MADISON, Wis. — In an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dr. Kristin Lyerly addresses the issues at the top of voters’ minds in the 8th Congressional District. As an OB/GYN, Lyerly has spent her career caring for her community and fighting for Wisconsinites’ freedoms, whereas Tony Wied is simply a rubber stamp on an extremist Republican Project 2025 agenda that seeks to take away our freedoms. 

Kristin Lyerly is committed to working across the aisle to stop price gouging, expand Medicaid, and improve safety for Northeast Wisconsin families. While Tony Wied can’t even provide voters a clear answer of where he stands on topics as important as reproductive freedoms, Kristin Lyerly has practical, common sense solutions to the most pressing challenges facing northeastern Wisconsin, proving that she will be an unwavering leader for working families.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Opinion: Kristin Lyerly: Delivering for Northeast Wisconsin Requires Bipartisan Leadership
By: Kristin Lyerly

The 118th Congress has been called one of the least productive, ever. The problems identified in the survey are the same concerns I hear as I talk to voters around the 8th District. They’re frustrated that leaders of both parties don’t fix the problems facing Wisconsinites. I’m running for Congress because we need to tackle these tough problems instead of playing party politics.

As a doctor, I work to solve the problems of each patient who walks through the exam room door. I don’t have the luxury of playing games or messing around for personal benefit. But for some reason, too many in Congress think they can toy with the serious business that we have in front of us. That’s not me, I’m running to do the work. That style of leadership is what Northeast Wisconsinites expect, because representatives like Mike Gallagher, Reid Ribble and Steve Kagen, Republicans and Democrats, have crossed the aisle to get the work done.

Price gouging making everyday essentials unaffordable

As an OB-GYN, I meet hard-working people every day who are struggling to afford essential health care, put food on their table, and put gas in their car. Wisconsinites shouldn’t have to work two or three jobs to pay the bills. We need to do more to lower costs and prevent greedy corporations from gouging us. That’s why I support the Price Gouging Prevention Act, which would clarify that price gouging is a deceptive and unfair practice under the FTC Act. It would give states’ attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission the power to stop companies from charging exorbitant prices.

This legislation would also require public companies to disclose their pricing strategy and costs. Additionally, I believe we need to make sure the FTC is allowing for sufficient competition among grocers, ensuring we have competition to help drive down prices at the checkout line. Right now, half of the grocery market is controlled by two companies, which hurts local businesses and narrows consumer choices, sometimes creating food deserts, particularly in our rural communities.

And instead of giving tax breaks to corporations and billionaires, I’ll fight for a middle-class tax cut, and work to get Republicans on board, so that a teacher working two jobs only needs to work one job to be able to pay for gas and groceries.

Firearm safety not an ‘either or’ issue in northeast Wisconsin

In northeast Wisconsin, many of us are proud gun owners, and most of us also want common-sense gun safety measures. Some want to frame this as an “either or” issue, but I know we must do both. My partner, Craig, is a 25-year veteran of our local police department and, with so many illegal guns on the street, I worry about his safety. That’s why I have a plan to do something about it.

In Congress, I’ll support universal background checks, and I’ll get rid of the “default proceed” rule, which allows people to buy guns before their FBI background check is completed. I’ll also support legislation that cracks down on ghost guns, so criminals and terrorists can’t 3D print untraceable deadly weapons at home.

Finally, I’ll work to end the Tiahrt Amendments, which constrain law enforcement from prosecuting gun criminals and illegal vendors. None of these policies infringe on anyone’s 2nd Amendment rights, and I believe that all of them can garner bipartisan support. Keeping our communities and law enforcement safe should not be a partisan issue. In Congress, I’ll work across the aisle to get it done.

Wisconsin needs Medicaid expansion to help stem hospital closures

With the right leadership, there’s bipartisan work that can be done on health care, especially to fund and protect our rural hospitals. It’s embarrassing that Wisconsin is one of only 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, and not doing so is limiting funding for rural hospitals and hurting patients. While Medicaid expansion is a state issue, I’ll use my bully pulpit to advocate for Medicaid expansion, so rural communities, like the one I serve in, do not see more hospital closures.

Because the federal government pays for much of the cost of Medicaid expansion, the program generates excess savings and sometimes raises revenue from taxes on private plans and providers, which can save states money. It also will help extend coverage, so more in our community have access to affordable health care.

In addition to pushing for Medicaid expansion, I’ll support programs that train more doctors, so rural communities like the one I serve are able to have the trained staff they need. Hospital closures and staff shortages are not partisan problems, and we can’t afford for our next member of Congress to play games instead of addressing these critical issues. I’ve spent my career providing health care to rural America, so for me this issue hits close to home.

Voters deserve to know what their candidates are going to get done and how they’re going to make it happen. I have a plan that’s practical and not partisan, because that’s the kind of representative I hope to be for northeast Wisconsin. I believe that with the right kind of leader who’s willing to show up and work across the aisle, these ideas are achievable.