MONROE — With mere weeks to go before the election, Democrat candidates gathered on a wind-swept autumn day to promote their positions and encourage supporters to get out and vote.
The occasion last Saturday, Oct. 12, was a bonfire and meet-and-greet event held at the Wegmueller farm outside Monroe that drew over 50 people to snack and chat with several Democrats running this fall, including Jenna Jacobson, Mark Pocan, and Jill Underly.
Jacobson is running for the new 50th District Representative. A Dane County Democrat, she previously represented the 43rd Assembly District representative and served on the Oregon Village Board. She said her grass-roots background in local government should help her get over the finish line come election day.
“I’ve very happy supporting local government,” she said. “We need to make sure than we are projecting everyone’s life,” and rights.
Pocan, meanwhile, is up for re-election this November and faces Madison-area lawyer Erik Olsen. Pocan defeated Olsen in 2022. He has served in his role since 2016, and is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Nothing less than Wisconsin’s future is at stake, he said, and that court victories in the gerrymandering fight provide Democrats with new hope. In a 4-3 decision last December, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court struck down the state legislative maps, ruling that the many non-contiguous districts in the plan violated a state constitutional requirement for boundaries to be contiguous. As a result, it asked the legislature, governor, and various other stakeholders to submit proposals for a new map — even as the court warned it would draw its own if lawmakers and the governor could not agree on a plan.
Eventually, the Republican-led legislature passed new maps that were drawn by Evers.
“The Assembly’s in play and we can get a majority thanks to fair maps,” said Pocan. “Jenna (Jacobson) was one of the strongest voices on fair maps,” and on making them permanent.
Underly, a Hollandale resident who worked in leadership roles in the Pecatonica School District, is now serving as the state’s superintendent for public instruction. She has held that post since 2021.
She said she is optimistic that state Democrats will come out on top this coming election day, which would be a win for education funding in the state.
“Our local communities are pitted against each other, struggling to fund our schools,” Underly said. “I’m optimistic but we can’t let our foot off the gas.”
All three candidates and host Dan Wegmueller stressed the importance of voting in the Nov. 5 general election. Specifically, they were asking for volunteers to sign up to canvass and remind Democrats to get out and vote.
With time waning before the vote, both major parties are looking to their voter turnout operations to help ensure victory for their side. And Pocan said new polling shows just how divided the “purple state” of Wisconsin remains at this time.
“There is a lot of great energy, we just need get the word out,” Pocan said.
Guests at the Wegmueller event also toured the farm, which is a small, fourth generation farm that has reinvented itself by selling off most of its dairy herd and offering farmstays, interactive tours, equine experiences, and agriculture outreach to the public.
Wegmueller said the experiment is working well for the family.
“We have plenty of bookings, we don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “So far it’s working pretty well.”
