Three candidates make their case to represent student-heavy 77th Assembly District seat

A Dane County supervisor, a public health expert and a pharmacist are making the case they can best represent some of the state’s youngest voters in an Assembly district anchored by UW-Madison.

While most students will not be on campus during the Aug. 13 primary, Wisconsin’s 77th Assembly District, now encompassing the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, Shorewood Hills and Madison neighborhoods around Lake Wingra, is a Democratic stronghold without a Republican challenger on the November ballot.

MGR Govindarajan — who is not an Assembly candidate, but represents the area on the Madison City Council — told Wisconsin Watch this is the first time a district has been drawn to include the entire UW-Madison campus and off-campus where most students live. It is a population of strong young voters, but also includes pockets of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

Govindarajan said voters should consider a candidate who complements student needs, including affordable housing, and who can work across the aisle with Republicans.

“I think whoever holds the seat in the Assembly 77 will be a very important voice for that, which is why I think you need to have that initiative to go out and create policy yourself and not just vote with a party,” he said.

Chuck Erickson, who has served as a Dane County Board supervisor since 2002, is dedicated to women’s reproductive rights, education and the climate. He told Wisconsin Watch, as the only openly gay candidate, the Assembly lacks LGBTQ+ representation. 

“I’ve seen a lot of progress in my lifetime. However, there’s also a backlash now, or a lot of those rights are under threat,” he said. 

Erickson said if elected, he would work to ban conversion therapy statewide, update gender and sexual orientation discrimination laws, update and change gender identity documents, codify protections for gender-affirming care and repeal the 2006 marriage amendment. 

He initially ran for the county board to preserve farmland, lakes and groundwater and prevent PFAS contamination, but is also committed to funding K-12 education and the UW System. Erickson has been endorsed by over 20 individuals, including former Dane County Executive Katheleen Falk, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett and Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. 

Renuka Mayadev, the program adviser for maternal and child health at UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health in the Wisconsin Partnership Program, told Wisconsin Watch education is a significant concern impacting the district due to funding cuts. 

She is also campaigning on issues such as gun violence, reproductive health care and climate change. Govindarajan, the Madison alderman, has endorsed her.

“(Students are) worried about their health,” she said. “They’re worried about their access to birth control. They’re worried about their access that they want to become mothers to IVF or any of the other maternal child health needs that they may have. They’re worried, and that’s why I’m standing up.”

Thaddeus Schumacher,  a pharmacist and decade-long owner of Fitchburg Family Pharmacy, touts himself as the only candidate solely focused on accessible health care. He has been endorsed by Fitchburg Mayor Julia Arata-Fratta, Boys & Girls Club of Dane County CEO Michael Johnson and Wendy Molaska, a member of Gov. Tony Evers’ Taskforce on Healthcare Workforce Development. 

“My goal was to take care of the patients that no one else was taking care of, since the very beginning with free delivery,” he said. “That allowed people that didn’t have access to transportation or access to family members to go and pick up medication for them to get their medication directly delivered to them by one of our staff.”

Additionally, Schumacher worked with schools to do COVID-19 testing and offer emergency contraception. He wants to protect bodily autonomy for women and trans people and lower the cost of health care overall.

“I think it’s going to be really important to have someone who works with both patients and providers, to be there to explain to other Assembly people just exactly how the system works and how decisions they make may impact both the providers and patients.”

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.