- The following program is part
of our 2018 Wisconsin Vote election coverage.
*
- Hello, I'm Jon Miskowski,
Director of Wisconsin Public Television.
One of the most important things we do
is to bring timely information to the people of Wisconsin.
This is especially true at election time.
Once again, Wisconsin Public Television
is offering political candidates
this platform to talk directly
to our viewers across Wisconsin.
We've invited all the US Senate and Congressional candidates
appearing on the November 6th ballot
to make an unedited statement.
Their order of appearance in this presentation
was determined randomly.
If you'd like more information
about any of the candidates running for office in Wisconsin,
watch Wisconsin Public Television,
listen to Wisconsin Public Radio
and visit our election website: WisconsinVote.org.
Remember to vote on Tuesday, November 6th
and thank you for watching Wisconsin Public Television.
- Hello, I'm Leah Vukmir.
I'm a nurse and a mom-with-a-cause from Brookfield
who is running for the U.S. Senate
because I want a better future for our kids and our grandkids.
I've spent the last year listening to Wisconsinites
from every corner of our state.
From Superior to Kenosha,
I've visited all 72 counties, most of them more than once.
I've held roundtables and met with our veterans,
our farmers and our small business owners.
What I hear from the people of Wisconsin
is that they're looking for leaders
who understand the day-to-day challenges facing families.
I grew up in a big, fat Greek family.
My dad came here from Greece,
so he could give his family a life of opportunity.
I helped teach my aunts and uncles
how to speak English when they came to America
so they could assimilate
and learn how to work in this great country.
I worked my way through college,
working second and third shift in an inner-city emergency room.
I became a nurse and cared for my patients
and learned that health care works best
when patients have the information and tools
to make decisions for themselves.
And when my children were young, I fought to improve education.
I jumped right in and worked with other parents
to get stuff done when government wasn't working.
As a mom,
I wanted a better life for my daughter and son.
I worked hard for them.
I know what it's like to make ends meet.
And what it's like
to think about whether you have enough money
to put your kids through college.
My fight for my kids took me to the state Capitol,
where I've fought to represent all Wisconsinites.
There I've led the charge
to expand opportunities for education,
cut taxes by more than $8 billion dollars
and help a record number of Wisconsinites
find jobs that help them provide for their families.
I've worked hard for you: the good people of our state.
The differences between myself and Senator Baldwin
could not be more clear.
Senator Baldwin has spent nearly 30 years as a politician,
collecting more than $3 million in wages from taxpayers.
During her time in office,
she has written only four bills that have become law.
She is as ineffective as it gets.
Senator Baldwin has voted to increase our taxes 413 times.
She opposed Brett Kavanaugh without even meeting him,
ignoring yet another function of her job.
She actively fights against our Second Amendment
and supports open borders.
She works with liberal radicals, who are attempting
to insert socialism into our health care system,
diminishing care for our seniors.
She supports partial-birth abortions,
ripping developed babies from their mother's womb.
Senator Baldwin doesn't understand
the day-to-day challenges of the middle class.
She is far more comfortable with her friends in the Hamptons
than she is at a Friday night fish fry in Wisconsin.
When a veteran died at the Tomah VA,
her only concern was protecting her own job,
bribing a staffer with hush money
and hiring Hillary Clinton's lawyer to cover it up.
That is a betrayal of Wisconsin values.
As a mom and a nurse,
who has cared for my patients my entire career,
even while in the legislature,
I will take that same passion to Washington
and represent you.
I'll fight for lower taxes,
better health care,
coverage for pre-existing conditions,
and a stronger future for our kids and grandkids.
The Wisconsin Way is about never giving up,
working hard, and making our state and our country
better for our children and our grandchildren.
We're fighters in this state,
and I'm giving you my word that I will fight for you.
I'm asking for your vote on November 6th.
Together, we can change Washington
and make it work for us.
Thank you, and keep the faith.
- Hi, I'm Dr. Ken Yorgan,
and I'm running for the U.S. House of Representatives
in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District.
The district runs pretty much
from the very southeast corner of the state in Kenosha County,
north to include Oak Creek, then west to take in Janesville.
Most recently,
the Congressman from this district has been Paul Ryan.
As I move about the district, introducing myself to people,
the conversation often goes something like this.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Yorgan.
"I'm running for Congress in this district.
Here's some information about me and my campaign."
As I hand them some literature,
the first question that usually comes out of their mouth is,
"Are you a Democrat or a Republican?"
When I tell them,
"Neither, I'm an independent,"
they typically smile, extend their hand to shake mine
and say "Great!" or "Thank you, we need more independents."
This may be surprising for some of you to hear,
but when asked about their political identity,
somewhere between 40% and 49% of Americans
identify themselves as "Independent."
Less than 30% will say Democrat or Republican.
This is why, when people ask me,
"Do you expect to 'steal' more votes
from Democrats or Republicans?"
My answer is, "They don't own our votes.
"There are more of us than either of them
and my job is to stop them from stealing from us."
Now that you know the truth,
I want you to join in the effort to end this thievery.
Embarrassingly,
American elections are typically determined
by who spends the most money.
And the money is flowing in this election.
Before it's over on November 6, millions will have been spent.
The vast majority of it will come from special interests,
outside of our district, and outside of our state.
And it won't be spent by me,
nor will it be coming from independents.
So I'd like to take a moment here
to thank my friends in the parties,
for the millions of dollars
that they are bringing into the district
from the people who own their campaigns.
Unfortunately those dollars will be spent mostly on TV ads
and annoying literature in our mailboxes
that will only become more frequent
as the election draws near.
Mostly, they're going to be warning us about each other,
and they're both right.
I confess, I have literature too.
Primarily in the form of a campaign tabloid
which looks kind of like one of those shoppers
that you pick up
as you're entering or leaving a restaurant.
It's titled "Independent Voice"
and you might find one in your driveway during the campaign.
We've gotten good feedback
from people who have read this journal.
If we get enough financial support,
we just might come out with a second edition before this ends.
Inside of it, you will find my thoughts and positions
on a whole list of subjects
that are important to people in the 1st District.
Everything from Social Security to immigration
to endless wars to the wealth imbalance
and, of course, health care financing.
As someone who has been a chiropractor
for nearly 40 years,
I have a lot of experience with and understanding of
what needs to be done with health care financing.
You can also find the entire publication
on the website: yorganforcongress.com.
You'll also find information there about just who I am.
After all, it's probably not the best idea
to vote for a complete stranger.
Please keep on the lookout for the "Independent Voice"
and look through it.
I'm running as an independent
at the urging of friends and acquaintances
who have voted for Republicans, Democrats,
Libertarians, Greens and everything else.
And they're now working on this campaign.
If you're also independent and tired of the two parties
who have been making and breaking promises
for as long as I can remember,
you now have a different choice.
Remember, we are the largest block of voters,
and we ought to make our voice heard.
Don't listen to that phony claim
that third candidates can't be elected
and they'll only spoil the election
for the Republicans or the Democrats.
I intend to spoil it for both of them.
Spread the word and let's see
if we can move our country in a better direction.
Thank you to Public Television
for this opportunity to talk to you,
and thank you for watching.
I hope we get a chance to meet before the election.
- Hi, I'm Mark Pocan
and I have the honor of serving
as our Representative to Congress
for the 2nd Congressional District in Wisconsin.
And I am asking for your support again this fall.
The 2nd Congressional District comprises all of Dane County,
Sauk County, Iowa County,
Lafayette County, Green County,
half of Rock County and a little corner of Richland County.
I've had the great pleasure of the last six years
of serving in Congress for our district.
The last two years have been especially interesting,
to say the least,
with President Trump and the Republicans in Congress.
We have had difficulty in moving a lot of legislation forward.
There was a tax cut that was passed last year
that 83% of the money will go to the top 1% in ten years.
Other than that,
it's been a lot of dysfunction in Washington
followed up by a lot of corruption
with this administration.
The three things I think that we are trying to run on
as Democrats looking at the 2016 election are:
One: making sure that people have access to health care
and that we're helping to keep prescription drug prices down.
There have been a lot of efforts by this Congress
to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and in doing so,
getting rid of the protections
for people with pre-existing conditions.
That would be a terrible idea.
The one thing I hear over and over
at every town hall I do, is people are really concerned
they're going to lose access
if they have a family member who has pre-existing condition.
I myself had a triple bypass a year ago.
I now have a pre-existing condition.
I think more than ever,
people who have that need access to health care.
That's one of the things
that were afforded by the Affordable Care Act.
We need to make sure are continued to be protected.
Whether it be the lawsuit
that the state of Wisconsin is involved in right now
that could lose those protections
or all the actions by Congress, we need to do everything we can
to make sure that people have access to health care.
I would argue for a single payer Medicare-for-all system.
I think makes the most sense.
In fact, the Reuters poll about a month ago
said 70% of people in the country
support Medicare-for-all, including 52% of Republicans.
I think that's a goal we have to try to get to.
Second,
we're running on trying to create more good-paying jobs
and investing in our infrastructure.
The national infrastructure has been given a D+ grade
by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Interesting fact: one out of every six bridges
is old enough to qualify for Medicare.
We need to invest in that and create those good-paying jobs
and continue to make sure that pay increases.
Finally we're trying to deal with the culture of corruption
that exists in Washington.
Whether it be the president's businesses
and the problems with the emoluments clause
to all the actions we've seen the Mueller probe
is trying to take care of about collusion and the interference
by the Russian government in our elections.
There's much that has to happen if the Democrats take charge.
In 2018, we will make sure
that we have hearings on many of those issues
to get to the bottom of it for the American people.
So the bottom line is a lot has to happen in Washington.
There's a lot of other issues that are important too,
from immigration to climate change and others.
I'm committed to getting those done.
I ask for your support.
I would love to have it again on November 6th.
I appreciate you listening
and I look forward to working with you,
hopefully, for another two years.
- Hi, I'm Tom Palzewicz.
I'm a Democrat
running in Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District.
Some of the things in my background
that I think make me qualified to be your Congressman would be:
my six years in the Navy
including four years on a nuclear submarine,
where I really learned servant leadership.
When I came back to Wisconsin, I got my accounting degree
and I went into banking for 15 years
really helping Wisconsin banks manage their risk
and really work with Wall Street
where I learned how the economy really works.
And then last but not least,
my brother and I have owned a business-coaching company
for the last 14 years,
where we've helped small business owners
on a regular basis create jobs.
We've been able to help them create over 2,000 jobs
in the southeast economy over the last five years.
And we're very proud of that.
So the things that really make me want to run
and the things I care about are really four main things.
And it starts with health care.
I think health care in this country
is a right not a privilege.
And I believe that one of the things
that we really need to do next
is get everybody covered 'cause once we have everybody covered,
we can actually start to lower health care costs.
I also think by getting everybody covered,
it will help unlock entrepreneurship
because it'll be easier to start businesses
and will also create more job-portability
where people will be able to move from one job to another.
Education is also a very important component
of our platform.
Education right now is unequal across
not only the state of Wisconsin but the country.
We have some school districts where people can do very well
and other school districts where it's very hard
to get an education for non-education reasons.
And I think we need to invest
a lot more in our infrastructure of education
in order to help not only this generation
but the next generation
have the ability to go out and find jobs
and reduce the income inequality gap
we have in this country.
Student loan debt is also on our educational platform
because I think it's out of control.
The way I like to describe it is
people are leaving the higher education system
with what I would call a house or a car payment
without a house or car.
Climate change is real.
It's happening.
My four years on a nuclear submarine
helped me understand that science is real.
Climate change is real.
We need to start doing something about it.
We need to start doing something about it now.
And then last but not least is infrastructure.
I think we need to be investing in infrastructure
in this country.
Not only roads, bridges
but also broadband across rural America
because broadband delivers education and jobs
to rural America.
And then last but not least is research and development.
I think we need to invest a lot more in research and development
into universities the way we used to.
A lot of the things we have in this country
we take for granted
but they really came out of that research and development arm.
And then people ask me why I'm a Democrat
because I live in Waukesha County.
My wife and I have raised three great kids in Brookfield.
And people ask me,
"Tom, you're a business owner.
"You're a Navy vet.
Why are you a Democrat?"
And it really boils down to two main reasons.
It's about fairness.
It's about equality.
Fairness and justice, economic fairness and then equality.
I believe that people are equal
and they should be treated as such.
So I'm Tom Palzewicz.
I'm a Democrat.
I'm running in 5th Congressional District.
And I would love to be your Congressman.
Thanks.
- I'm Glenn Grothman
and I'm running for my third term
in Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District.
I feel we've had a successful first three and a half years
on the job.
The first pledge I made when I ran for this job
is to return local control to our school districts.
And through the Students Succeeds Act,
which I was a part of drafting
as a member of the Education Committee
and on the Conference Committee,
we have succeeded in reducing federal paperwork
and federal burdens on local school districts.
The second thing we've accomplished is the tax cuts.
And as a former tax preparer, I was able to weigh in
and make sure we retain the medical deduction
as well as targeting the middle--
the tax cuts at the middle class.
It's important I be re-elected
because there are a lot of people out there
who want to raise taxes back to where they used to be.
First of all,
this is unfair to the hard-working people of Wisconsin
to keep more of their money with the government.
And secondly, it would cause
the stock market to immediately drop considerably.
The third thing I'm glad I accomplished
was human trafficking.
As we followed up on the bills that I passed
on the state legislature to make it more difficult
for this horrible practice to exist on a federal level.
And now those horrible prostitution ads
have dropped by over 60% due to the work that we've done.
Finally, I feel glad we've made first steps
in targeting more of our dollars towards skills-based education.
As we need more people in manufacturing
and the medical fields in particular.
In the past,
we've had too many people get college degrees
that don't lead to jobs
and instead just lead to higher student loans.
It's important that I come back
because originally I ran on welfare reform
and I'm disappointed we haven't done it yet
but I know Donald Trump has said
he wants to take up welfare reform.
The current system creates a situation
in which we discourage work and discourage marriage.
It's important we get people out of that system
so they can provide the best life they can
for their children.
The next thing we want to take up is immigration.
Right now we have a system in which out-of-control cities
and states are providing sanctuary cities
for people who come here illegally.
We are not going to get the best citizens
as long as a significant number of immigrants
came here illegally
rather than appropriately filling out the forms
so that we know we're getting the best.
The next thing we have to get rid of
is birthright citizenship.
Wiscon-- er, the United States
is one of the few countries in the world in which we have
people fly into this country eight and a half month pregnant
and their children become citizens
and wind up bringing the rest of the family with them.
Again, we should be picking who our citizens are.
Finally, our current immigration system
allows for special rights, frequently for immigrants,
that our citizens who were born here do not have.
The next thing we want to look at is opioid abuse.
We have put more money into opioid abuse and treatment.
However I think we can do more on the enforcement level
making sure that we have less opioids
come across the Mexican border and could do more
to make sure that doctors do not overprescribe opioids.
College debt is a big problem.
And we've made first steps in the Education Committee
towards dealing with it,
making sure that colleges and universities counsel students
and have an opportunity to prevent excessive debt
if they don't feel it's necessary.
Finally, I want to follow up one more time with making sure
people with different abilities can have whatever jobs they want
when they turn age 21.
The Wisconsin 6th Congressional District is a great district.
I think there's not another Congressman in the country
who gets around his district more than I do.
And I want to continue to represent those people
for another two years.
- Hello, I'm Dan Kohl
and I'm running for Congress
in Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District.
Like many of you,
I'm incredibly concerned about the direction of our country.
Every day,
it feels like there's another manufactured crisis
coming out of Washington.
This chaos is hurting us as Americans.
Not only does it diminish our standing in the world,
and in some cases threaten our national security,
it is also distracting attention away from the issues
that people here in Wisconsin really care about.
In Congress, I will focus on the issues you,
my constituents, are most concerned about.
That's why I'm not taking money from corporate PACs
during my campaign.
In Congress, I will only be beholden
to the people of the 6th Congressional District,
not corporations or not to special interests.
I'll fight to protect Social Security
and Medicare for Wisconsin's seniors.
Americans have paid into Social Security
and Medicare for years with the expectation
that these hard-earned benefits will be there for them
upon retirement.
We need to send a message to Congress that's loud and clear:
It's your money, not theirs.
In Congress,
I will make sure every American has access to health care
that's quality and affordable.
We are the wealthiest nation in the world
and there is no reason any American should have to choose
between paying for health care and putting food on the table.
I'll fight to preserve protections
for people with pre-existing conditions
and require that health insurance plans cover pregnancy,
mental health care, and addiction treatment.
We must also take concrete steps
to lower prescription drug prices.
That starts with allowing Medicare
to negotiate drug prices for the 60 million seniors
and people with disabilities that it covers.
I will also push Congress
to crack down on big pharma's predatory practices,
which jack up the cost of life-saving drugs
and keep lower-cost generic alternatives off the market.
There are clear steps we can take
to make life better for people in Wisconsin,
but to move forward, we need to elect officials
who will come together to find practical solutions
to the issues Americans face.
Here in Wisconsin, we understand that give and take is necessary,
and that compromise leads to better
and more sustainable outcomes.
In Congress, I will buck party leadership when necessary
and work with both sides of the aisle
to get things done for Wisconsin families.
My opponent in this race, Glenn Grothman,
has consistently chosen to support his party leaders
over his constituents.
In fact, he is ranked one of the most partisan
out of more than 400 members of Congress.
He voted to take health care away
from 44,000 of his constituents
and voted to strip coverage away from people
with pre-existing conditions.
He voted against funding
the Children's Health Insurance Program,
a critical source of care for more than 9 million children
and pregnant women.
He also voted for huge corporate tax cuts
that added nearly $2 trillion to the national debt
and put funding for Social Security and Medicare at risk.
That's not the Wisconsin way.
When I get to Congress,
I will fight for the people of Wisconsin,
not my party's leaders.
I will fight for term limits
and will serve no more than eight years in Congress.
I'll make sure Wisconsin's economy works
for working families, not multinational corporations.
And in Congress,
I will make sure every American has access
to quality and affordable health care.
*I would be honored to have your vote on November 6th.
Thank you.
- I'm Margaret Engebretson,
and a candidate for Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District seat.
I'm a retired veteran who served three years
on active duty in the U.S. Navy,
followed by 21 years in the Guard and Reserve.
I'm a former union railroad worker,
and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Superior
and the UW Law School.
I'm a small-town attorney
who's advocated for the best interests
of children and disabled adults.
I know the people of this district
and I understand their needs.
I've always taken seriously
my responsibility to be an informed citizen and voter,
but until two years ago
I was never involved in party politics.
The 2016 elections left me concerned
for the future of our country.
As the 2018 elections approached,
I felt a duty and obligation
to step forward as a candidate for Congress
to offer what skills and abilities I have
to help defend our democracy
and to make sure that the people have an advocate in Washington
who will fight for them every single day.
For the past eight years,
the people of northern and western Wisconsin
have had an absentee representative.
Sean Duffy has placed his loyalty to his party,
his big donors and to one man the president
above the people he is supposed to represent.
He put the health coverage of thousands of his constituents
at risk by voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act
with no replacement.
He voted for a tax bill
that blew a hole in the federal budget
in order to provide huge tax giveaways
to the wealthy and to private corporations.
And while Wisconsin farmers and manufacturers
were devastated by the Trump trade war,
Congressman Duffy proclaimed that the Trump tariffs
would be good for the economy.
We deserve better.
My whole life I've stuck up for people.
I'm hard-wired that way.
It's who I am.
I will bring that same attitude and that same commitment
to my work as a member of Congress.
I will fight for a Medicare-for-all
public health insurance program
that covers everyone from the day they're born
until the day they die
so that never again does anyone have to worry
about losing their health coverage.
I will fight for the investments in broadband,
in highways, and in rail
that our rural communities need to survive and thrive.
Northern and western Wisconsin can no longer be left behind.
I will fight for trade policies
that lift up Wisconsin workers and businesses
rather than undermining them.
I spoke with a manufacturer in the district
who's literally being put out of business
by the Trump trade policies
and who can't get any meaningful response
from the district's current Congressional representative.
This must change.
I will fight to defend our democracy
from all threats foreign and domestic.
I'll work to rid our system
of the corrupting influence of big money.
I haven't accepted a single penny of corporate PAC money,
and I never will.
I've called publicly for the Congress to take vigorous action
to protect our elections from foreign interference.
Unfortunately, the Congress has failed to act.
If you are a member of Congress
and you do not take the safety and security of our democracy
seriously, you have no business being in office.
The bottom line is this:
our elected officials take an oath
"to support and defend the Constitution"
and "to faithfully discharge the duties of their office."
I will fulfill that oath by being a fierce advocate
for the people of the district
and by acting as a check on the other branches of government.
It's time to set things right.
I ask for your vote on November 6th.
- Hi, I'm Mike Gallagher.
I'm running to represent Wisconsin's 8th District
in Congress.
It's already been two years
since I first sat here and asked for your vote.
It's hard to believe but back then
I spoke to you about the decline of leadership
and the decay of our institutions,
and about the need for fresh new faces and ideas
to push back against the political class
that, quite frankly, has lost touch with reality.
While trust in Congress remains at historic lows,
lows that are exacerbated by an endless cycle
of personal attacks and political gamesmanship,
I'm ending my first term in Congress
with a renewed hope for change.
As broken and frustrating as Congress can be,
I'm proud to be a part of a new generation of leaders
who are trying to set aside our political differences
and work together to get stuff done.
While I know there's a long way to go,
I believe we've started to lay the foundation
for continued progress for your family and all of Wisconsin.
I want to take a few minutes to talk to you about
some things you probably haven't heard a lot about
in the campaign season
that's focusing on all the negative stuff.
The first area of progress is health care price transparency.
The rising cost of health care
is one of the biggest issues I hear about
from families across northeast Wisconsin.
We've got to do something about it.
Working families simply can't pay more
for their health insurance than they do for their housing.
That's why in my first term,
I introduced a bipartisan price transparency bill
that would require health care providers
to tell you exactly how much their procedures,
products, and services cost.
Republicans and Democrats need to come together
and address our health care crisis.
Clear and easy to understand pricing
will help drive down costs, increase competition,
and improve outcomes for patients.
The second area is on clean water.
I believe we have a moral obligation
to pass on clean water for future generations.
This is why I've stood up to proposals
to cut funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
and voted to fully fund it.
This program is vital to the health of our environment.
I've had an opportunity to see its benefits firsthand,
from the Cat Island Restoration Project,
to the phosphorus reduction in the lower Fox River.
I'm particularly proud of the work I've done
with my "Save the Bay" initiative
which brings together people to work on reducing pollution
and sustaining a healthy Lake Michigan.
The third area is congressional reform.
Let's face it, years of gridlock,
party-line dysfunction, and political gamesmanship
have essentially broken Washington
and deeply divided our nation.
It risks pushing us even farther apart
if we don't make a good faith effort to bridge the divide.
The simple truth is Congress isn't working like it should--
like I believe it should;
it's not working in a way that you deserve.
I've spent the past two years doing my part to change that.
I'm committed to continued bipartisan cooperation
in reforming Congress
and restoring the American people's faith in government.
Issues like term limits, lobbying restrictions,
and campaign finance reform; they aren't as cut and dry,
left versus right
as most things have become these days and that's good.
Because the reality is
except for the five most powerful people in Congress,
nobody else is satisfied with how Congress operates today,
and that provides a tremendous opportunity
for ordinary rank and file members,
for citizen legislators like me
to work together and try and get Congress working again.
In my first term,
I've introduced a package of legislation
to end Congressional pensions, implement term limits,
force Congress to pass a budget on time,
and prevent Congress from going into recess
until our work is finished.
These policies haven't made me many friends in D.C.,
but that's ok.
I didn't go to D.C. to make friends.
I came to D.C. to do the job I was elected to do.
That is to work hard every single day to solve problems
and represent the 718,000 people of northeast Wisconsin.
I'm honored to do just that.
That's why I'm asking for your vote again.
- My name is Beau Liegeois,
and I am running to be your next congressman
in northeast Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District.
My values are northeast Wisconsin values.
The people of northeast Wisconsin taught me my values
over the course of a lifetime.
Values of hard work,
responsibility to our community
and the kind of selflessness that we see every day
here in this district.
I grew up in Allouez
on the east side of the Fox River.
When I was 12,
my family moved to the west side of Green Bay,
where they still reside today.
I am an assistant district attorney in Brown County,
a former captain in the Wisconsin Army National Guard,
but most importantly, I am a father.
While holding my infant daughter in my arms
during the 2016 election,
and watching the political rhetoric
surrounding Democrats and Republicans,
I knew this country needed new leadership.
I want to be your congressman
because if there's one thing I've learned
as a career prosecutor and military service member:
if you see problems holding our community back,
and you have the ability to solve it,
to make things better,
it is your duty and responsibility
to stand up and serve.
We have problems in this country.
Problems of a health care system
that may not be accessible to everyone.
Problems with the quality of our natural resources
that are affecting every community
in northeast Wisconsin.
From the drinking water in the Door County peninsula
to the Back 40 sulfide mine proposal in Marinette County.
Problems with funding our public education system.
A need for higher paying jobs
that will lead us into the 21st century.
And more importantly,
problems in the values displayed in Washington.
We need new leadership in Washington
that will represent our Wisconsin values.
That is why I pledged to not take any corporate PAC money
throughout my campaign or as your congressman.
My vote in Congress will never be shackled
by big money, corporate special interests.
I will fight for you and your family
because I care about our values.
I will fight for hard-working middle-class families,
because I am raising a middle-class family of my own.
I want to make sure the educational opportunities,
jobs and Wisconsin values that we all grew up with,
will still be there for your children
and my daughter, Evelyn Rey.
And I will fight for you
because you deserve politicians
who reflect the values you care about
and who listen to your concerns for the future of our nation.
That is why I pledged to hold four town halls per year
across our district after I am elected.
I was inspired to run for this seat
because our congressman voted to take away
health care from millions and millions of people,
and take away protections
for people with pre-existing medical conditions,
like my father who has Parkinson's disease.
My opponent joined with Washington's leadership
to give a massive, corporate tax cuts for billionaires
over our health care system.
Our values are day and night when it comes to health care.
In contrast,
I will fight to increase access to affordable health care
and protect people with pre-existing medical conditions.
So that people like my father
can continue to be absolutely protected
without discrimination.
Protecting people with pre-existing medical conditions
should be non-negotiable for the people of northeast Wisconsin.
Today, we can move our country forward,
past the partisanship to make sure
everybody has access to affordable health care,
and that our children can swim, fish,
and drink the pristine waters of our district.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I hope to have your vote on November 6th,
and I look forward to serving you
in the United States House of Representatives.
- In addition to the candidate statements you've just seen,
again this year, Wisconsin Public Television
will provide a forum for political news and analysis
on our Friday night news and public affairs program,
"Here & Now."
If you would like more information
about any of the candidates running for office in Wisconsin,
visit our election website: WisconsinVote dot o-r-g.
And remember to vote on Tuesday, November 6th.
Thank you for watching Wisconsin Public Television.
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- For more 2018 election coverage,
go to wisconsinvote.org.