Education funding, abortion rights top of mind for Assembly candidate Johnson

Public education is among a list of priorities for Tara Johnson, the Democratic candidate in the 96th State Assembly District.

“There are so many school districts in the 96th Assembly district that are really struggling with the compounding of the state not fulfilling its funding to public schools over the last many years, cuts in special education funding that the state has also done, and the impact of vouchers,” Johnson said.

Voters in Southwestern Wisconsin will elect a 96th State Assembly representative on Nov. 5. It’s a seat currently held by Republican Loren Oldenburg. But this is the first election held since district lines were redrawn and approved by the State Legislature and Governor Tony Evers.

Johnson spoke with WPR’s Ezra Wall on “Morning Edition.” WPR also spoke with Oldenburg.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

EW: What are your top legislative priorities for the district?

TJ: Among the top priorities is working to make sure that public education funding is enhanced.

Another priority is codifying reproductive freedoms and eliminating the 1849 law that is currently in place. The incumbent in the 96th actually authored legislation to keep that in place, he actually authored a move to a 14-week ban instead of just a 20-week ban.

Thankfully, that didn’t go into effect, but reproductive freedom is another top priority. And so is working to restore collective bargaining rights for workers in the state. Those are among the top, I would say.

EW: The lines of this district have been significantly redrawn since the last election. The 96th still includes Vernon County but no longer includes Crawford County. Instead, the district now reaches into La Crosse County. What challenges do those changes present to whoever represents the district?

TJ: Actually, it really presents some wonderful opportunities. The district is, as you kind of referenced, it’s all of Vernon County and then the southwest corner of La Crosse County. So it includes the Town of Greenfield, the Town of Shelby, and then basically Jackson Street and south in the city of La Crosse.

It no longer includes Crawford County, no longer the very red gerrymandered portion of Monroe County that had been part of the old 96th. The new maps, I think, offer a lot of opportunities.

I think no matter where I’m knocking on doors, I’m hearing a lot of the same issues, including those that I mentioned earlier. They maybe get talked about in slightly different ways, so economic issues in rural parts of Vernon County may come across a little bit differently or transportation issues in the rural parts of the district come across differently or are challenging in a slightly different way. But there’s still transportation issues, regardless of where in the 96 that you are.

So for me, the challenge really is an opportunity to make sure that the values of the folks who live in the 96th are represented in the State Assembly.

EW: A recent report indicates that Wisconsin could benefit significantly from expanding Medicaid coverage for the working poor. Would you be in favor of that?

TJ: Yeah, this is again a great contrast between me and the incumbent. The incumbent has voted all three terms that he’s been in Madison to deny taking of those funds. I believe he has really turned his back on not only residents of the 96th, but the whole state.

I am an advocate of the expansion of BadgerCare. We know these numbers pretty well; they get talked about pretty often. Nearly 90,000 Wisconsinites could have access to healthcare coverage that don’t currently have it. I think equally as important is the money that’s being left on the table and actually going to other states — $1.6 billion that is not coming into Wisconsin for healthcare coverage.

EW: How do you plan to balance economic development with environmental preservation, particularly regarding water quality and land use?

TJ: I guess the best example for me would be to talk about farming and agriculture as a business in this context. Of the balance between economic development and environmental concerns, family farms and family farmers, especially in Vernon County, are very tuned in to their dependence and interdependence with the Earth, the air, and the water. I think they are amazing stewards of that in large measure.

The challenge is that we as a state are seeing an increasing number of corporate farms, big farms that are taking over small family farms, and those corporate farms have different, if any, regulations on how they treat the land, the air and the water. And so the economic development versus environment, in an agricultural rubric, is a really clear distinction.

My position is to support family farmers. I’m very proud to have a lot of support from small family farmers who protect and honor and respect the environment and, you know, the incumbent has voted many times to make sure that corporate farming has the support of the state legislature and it gets framed as economic development. But it does not strike a balance — a healthy balance — with environmental concerns at all.

Tara Johnson faces Loren Oldenburg in the election on Nov. 5. The winner will represent the 96th district in the State Assembly. For all of WPR’s election coverage, including presidential, congressional and legislative races, visit WPR.org/Election2024.