MADISON, Wis. — With new, fair legislative maps, Wisconsin Democrats have a real shot at winning a majority in Madison this November and putting an end to Republican games that have held our state back. 

Democratic candidates are getting their message out from Wausau and Sheboygan to La Crosse and Baraboo, with Democrats like Yee Leng Xiong, Sarah Keyeski, and Joe Plouff reaching voters and sharing how they will fight for Wisconsinites in the State Senate and Assembly. Wisconsin Democrats will expand access to affordable health care, restore reproductive freedoms, and bring down costs for working families that have been left behind by Republican politicians in Madison for more than a decade. 

Read more coverage from some of Wisconsin’s closest races below:

WPR on Yee Leng Xiong: “The son of immigrant parents who came to the U.S. to escape communism, Yee Leng Xiong said being elected to Wisconsin’s 85th Assembly would be a ‘dream come true.’ […] In an interview with WPR’s Shereen Siewert on ‘Morning Edition,’ Xiong said health care is among his top priorities if he is elected in November. He also vowed to work with lawmakers from both parties to address the needs of residents.’ What I would love to do, without a doubt, is look toward expanding healthcare and passing bills to address the safety and mental health issues in our community here,’ said Xiong, who is running as a Democrat. ‘I think those are issues we can all find common ground on. I would also work with folks to build consensus and build relationships. Everything comes down to building relationships with folks across the aisle.’”

Wisconsin Examiner on Rep. Jodi Emerson: “When Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) was first elected in 2018, the 91st Assembly District covered only the city of Eau Claire. The new 91st district includes part of Eau Claire as well as smaller cities, towns and villages including Altoona, Seymour, Fall Creek, Ludington, Bridge Creek and Otter Creek. While Emerson won in her prior general elections with more than 60% of the vote, the new district has only a slight Democratic lean. Emerson will face Republican Michele Magadance Skinner, an Eau Claire County Board supervisor, in the race for the seat in November. ‘It’s a very tight district now, but it should be,’ Emerson said. […] Emerson said there has been a ‘learning curve’ with the new district. She said she’s been taking the time to meet new voters and to learn more about issues, including rural broadband, the way that townships interact with cities and counties and looking at school issues from a new perspective. […] Despite the shift, Emerson said, ‘I think at the same time we all have the same Wisconsin values of hard work and wanting our communities to be better. And that doesn’t change, no matter whether you’re in a city or in a rural area.’”

Wisconsin Watch on Joe Plouff: “Rural health care access, affordable child care and public education are among key issues for western Wisconsin voters in the toss-up 92nd Assembly District where Republican Rep. Clint Moses will face a Democratic challenger who is no stranger to the state Assembly. Former state Rep. Joe Plouff held office from 1997 to 2005, representing the area he is running in now — 20 years later. […] Plouff, a 74-year-old Army veteran, was previously a member of the Menomonie City Council and Dunn County Board of Supervisors. He is a retired teacher. […] Plouff said in an interview with the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce that he came out of retirement because he “fears for” what he sees in the Legislature. ‘I come from a time when we actually could work together,’ Plouff said. ‘We used to go out with people from the opposite party, and we would enjoy a meal together …That has collapsed in the 20 years I’ve been gone.’” 

The Cap Times on Sarah Keyeski: “Voters in northern Dane and southern Columbia counties know a good deal about Sarah Keyeski, the self-described ‘mental health counselor, concerned parent of six, farmer’s daughter and community organizer’ from Lodi who has for years been a positive influence on the region. […] Unlike [Joan] Ballweg, Keyeski is deeply engaged with the communities she seeks to represent. […] On issue after issue, Keyeski outlines positions that distinguish her from politicians in both parties who neglect small towns and rural regions of the state. Her positions are in tune with the values — and the needs — of a district where rural schools require far more support from the Legislature. ‘I see our rural schools as the cornerstone of our communities and a strong educational system as a critical part of investing in the future of District 14,’ says Keyeski. ‘I support increasing state funding to strengthen our public schools and lifting revenue limits. I also oppose using public funds to subsidize private school voucher programs in our state.’”

UpNorthNews on Jodi Habush Sinykin: “State Senate candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin of Whitefish Bay senses ‘palpable’ enthusiasm and energy among voters, who see a chance in November to elect a Wisconsin Legislature more in touch with their constituents now that the old gerrymandered maps are gone. ‘If people want change, they can’t vote in the same legislators who have gotten us in the same position over the last ten plus years,’ Habush Sinykin said in an interview with UpNorthNews. ‘We need people who are willing to work across the aisle to allow us to step up in all these areas, whether it’s environmental contamination, conservation efforts, women’s healthcare and healthcare in general. Education, the safety of our communities, reducing taxes for retirees and young working folks. We have so many ways we can proceed. We just need the right legislators in there.’”

Wisconsin Examiner on Christy Welch: “[…] [Christy] Welch is also running in a competitive race against Republican Benjamin Franklin, a De Pere business owner, for the 88th Assembly District, which includes Bellevue, Allouez and De Pere. In the Legislature, Welch said she has been speaking with voters about the cost of groceries, housing, health care and child care. Her priorities for the Legislature overlap with these issues. She said she wants to increase public education funding and continue funding for the state’s Child Care Counts program. She said she also wants Wisconsin to take the federal Medicaid expansion and to repeal the state’s 1849 law, which caused all abortions to cease in the state for more than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned.”

WPR on Rep. Steve Doyle: “Democratic Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, has served Wisconsin’s 94th Assembly District for thirteen years. Doyle has a reputation for working across the aisle, even touting himself ‘Mr. Bipartisan.’ But this year, he faces an aggressive challenger in Republican Ryan Huebsch of Onalaska. It’s a rematch for Huebsch and Doyle, having faced each other in 2022. Doyle says a challenger from the political right won’t make him adopt a more progressive agenda. […] ‘If you look at the last six years, you put those all together, nobody beats me in terms of voting in a bipartisan way. In other words, reaching across the aisle. But I’m going to try to work even harder than I ever have with regard to trying to get people on the same page. And I think it’s going to be a little bit easier this time with the numbers in the Assembly probably being a lot closer. Instead of a near Republican supermajority, both sides are going to have to move to the middle, and I think that’s a good thing.’”

The Daily Cardinal on Yee Leng Xiong: “Democratic candidate Yee Leng Xiong is determined to make history as the first Hmong American lawmaker in the Wisconsin Legislature as the race for the 85th Wisconsin Assembly District seat heats up. ‘The Hmong… are strong, resilient people. They are a group of folks that have gone through hardships, but have been able to demonstrate that they can overcome,’ Xiong told The Daily Cardinal. ‘I’m a person who’s very impatient, who wants to see progress, who wants to see action.’ […] Wisconsin has the third-largest Hmong population in the U.S., with more than 58,000 Hmong residents. The greater Wausau area, home to more than 8,000 Hmong residents, has the highest per-capita Hmong population of any city in the U.S. The AAPI and the Hmong community is ‘the marginal victory’ in Wisconsin, Xiong said, noting that President Joe Biden won the state by a little over 20,000 votes in 2020. In his challenge against incumbent Patrick Snyder, R-Schofield, Xiong is running on abortion rights, affordability issues including housing, health care and increased funding for first responders.” 

WPR on Jeanne Bruce: “A former Washburn county supervisor and aide to former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, Jeanne Bruce of Spooner is the Democratic candidate challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Chanz Green for the 74th District Assembly seat. Bruce named health care as a top priority, including encouraging the Legislature to better access federal Affordable Care Act funds and protect women’s reproductive rights. Bruce grew up in Spooner and graduated from Spooner High School. She went on to earn an undergraduate degree in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters in media communications from UW-Whitewater. She’s worked for more than 30 years in program and fund development with government agencies, nonprofits and private businesses.”

Wisconsin Watch on LuAnn Bird: “Housing and child care affordability, abortion rights and public school funding are key issues in the race for the 61st Assembly District — a toss-up district encompassing portions of southwestern Milwaukee as well as Greendale, Hales Corners and parts of Greenfield. The race is a rematch from 2022, pitting incumbent Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, a longtime GOP office-holder in the Milwaukee area, against Democrat LuAnn Bird, a former executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. […] Bird and Donovan offer starkly different views on what Wisconsin’s abortion laws should look like. ‘The government should have no say in the decision,’ Bird told Wisconsin Watch. ‘Women should be able to make their decisions without government interference.’ She criticized many of the state’s existing laws that make accessing the procedure more cumbersome, such as requiring women to wait 24 hours after an initial appointment and requiring physicians to perform an ultrasound before having an abortion. The waiting period, in particular, disproportionately affects low-income women, Bird said, given that they likely have to take time off of work to access abortion care. ‘Women should be able to choose if and when and how to start a family,’ she added. ‘No politician can know what’s going on in a woman’s life who’s in that situation.’” 

Wisconsin Examiner on Tara Johnson: […] Rep. Loren Oldenburg (R-Viroqua), who was first elected to the Assembly in 2018, faces Democrat Tara Johnson, a former La Crosse County Board member. […] Johnson said she thinks some voters in the rural parts of the county ‘feel neglected.’ She said she had one conversation with a voter whose door hadn’t been knocked since former President Bill Clinton ran for office. ‘It isn’t just Democrats, it is any politician doing that kind of outreach, and I mean, to me, that’s just kind of human nature, right?’ Johnson said. ‘You want somebody to come and introduce themselves and tell you what they stand for and answer your questions and ask for your vote. … I think a lot of rural doors have not been knocked on in a long time by anybody.’ Johnson decided to enter the race for the district because of the new maps, the potential for Democrats to win a majority in the Assembly and because she wanted to help ‘get sh*t done.’”