MONROE - Representative Steve Hilgenberg, D-Dodgeville is running for re-election for the 51st Assembly District.
State Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, intends to run for re-election in the 80th Assembly District, but is not expected to make a public announcement until sometime in May or June.
Hilgenberg will face Shullsburg native Nathan Russell, Sauk City, in the fall election.
Hilgenberg is looking forward to talking with people on the campaign trial, and welcomes the competition from Russell.
"I want to listen and hear what people say. I believe we have a bottom-up system," Hilgenberg said. "Answers should come from the bottom up, and not from the top down.
"One big thing, if we can make this seat competitive each year, we'd have someone in there who respects and is responsive to the voters," he said.
Hilgenberg said his first term was a learning experience with a steep curve. He believes now he has a better chance to get some bills passed.
"I learned a lot, and I think that will help me next term to get things on the table and solve some problems," he said.
Some of the problems Hilgenberg wants to tackle in another term include health care, public funding of Supreme Court races, and school funding.
"Health care needs to be visited again, and school funding needs to be addressed," Hilgenberg said. "With 47 (school) referendums in the last election, that tells you something. It's not solved."
Also on Hilgenberg's to-do list is to resurrect the bills on autism and on hearing aids that didn't get passed last year.
"We disappointed a lot of people who thought we had promised them that bill," he said about the autism bill. "And the hearing aid, cochlear implants, was pulled at the last minute."
He was also not happy about the Republicans refusing to bring to the floor the issue of banning fundraising during the budget process.
Hilgenberg said he had high expectations for what he could accomplish in his first term, and "was disappointed that not much got accomplished in the Assembly and in state government in general."
He said he was happy to see the ethics bill get passed.
"I think that was a reaction to the last campaign," he said. "I was happy to see people were paying attention to the voters in that case. But then things slowed down."
Now that Hilgenberg has learned the ropes and understands the system and how to get things done, he said he feels the bills he wants to introduce have a better chance.
Hilgenberg said he didn't see himself as a partisan politician, and he knows that isn't what the voters like to see either.
"People don't want bickering at the Capital," he said. "They want people willing to work together ... not give up on it."
State Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, intends to run for re-election in the 80th Assembly District, but is not expected to make a public announcement until sometime in May or June.
Hilgenberg will face Shullsburg native Nathan Russell, Sauk City, in the fall election.
Hilgenberg is looking forward to talking with people on the campaign trial, and welcomes the competition from Russell.
"I want to listen and hear what people say. I believe we have a bottom-up system," Hilgenberg said. "Answers should come from the bottom up, and not from the top down.
"One big thing, if we can make this seat competitive each year, we'd have someone in there who respects and is responsive to the voters," he said.
Hilgenberg said his first term was a learning experience with a steep curve. He believes now he has a better chance to get some bills passed.
"I learned a lot, and I think that will help me next term to get things on the table and solve some problems," he said.
Some of the problems Hilgenberg wants to tackle in another term include health care, public funding of Supreme Court races, and school funding.
"Health care needs to be visited again, and school funding needs to be addressed," Hilgenberg said. "With 47 (school) referendums in the last election, that tells you something. It's not solved."
Also on Hilgenberg's to-do list is to resurrect the bills on autism and on hearing aids that didn't get passed last year.
"We disappointed a lot of people who thought we had promised them that bill," he said about the autism bill. "And the hearing aid, cochlear implants, was pulled at the last minute."
He was also not happy about the Republicans refusing to bring to the floor the issue of banning fundraising during the budget process.
Hilgenberg said he had high expectations for what he could accomplish in his first term, and "was disappointed that not much got accomplished in the Assembly and in state government in general."
He said he was happy to see the ethics bill get passed.
"I think that was a reaction to the last campaign," he said. "I was happy to see people were paying attention to the voters in that case. But then things slowed down."
Now that Hilgenberg has learned the ropes and understands the system and how to get things done, he said he feels the bills he wants to introduce have a better chance.
Hilgenberg said he didn't see himself as a partisan politician, and he knows that isn't what the voters like to see either.
"People don't want bickering at the Capital," he said. "They want people willing to work together ... not give up on it."