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 has 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.
Senate District 4
Wisconsin Senate District 4 represents northwest Milwaukee, Shorewood, Glendale, and parts of Wauwatosa and Brown Deer.
The district was represented by Democrat Lena Taylor, who stepped down after Gov. Tony Evers appointed Taylor as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court earlier this year.
There was a special election in July, with the winner to serve the remainder of Taylor's term. Democrat Dora Drake defeated another Democrat, LaKeshia Myers in that election. The same two candidates faced off again in the Aug. 13 primary election, to serve a full four-year term in Senate District 4. Drake won that election as well.
According to WisPolitics, the district leans 85% Democrat.
WUWM sent a questionnaire to the candidates. Their responses below may be edited for length and clarity.
Meet the candidates
Dora Drake (Democrat)
What motivated you to run for this office?
As a life-long Milwaukeean, former social worker in the criminal justice system, and current State Representative for the 11th Assembly District, I believe the time is now for new servant leadership who will put people first. We have an opportunity to collectively address issues such as public safety, reckless driving, mental health and economic growth in order to create safe and healthy communities. In addition, the State Senate seat has a greater capacity to provide constituent services, policy initiatives and community outreach.
What concerns are you hearing from constituents, and how do you plan to address those if elected?
Reckless driving, mental health resources and transparency in education are the top issues. Red light cameras should be used as a tool to catch the perpetrators doing the crime, not charge the owner of the vehicles. In addition, our courts need support to address overcrowding in our jails, so we are not releasing the perpetrators with tickets. To address mental health, we need to prioritize funding for mental health services and change our procedures to avoid traumatizing individuals who are having a mental health episode. Lastly, I support the audit of our schools with the end result for our public schools officials having local control.
What is your biggest accomplishment from your time in the Wisconsin Assembly?
In my first term as a State Representative, I have a significant amount of legislation that was signed into law as a coauthor or cosponsored — ranging from supporting small business owners, free charitable clinics, additional protections for sexual assault victims and accountability measures for law enforcement. In addition, CDC reported approximately 1 in 3 children use vape pens but in Wisconsin there was no regulation for e-cigarettes. Therefore, I worked with the Department of Revenue to pass legislation to give them the authority to go after bad actors who were keeping a separate set of books and to regulate e-cigarettes in our state.
