Kim Delorit Jensen

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Kim Delorit Jensen

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Green Bay, Wis.

Profession

Restauranteur

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Kim Delorit Jensen (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 1. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Jensen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kim Delorit Jensen was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Utah and Minnesota College of Art and Design for undergraduate study. Jensen's professional experience includes working as a restauranteur. She has been affiliated with Destination Door County, Egg Harbor Business Association, and Wisconsin restaurant Association.

Elections

2020

See also: Wisconsin State Assembly elections, 2020

General election

General election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 1

Incumbent Joel Kitchens defeated Kim Delorit Jensen and Timothy Lenartowski in the general election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joel Kitchens (R)	61.8	23,441
		Kim Delorit Jensen (D)	38.1	14,462
	Submit photo	Timothy Lenartowski (R) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	17

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 37,920
= 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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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 1

Kim Delorit Jensen advanced from the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 1 on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kim Delorit Jensen	99.8	4,743
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	8

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,751
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 1

Incumbent Joel Kitchens advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 1 on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joel Kitchens	99.8	4,863
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	8

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,871
= 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.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kim Delorit Jensen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Jensen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in NE Wisconsin. In the past 20 years I have opened 4 restaurants, a bakery and a catering grocery. I know how to create a budget and make it work, carry out a strategic plan, and work as a team. I will bring this experience to the State House and with the help of my constituents and the organizations supporting me, I will work to fix our broken legislature. Over the years I have hired over 1,000 people and I see many of Wisconsin’s problems through and opportunities through their eyes. People who know me know I do nothing half-way and I intend to make a difference from the opening gavel of the opening session of the legislature. I will not go there to fit-in or to give voters more business-as-usual. Our state’s economy, environment, schools, health care system, progressive heritage and working families are under attack. This must stop.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I will bring common sense politics to the voters in my district

• We must create a health care system that works, is affordable and includes a public option for all
  

• The COVID state budget cannot be balanced on the back of public education
  

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Water you can drink, fish and swim in; a minimum wage you can live on; health insurance you can afford; putting people’s safety first with COVID-19 leadership; education that helps you get a good job; equal justice for all; tax policy where everyone pays their fair share including corporations; fair district maps.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

All my life I have been surrounded by working women who had husbands that supported them (more even than they knew). I saw my grandpa and father doing house chores that many of my friend’s grandpas and fathers would never think of doing. I saw that team-work and sacrifice were the path to a successful future. We learned at a young age that women had just as many rights as men and that all of us no matter race, gender identification and outside appearance where any different than anyone else. I truly did not realize until recently when we were honoring my grandma at her memorial service that both my grandmas were female entrepreneurs starting in the 40’s and I could imagine the push back that they must have endured. When I think about where my will to push through barriers comes from, I have to say visiting both of their businesses influenced my drive and willingness to always step up at a young age and have a vision of what women can do if they have the drive and will power.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

When you decide to represent your constituents, that means listening, organizing and communicating their needs and concerns to other legislators to get something done! You have to be strong enough to admit it when you get it wrong and willing to go back to the drawing board. It means making sure you understand all sides of an issue and respect voters that may not share your views as they also deserve to be listened to. I am a business owner. I work with many personalities. I take care to make sure to communicate clearly and with knowledge. Once you forget to do this you no longer are respected. I have had to let many people go over the last 30 years. I have never had anyone come back and tell me they did not get communication before-hand that it was not going well….they almost always say later, “Kim you were tough and I know you have to run a business” and many thank me for showing them how important it is to walk the walk and talk the talk. Your representatives have to listen, organize and then work get it done!

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I have compassion and the drive to find solutions.  I know there are always many sides to a story and finding the facts and science is how I make decisions. You also need to be able to stand up against what is not right. That doesn’t mean you always get positive results but I will make sure the voters of District 1 know that I won’t compromise our shared values!

What is your favorite book? Why?

I love Little Women and identify with Jo. Her life and the time period have always spoken to me. The drive, the circumstances of war and pandemics….it reminds me that our world is fragile and having strong women at any time in history is a must for us to keep the world in harmony. We always will have pandemics and people who feel white privilege is not the root of our nations problem. But knowing that we have books, stories, movies we can consume to remind us of history, helps me to have hope that we will not forget it and learn and grow from it. If we don’t grow and change we will die.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

What we need in government are real people who have worked shoulder to shoulder with working class folks including farmers. I have never thought that I should benefit off the backs of my employees. My model is to instill power and drive for the recipients to see how together we can all have a future through hard work and respect. My business will never be sustainable if I do not teach values, educate and appreciate their needs and wants. You do this by walking the walk and talking the talk. It is hard being a business owner but the pride you feel when you see your working family excel and even go on their own is what it is all about for me. We need legislators with life experience! I have over 30 years in restaurant management and over 20 years in ownership. I have many attributes to take with me to Madison and help restore our state to one that was once admired by the rest of our nation.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

I believe it is beneficial to listen to my constituents and make sure to bring their voices to the legislature. When I find people in my party and across the aisle that want to represent those voices it will be a conversation worth having. I feel there are going to be many people elected this cycle that want to get back to the voters’ voice, not the voice of corporate subsidies that are not building community. There are many districts like mine that lack infrastructure, clean air and water, and diversity to attract young families to Wisconsin. We need to work on dismantling the work of the Republican agenda of the last 12 years and bring back common sense politics and values.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

Many of representatives have diverse districts like mine. I have tourism and many miles of farm land. The funny thing is they both are more similar than both groups realize. And talking to people and hearing their stories they all revolve around community building, infrastructure and clean water.

Many young people are begging for broadband and community diversity. They want to move back to our beautiful district to raise children but see the lack of infrastructure that would allow working from home and basic communication that they believe is as essential as electricity and clean water. I also hear about how large animal farms(CAFOS) are reaping our resources and returning them polluted while chasing away neighbors with the toxic smells and destruction of their roads. Then our state government subsidizes them when their business plans are not sustainable.

The small farmers who once thought they would go bankrupt before getting help to learn how to farm their land sustainably, are now making money and seeing their children wanting to stay to farm instead of leaving. Our land needs to return to the way it was meant to be farmed to restore our communities and attract young families that know their foods are grown and produced sustainably and locally. This builds communities and they will tell you just this if you listen!

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.

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Wisconsin State Assembly

Leadership

Minority Leader:Greta Neubauer

Representatives

District 1

Joel Kitchens (R)

District 2

Shae Sortwell (R)

District 3

Ron Tusler (R)

District 4

David Steffen (R)

District 5

Joy Goeben (R)

District 6

Elijah Behnke (R)

District 7

Karen Kirsch (D)

District 8

Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D)

District 9

Priscilla Prado (D)

District 10

Darrin Madison (D)

District 11

Sequanna Taylor (D)

District 12

Russell Goodwin (D)

District 13

Robyn Vining (D)

District 14

Angelito Tenorio (D)

District 15

Adam Neylon (R)

District 16

Kalan Haywood (D)

District 17

Supreme Omokunde (D)

District 18

Margaret Arney (D)

District 19

Ryan Clancy (D)

District 20

Christine Sinicki (D)

District 21

Jessie Rodriguez (R)

District 22

Paul Melotik (R)

District 23

Deb Andraca (D)

District 24

Daniel Knodl (R)

District 25

Paul Tittl (R)

District 26

Joe Sheehan (D)

District 27

Lindee Brill (R)

District 28

Rob Kreibich (R)

District 29

Treig Pronschinske (R)

District 30

Shannon Zimmerman (R)

District 31

Tyler August (R)

District 32

Amanda Nedweski (R)

District 33

Robin Vos (R)

District 34

Rob Swearingen (R)

District 35

Calvin Callahan (R)

District 36

Jeffrey Mursau (R)

District 37

Mark Born (R)

District 38

William Penterman (R)

District 39

Alex Dallman (R)

District 40

Karen DeSanto (D)

District 41

Tony Kurtz (R)

District 42

Maureen McCarville (D)

District 43

Brienne Brown (D)

District 44

Ann Roe (D)

District 45

Clinton Anderson (D)

District 46

Joan Fitzgerald (D)

District 47

Randy Udell (D)

District 48

Andrew Hysell (D)

District 49

Travis Tranel (R)

District 50

Jenna Jacobson (D)

District 51

Todd Novak (R)

District 52

Lee Snodgrass (D)

District 53

Dean Kaufert (R)

District 54

Lori Palmeri (D)

District 55

Nate Gustafson (R)

District 56

Dave Murphy (R)

District 57

Kevin Petersen (R)

District 58

Rick Gundrum (R)

District 59

Robert Brooks (R)

District 60

Jerry O'Connor (R)

District 61

Robert Donovan (R)

District 62

Angelina Cruz (D)

District 63

Robert Wittke (R)

District 64

Tip McGuire (D)

District 65

Ben DeSmidt (D)

District 66

Greta Neubauer (D)

District 67

David Armstrong (R)

District 68

Rob Summerfield (R)

District 69

Karen Hurd (R)

District 70

Nancy VanderMeer (R)

District 71

Vinnie Miresse (D)

District 72

Scott Krug (R)

District 73

Angela Stroud (D)

District 74

Chanz Green (R)

District 75

Duke Tucker (R)

District 76

Francesca Hong (D)

District 77

Renuka Mayadev (D)

District 78

Shelia Stubbs (D)

District 79

Lisa Subeck (D)

District 80

Mike Bare (D)

District 81

Alex Joers (D)

District 82

Scott Allen (R)

District 83

Dave Maxey (R)

District 84

Chuck Wichgers (R)

District 85

Patrick Snyder (R)

District 86

John Spiros (R)

District 87

Brent Jacobson (R)

District 88

Benjamin Franklin (R)

District 89

Ryan Spaude (D)

District 90

Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D)

District 91

Jodi Emerson (D)

District 92

Clint Moses (R)

District 93

Christian Phelps (D)

District 94

Steve Doyle (D)

District 95

Jill Billings (D)

District 96

Tara Johnson (D)

District 97

Cindi Duchow (R)

District 98

Jim Piwowarczyk (R)

District 99

Barbara Dittrich (R)

Republican Party (54)

Democratic Party (45)