It’s that time of year again when United States citizens get inundated with ads about the upcoming midterm election vote for U.S. Senate and U.S. Legislature seats. But besides the national election comes local and statewide elections as well. If you are unsure of who to vote for, read on about the candidates and what they stand for.

Governor

Current Governor of Wisconsin Tony Evers is the incumbent Democratic candidate for governor. Along with Sara Rodriguez, candidate for the lieutenant governor, they support education, the support of small businesses and farmers, and voting rights. As someone who was an educator all his life, Evers wants to increase state aid, invest in mental health and special aid programs, and improve financial literacy for all schools around Wisconsin. He has also helped over 6,200 small businesses and over 20,000 farmers with bills and equipment. For more information about Tony Evers and his campaign, visit his website here.

“Politics shouldn’t be divisive,” said Evers on his website. “We need to all work together to do what’s right for Wisconsin.”

Tim Michels is the Republican candidate for governor. Along with Roger Roth, candidate for lieutenant governor, they support police funding, economic growth in businesses, and education in the hands of parents. He believes that Wisconsin should not be defunding the police, but funding it more, especially in the more dangerous parts of the state. For economic growth, he wants to give every business the chance to succeed and grow. With education, Michels wants to transfer the power from the schools to the parents to decide what to do. For more information about Tim Michels and his campaign, visit his website here.

Joan Ellis Beglinger is an independent candidate for governor. She supports election integrity, effective schooling, and economic prosperity. For election integrity, she wants to ban mail-in voting and drop boxes, push for in-person voting with results that night, and ban outside money in elections. For effective schooling, she promotes self-sufficiency, the rejection of the “climate crisis” agenda, and to minimize the weight of taxes and regulations. For more information about Joan Ellis Beglinger, visit her website here.

“Our freedom is under assault and if we do not push back hard, we will not be living in a free Country,” said Beglinger on her website. “Both parties have corrupted themselves with money and power, leaving me no alternative but to make the steep uphill climb as an independent.”

Attorney General

Josh Kaul is the Democratic candidate for attorney general. He supports public safety, protection of our natural resources, and making our schools safer. For our schools, Kaul implemented the “Speak Up, Speak Out” program, which is a statewide tip line for school safety threats. For natural resources, Kaul has fought to stop air pollution and other ways to pollute our state. Finally, Kaul introduced “Safer Wisconsin,” which was a plan to invest over one hundred million dollars into public safety.  For more information about Josh Kaul, visit his website here.

Eric Toney is the Republican candidate for attorney general. Toney’s main support lies within the Department of Justice, mostly law enforcement. He supports improving the criminal justice system, improvement of the Wisconsin election laws, and Qualified Immunity for law enforcement. Toney wants to prosecute more election fraud and also wants to improve the Wisconsin courts and prosecutors. For more information about Eric Toney, visit his website here.

“As a front-line prosecutor, it’s critical we have an attorney general who’ll support law enforcement and has firsthand experience fighting crime,” said Toney on his website. “As the next Attorney General, my primary focus will be on the safety and security of families all across Wisconsin.”

Secretary of State

Doug La Follette is the Democratic candidate for secretary of state. He supports worker rights, women rights, and health care. For worker rights, he believes that all workers should have the right to strike a deal for fair pay, safe working conditions, and retirement benefits. For women’s rights, he believes that they should have full autonomy of their bodies. And for healthcare, he believes that it is a right and that he will work to full fund Badgercare. For more information about Doug La Follette, visit his website here.

“There is an effort by the Trump Republicans to elect their candidates to the office of secretary of state so they might in the future be able to manipulate the election results,” said La Follette on his website. “The same is true here in our state of Wisconsin where my opponent wants to move election responsibilities to the secretary of state so she can possibly tamper with the results.”

Amy Loudenbeck is the Republican candidate for secretary of state. Some issues she stands for is to maximize the Trust Fund assets, election integrity, and restoring the original duties of the Secretary of State. For the election integrity, she wants to create a new model of overseeing and administering elections. She also wants to work with the Legislative and Executive branches with giving the secretary of state the powers restoring election functions, filing of deeds, and state records back. For more information about Amy Loudenbeck, visit her website here.

“Wisconsin wants and deserves a secretary of state who actually earns their paycheck by performing duties in a timely, transparent, and professional manner,” said Loudenbeck on her website. “As your next Secretary of State I will work to restore purpose and respect to this office and make it work again for the people.”

Neil Harmon is the Libertarian candidate for secretary of state. For more information about Neil Harmon, visit his Facebook page here.

Sharyl R. McFarland is the Wisconsin Green Party candidate for secretary of state. For more information about Sharyl R. McFarland, visit her website here.

State Treasurer

Aaron Richardson is the Democratic candidate for state treasurer. He supports home ownership, the environment, and an unclaimed property program. For this program, Richardson wants to give people the option to donate any unclaimed property to a charity of their choice. Richardson also wants to continue Treasurer Sarah Godlewski’s work in helping people get opportunities to own a home. And finally, he wants to make sure that the companies we are investing in are responsible and protecting the environment. For more information about Aaron Richardson, visit his website here.

John S. Leiber is the Republican candidate for state treasurer. His number one priority is to focus on the job of the state treasurer. For more information about John S. Leiber, visit his website here.

“I will focus on the job duties of the state treasurer,” said Leiber on his website. “The voters chose to keep this office and it should be administered by someone dedicated to the office and to public service.”

Andrew Zuelke is the Constitutional candidate for state treasurer. For more information about Andrew Zuelke, visit his website here.

U.S. State Senator

Mandela Barnes is the Democratic candidate for U.S. state senator. He supports the lowering of taxes, public safety, and LGHTQIA+ rights. For rights, he wants to fight to pass the Equality Act and make sure that they have equal rights. For the lowering of taxes, he wants to make sure that middle-class citizens are paying for their fair share, but also making the wealthy class pay their fair share. And finally, he wants to try and stop crime, by giving law enforcement the resources they need to fight crime before it happens. For more information about Mandela Barnes, visit his website here.

Ron Johnson is the Republican candidate for U.S. state senator. He supports education, blue lives, and our national defense. For education, he believes that all children deserve a good education without being in a failing school. For his support on blue lives, he believes we should put more support behind the protection of our police officers. And for our national defense, he wants to return it to how our Founding Fathers made it. For more information about Ron Johnson, visit his website here.

“In order to counter their lies, distortions, and smears, I will be providing detailed facts to cut through the political rhetoric and arm people with real information,” said Johnson on his website.

Representative to Congress for District 1

Ann Roe is the Democratic candidate for District 1 congress representative. She supports gun safety, reproductive rights and healthcare for women, and creating economic policies for small businesses. For gun safety, she supports comprehensive background checks, red flag laws for people who should not own a firearm, and a ban on assault rifles. For rights for women, she believes that their decisions should stay between the patient and the doctor with no interference from politics. Finally, she wants to fight for affordable health care options for small businesses. For more information about Ann Roe, visit her website here.

“I believe in the people of Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District,” said Ann Roe on her website. “I want this district to be a destination for small businesses, families, and new talent.” 

Bryan Steil is the Republican candidate for District 1 congress representative. He supports lower prices, workforce development, and securing our border. He fights against wasteful spending and is working to lower gas and grocery prices. He wants to return control and decision making of college prices to the state and local level. Finally, he wants to secure out border to stop illicit drugs from entering. For more information about Bryan Steil, visit his website here.

Charles E. Barman is the Going Away Party candidate for District 1 congress representative. He supports our farmers, our first responders, and our children. For more information about Charles E. Barman, visit his website here.

Representative to Congress for District 5

Mike Van Someren is the Democratic candidate for District 5 congress representative. He supports infrastructure build, Biden’s economic policies, and. For the economic policies, he wants to see more opportunities going to middle class families and for working class people to get ahead. The infrastructure building includes high-speed internet in rural areas, the replacement of waterpipes, and improvements to airports, roads, bridges, and railways. For more information about Mike Van Someren, visit his website here.

“I grew up from a working-class family. I understand where working people are coming from and understand the concerns we are having,” said Van Someren. “I want solutions. I am somebody who is solutions based. I do not care where ideas come from, but the substance of the idea.”

Scott Fitzgerald is the Republican Democratic candidate for District 5 congress representative. He supports affordable healthcare, law enforcement, and the Second Amendment. For more information about Scott Fitzgerald, visit his website here.

Representative to State Assembly for District 31

Brienne Brown is the Democratic candidate for Walworth County’s representative to the State Assembly. She supports gun safety, voting rights, and education. She believes that schools are severely underfunded, so they can’t afford to pay teachers a good salary or upgrade their school. For gun safety, she wants to enforce background checks on all gun sales and include a law that will allow a family or law enforcement to petition for the removal of guns from someone who presents a risk. And for voting rights, she believes that everyone who is eligible to vote should be able to vote. For more information about Brienne Brown, visit her website here.

“In some ways, you have to focus on each area and help each area out,” said Brown. “The thing is understanding the different areas and talking to them. That’s what a representative is. You go to the different community organizations to figure out what is going on.”

Ellen Schutt is the Republican candidate for Walworth County’s representative to the State Assembly. She supports small businesses, our veterans and our communities. For our veterans, she wants to make sure that our veterans are getting the care and services that they should be receiving. For our communities, she wants to make it harder for violent criminals to be released. For more information about Ellen Schutt, visit her website here.

“We need to have a strong voice representing us in Madison. My biggest priority is listening to what the people need and helping with state related issues,” said Schutt on her website.

Representative to State Assembly for District 33

Don Vruwink is the Democratic candidate for Jefferson County’s representative to the State Assembly. He supports fair maps, education, and affordable healthcare. For fair maps, he believes that we should stop Gerrymandering, which is the manipulation of boundaries to support one party over the other. For education, he wants to increase government funding and financial aid. For affordable healthcare, he wants to make sure that everyone has healthcare close to them and that the clinics have Medicaid funds.  For more information about Don Vruwink, visit his website here.

“My purpose is to represent as a representative. To bring civility back into politics,” said Don Vruwink. “What I think we have seen in the last six years has been a lot of civility. I want to have the people of my district have a great deal of respect with what I do.”

Scott Johnson is the Republican candidate for Jefferson County’s representative to the State Assembly. He supports transparent education, fixing our economy, and keeping communities safe. For education, he believes that parents should have a strong voice for the children. For our economy, he wants to stop inflation and the tax burden on businesses. And for our community, he wants to strengthen the laws to hold criminals accountable. For more information about Scott Johnson, visit his website here.

State Legislature for District 11

Steven Doelder is the Democratic candidate for the State Legislature for District 11. He supports civility in politics, healthcare, and funding of local communities. For civility in politics, he believes that not a lot of things are getting done and he wants everyone to work together. For healthcare, he wants to make sure everyone has healthcare and to extend Medicaid and to reduce the costs of healthcare. For getting funding to local communities, he wants to extend funding to schools and local infrastructures.  For more information about Steven Doelder, visit his website here.

“I want to make things work and get things done for everybody,” said Doelder. 

Steve Nass is the Republican candidate for State Legislature for District 11. He supports education, tax cuts, and economic development. For education, he believes that parents should make the key decisions for schools. For taxes, he wants to cut tax rates that benefit middle class family and he opposes the efforts to increase the Wisconsin gas tax. Finally, for economic development, he want sot promote home grown business developments and ways to bring new employers to Wisconsin. For more information about Steve Nass, visit his website here.

“The Wisconsin economy is stronger when families get to keep more of their hard-earned money,” said Nass on his website. “Limited government intrusion in our lives and a fiscally prudent investment of public funds in education, healthcare and economic development can provide the opportunity for prosperity.”

Sheriff for Jefferson County

Paul Milbrath is the candidate for sheriff of Jefferson County. 

Sheriff for Walworth County

Dave Gerber is the candidate for sheriff of Walworth County. “I humbly announce I am the only name on the ballot for sheriff in this year’s election. I won the primary election on August 9, 2022 and although I am the only name on the ballot next week Tuesday November 8, 2022, you still need to circle the oval next to my name,” said Gerber.

He supports all first responders for their hard work and dedication to the citizens. He will enhance interoperability among all first responders in Walworth County in terms of communication and records management.

 For more information about Dave Gerber, visit his website here.

Clerk of Circuit Court for Jefferson County

Cindy Hamre Incha is the Republican candidate for the clerk of Circuit Court for Jefferson County. 

Clerk of Circuit for Walworth County

Kristina Secord is the Republican candidate for the clerk of Circuit Court for Walworth County. 

Referendums

The first referendum is about increasing funding to staff of the City of Whitewater Municipal Government Fire and Emergency Services Department. They want to increase the tax levy so that the city has a paid fire department and EMS crew so that it is not all volunteers.

For the second referendum, the vote is about increasing funding for the Whitewater Unified School District. They want to exceed the current revenue limit by $4 million dollars per year to maintain class sizes, maintain student support for mental health services, and maintain comprehensive and co-curricular programs. 

To register to vote or find voting locations visit the My Vote Wisconsin website here, and UW-W students can visit the Warhawks Vote website here.