Citizen Action Wisconsin Endorsements

Former small business owner and union leader LaTonya Johnson is running for re-election to her second term in the State Senate. Johnson has been an advocate for working and low-income families in the Senate. Her top priorities include criminal justice reform, economic development in her Northwest Milwaukee District, health care access, and early childhood education. Johnson is a hardworking legislator that represents her constituents well. Her opponent, Republican Alciro Deacon, is endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin and Wisconsin Right to Life. She is the progressive choice in this race.

Small business owner and substitute teacher Neal Plotkin is challenging longtime Senator Alberta Darling. Plotkin's priorities include fighting for fair legislative maps, investing in public schools, and improving public infrastructure. He has expressed his support for science based approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, including Gov. Evers' mask mandate. His opponent, Alberta Darling, has been instrumental in suppressing progressive priorities as the powerful Co-Chair of the Joint Finance Committee. With her hold on the Wisconsin's purse strings, she has done the bidding of monied special interests. She has supported voter suppression, opposed Badgercare expansion, and declined to adequately fund for public schools. In her time as an elected official, she has become far more conservative on choice and gun violence prevention, following her party to the right. She is partially responsible for Republican inaction during the ongoing pandemic and called for the legislature to reconvene to strike down Governor Evers' mask mandate. Plotkin is the more progressive choice.

Patty Schachtner is running for re-election after winning a special election in 2018. Schachtner has worked in healthcare for decades and backs a law to guarantee people can get coverage if they have a pre-existing condition. As a Senator, she has also worked to support efforts to improve access to healthcare in rural areas. She got her EMT certificate from Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College and knows that college isn't for everyone, and she is committed to adding more skills training classes in our high schools and technical colleges to help Wisconsin students add skills and get better jobs. Her opponent, Republican Assembly Member Rob Stafsholt is very conservative. He is anti-choice, pro-vouchers, and a shill for big business. Stafsholt voted repeatedly to let health insurers deny coverage to people for pre-existing conditions in Wisconsin and to allow insurance companies to charge people more for a pre-existing condition if they lose their insurance. He also voted to give FoxConn up to three billion dollars in Wisconsin taxpayer money. Schachtner is the more progressive choice.

Union Leader Joni Anderson is the progressive candidate for the 14th Senate District. Anderson is a strong advocate for labor and favors Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. She has also made non-partisan redistricting and voting rights central to her campaign. Her opponent is current Assembly Rep. Joan Ballweg, who has been endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, Wisconsin Right to Life, and the NRA. Anderson is the progressive choice.

Aaron Wojciechowski is an educator and local elected official whose priorities are supporting small businesses, quality public education, creating a public-option for healthcare coverage, and investing in infrastructure. He also favors criminal justice reform and marijuana legalization. If elected, he would be the first Latinx person elected to the Wisconsin State Senate. His opponent, incumbent Dan Feyen is anti-choice and against common sense gun violence prevention. Wojciechowski is the progressive choice.

Jonathon Hansen is running to replace the retiring Democratic incumbent, Dave Hansen. He currently serves as a DePere Alderman. Jonathon comes from a blue-collar family and worked at grocery stores and Walmart before he was a teacher. He’ll invest in technical college and job training. He says we need to hold polluters to account, especially when it comes to toxic, cancer-causing chemicals in our water. Hansen will also fight for better, more affordable health care for Wisconsinites including expanding BadgerCare and guaranteeing insurers can’t drop coverage when people get sick. His opponent, Eric Wimberger. Wimberger is an opponent of reproductive choice and favors taxpayer funded private school vouchers. He has been endorsed and partially funded by the NRA in his previous run for the Senate. Jonathon Hansen is the progressive candidate in this race.

As the parent of two children with autism who rely on BadgerCare, Emily Voight found that when she needed assistance, her state representative was dismissive and unhelpful. She has decided to run for the office herself. Voight is in favor of expanding BadgerCare, raising the minimum wage, and nonpartisan redistricting. She believes that the Assembly should be listening to science and taking action in response to the pandemic. Her opponent, Ron Tusler, most recently made the news for posting a racist meme. Tusler is also endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life, a right wing group that wants to outlaw abortion, and has consistently supported legislation that limits access to reproductive care. Voight is the more progressive choice.

Kathy Hinkfuss is a former nurse, healthcare executive, and nonprofit leader. She believes in fair nonpartisan maps, a science based approach to the coronavirus pandemic, and affordable healthcare. Her opponent, Republican incumbent David Steffen supports Act 10 and the restrictions on public sector collective bargaining. He also favored the corporate giveaway to Foxconn that so far has yielded few jobs for Wisconsinites. Hinkfuss is the more progressive choice

Incumbent Marisabel Cabrera is an immigration lawyer and former Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Latino Caucus. She is an advocare for progressive values, including the fight for affordable health care and a living wage. She will stand up for the rights of marginalized communities and advocate for sustainable environmental policy.  Her opponent is Republican candidate Veronica Diaz. Cabrera is the progressive choice.

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.

Jessica Katzenmeyer is a labor leader, activist, and rideshare driver. If elected, she would be the first transgender Assembly Member in Wisconsin history. Her campaign is focused on reducing the cost of healthcare and ensuring that no Wisconsinite has to incur significant debt to access life-saving care. She is also an advocate for a livable wage and voting rights. Incumbent Joe Sanfelippo has pushed a "tough on crime" approach and worked to make reproductive healthcare more difficult to access. Jessica Katzenmeyer is the progressive choice in this race.

Supreme Moore Omokunde is a member of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. His top priorities are criminal justice reform, expanding healthcare access, affordable housing, and economic development. His opponent is Republican candidate Abie Eisenbach. Moore Omokunde is the progressive choice.

Deb Andraca is a teacher and community volunteer who has been raising her family in the district for the past 17 years. Although Andraca has some previous political experience working at the Environmental Law and Policy Center in the 1990s, she became involved in local politics as a volunteer for Moms Demand Action and was inspired to run for Assembly when current Assembly member Jim Ott refused to support universal background checks. During her campaign, Andraca has been an advocate for action on climate change, BadgerCare expansion and public education. Her opponent, Assembly Member Jim Ott, is a reliable vote for just about anything that Republicans propose. Ott has supported every GOP budget, including Governor Walker’s infamous 2011 budget that slashed public education and healthcare. He does not believe that climate change is real, votes against reproductive choice, consistently favors corporate subsidies, including the Foxconn incentives, and votes against labor on every important issue. Deb Andraca is the progressive choice.

Emily Siegrist is a nurse, veteran, teacher, and mother who is running on her passions for issues like healthcare, education, veterans issues, and the environment. She is in favor of fully funding public education, supporting veterans' transitions to civilian life, improving infrastructure, and protecting the environment. Incumbent Assemblyman Daniel Knodl, who is pursuing another term, is anti-choice and has furthered mass incarceration and broken windows policing through his pursuit of "tougher on crime" policies. Siegrist is the more progressive choice in this race.

Retired tenant's rights lawyer and local elected official Mary Lynne Donohue would be a progressive legislator in the Assembly. The top issue that is driving Donohue's campaign is fair maps and the end of gerrymandering. She is also in favor of legalizing marijuana and ending mass incarceration. Donohue supports expanding Medicaid and would like to see more action from the WI legislature on coronavirus relief. Incumbent Assemblyman Katsma's top priorities include lowering taxes and opposing a woman's right to choose. Katsma is also endorsed by the NRA. Donohue is the progressive choice in this race.

Democrat Kim Butler is running for Assembly on a message of affordable healthcare, funding for public schools, and environmental protections. She has also discussed the lack of well-paying jobs and the insufficiency of the social safety net and worker protections throughout the pandemic. She favors accepting a BadgerCare expansion, decriminalizing recreational marijuana, and establishing nonpartisan redistricting. Assemblywoman Magnafici is anti-choice, an advocate for taxpayer funded private school vouchers, and a proponent of deregulation. She was among the legislators who applauded the State Supreme Court overturning the Safer at Home order and has mocked the severity of the pandemic. Butler is the more progressive choice

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.

Lifelong District 35 resident Tyler Ruprecht decided to run for Assembly because he did not see anyone else stepping up to provide the leadership he felt was necessary for the 35th AD. On healthcare, Ruprecht stands for expanding BadgerCare and creating a BadgerCare public option while eliminating deductibles and improving rural hospitals. He also believes in raising the minimum wage, ending CAFO subsidies, legalizing marijuana, nonpartisan redistricting, expanding broadband access, and promoting clean water and clean energy. His opponent, Calvin Callahan, is opposed to red-flag gun violence prevention laws, is anti-choice, and believes that the free market will solve Wisconsin's healthcare problems. Ruprecht is the progressive choice in this race.

Abigail Lowery has spent her life in education and healthcare as a special ed. teacher, autism line therapist, respite care provider, group home coordinator, and special education assistant. She is advocating for Medicaid expansion, a minimum wage increase, more rural broadband investment, nonpartisan redistricting, campaign finance reform, a transition to clean energy, and fully funding public schools. She also supports the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing voting accessibility. She is challenging incumbent Republican Representative John Jagler. Lowery is the progressive choice in this race.

Democrat Melissa Winker is running to unseat incumbent Republican Barbara Dittrich. Her top issues are affordable healthcare and expanded coverage, education, creating good jobs, gun violence prevention, and clean water. On these issues, her proposed policies are Medicaid expansion, mental health funding, preventing unfair billing practices, lowering the costs of prescription drugs, reducing student loan debt, investing in worker training, and universal background checks. Dittrich favors keeping police officers in schools and opposes reproductive freedom and fair maps. Winker is the progressive choice in this race.

Farmer and small business owner Kriss Marion is running to unseat Assembly Representative Todd Novak in the 51st District. Marion would be an advocate for rural issues. She believes we must expand BadgerCare in Wisconsin so that our rural hospitals, which are struggling desperately as a result of the pandemic, can be reimbursed adequately for services provided to the poor and the elderly. Marion will fight to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and to bring down skyrocketing prescription prices.She is committed to environmental protection and was named whistleblower of the year for her efforts on the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors to ensure the release of studies on groundwater pollution that other politicians were trying to hide from the press and the public. Her opponent, incumbent Todd Novak, has branded himself as an independent legislator. However, he rarely bucks his party when it counts and holds a number of extremely conservative positions. He has voted for Republican budgets, favors private school vouchers, and voted for making Wisconsin a right-to-work state. Novak has taken big contributions from out-of-state pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies, and voted against capping the price of insulin. Novak has also abused his position as mayor of Dodgeville. Three sources claim that Novak was drunk at a local event and after being warned he shouldn't drive home said, "It doesn't matter because I have a Mayoral Pass. I won't get into trouble." Kriss Marion is the progressive choice.

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.

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.

Democrat Brian Giles is running on a progressive platform that emphasizes democracy reform, and the health and safety of Wisconsinites. He supports a shift to entirely mail-in voting, independent nonpartisan redistricting, and getting big money out of politics. He also supports a $15/hour minimum wage, universal background checks on all gun sales, expanding BadgerCare, and legalizing marijuana. He is running against Republican Donna Rozar, who is endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin and says she has been active in the anti-choice movement. She has also underplayed the COVID-19 pandemic and opposed the Governor's mask mandate and safer-at-home order. Giles is the progressive choice in this race.

Assemblywoman Lisa Subeck is running unopposed. Prior to becoming an elected official, Subeck worked as an early childhood educator, housing program coordinator, and NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Executive Director. On the Madison Common Council and in the Assembly, Subeck has been a progressive leader on such issues as affordable healthcare, reproductive health services, campaign finance reform, and strengthening schools. Subeck is a progressive choice.

Former dairy goat farmer and special education teacher Dave Considine has been serving in the Assembly since 2014. Considine has a reputation as a pragmatic and bipartisan legislator who favors common-sense, simple legislation. Considine believes in investing public money into public schools and has authored numerous bills on education, conservation, and marijuana decriminalization. Considine is the most progressive choice in this race.

Marathon County Board Member Jeff Johnson is running for Assembly to push for improving public schools, infrastructure investments, and BadgerCare expansion. Another issue that is important to Johnson is regulating predatory payday lenders, who are taking advantage of Wisconsinites that have fallen on hard times. His opponent is incumbent Patrick Snyder, a former right wing radio talk show host who won election thanks to massive spending on his behalf by backers of taxpayer funded private school vouchers. Snyder has since voted in lockstep with his Republican party leaders. Johnson is the more progressive choice 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.

Kristina Shelton is a believer in public education, calling for the state to return to two-thirds funding for public schools, fund special education, and end the taxpayer funded private school voucher program. Shelton is also a supporter of BadgerCare expansion, confronting climate change, and affordable housing investments. Her opponent, Republican Drew Kirsteatter is anti-choice and against proven measures that help slow the spread of coronavirus, like the mask mandate. Shelton is the more progressive choice.

Representative Jodi Emerson feels compelled by challenges in education, healthcare, and a lack of well-paid jobs. After being diagnosed with a chronic health condition, she saw firsthand the importance of affordable and accessible healthcare for all. She is also an advocate for social justice, more education funding, and protecting natural resources. She authored a bill to phase out Wisconsin's voucher program and has called for additional COVID-19 relief. Her opponent, Republican Charlie Walker, is in favor of taxpayer funded private school vouchers and a believer in deregulation. Emerson is the more progressive choice.

Amanda WhiteEagle is running to solve the concerns that she hears from both her parents and her children, which range from social security to active shooter drills. Her platform focuses on climate change, healthcare, education, and rural broadband. WhiteEagle believes in Medicaid expansion, investing in green jobs, making college and technical training more affordable. She is facing Republican Representative Treig Pronschinske. The City of Mondovi settled a lawsuit for $325,000 brought by a former city police office over Pronschinske's alleged sexual harassment and discrimination towards her while he was Mayor. WhiteEagle is the progressive choice in this race.

Realtor Charlene "Charlie" Warner believes in non-partisan redistricting, changing the school funding formula, and supporting family farms over corporate ones. Her campaign also emphasizes protecting natural resources, high speed broadband internet, and returning local control. Her opponent, Assemblyman Warren Petryk, has been endorsed over the years by the NRA, anti-abortion Wisconsin Right to Life, and the Wisconsin Tavern League, among others. Warner is the more progressive choice.

Steve Doyle is a moderate Democrat running for re-election to his sixth term as an Assembly Member from the 94th District. When it comes to environmental issues, labor, and welfare, Doyle is relatively progressive. He was a leader in the fight against Act 10 and has a strong record on LGBTQ+ equality. While he is personally anti-choice, he has voted pro-choice as a legislator. He is a supporter of gun rights and has received an endorsement from the NRA. However, he did co-sponsor a universal background check bill. Doyle is known for his bipartisanship. His challenger, Republican Kevin Hoyer, is a soybean farmer with a history of racist and anti-immigrant statements. He has defended controversial pesticides and opposes government intervention in health care. Hoyer is strongly pro-business and has criticized unions repeatedly. Although Doyle is not as progressive as some other legislators, he has always stood up for progressive issues like labor rights, public schools, and the environment when it counts.

Josefine Jaynes is invested in making her community a place where young people want to return to after college or technical school. She believes that building a vibrant economy is crucial to this effort, as well as investing in affordable housing and small businesses. She is facing Republican incumbent Loren Oldenburg. Jaynes is the more progressive candidate.