Marathon 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.

Paul Piotrowski is a decorated former Navy officer who served his home of Stevens Point for over 26 years, most recently as City Clerk. He’ll put the middle class first in the economic response to coronavirus and work to get help for working families and small businesses that are struggling here at home. Piotrowski worked a good blue-collar job and gets that college might not be for everyone, but a good-paying job should be. He'll also fight to expand access to affordable health care and protect people with pre-existing conditions from losing their health care. His opponent, first term Senator Pat Testin supported giving up to three billion dollars in corporate giveaways to FoxConn. After accepting campaign donations from health insurance PACs, he single-handedly blocked protections for pre-existing conditions from passing the State Senate. Testin would ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood. He has actively opposed the state’s Safer-at-Home order and backed the lawsuit to prematurely end it while cases of coronavirus were still growing. Piotrowski is the progressive choice.

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.

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.

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.

Richard Pulcher is the Democratic candidate for the 87th District. Pulcher's biography includes a varied work history; he is recently retired from the Clark County Health Care Center and his 2020 candidacy is endorsed by Wisconsin AFL-CIO. Pulcher supports reforming the drawing of legislative districts and getting big money out of politics. Assemblyman James Edming supported overturning of the Safer at Home order, and is endorsed by conservative PAC Wisconsin Family Action, the NRA, and extreme anti-choice group Wisconsin Right to Life. He has minimized the COVID-19 crisis and was also the author of a bill that allowed children of any age to hunt while supervised and allowing the child to carry their own gun. There is no verifiably progressive candidate in this race.