AD 49 Tranel (R) silent, so is challenger
Grant and Crawford County in the SW portion of Wisconsin is silent, candidate wise. Although very likely a Republican win, this race is at least on the watch screen of 29 competitive assembly races in Wisconsin. So where are the Assembly District 49 Cannabis Activists? We need you!
Incumbent Travis Tranel (R-Cuba City)
Representative Travis Tranel (R-Cuba City) was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2010 with 57 percent of the vote defeating a two-term incumbent Democrat.
In May of 2023 Senator Agard (D) visited Platteville on her Grass Routes Tour to promote marijuana legalization. Platteville is represented by State Senator Howard Marklein and Representative Travis Tranel, who were invited to the event but did not come.
During the 2023-24 legislative session Tranel was the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture.
Since elected in 2010, Tranel has never co-sponsored or publicly supported any efforts to reform the marijuana laws and been silent on the issue in the main stream media. His campaign facebook page is active and it appears he will run again.
I reached out to him and asked about his silence on the issue and he replied “Honestly, it’s not an area that I have a lot of expertise in so it’s just not something that I’m interested in. The legislature is an interesting place. We all have areas of interest in areas where we know a lot about. The content and marijuana is just something I don’t know anything about.” We chatted some more and agreed to follow up with each other on the issue. I did find his response interesting.
So far it does not look like a Republican challenger will emerge from this district, so it will be up to the Democrat to make sure cannabis reform is represented during the up coming election.
Stay tuned and get active!
I will provide you additional 2024 Wisconsin State Election coverage throughout the campaign season. This next election is extremely important for marijuana reform and I will continue to bring you information as more candidates make their political moves.
In the event that we end up with divided government in the 2024-25 legislation session, the official formation of The Wisconsin Cannabis Caucus would be a must first step towards reform. The official establishment of this Caucus will represent the growing, bipartisan support in Wisconsin.
Although session as ended we still urge you to contact your elected officials. The top four action alerts are still functionable on The Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Action Network for you immediate use.
