Iron County

First-time candidate and Minocqua family farmer Ed Vocke is running to be a voice for working people in Northern Wisconsin. His priorities include non-partisan redistricting, clean water, and local control. He favors Medicare for All. He is running against the Assistant Majority Leader in the State Assembly, GOP Rep. Mary Felzkowski. Felzkowski opposes Medicaid expansion and is a lifetime NRA Member. Vocke is the progressive choice.

Minocqua business leader Kirk Bangstad is running because he believes that strong values inform good policies and that those values are lacking in the state legislature. Bangstad believes in expanding Medicaid, creating a BadgerCare public option, and ultimately transitioning to BadgerCare for All. He believes that a living wage for all is achievable through a $15 minimum wage, a clean energy economy, and increasing broadband access. Bangstad also supports nonpartisan redistricting, ending mass incarceration, decriminalizing recreational marijuana, directing public funding exclusively to public education, and eventually making technical colleges and 4-year colleges tuition-free. Assemblyman Rob Swearingen is in favor of deregulation and has failed to listen to experts and scientists during the pandemic. He was among the legislators who forced Wisconsinites to choose between their vote and risking their health in the April election and is opposed to the mask mandate. Bangstad is the 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.

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.