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Alex Lasry
Alex Lasry (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Wisconsin. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 9, 2022. Lasry unofficially withdrew from the race but appeared on the primary election ballot on August 9, 2022.
Lasry completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Alex Lasry earned a B.A. in political science and government from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 and an M.B.A. in corporate finance and management from New York University in 2014. Lasry's career experience includes working as the senior vice president of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and a deputy counselor for strategic engagement with the White House. He has served on the board of Frontdesk.[1][2]
Elections
2022
See also: United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Wisconsin
Incumbent Ronald Harold Johnson defeated Mandela Barnes, Adam Nicholas Paul, and Scott Aubart in the general election for U.S. Senate Wisconsin on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ronald Harold Johnson (R) | 50.4 | 1,337,185 |
 | Mandela Barnes (D)  | 49.4 | 1,310,467 | |
| Adam Nicholas Paul (Logic Party) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 67 | ||
| Scott Aubart (American Independent Party) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 4,758 | ||
| Total votes: 2,652,477 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Bradford Spencer (Independent)
- Aaron Frank (Independent)
- Neal Long (L)
- Deliala Gaustad (Patriot Party)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mandela Barnes | 77.8 | 390,279 |
 | Alex Lasry (Unofficially withdrew) | 8.9 | 44,609 | |
 | Sarah Godlewski (Unofficially withdrew) | 8.1 | 40,555 | |
 | Tom Nelson (Unofficially withdrew) | 2.2 | 10,995 | |
 | Steven Olikara | 1.1 | 5,619 | |
 | Darrell Williams | 0.7 | 3,646 | |
 | Kou Lee | 0.7 | 3,434 | |
 | Peter Peckarsky | 0.5 | 2,446 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 177 | ||
| Total votes: 501,760 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Gillian Battino (D)
- Chris Larson (D)
- Adam Murphy (D)
- Chantia Lewis (D)
- Jeff Rumbaugh (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin
Incumbent Ronald Harold Johnson defeated David Schroeder in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Wisconsin on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ronald Harold Johnson | 83.6 | 563,871 |
 | David Schroeder | 16.3 | 109,917 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 693 | ||
| Total votes: 674,481 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- John Berman (R)
- Mike Mangan (R)
- Brad Beyer (R)
- Justin Doty (R)
- Adam Benedetto (R)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Alex Lasry completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lasry's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I’m on leave as the Senior Vice President of the Milwaukee Bucks. I live in Milwaukee with my wife Lauren, Chief of Staff for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. I am running for the U.S. Senate so I can bring a new way of thinking to Congress and deliver real results for Wisconsinites.
I have proven that progressive values are good for business. During my time with the Bucks, I worked to raise wages, create thousands of good paying union jobs, and advance the team's social justice efforts. I brought together the public/private partnership to build the Bucks’ Arena. In doing so, we not only created jobs, but also made sure that people often left out of major construction work got a chance to expand skills, find jobs, and build wealth.
I also helped lead the successful bid for Milwaukee to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention and served as the Finance Chair for the Democratic Convention’s Host Committee, raising over $40 million for the Convention. I worked with both Democrats and Republicans on the successful bid showing that it is possible to work across the aisle to get things done for the people of Wisconsin.
- Raising wages and creating good union jobs. I will prioritize putting more money back into the pockets of hardworking Wisconsinites. We should not only ensure that we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but also incentivize businesses to go above and beyond that. We need to help raise wages for all workers and make sure we are bringing manufacturing jobs back to Wisconsin.
- We need to rebuild infrastructure across our state. That doesn't just mean roads and bridges, but also ensuring that Wisconsinites in all parts of the state have access to reliable broadband, clean drinking water, and other vital infrastructure for our communities.
- We must protect our democracy. The Republican attacks on voting rights that we have seen in Wisconsin and around the country are a threat to our democracy. We must ensure that all people have their constitutional right to vote protected. Republicans are trying to silence voters who don’t support them in order to get themselves back in power.
I hear the same thing from voters no matter where they live: Wisconsinites want good jobs, family sustaining wages, access to quality affordable healthcare, and access to economic opportunity.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Lasry’s campaign website stated the following:
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I want to give Tammy Baldwin a true partner in DC to put money back in the pockets of hard working Wisconsinites and bring some real change and real results for the people of Wisconsin. I have a proven track record of delivering for the people of Wisconsin, whether it’s creating good union jobs, paying a 15 dollars minimum wage, fighting for social justice, or making it more accessible for people to register to vote. I don’t just talk about the issues, I have delivered on them. In both urban and rural areas, people across Wisconsin are struggling with many of the same issues. Whether it is inadequate access to affordable healthcare, unsafe drinking water, a lack of access to high-speed broadband, crumbling infrastructure, educational challenges, or vanishing economic opportunity, our communities need help. I will do everything that I can to help raise wages, bring jobs and investment back to Wisconsin, and enact legislation that will make people’s lives better no matter where they live. I am going to the Senate to get real results for Wisconsin. I will fight every day to bring back resources to our state and deliver legislation that will help Wisconsinites in their everyday lives.
Broadband Internet is critical infrastructure that is equally as important as roads and plumbing. In the last almost two years during COVID, we have seen first-hand what a lack of access to affordable broadband really means for schools, healthcare facilities and small businesses as we transitioned to a completely online world. Lack of access to high-speed Internet is a problem in both rural and urban communities across Wisconsin. We need the federal and state government to ensure that all Wisconsinites have access to high speed, accessible and affordable internet. Every Wisconsinite should be on an equal footing when it comes to opportunity, and universal broadband access would help bridge that gap. Our students are Wisconsin’s future, and if we don’t invest in them, then they won’t be able to invest in Wisconsin, which is one of the many reasons why I will fight for equitable broadband access across our state.
For too long, we have deprioritized marginalized communities that have taken the brunt of the environmental impact from climate change, while not enforcing existing environmental protection laws or punishing those that break them. We need to substantially update and modernize our environmental protection laws to meet the challenges of today and enforce stronger consequences that actually dissuade people and corporations from violating these tougher standards. Corporations have shown us time and time again that when the penalties are too light, they will not always act in the public welfare. That is where strong government enforcement must come in, and in the Senate, I will fight for more stringent environmental guardrails. As we fight climate change, we must remember that communities of color too often bear the brunt of its devastating effects, while sharing in few of the economic opportunities presented by the clean energy economy. We cannot have environmental justice without racial justice, and it is clear that racism has been ingrained in every part of our governmental system. Equity must be at the center of reshaping of this new economy so that America can truly be a land of equal opportunity, not a country where the zip code you’re born into can define your health outcomes.
We must eliminate the filibuster. We elect members of Congress to get results, not engage in stalemates. In 2020, voters across the country elected Democrats so they could enact real, actionable change, and the only way we can follow through on that promise is by actually passing legislation through Congress. We need action and we need it now. Abolishing the filibuster will help us pass critical legislation now and will result in a better functioning government that will allow Democrats to deliver on promises that have been made over the past few election cycles.
I believe that healthcare is a human right, and we need to ensure that everyone has access to quality affordable healthcare. I support adding a robust public option to the Affordable Care Act because I believe that this is the fastest way to get everyone covered. We also must ensure that the public option is set up so people can seamlessly transition in and out of the public plan. The lack of universal health care is also bad for our economy and stifles innovation. Tying healthcare to an employer creates barriers for workers to leave their jobs to seek a better job, or start a company themselves. Access to universal health care will free workers to take a chance, get a better education, train for new skills, or even start the next great Wisconsin business. Socioeconomic status should not be an indicator of whether a person has access to healthcare. Likewise, healthcare should not be a barrier for a person with variable employment but wants to ensure that their family is still covered. But we can’t stop there. Healthcare simply costs too much, especially for seniors. Even as they are covered by Medicare, Wisconsin seniors are getting nickeled and dimed by rising out of pocket costs. That’s why I support adding vision, hearing and dental coverage to Medicare, and why I support allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription costs. We also need to lower the cost of prescription drugs for everyone. Americans pay more than anyone else in the world for the exact same medications. We must find a new way to lower the prices of the medications that so many Americans depend on.
President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan will bring good, union jobs to Wisconsin and help with desperately needed infrastructure improvements across the state. We will finally be able to fix our crumbling roads and bridges, fund environmental remediation projects, and prioritize broadband to get all Wisconsinites covered with reliable internet. The Build Back Better Plan also contains real, substantive investments to fight climate change. We need to electrify everything and decarbonize our electricity, while investing in a nationwide electric car infrastructure and large scale battery manufacturing here in the United States. Fixing our infrastructure also means upgrading public transportation systems across our state. People across the country rely on public transportation to have access to family sustaining jobs, healthcare, and a good education. It is vital that we not only protect public transportation but expand and modernize it. I am a strong advocate for passenger rail that connects Wisconsin with our Midwest neighbors and beyond as well as reinvesting in other forms of public transportation across the state.
Israel is dear to my heart, especially having grown up in a religious household. I understand the unique security risks facing Israel, and I will be a strong, committed friend to the Israeli people from Day One. The United States must continue its historic and special role as Israel’s strongest ally. The United States has a unique responsibility and must play an active role in resetting the peace talks. As Senator, I will work with the Biden Administration as an active partner to achieve lasting peace through a two-state solution. Any agreement must be built on Israel’s fundamental right to exist and the guarantee that Israel is protected and able to defend itself. I believe that any agreement must be directly negotiated by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, with the United States playing a supportive role. It is also vitally important that this agreement is not pre-negotiated, and all parties avoid setting preconditions for the negotiations. With that said, any agreement should include recognition by Palestinian authorities of Israel’s right to exist, forceful condemnation of violence perpetrated by extremist groups, and an end to settlement expansion and annexation.
All LGBTQ Plus Americans deserve equal rights and protections under the law. We still have a lot of work to do to make this a reality, and in the Senate, I will fight to make that happen. Right now, there are over a dozen states where employers can legally fire workers simply for being gay, and even more where hotels can refuse to service, or landlord can refuse tenants just because they are gay. Not only is that just plain wrong, but it also means that LGBTQ Plus Americans face a confusing web of local and state laws that make it difficult to understand what their rights are. I am a strong supporter of the Equality Act, which will explicitly prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression in all 50 states. This bill has passed the House but has not yet made it through the Senate. I will work in the Senate to get it passed as soon as possible.
One year ago, our country witnessed something that has never been seen in the United States , a sitting President and his followers attempted to disrupt and stop the peaceful transfer of power. Insurrectionists did not like the outcome of the election and they tried to discard the voice of the People. January 6, 2021 is a day that will forever scar our nation. While their tyrannical attempt to overthrow our government failed, the continued assault on the very fundamental tenets of American democracy has not ended, and in many ways, it is being accelerated. We must recommit ourselves to maintaining an electoral system where every citizen, Democrat, Republican and Independent, can cast their ballot easily and securely. And every citizen must have confidence that their vote will be counted. Unfortunately, Republican leadership doesn’t see it that way. They are passing laws in states across the country to decide who gets to vote and who doesn’t. After losing an election, Republican leadership decided that their only chance to win is to institute new obstacles that will make it much harder for them to vote. They have severely restricted voting before, and they are trying to do it again. Last year, Republican legislators in 48 states introduced at least 389 bills to make it harder to vote. Nineteen states have now enacted 34 new laws that put in place new obstacles to make it harder to vote. This new wave of restrictive voting laws is the most aggressive assault on democracy in over 100 years. Here in Wisconsin, Republicans in the legislature passed seven election related bills last year that would have erected significant new barriers to voting. Fortunately, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed those bills, but other states aren’t as lucky. Governor Evers has promised to veto any bill that results in new barriers to voting, but having Governor Evers as our lifeline for democracy should not have to happen. This is a clear and present danger and Congress must act immediately. Nothing short of the future of American democracy is at stake and if elected, I will act immediately. End the Senate Filibuster The filibuster is an archaic, Jim Crow-era rule that is stopping legislators from doing what they were elected to do. One of my first priorities will be to vote to abolish the Filibuster. Members of Congress are elected to get things done. Abolishing the filibuster will allow legislators to move an agenda and deliver real results for our constituents. Voters want real, actionable change. The only way we can follow through on our promises is by passing legislation through Congress, and then letting voters register their approval or disapproval at the ballot box. Voters are looking for their elected officials to do the things that they said they were going to do. The only way we can truly follow through on those promises is to pass legislation that will deliver real results to voters. Expand Voting Rights Protecting voting rights used to be a bipartisan goal. Not long ago, former Wisconsin Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner was a champion for the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. Today’s Republicans reject this legacy and their attempts to deny the right to vote are undemocratic, un-American, and unpatriotic. Expanding the right to vote has been a persistent fight since the founding of this country. Every generation has been called on to defend the hard-fought gains achieved by those who came before. Our generation is now being called to do our part to protect democracy. The time for leadership is now. The only way to protect voting rights in the future is to pass legislation at the federal level that will override the rash of anti-voter laws passed by Republicans.The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) and the Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA) are two bills that can be passed now to ensure this, and if elected, I will be a yes vote for both. The VRAA will strengthen protections against racially discriminatory voter suppression and redistricting abuses. The VRAA will restore and update many of the protections against racial discrimination that were included in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The FTVA creates national standards to protect the right to vote and helps end extreme gerrymandering. It will stop partisan efforts to seize control of election administration, and it limits the ability to manipulate outcomes by ensuring all valid votes are counted. It also establishes election certification and gives voters legal remedies if partisan officials refuse to certify results or try to set aside the results of an election. Republicans are actively blocking this crucial legislation. It’s time to vote out those who are standing in the way of protecting voting rights and who are trying to manipulate voting laws in their favor. We must replace them with leaders who believe in democracy and the constitutional right to vote. Make it Easier to Vote Voting should be easy. It’s time to enact Automatic Voter Registration that makes our voter roles more accurate and more secure. For years, we’ve been constantly fighting back against Republican threats to our democracy. We have seen this happen time and time again and it’s time to ensure that we are protecting voting rights, permanently by amending the Constitution to ensure that no state can restrict or take away the right to vote from any citizen. End Gerrymandering Voters should choose their elected officials. Elected officials should not choose their voters. The U.S. Supreme Court has punted on partisan gerrymandering, saying that Congress must address this issue. Both parties are now engaged in some of the most extreme partisan gerrymandering ever perpetrated on the citizens of the United States. It’s time to pass federal legislation that will ban partisan gerrymandering and establish a federal non-partisan standard for drawing fair maps that will be representative of the diversity in each district. This is the only way to ensure that neither side can continue to resort to these unfair tactics. Just as important as making sure that we have fair maps is ensuring that people are being counted in their communities. Prison gerrymandering counts people in prison in the communities where the prison is located, not in the community they came from and are likely to go back to. It strips communities of resources and funding that comes along with population counts. The vast majority of people that go to prison are going to get out, this often means that they will be returning to the community they lived in prior to their incarceration. This practice disproportionately affects communities of color and must be ended. Reform the Electoral Count Act The Electoral Count Act is a poorly written 19th century law that establishes a convoluted process for certifying each state’s electoral votes. Around the country, we saw non-elected partisan election officials refusing to certify vote counts and effectively ignoring the will of voters at the request of a President that had clearly lost his reelection. There is a fundamental flaw in a system that allows candidates on the ballot to attempt to influence the certification of the results. Congress must act to update this law before the 2024 presidential election, clarifying and strengthening the provisions to ensure that ambiguities and weaknesses of the existing law cannot be used to undermine democracy. Curtailing the Influence of Special Interests I was the first candidate in this race to take the End Citizens United pledge and reject all corporate PAC money. We have since seen other candidates take that pledge, but it rings hollow when candidates that have taken corporate PAC money in the past now claim to reject it. I am one of the few leading candidates in this race to have never taken corporate PAC money. We need to do all that we can to give democracy back to the people, and that means reducing the influence of special interest money in politics to ensure that all citizens have an equal say in our democracy. Voters should have the right to know who is trying to influence their vote. We need to enhance reporting requirements to show voters where campaign funding is coming from. Those who are willing to contribute significant sums of money to influence our elections should also be willing to allow people to know they are doing it. Strengthening Election Security and Ending Foreign Interference We must prevent foreign actors from being able to influence or buy our democracy. We saw in 2016, and more recently, how nefarious foreign attempts to undermine confidence in our elections can have disastrous consequences. Cyber-attacks on our elections are an immediate threat to U.S. national security and cannot be taken lightly. We have seen how vulnerable we are to these cyber-attacks, and it must be an immediate priority of Congress to invest in both the infrastructure and manpower to combat these attacks so that we can secure our election infrastructure at every level of government. Misinformation online is a threat to our democracy. We need to work with and pressure online platforms to do more to push back against dangerous rhetoric when their sites are being used to manipulate Americans and sow distrust in our elections and our government. Promoting Democracy Abroad The United States must be an active champion for democracy worldwide. We should be assisting countries in protecting their democracies and calling out those that are guilty of human rights violations and repressing democracy. This also means we need to strengthen our democracy at home. The sustained attacks on voting rights and the January 6th insurrection proved how fragile our democracy can be and how domestic and international forces are working to destroy it. The world looks to the United States and when our democratic institutions falter, it empowers anti-democratic forces around the globe. We must be vigilant in ensuring that our country and the world remains vigilant in the fight for democracy. Grant Statehood to the District of Columbia and Let Puerto Rico Self Determine Since the passage of the United States Constitution, the residents of Washington, D.C. have been denied their full citizenship rights that all residents of other states enjoy, including voting representation in Congress. Residents of the District of Columbia overwhelmingly favor statehood, it is constitutional, and would finally right an historic wrong. It’s time for the U.S. Citizens in Puerto Rico to have real self-determination. If they choose to become a state, the U.S. should grant Puerto Rico full representation in the U.S. Congress and the electoral college. Vote Out Ron Johnson Ron Johnson isn’t just a bad Senator, he is a threat to our democracy. He isn’t only dangerous for Wisconsin, but for the entire country. We cannot allow people like Ron Johnson to be at the table when critical issues that impact the daily lives of so many are at stake. Ron Johnson is a staunch opponent of voting rights and ensuring access to the ballot. We cannot have someone who believes that only Republicans should decide who gets to vote and administer elections in Congress when voting rights are being discussed. The Democratic Majority in the U.S. Senate, the preservation of the right to vote, and protecting our democracy could very well come down to who wins in Wisconsin.
I strongly support keeping public lands in public hands. I believe that in order to make real, lasting change we need to protect and preserve all our public lands, because ownership of public lands is an incredible birthright of every American citizen. I strongly believe that protecting 30% of the United States’ lands by 2030 is attainable. I strongly oppose all efforts to undermine the Antiquities Act and, in the Senate, will ensure it stays in place. We must use the full power of this law to make sure we go from permanently protecting 12% of America’s land to 30%. I will fully advocate for the Administration’s use of national monuments as part of the President’s protection tools under the Antiquities Act and will push to change the law to ensure once a President has used that power to protect public lands, it cannot be reversed by a future President.
Public safety is primarily a local law enforcement issue, but the federal government does have an important funding role to play. We need to make sure law enforcement agencies aren’t overburdened and instead expand funding for intervention services so that law enforcement can focus on imminent threats to the public. We need to increase funding for counseling, mental health, addiction, and homelessness services so police only need to focus on imminent threats to the public. We also need to reinvest in our police training too. This money should come from the federal government to support overstretched municipal budgets. Along with increasing funding for our public safety programs, we must also increase accountability. Congress should act immediately to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. This bill would ban chokeholds, carotid holds, and no-knock search warrants, create a national database of police misconduct, and end qualified immunity. These are all very important steps in reforming how we handle policing in this country. Another less discussed and very important aspect of this legislation is the ending of the militarization of our police forces that occurred through President Bush’s administration pushing out equipment returned directly from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to local law enforcement.
I want to help bring real change and real results for the people of Wisconsin and that starts with putting more money back in the pockets of hard-working Wisconsinites. Through the right mix of job training, tax deductions and incentives, investing in and buying American, and strengthening our unions, we can raise wages and bring more jobs and investment to Wisconsin. I have a proven track record of delivering for Wisconsinites – whether it’s creating good union jobs, paying a $15-dollars minimum wage, and investing in and helping grow Wisconsin’s economy. I don’t just talk about the issues; I have delivered on them. We didn’t just talk about a 15 dollars minimum wage; we turned our promise into action. The Bucks pay our employees at the Bucks’ Arena family-sustaining wages because we know that paying our employees fairly is not only the right thing to do, but also translates to higher productivity. We also ensured 80 percent of the materials and services for building the arena were sourced from Wisconsin. We created a great business, brought economic opportunity to the area, and prioritized progressive values. Progressive values are good for business. By raising the minimum wage and ensuring that all Wisconsinites are paid family-sustaining wages, we will help lift up the working and middle class. We can do this through empowering unions and giving power back to the workers. When people have good benefits, a good paying job, and job security, Wisconsin will be a hub of economic activity and people. We have shown that progressive values are good for business and the economy. In building the Bucks’ Arena and the surrounding Deer District, we brought together a public/private partnership that emphasized workforce development. At least 43% of workers on the arena project consisted of people underemployed or unemployed over the past five years and 30% of service contracts were awarded to minority and disadvantaged businesses. We set very high goals on equity and inclusion, ones that no other arena in the U.S. has met, and beat those goals. While we know that short term changes won’t fundamentally fix the problems facing all working families and that much needs to be done to help uplift more people into the middle class, it’s also important that we do all that we can to provide relief to families as soon as possible.
We need to think differently about our tax policy. Instead of handing out corporate tax breaks across the board or giving tax breaks to companies that offshore their jobs or profits, like Ron Johnson and Republicans did in 2017, we should only be rewarding companies that invest in America. We should support companies that pay a family supporting wage, build their supply chain and manufacturing operations right here in the United States, and are active partners that invest in the communities that they do business in. A lot of politicians will tell you the only solution is to raise taxes on the wealthy or big companies. That alone will not put more money into the pockets of working people. I want to bring a new way of thinking that ensures that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, while also prioritizing raising wages and bringing more investment back to the United States. Encouraging More Unionization Unions make businesses better. Unions help raise wages for everyone, not just members. When Unions were strong we had a vibrant middle class and robust manufacturing in this country. It is not a coincidence that the decline of union membership in America tracks with the decline in the economic buying power for the entire middle class. Unions not only raise wages but they also protect our workers and make workplaces safer, stronger, and better. We need to create a workers’ Bill of Rights to safeguard workers’ right to fair working hours, safe working conditions, and humane treatment. Workers’ well-being should not be dependent on who holds power. We need to safeguard unions and protect workers for generations to come. Congress must work to pass the PRO Act to protect unions, empower workers, and hold big businesses accountable. According to Human Rights Watch, the Pro Act bans agreements that would prevent employees from pursuing class action lawsuits and collective claims against their employers for employment-related matters, such as wage theft, workers’ compensation, harassment, and discrimination. When we built the Bucks’ arena in Milwaukee, we ensured that all the labor was union labor from Wisconsin. Progressive values are good for business and the PRO Act will ensure that projects like what he did in Milwaukee can happen across the country. We are currently one of the only campaigns in the country that has a unionized campaign staff, because we practice what we preach. When you look at who to vote for, pay attention to how they run their campaigns and their businesses. Pass Tammy Baldwin’s Made in America Act Senator Tammy Baldwin is a leading champion for Wisconsin manufacturers through her work in ensuring that projects that utilize federal tax dollars use materials that are made in America. Senator Baldwin is taking that work one step further through her Made in America Act to strengthen Buy America requirements for the federal government in order to support American businesses, manufacturers, and workers. The Made in America Act identifies federal programs that fund infrastructure projects not currently subject to Buy America standards and ensures that materials used in these federal programs are domestically produced. That means if the federal government pays to replace or rebuild water and sewer lines for example, the steel and iron must be made in places like the Neenah Foundry or Wisconsin Steel and Tube Corporation. This is especially timely legislation that must pass given the recent passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal that will be injecting 1 trillion dollars into new infrastructure projects around the country. We must ensure that those dollars are going to support American workers and American manufacturers. Making College and Tech Schools More Affordable The first two years of public community college or technical school should be free. We can dramatically decrease the cost of college while rapidly increasing the skills of our workforce by offering every student a pathway for two years of college to be free. For students in Tech School, this would make their pathway into a skilled trade essentially free. For students that would want to go on to a four-year degree, this could cut the cost of college in half. We have seen incredible work amongst the UW System, the Tech College System, and our k-12 schools to help align curriculum, increase dual enrollment programs, and ensure that core credits can be transferred from one system to another. These efforts are a role model for states across the country in driving down costs and increasing opportunities for students. Increasing the Participation Rate in Apprenticeships We are facing a dramatic labor shortage in our skilled trades because of an impending retirement wave. When we built the Bucks’ arena, we made sure to go out and recruit workers into the skilled trades from across the community, with a focus on people of color and women. A good union job in a skilled trade is a pathway to a good middle-class life, but too many people and especially high school students are unaware of the opportunities that exist. We need to incentivize our high schools to set up dual enrollment programs in technical schools that allow for both high school and college credits in technical education the same way that we do for college education. We need to give students opportunities to begin their education and apprenticeships while still in high school to open a pathway to a career instead of hoping that they will choose this route after they graduate. Itemized Tax Deductions on Gas Mileage, Work Clothes, Lodging, and Dining for Contract Workers As part of the Trump Tax Law that was passed in 2017, Republicans dramatically scaled back on tax cuts that disproportionately affect working families while leaving many of the same tax cuts in effect for business owners. Prior to 2017, contract workers, like many in the skilled trades who must travel to do their jobs, were allowed to deduct their gas mileage, work clothes, lodging, and dining from their taxes. These were all expenses that were directly related to their ability to do their jobs and were treated as business expenses for the workers. Many of these same expenses were continued for business owners and in fact, in the 2021 COVID relief bill, business meal deductions were expanded to allow for them to be 100 percent deductible as a way to help restaurants recover from the pandemic. But workers still can’t deduct them. We should restore these deductions in order to directly help workers take home more pay. Make Union Dues Deductible Again Union dues were deductible prior to the 2017 Trump Tax Law. As part of the Republican Party’s ongoing war on unions, they specifically removed the union dues tax deduction as well. Republicans left in place the ability to deduct dues for bar associations, medical associations, trade associations, local chambers of commerce, real estate boards, business leagues, and civic or public service organizations. This was an unfair targeting of members of organized labor that should be reversed. Restoring the Home Office Deduction for Everyone Also, as part of the 2017 Trump Tax Bill, Republicans removed the ability for employees to take a deduction for a dedicated home office while maintaining the deduction for business owners. The net result of this move removed the ability of tens of millions of workers to tax a home office deduction since the COVID pandemic sent workers to work from home, using their own space, paying for their own utilities to do their job through no fault of their own. This unfair treatment between workers and employees once again was specifically designed to privilege owners over their workers. This change would bring more equity to the tax code and result in more money in the pockets of working people. Extending the Child Tax Credit In the last year, the child poverty rate has dropped by nearly 40 percent, the biggest drop ever in American history due to the Child Tax Credit. This incredibly effective tool has been championed on a bipartisan basis in the past and was put in place through the COVID Relief package by the Biden Administration in early 2021. The last payments went out in December and Congress needs to extend what has proven to be one of the most effective programs it has ever passed. An expansion was in the Build Back Better Agenda and needs to be passed as part of any future package. Helping Families Afford Child Care The childcare plan in the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better Act is an ambitious proposal to help millions of families with children under age 6 get affordable childcare for the first time. The bill would help boost wages for childcare workers, many of which are chronically underpaid and help open or expand child care facilities across the country. Access to quality child care is a crisis in this country and helping to improve it could help bring more people back into the workforce at a time when we desperately need more workers. According to Reuters, 2 million fewer women aged 20 and older are currently working in America, compared to February of 2020. That’s roughly twice the deficit for men in the same age bracket. Making child care affordable will put women back to work and strengthen our economy. Quality childcare would also improve long term educational outcomes for children by providing a secure, nurturing community for children’s early lives that will provide a basis for future growth. Extending Paid Family and Medical Leave One in four American workers do not have paid family or medical leave. The pandemic has laid bare how bad this is for our public health and our economy. Recent studies have shown that the temporary emergency paid leave provisions that were put in place in 2020 helped slow the spread of COVID by approximately 15,000 cases a day. Extending paid family and medical leave to the approximately would impact nearly 32 million private sector workers, disproportionately women and people of color. It will help ensure that getting sick or having to care for a sick loved one won’t lead to the choice between losing a paycheck or going to work sick and potentially infecting your co-workers and the community. Freedom for Local Wage Innovation Many Republican Legislatures across the country and here in Wisconsin have taken away local control from municipalities to set their own local wage standards. Congress should preempt these statewide restrictions and allow cities and counties to have the ability to innovate locally on consideration of wages. The federal government should set the wage floor and then ensure that states allow local governments the freedom to innovate according to local conditions.
2020 further emphasized the scale of injustice across the United States, whether it was violence against Black Americans, attacks on voting rights, or disparities that were underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic. I was proud to march shoulder to shoulder in the streets of Milwaukee after Jacob Blake was shot and proud to back up the Bucks players who protested on the court bringing needed national attention to this issue. I am committed to passing legislation that furthers racial justice, equity, and harassment free places not only in Wisconsin but across the United States. People of color are disproportionately marginalized by the systemic racism ingrained in our society. Systemic racism can be seen everywhere from policing practices to environmental impacts on communities of color to housing and employment discrimination. As the next Senator from Wisconsin, I will prioritize racial and social justice, and ensure that we are creating economic opportunities for everyone, regardless of where they live or what they look like.
We have shown that progressive values are good for business and the economy. In building the Bucks’ Arena and the surrounding Deer District, we brought together a public/private partnership that emphasized workforce development. At least 43% of workers on the arena project consisted of people underemployed or unemployed over the past five years and 30% of service contracts were awarded to minority and disadvantaged businesses. We also don’t just talk about a 15 dollars minimum wage; we turned our promise into action. The Bucks pay all our employees at the Bucks’ Arena family-sustaining wages because we know that paying our employees fairly is not only the right thing to do, but also translates to higher productivity. Progressive values are good business. We also ensured 80 percent of the materials and services for building the arena were sourced from Wisconsin. We created a great business, brought economic opportunity to the area, and prioritized progressive values. In the Senate I will join Tammy Baldwin and insist that the federal government buys construction materials that are made in the U.S.A. for all future infrastructure projects. Instead of handing out corporate tax breaks across the board, we should only be rewarding companies that are doing the right thing. That means paying more than a 15 dollar an hour minimum wage, keeping their supply operations in the United States, and being active partners in the communities that they do business in. Congress must also pass the PRO Act to protect unions, empower workers, and hold big businesses accountable. Progressive values are good for business and the PRO Act will ensure that projects like what he did in Milwaukee can happen across the country.
Like the majority of Wisconsinites, I believe that every person should have autonomy over their reproductive health. In the U.S. Senate, I will fight to ensure that everyone has access to inclusive, high-quality, and affordable healthcare, and that includes abortion and reproductive care. Abortion remains safe and legal in Wisconsin, and I will work at the federal lever to make sure that our laws protect these essential rights, regardless of who is sitting on the Supreme Court. I will also defend against the continued efforts to limit funding for Planned Parenthood and other reproductive healthcare facilities that provide affordable care to people across the country. I am extremely proud of my wife, Lauren, for her work at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to ensure that access to health care – from birth control and cancer screenings, to safe, legal abortion – is protected for individuals and families across Wisconsin.
Since entering this race, I have traveled to every part of Wisconsin, talking to voters about the issues that matter most to them. Our campaign has followed the lead of Senator Tammy Baldwin and Governor Tony Evers, showing up in communities that have traditionally been ignored by Democrats, and taken for granted by Republicans. My plan has been to talk directly with every voter that we can, whether it’s in an urban, suburban, or rural area. The road to a Democratic Senate runs through Wisconsin, and every single vote will matter. I decided to run because for over a decade, Wisconsinites have only had one Senator fighting for them in Washington. I want to give Tammy Baldwin a true partner in the United States Senate. I am committed to fight to help raise wages, bring real investment back to Wisconsin, and work every day to help make people’s lives better. I have a proven track record of delivering real results for the people of Wisconsin. Whether that’s creating good union jobs, paying a 15-dollar minimum wage, and creating economic opportunity right here in Wisconsin, I don’t just talk about the issues, I deliver on them. This plan at its core is about investing more in our working families. We all know families are struggling right now with rising costs. The proposals in this plan will have a direct effect on easing supply chain problems, help lower inflationary pressure on prices, and help create more jobs in every part of this state. I want to go to Washington to get things done for all Wisconsinites, no matter where they live, or who they have voted for in the past. People in every part of our state, whether it’s in urban, suburban, and rural areas are struggling with many of the same issues. We all want:
Republicans like Ron Johnson want us to believe people in urban and rural areas don’t care about the same things, that couldn’t be further from the truth. They desperately want to divide and conquer us and are constantly trying to stoke division. But the wants and needs of our communities are not that different. We all share far more in common than we have differences. No plan that seeks to strengthen rural communities will ever address every issue. My plan is where I will start, but not where my work will end. I am running to help put more money in working peoples’ pockets and help bring back more jobs to Wisconsin. I’m not a career politician. Instead of just talking about what I want to do, I have a proven record of delivering real results for Wisconsinites. Wisconsin needs a partner for Tammy Baldwin to fight every day to ensure these issues have the funding and attention they need to help rural communities prosper and succeed. I want to be that Senator.
We have a graying crisis all across Wisconsin, but it is most acute in our rural communities. The median age in rural counties is now approximately 44.4 years old, and it’s steadily getting older. In the twenty years between 1989-2009, Wisconsin saw its labor force grow by 20%. But since that time, our state has not experienced any growth, and most areas of the state have seen negative growth. Especially in rural areas, we have seen population loss, a shrinking labor pool, and limited access to career training and opportunity. Young workers are leaving rural Wisconsin, often driven by the growing problem of limited rural jobs, which then drives even less workforce availability for prospective employers. It’s a vicious cycle that we must break. It often seems that the number one export from Wisconsin is our children. We do a great job of giving them a quality education and world class college degrees, but then they leave. No place is this more acute than in our rural communities. One of the best ways we can help strengthen our rural communities is to make sure our kids can stay, or come back to the community they are born and raised in. That means jobs, opportunity, and the ability to raise a family. We need to retain young people by improving career awareness efforts by local businesses in their nearby high schools. We need businesses to help sponsor young people, get involved in the classroom, and offer scholarships for college that are conditioned on coming back. This should all be done in an effort to provide local options for students to stay in their communities. But retaining our local students won’t be enough. We need to attract new workers to move into our rural communities. We need to emphasize things like the natural beauty, outdoor recreation opportunities, affordability, safety, and the quality of life in a community that is a good place to live and raise a family. We need college loan forgiveness programs that eliminate student loan debt in order to attract people to move back to our rural communities to do critical jobs for the community. We need to incentivize health professions, teachers, lawyers, mental health counselors, substance abuse counselors, and other professionals to work where our rural communities are facing severe shortages. Encouraging Remote Work The boom in remote work during the pandemic is allowing more people and companies the flexibility to do their jobs wherever they want. During the early part of the pandemic, 27% of adults considering relocation were most interested in a rural location according to a survey conducted by DCI (an economic development marketing firm). We need to market our rural areas as more affordable, especially as home prices in cities continue to skyrocket. But in order to make this possible, we also need to ensure that every community has access to affordable, reliable high-speed broadband. Capitalizing and Incentivize Business Location Decisions A summer 2020 survey of site selectors said that 31 percent of responding businesses were more likely to consider locating new businesses operations to rural locations, compared to the only 10 percent considering large urban areas. This shift in attitudes is a tremendous opportunity for rural communities to attract new businesses and workers into their communities. Instead of just handing out tax breaks to all businesses whether they are good corporate citizens or not, we need to incentivize companies to earn their tax breaks by making decisions that help our communities. Companies that do things like bringing back manufacturing from overseas, locating their operations in rural communities, investing in the health and wellbeing of the community they are located in, and have a unionized workforce – those are examples of ways they can earn a tax break. If they choose to not do any of these things, then they will not be eligible for tax breaks. Re-shoring Manufacturing and Improving Supply Chains We are in an unprecedented time in recent history where both business and the government understand the vital need to bring back critical manufacturing to the United States. This has the potential to greatly benefit rural Wisconsin, as we have a long history of rural manufacturing. We need a coordinated, concerted effort to bring these jobs and investment back to Wisconsin. Our economic efforts cannot solely be focused on bringing jobs to large urban areas, we must also put an equal emphasis on helping bring jobs to rural areas to harness their available workforce and history of manufacturing. Recent events have clearly shown that supply chains need to become more diverse and less fragile, with an emphasis on sourcing and production closer to the consumer. We need to double down on efforts to push Buy America and ensure that critical manufacturing is done right here in the United States. For too long, our country has been in a race to the bottom where we have incentivized companies to ship jobs overseas and produce products for the lowest price possible, no matter what the consequences are. We need to make sure that when government dollars are being spent, they are being used to Buy American goods and help prop up companies that are producing goods and services in America with American labor. Rebuilding Our Rural Infrastructure We need to rebuild infrastructure across our state. For too long, critical infrastructure that was built more than a generation ago has not received the care and maintenance that it needs. That doesn’t just mean roads and bridges, but also ensuring that Wisconsinites in all parts of the state have access to reliable, affordable broadband, clean drinking water, and other vital parts of our infrastructure like expanding and improving rail access to ship products. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, there are billions of dollars in funding being dedicated to rural infrastructure needs. While 60% of the funding will be distributed by a formula basis, most of the rest will be distributed based on competitive grants. The challenge now is ensuring that Wisconsin competes for and receives as much funding as possible. This will take work from the Wisconsin congressional delegation, working with state and local officials. We need a Senator who will work to make this happen, not one who thinks it’s not his job. We also need to invest in upgrading our rail infrastructure across the state. We need to have a system that can not only transport Wisconsin produced goods to the market in an efficient manner, but also help transport our people and allow workers to live wherever they want, including rural areas, and commute more easily. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill makes a good down payment on building out these networks, but there is a lot more that needs to be done all over our state. In the coming years, Congress will need to pass a follow up bill to ensure our critical infrastructure needs are continuing to be addressed. If elected U.S. Senator. I will continue to press for additional funding for infrastructure. Expanding Ethanol Use In light of soaring gas prices, I support President Joe Biden’s order today to expand the use of biofuels, allowing vehicles to use up to 15 percent ethanol blends throughout the summer. Labeled as E15, the blend can save consumers up to 10 cents per gallon on average. I believe this is a good transitional step to help bring down current gas prices, stretching gas supplies and increasing demand for biofuels. Expanding Broadband Broadband Internet is critical infrastructure that is just as important as roads and electricity. The pandemic has shown us first-hand what a lack of access to reliable broadband means for schools, healthcare facilities, and small businesses. More than 35 percent of rural Americans and Tribal communities lack access to broadband at acceptable speeds. We are seeing both the federal and state governments invest to ensure that all Wisconsinites have access to affordable high-speed internet, but more needs to be done. We must bridge the gap to ensure an equal footing when it comes to opportunity for every part of our state. This is especially acute in education. Our students are Wisconsin’s future, and if we don’t invest in them, then they won’t be able to invest in Wisconsin. Historically, lower density population areas have made it economically undesirable for private providers to invest in the cost of installation of broadband infrastructure in less densely populated areas. Advances in technology are starting to change this, with newer options like 5G and satellite internet that bridge the ‘last mile problem’ while delivering high-speed, reliable broadband almost anywhere. Strengthening Legacy Rural Industries Legacy rural industries like agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and forestry are all under immense stress. We need to do more to help support our industries to make investments to modernize, helping them save money while also protecting the environment. We need to ensure that good business practices and good environmental practices go hand in hand and end the false trope that we have to do one or the other. The loss of manufacturing in rural areas has been devastating for local communities. Wisconsin has a proud history of having a geographically diversified manufacturing base. We have hard-working, well-trained workers who are ready to work, they just need access to good jobs in their communities. Creating More Access to International Trade Increasing access to foreign markets has to be a priority for the next farm bill. Wisconsin farmers need more access to developing markets around the world, especially in emerging markets like North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. We already have the ability to sell more large volume commodities, and with the looming grain crisis as a result of the Ukraine war, this is an opportunity to help meet the world’s needs in this time of crisis. There is already a new bulk commodity port facility under construction in the Milwaukee Port that is going to enhance our ability to export to areas around the world. We need to examine and fund additional ways we can enhance Wisconsin’s export capacities both through the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi, and through enhanced rail connections. Saving Our Small Farms The continued loss of family farms and the increased concentration of farmland into larger farms is bad for our state. We need to do much more to help keep family farms in the hands of the working families and incentivize and help the next generation to be able to stay on the farm. We must promote local food systems, sustainability, and access to markets for small family farms. Our state and local governments lack the needed funding to help create more direct markets for farms to local businesses, farmers markets, and consumers. The funds that exist aren’t enough to make a real impact on the size of the need or opportunity. We should invest federal funds in the UW-Extension to help do this work. Located in all 72 counties and driven by the Wisconsin Idea, they are ideally suited to scale up. Securing Wisconsin’s Dairy Legacy In recent years, Wisconsin has been losing an average of one to two dairy herds a day. Our country’s milk pricing system is out of date and is far too restrictive. We need to work cooperatively to ensure that Wisconsin has a seat at the table in order to enact meaningful dairy policy reform in the next Farm Bill or through separate legislation. We also need to continue to open more markets for dairy exports, especially in the specialty cheese categories. There are growing markets in the Middle East and Asia for our dairy products, and we need to ensure that any and all trade negotiations help open these markets to Wisconsin farmers. As Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, Senator Baldwin has worked relentlessly to address the needs of our dairy industry. We need to continue to fight to expand funding for our Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives, to support dairy entrepreneurs and help Wisconsin dairy businesses develop new markets, reduce costs, and support local farm economies. In the Senate, I will be a partner with Senator Baldwin to fight for more investment. Improving the Agricultural Workforce Wisconsin agriculture is facing a workforce crisis like so many other parts of our economy. Our agriculture industry, especially our dairy industry, is one of the heaviest utilizers of immigrant labor in the state. For reasons that extend well beyond workforce needs, we need comprehensive immigration reform. It’s long overdue. We need to create legal pathways for farms to get the workers they need. We also must reform the H-2A temporary visa process to be streamlined, expedited, and for it to provide certainty for farmers who desperately need workers. Investing in Affordable Rural Housing We need to do more to spur on the development of additional affordable housing in rural communities. In general, there is a staggering lack of new construction in rural communities. This is having a severe impact on the availability of workforce housing, the ability to attract and retain workers, and the ability for families to relocate to and stay in rural communities. The lack of new construction is also often coupled with older housing stock that is in desperate need of updating. We need federal housing incentives that do a better job of incentivizing new rural affordable housing. Building in rural communities is less dense than in urban areas and often comes at higher costs because of the additional cost for transporting materials and hiring harder to find skilled labor. We need to ensure that the competitive bidding nature of affordable housing credits adequately incentivizes rural affordable housing to spur new construction and renovation. Improving Access to Rural Healthcare Many rural communities in our state do not have access to quality healthcare facilities within a reasonable distance. When there is a physical or mental health emergency, people are often forced to drive an hour or more to receive the care they need. The rural health facilities that do exist often have limited usefulness if they cannot provide the services that are needed. Many critical services have been taken out of rural communities as cost savings measures and placed in regional healthcare centers instead of in more convenient locations. Congress can help by raising the rural health reimbursement rates for Medicaid and Medicare and establishing more stringent minimum standards to make sure they can afford to provide the services that are needed in our communities. We need to attract and retain more staff to small-town facilities. Government can incentivize doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to start their careers in rural medicine in exchange for student loan forgiveness. Too many rural healthcare facilities are staffed by medical professionals who are nearing the end of their careers. Without direct intervention, we are staring down an enhanced rural healthcare crisis that will not be easy to solve. Even less accessible than physical healthcare services are mental health services. We have a mental health crisis in this country and there’s nowhere with greater need than our rural communities because these areas often lack any access to mental health services. We need the government to incentivize more mental health workers to locate in rural communities and we need to invest more into tele-medicine in order to bring additional services wherever they are needed. The opioid crisis is also still raging in our rural communities, and in many ways worse than ever. While it has largely been overshadowed by the pandemic, the pandemic has made the situation worse because people have been more isolated and have not had access to the help they need. Many rural communities lack any access to drug treatment professionals or programs. We need Congress to invest in attracting more proven drug treatment programs and personnel into rural communities. We need to ensure that those that need help in rural communities have access to similar programs and treatments that are available in bigger cities. Investing in Rural Legal Representation The constitution gives you the right to an attorney, but what if no attorney is available? Much like the shortage in healthcare professionals and mental and substance abuse professions, there is a shortage of lawyers in rural Wisconsin. Many rural communities have few, if any, lawyers and the ones that are there often are approaching retirement age. We need to incentivize lawyers to move to rural communities at the start of their careers by offering loan forgiveness if they stay in that community for a number of years. We cannot have a properly functioning legal system without more rural lawyers. Ensuring Clean Drinking Water Access to clean, safe drinking water is increasingly under threat in Wisconsin. Whether it’s from PFAs or other contamination in our aquifers, or from aging drinking water infrastructure, an increasing number of communities are confronting challenges to this most basic of needs. The drinking water infrastructure in rural communities is rapidly aging and creating a threat to public health. Fortunately, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill contains new funding for rural water projects at historic levels. We need to ensure that the communities that need help now are positioned to compete for and win funding to address this critical need. A growing number of communities across Wisconsin are also discovering that they have serious issues with PFA forever chemicals in their drinking water. This is a crisis that is hurting Wisconsinites all across the state. The worst part is that we still don’t know the full extent of the problem as new pockets of contamination are regularly found. This is a significant issue in Wisconsin that affects many communities rendering their drinking water poisonous. The size and scope of the problem is so large that the federal government is going to need to play a significant role in making sure this problem is dealt with and cleaned up. Congress needs to establish PFAS regulations that will protect the most vulnerable. We must start holding polluters accountable and make them pay for the damages they have caused communities. They should have to clean up the mess they made. For areas where the offending companies can’t be identified or have long gone out of business, we are going to need a Super Fund type program. This is a crisis that we must address with urgency. Improving Conservation and Climate Resilience We need to incentivize conservation reserves on farms across this state by compensating farmers for climate smart agricultural practices. We need to incentivize them to do things like plant cover crops on less productive agricultural lands, no till farming, and winter cover crops. All these practices are well known for helping control soil erosion, but they are also good ways to help sequester carbon. We need new federal programs that will quantify this carbon capture and compensate farmers that do climate smart agricultural practices like these. Sequestering carbon while improving water quality by reducing runoff of soil, fertilizers, and pesticides benefits everyone and we should make sure that it is economically sound for farmers. Protecting Our Public Lands I strongly support keeping public lands in public hands. I believe that in order to make real, lasting change we need to protect and preserve our public lands, because ownership of public lands is an incredible birthright of every American citizen. I strongly believe in the goal of protecting 30 percent of the United States’ lands by 2030, but to achieve this goal, Congress is going to need to act to provide the funding and authority to aggressively save the wild lands that we have left. In Wisconsin, tourism is annually the 2nd or 3rd largest industry. Increasing our public lands would help bring more tourism dollars and enhanced opportunities to rural communities all across the state. This should be coupled with additional tourism grant opportunities to help communities build out offerings and market the opportunities for what is available. Investing in Agricultural Research and Development through the UW-System The Wisconsin State Legislature has done everything they can to disinvest from the University system over the last dozen years. We have seen fewer professors, smaller programs, and hollowed out UW-Extension staffs. UW-Madison used to be the number 3 university in the country when it comes to receiving annual R & D funding – now it’s 8th. That represents tens of millions of research dollars that are not coming into the state and instead are going somewhere else. It also has a direct effect on the innovations, patents, and new startups that result from that research. Wisconsin has seen the success that Tammy Baldwin has had with bringing new research and development dollars to our state, most recently through Dairy Business Innovation Funding. This is a model that we need to replicate and double down on for new research initiatives across all Wisconsin agriculture. Tax Reform We need to think differently about our tax policy. Instead of handing out corporate tax breaks across the board, we should only be rewarding companies that are doing the right thing. That means paying more than a 15 dollar an hour minimum wage, keeping their supply operations in the United States, and being active partners in the communities that they do business in. I want to bring a new way of thinking that ensures that the wealthy pay their fair share while also prioritizing raising wages.Just increasing taxes on wealthy Americans will not put more money into the pockets of working people. We must focus on raising wages just as much as fixing the tax code.
Unions make businesses better. Unions protect our workers, and make workplaces safer, stronger, and better. We need to create a workers’ bill of rights to safeguard workers’ right to fair working hours, safe working conditions, and humane treatment. Workers’ well-being should not be dependent on who holds power. We need to safeguard unions and protect workers for generations to come. Congress must work to pass the PRO Act to protect unions, empower workers, and hold big businesses accountable. When we built the Bucks’ stadium in Milwaukee, we ensured that all the labor was union labor from Wisconsin. Progressive values are good for business and the PRO Act will ensure that projects like what he did in Milwaukee can happen across the country. We are currently one of the only campaigns in the country that has a unionized campaign staff because we practice what we preach. When you look at who to vote for, pay attention to how they run their campaigns and businesses.
Our workers have been punished as a result of companies prioritizing profits over people. It’s time to enact a Workers’ Bill of Rights. Workers in the United States have been losing ground since the early 1980s. Our workers have been punished as a result of companies prioritizing profits over people. Income inequality has increased dramatically, and wages have stagnated in multiple sectors across our economy. The war on labor unions and the resulting large-scale reduction in union membership has hurt our country and our economy. The majority of current labor law in the United States was written in the 1920s and passed into law in the 1930s, almost 100 years ago. These century-old laws must be adjusted to account for today’s workforce and our current economic reality. The economy that was dominated by large-scale industrial manufacturing no longer exists in most places. As a country, we produce more now than we did during that time, but we do it in very different ways. The laws do not work well for today’s economy as they are written. We need labor law that matches the contours of today’s economy and protects today’s workers—a 21st-century labor law written for the 21st century’s economy. While we need to strengthen industrial labor law through the federal PRO Act, we must also be aware that today’s economy’s largest sector is the service industry. The growth of employment in the service industry demands labor law that matches the contours of the current situation. We shouldn’t try to force the service sector into current industrial labor law. Instead, we should meet the market reality of the service industry. The pandemic has disproportionately negatively impacted working women, and the entire economy has suffered. We need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, advocate for more affordable and accessible child care, and ensure a fair wage for child care workers, home health care workers, and long-term care workers. Employers should also be more flexible with adjusting work hours and schedules, and we should guarantee every employee paid leave. Progressive values and economic justice should go hand and hand. We need to create a Workers’ Bill of Rights to safeguard all workers’ rights to fair working hours, safe working conditions, and humane treatment. The well-being of workers should not depend on who holds power in Congress or the White House. We need to establish strong federal safeguards to empower the American workforce to unionize, strengthen existing and established unions, and protect all workers for generations to come.
Guarantee every worker the right to be a member of a union The federal government should guarantee every worker’s right to the freedom of association, organize a union, and bargain collectively for better working conditions, free from retaliation. Current U.S. law excludes certain categories of workers from the right to organize, making it more difficult for workers to join unions and stifles the drive for better working conditions. Raise the federal minimum wage to 15 dollars, add indexing and parity for tipped workers The old trope that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs has been disproven time and time again. Currently, 30 states and Washington D.C. have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage, while at the same time, we see nearly record job creation and record low unemployment. The federal minimum wage should be immediately raised to 15 dollars an hour, and we should index it to median wage growth so that it increases without the need for politicians to take a vote. When the economy grows, the minimum wage goes up–simple. Nobody in this country should be working full time and still be unable to meet their basic needs. When basic needs go unmet, the taxpayer picks up the tab through subsidizing health insurance, SNAP benefits, etc. When employers pay a living wage, it reduces the need for those vital services. It’s also time to eliminate the tipped minimum wage, which is based in sexism and racism and makes it more likely that these workers live in poverty. Guarantee every worker paid leave The United States is the only advanced country that does not currently guarantee paid leave. Estimates of workers’ access to paid leave across the country suggest that only between 19 percent to 50 percent of all employees have either formal access to paid family leave through an employer or can take paid time off even in the absence of a formal benefit plan. Additionally, most low-wage workers do not have equal access to paid leave. Congress should require every employer to guarantee 20 days of paid leave per year for every full-time employee. While this would be less than many other countries, it would establish a minimum floor that employers could build on. Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act Women in the United States only make approximately 80 cents on the dollar for doing the same job as men, and this disparity is even worse for women workers of color. It’s long past time for Congress to act and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act into law. It’s already passed the House and is currently being held up in the Senate. When I get to the Senate, I will ensure that equal work equals equal pay for everyone. Solve child care crisis by paying child care workers, home health care workers, and long term care workers a fair wage We as a country provide very little support for child care, early education, and support for our aging adults. One of the results of the lack of support is that women work less in the United States compared to other advanced nations. According to the Economic Policy Institute, childcare workers in the U.S. are only paid $13.51/hour, and home health care workers are paid 13.81 dollars an hour, roughly half what the average U.S. worker is paid 27.31 dollars. We must raise wages for child care, home health care, and long-term care workers to help entice more women to come back to work, which a recent Brookings Institute report said would also lower inflation over time by easing the shortage of workers across all sectors of the economy. Classify most gig workers as employees for union rights purposes According to an August 2021 Pew Research Center report, 16 percent of American adults have earned money through an online gig platform, and one third of workers say it’s their primary job. The surge in the numbers of gig workers over the last decade presents long-term challenges for a large portion of the workforce. Often, app companies like Uber. Lyft, DoorDash, and Grubhub force gig workers to either accept changes to their contracts that allow those corporations to take more money away from gig workers, or the workers are blocked from getting additional gigs through the app. These workers should be classified as employees in order to expand workers’ protections and allow them to form a union to bargain for better working conditions, pay, and benefits. Outlaw right to work on a federal level Currently, 28 states have right to work laws that take away rights from working people, drive down wages, and weaken labor unions. In Wisconsin, we have seen firsthand how dangerous these laws can be, and Scott Walker and the Republican legislature passed this law as a part of their war on organized labor. Congress should preempt these statewide restrictions and make them illegal in all states. Enable Sector Bargaining We need to enable and encourage sectoral or industrial level organizing where all the employers in a sector can get to the table to negotiate one contract to set standards across an entire sector or even an entire industry. The United States is an outlier in the 35 countries in the industrialized world, and other countries already have sector bargaining. Impose civil fines of 100,000 dollars for each employer violation of federal labor law during union campaigns Companies regularly violate federal labor law during union campaigns because the penalty for doing so is too low. We need to significantly increase the monetary damages for this type of behavior. We need the penalty for these activities to be high enough that companies won’t consider engaging in these union-busting activities. Level the playing field for union organizing We need to ban captive audience meetings. No employer fighting a union should be able to force their employees to sit through meetings specifically designed to thwart the union drive, interrogate workers about the organizing campaign, and disseminate union-busting materials. In addition, we need to allow workers casting ballots in union organizing elections to do so offsite. This allows workers to vote their preference without fear of harassment or intimidation. Finally, we must require employers to publicly report expenditures that are spent on anti-union campaigns. If a company is going to resort to union-busting tactics, then everything spent on those efforts should be reported to the U.S. Department of Labor and be publicly available. Require the federal government only does business with companies that pay at least the living wage of 15 dollars an hour, provide a safe workplace, and respect workers’ rights to organize a union The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the country. We should require that the federal government only does business with companies who pay living wages, provide a safe workplace, and respect their workers’ right to organize a union, free from retaliation.[3] |
” |
| —Alex Lasry’s campaign website (2022)[4] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. Senate Wisconsin |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Linkedin, "Alex Lasry," accessed August 5, 2022
- ↑ Lasry for Wisconsin, "Meet Alex," accessed July 12, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Alex Lasry’s campaign website, “On the Issues,” accessed July 01, 2022
