Polk County

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.

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

John Calabrese is running on a bold, progressive platform. The woodworker has made fighting big money in politics one of his top issues. He also favors a BadgerCare for All healthcare system, repealing Act 10, restoring local control, and strengthening environmental protection and enforcement. His opponent, Republican Clint Moses, does not have a detailed platform available, as evidenced by his position on his website on Gun/Property Rights: "We all understand the importance of this."  Moses has been endorsed by the NRA, Wisconsin Right to Life, and Pro-Life Wisconsin. Calabrese is the more progressive choice

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.

School counselor John Ellenson is running to overcome partisan polarization and fight to expand healthcare, rebuild infrastructure, protect the environment, and preserve the American dream. Ellenson believes that the foundation of a working family is jobs, healthcare, and housing. Ellenson is opposed to corporate giveaways and believes in Medicaid expansion and BadgerCare buy-in. He also supports affordable housing tax credits and pledges to ensure that more tax dollars flow to Northernwestern Wisconsin. Broadband expansion, confronting climate change, and fair maps are also among Ellenson's priorities. His opponent, Dave Armstrong, is pro-life and endorsed by a right wing group that wants to outlaw abortion. Ellenson is the more progressive choice.