a relentless fight,” she said. “I have received letters in my district about people afraid of if child care costs go up anymore, choosing between food and whether or not they can afford to work. And that’s really real.”

One issue that has stood out recently for Vining is education. Voters have been asked repeatedly via referendum to raise their own taxes to pay for public schools. 

“Under Scott Walker, the Republican (and) the gerrymandered Republican Legislature massively cut funding to schools, and we have now watched an entire generation of kids, my kids included, go through schools that suffered those cuts,” she said. “We’re starting to really understand the ramifications of that, schools across the state are now funding by referendum, because the state has failed to fund the schools.”

Two Republicans square off in toss-up district that was once GOP stronghold 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.