Wisconsinites will vote for state Assembly and Senate candidates in the general election Nov. 5, 2024.
This is the first election under newly-competitive district maps.
What do the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly do?
The Wisconsin Legislature is made up of 99 Assembly representatives and 33 Senators from across Wisconsin. Together, they have the power to create, amend and repeal laws.
The Legislature plays a major role in deciding how to use taxpayer-funded state revenue every two years in the biennial budget. Whether more or less money is spent on education, economic development, tax relief — that is decided by the majority in the Legislature, along with Wisconsin's governor, who has to sign the budget, and other bills, into law.
What's at stake?
The Wisconsin Legislature as been firmly controlled by Republicans for more than a decade, under gerrymandered legislative maps.
Those maps were thrown out by the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court last year, which prompted the Legislature to approve new maps proposed by Gov. Tony Evers.
Democrats now have a chance of winning the majority in the Assembly, if they win a handful competitive districts.
In the Senate, only half of the seats are up for election, which means Republicans are likely to hold a majority in that chamber for the next two years at least. But Democrats are still working to flip some of the seats.
Assembly District 7
Wisconsin Assembly District 7 includes parts of Milwaukee, West Allis and Greenfield.
According to WisPolitics, Democrat Daniel Riemer and Republican Bob Donovan were drawn into the district under new legislative maps. Riemer is not running. Donovan is running in a different district.
The new Assembly District 7 leans approximately 60% Democratic.
WUWM sent a questionnaire to the candidates. Their responses below may be edited for length and clarity.
Meet the candidates
Lee Whiting (Republican)
What motivated you to run for this office?
The people need a voice that will get what they need done. The people of the 7th Assembly District need to be heard.
What concerns are you hearing from constituents, and how do you plan to address those if elected?
The district needs more police and better services. No one listens to them or asks what they want.
What would success look like for you at the end of your term?
The people can say my assembly representative did his job. We the people go the job done and we want him back.
What distinguishes your experience from the other candidate(s) in this race?
I have been a safety and civic commissioner. I have owned my own business and know how to get the job done and will not take a no for an answer. I will fight for the people and their rights to lower tax, to a safe city and cut the waste.
Please list any notable endorsements you’ve received in this race.
- Assemblyman Bob Donovan
- Former Judge Paul Dedinsky
- Racine Alderman Henry Perez
Karen Kirsch (Democrat)
What motivated you to run for this office?
For the last several years, I have been working for Citizen Action of Wisconsin primarily focusing on promoting good public healthcare policy. I run into people that tell me they hate politics because we have been so divided recently, but politics will find you anyway. Politics directly impacts so many aspects of our lives and healthcare is one of them. In my 20's, I was the victim of bad healthcare policy when I was denied care for my asthma. My asthma was deemed a pre-existing condition (Before the ACA was passed). I had a crash course at a young age as to how politics can reach into your life and actually stop you from breathing.
What concerns are you hearing from constituents, and how do you plan to address those if elected?
A top concern is the cost of healthcare. People are putting off care because of high deductibles. People are rationing their medications due to cost. People are making big life decisions just on this one issue alone. There are 32 other countries that do it better than we do, so it is not a mystery as to the direction in which we need to go. Everyone always frames solving this problem as some kind of complicated mystery when it is not. We need the government to balance the power of our greedy for-profit medical complex. I am also hearing from women a great concern over having their reproductive freedom taken away.
What would success look like for you at the end of your term?
It's a two year term so I would say by then we will have won BadgerCare Expansion with a path to RX Drug reform. With the right balance of power in the Assembly, we could have legal marijuana and be on the path to a BadgerCare Public and restore reproductive freedom to women. It's really important that people pay attention to the power dynamic and understand it.
What distinguishes your experience from the other candidate(s) in this race?
It comes down to a difference in philosophy. I believe that average people need government to help balance the power of giant profit driven corporations. The average Joe doesn't have the power to fight a multinational pharmaceutical company. Also, when the private market fails, it is the governments responsibility to step in and protect people. Republicans don't believe that.
Please list any notable endorsements you’ve received in this race.
- Congresswoman Gwen Moore
- Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson
- Representative Christine Sinicki
- Representative Sylvia Oiz Velez
- Representative Clinton Anderson
- State Senator Tim Carpenter
- State Senator Chris Larson
- City of Milwaukee Attorney Evan Goyke
- Milwaukee Alderman Jonathan Brostoff
- Milwaukee Alderman Peter Burgelis
- Former State Senator, Former Milwaukee County Clerk,Joe Czarnezki
- Milwaukee County Register of Deeds, Israel Ramon
- Milwaukee County Supervisor Kathleen Wied Vincent
- Milwaukee County Supervisor Jack Eckblad
- Miwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski
- Milwaukee County Supervicor Caroline Gomez-Tom
- Former County Supervisor Karthy Arciszewski
- Former County Supervisor Jason Haas
- Greenfield School Board Member Robert Hansen
- Greenfield School Board Member Nikki Cherek
- Greenfield School Board Member Pamela Sierzchulski
- Greenfield School Board Member Julie DeGaro
- Greenfield School Board Member Tom Frohna
- Greenfield School Board Member Andy Misorski
- Greenfield School Board Member Kristie Potter
- West Allis School Board Kristen Keyser
- Milwaukee School Board Member Megan O' Halloran
- West Alls Community Member Dawn Martin
- Milwaukee County Democratic Former Chair Martha Love
- Milwaukee County Democratic Former Chair Chris Walton
- Milwaukee County Democratic Former Chair Sachin Chheda
- Former Milwaukee Public School Board Member Claire Zautke
- UAW - Region 4
Editor's note: This post has been corrected to show that Lee Whiting is running as a Republican, not a Democrat.
