AFT Wisconsin Endorsements

Nurse, Healthcare Executive, and former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Officer Sara Rodriguez is running for Assembly on a platform of making healthcare more affordable and accessible, adequately funding public schools, and managing the economic reopening safely. Rodriguez decided to run when she saw residents of her community forced to choose between voting and risking their health in the April election. Rodriguez is a public health expert who will put community health ahead of profit. Her opponent, incumbent Rob Hutton, lists taxpayer funded private school vouchers and shrinking state government among his top priorities. Hutton is also anti-choice. Rodriguez is the progressive choice.

Robyn Vining is running for her second term in the State Assembly. Vining lists affordable healthcare, gun sense legislation, and nonpartisan redistricting as among her top priorities. She has been a leader when it comes to COVID-19 response, introducing and advocating for the Healthcare Heroes Act, which would provide hazard pay, paid sick leave, and healthcare coverage to frontline healthcare workers. Her opponent, Bonnie Lee, is an advocate of taxpayer funded private school vouchers, gun rights proponent, and fiscal conservative. She has been endorsed by right wing politicians and groups such as Scott Walker, Wisconsin Right to Life, the NRA, and Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin. Robyn Vining is the more progressive choice.

South Milwaukee Mayor Erik Brooks is challenging Republican Assemblywoman Jessie Rodriguez. Brooks is running as a moderate with an emphasis on bipartisanship and practicality. His priorities include investing in public education, public health, and public safety while restoring local control. Although Brooks is a self-described moderate, his opponent, Assemblywoman Rodriguez, is a conservative school vouchers advocate. Brooks is the more progressive choice in this race.

Former District Attorney Sarah Yacoub's platform is simple: Healthy People, Healthy Economy. She believes in expanding Medicaid and creating a BadgerCare public option, while exploring a BadgerCare for All model. Mental health and addiction are also top priorities for Yacoub, which would mean expanding opioid treatment options, and improving access to mental health and addiction treatment. She also favors fully funding public schools, nonpartisan redistricting, enacting paid family leave, supporting affordable childcare, and more. Yacoub has progressive policies to meet every issue facing the 30th district. Also in the race is Republican incumbent Shannon Zimmerman, who was on the Joint Committee on Finance, which considers the state budget. He was a key opponent of Governor Evers' effort to expand Medicaid and increase education funding. Yacoub is the progressive choice in this race.

Lee Snodgrass believes that every Wisconsinite should have access to affordable healthcare and supports Medicaid expansion and defending the Affordable Care Act. She supports restoring local school funding, holding private schools that receive publicly funded vouchers to higher standards, and investing in technical colleges. Snodgrass believes in marijuana legalization, nonpartisan redistricting, sustainable funding for roads and bridges, universal background checks, and a woman's right to choose. She also favors supporting working families through paid family leave and minimum wage standards. Her opponent, Eric Beach, is anti-choice, opposed to the mask mandates, and opposed to common-sense gun laws. Snodgrass is the more progressive choice in this race.

Greta Neubauer has been working in progressive politics for over a decade and is completing her first term in the Assembly. She has pushed for increased access to affordable healthcare and programs to reduce racial disparities in healthcare. She has authored legislation on job creation, democracy strengthening reforms, and climate change. Neubauer was recognized by WI Conservation Votes for the Forward on Climate bill package that she collaborated on with Rep. David Crowley. Her opponent, Will Leverson, was endorsed by WI Right to Life, an organization that wants to ban abortion. Neubauer is the progressive choice in this race.

Dr. Chris Kapsner is running to heal Wisconsin's healthcare system, public schools, infrastructure, and environment. He believes in investing in transportation and rural broadband funding, fully funding the DNR, fair maps, and Medicaid expansion. As an ER doctor, he sees the GOP response to the COVID-19 as a failure of inaction and believes more can be done. Incumbent Republican Representative Rob Summerfield was a part of that inaction, opposing the Safer at Home order. Summerfield also wrote a letter opposing federal aid to states but received federal aid himself in the form of a forgivable PPP loan to his immediate family member's business. Kapsner is the more progressive choice.

Mental health professional and business owner Emily Berge is running to help create an economy that works for everyone, not just big corporations. She believes in investing in her community through accessible healthcare, reliable internet, and quality education. She also believes in non-partisan redistricting and conservation efforts. Her opponent, Jesse James, is a private school vouchers proponent who opposed the Safer at Home order, and was one of the signatories of a letter pressuring school superintendents to reopen their local schools. Berge is the more progressive choice.

Rep. Katrina Shankland believes in investing in public education and technical schools, repairing roads and bridges, and supporting family-paying jobs. Shankland has authored the most original bills of any Assembly Member, the majority of which were bipartisan and has been a leader in the efforts to enact measures to protect clean water. Her opponent is Republican candidate Scott Soik, who was endorsed by the NRA. Shankland is the more progressive candidate in this race.

Beth Meyers worked for a non-profit that served senior citizens in northern Wisconsin before her election to the State Assembly. This experience has helped her become a leader in the legislature on aging and long term care, supporting policies like lowering the cost of prescription drugs, stepping up inspections of nursing homes during the pandemic, and cracking down on fraud. She has advocated for fair elections, college affordability, and environmental preservation. She is a union supporter who favors a minimum wage increase, and reinstating collective bargaining rights for state employees. Her opponent, businessman James Bolen, has tied himself to former Governor Scott Walker, and holds many of the same damaging positions as Walker. In contrast to Meyers, who is an ardent supporter of BadgerCare expansion, Bolen opposes accepting federal money to expand access, saying that he views BadgerCare as sufficient. Beth Meyers is the more progressive candidate in this race.

Dr. Kristin Lyerly is running as a Democrat in the 88th district. As a physician, she believes that the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the need for change on issues such as healthcare and showcased the importance of responsible leadership. Lyerly favors BadgerCare expansion, tax fairness to benefit small business as opposed to large corporations, changing the school funding formula, and common sense gun reform, among other relatively progressive policies. Her opponent, incumbent Republican John Macco has voted against initiatives to address many of these issues in the state Assembly. Lyerly is the more progressive choice in this race.