Senator Agard Retires, who will lead?

Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison, announced that she will leave the legislature in order to run to replace retiring Dane County Executive Joe Parisi in 2024.

History

• Elected to Dane County Board of Supervisors, 2010–14; Assembly 2012-18.
• Elected to Senate 2020. Leadership positions: Minority Leader 2023, 2021 (effective 11/16/22); Minority Caucus Vice Chair 2021.

Senator Agard was one of the first lead elected officials to really push hard for full legalization of cannabis and will be well remembered. Her tireless work advocating for the legislation she wrote and political capital spent on advancing marijuana reform measures sets a high bar for the next Senator.

Ten out of eleven sitting Democratic Senators co-sponsored Agard’s bill in the 2023-24 session.

Who wants the job?

So far Assembly Representatives Jimmy Anderson, Samba Baldeh and Melissa Ratcliff have announced intent to run for Senate District 16. Those are the three assembly representatives that live in this new Senate 16 District. That means we are likely to see totally new faces in the three assembly districts inside SD16. All three of these candidates have co-sponsored Agard’s bill in the assembly during past legislative sessions.

Melissa Ratcliff won the primary election on August 13th with 52% of the vote and faces no Republican challenger in November taking this senate seat.

Ratcliff was elected to three terms to the Cottage Grove Village Board (2018-2022) and three terms to the Dane County Board (2018-2024). She was elected in a competitive five-way primary to the State Assembly in 2022.

The 2024 Wisconsin State Election is important for marijuana reform and I will continue to bring you election coverage as more candidates make their political moves. We know some people are not on the move and that is the Senators that are not even up for election in 2024 and I have covered them in some detail also.

No Republican has co-sponsored Agard’s legislation or any marijuana legalization bills, ever! All eyes are still on these Republicans in 2024, with an emphasis on Rep. Clint Moses to do something.

There are a few very competitive Senate Races in November that are extremely important for the Democrats to win for cannabis reform to have a chance next session. We all want to know there stance on cannabis reform and I am very please to report that all of these next Democratic candidates support legalizing marijuana. Now to share with you what I know about them and there competition I have authored an article on each of these very competitive Senate races.

I will say this, as a candidate, Kristin Alfheim has been super vocal and always supportive of ending prohibition and legalizing marijuana. Not that the other Democrat candidates have not been there, they have and I feel they will continue to be, but Alfheim stands out to me as really caring about this issue and is one of the most likely Democrats to flip that seat from prohibition red to marijuana green. You can meet Kristin Alfheim at the Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Pizza, Pot and Politics Event in Appleton on October 5th.

Here are the links to the top five (5) most competitive Senate Races in Wisconsin.

Senate District 18: Kristin Alfheim (D-Appleton) VS Anthony Phillips (R-Appleton)

Senate District 32: Incumbent Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) vs Stacey Klein (R-Trempealeau)

Senate District 14: Incumbent Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan) vs Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi)

Senate District 30: Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay) vs Jim Rafter (R-Green Bay)

Senate District 8: Incumbent Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) vs Jodi Habush Sinykin (D-Milwaukee)

We should have no problem finding a lead sponsor on the Democrat side of the isle. Which Democrat has enough political capital to finally make progress in Wisconsin under the Republican controlled Senate? What changes, if any, need to be made in the legislation to draw in a Republican co-sponsor? Are there areas of expertise that any of these candidates bring to the table? What committee assignments to these people get? Which elected official will have leadership roles within their caucus? Should we have a separate lead Democrat on the decriminalization, medical and recreational cannabis bills? Will any Republican candidate actually pledge to write an adult use legalization bill if elected? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I think it is way too early to label anyone the leader, especially when it will take a team of people to get any reform measures passed.