Leah Spicer
Leah Spicer (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 51. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Spicer completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Spicer said the following in response to the question, What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
| “ | The right to choose, common sense gun reform, school funding, a plan for conserving and protecting our farmland and our natural resources, clean water, green energy.[1] | ” |
Spicer was the town clerk of Clyde, Wisconsin, as of her 2022 state Assembly campaign.[2]
Biography
Leah Spicer was born in Clyde, Wisconsin. Her career experience includes working as a business owner, restaurant owner and manager, and nanny. Spicer has been affiliated with Emily's List and Planned Parenthood.[3]
Elections
2023
Spicer ran for Clyde Town Clerk. Click here to learn more.
2022
See also: Wisconsin State Assembly elections, 2022
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 51
Incumbent Todd Novak defeated Leah Spicer in the general election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 51 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Todd Novak (R) | 56.1 | 14,760 |
 | Leah Spicer (D)  | 43.9 | 11,546 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 14 | ||
| Total votes: 26,320 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 51
Leah Spicer advanced from the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 51 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Leah Spicer | 100.0 | 4,073 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 4,074 | |||
| = 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 51
Incumbent Todd Novak advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 51 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Todd Novak | 99.6 | 5,318 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 24 | ||
| Total votes: 5,342 | |||
| = 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 finance
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Leah Spicer completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Spicer's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Affordable healthcare, childcare, senior care, and senior housing
- Investment and support for small businesses (including small farms)
- Better funding for our rural public schools
As the youngest of seven children, I have always had the role of peacemaker and mediator. I can, and will, work with anyone.
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.
Note: Spicer submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on August 31, 2022.
Campaign website
The following campaign themes were found on Leah Spicer's 2022 campaign website.[4]
| “ |
Affordable healthcare Nearly everyone I know worries about healthcare - affording it, having insurance, what it covers, medical debt, the high cost of prescription drugs. At different times in our life we have had health insurance, from having it through work, paying out of pocket, not being insured, and having Badgercare.
High-quality childcare and senior care Childcare is top of mind for me and everyone I know and talk to. How to afford it? How to access it? The high cost of childcare prevents many from seeking opportunities that allow for economic mobility. We need to prioritize the needs of Wisconsin’s working families. Seniors deserve to have the ability to age in place whether that be at home or in a community based nursing home. We are on the edge of an explosion in our aging population that will need care. In the 51st District we have a population of over 56,000 people - of which 42.3% are over the age of 50.
Affordable housing The ability to afford housing is already a big problem and it will continue to grow. We need to work very hard to ensure that Wisconsin residents at all stages of their lives have safe and affordable housing. Now is the time for leaders to work through collaborative public and private sector approaches to open up the housing market to more families and protect vulnerable communities from housing insecurity.
Free and fair elections Voting should be easy and safe. Any action that is taken by the government to prevent voters from voting, restrict voter access, and create maps which benefit one party are undemocratic and immoral. Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy.
Investment and support for our small farms As we all know - small Wisconsin farms are struggling. We are losing a dairy farm a day, and over the past 20 years we have lost 70 percent of our farms. The price of milk fluctuates, big farm monopolies squeeze out smaller farms, and tax subsidies and incentives get gobbled up by the big players leaving small farms with no help.
More funding for our rural public schools My own journey in education has led me through homeschooling, public school, private school, liberal arts college, apprenticeships, technical school, and job training. While I see the value of education in all of its forms, public school, the thing that we all have access to, is the one that feels most important to me. We must fully fund our public schools on the state and federal level. Our public schools have been a battleground for American politics. Let’s prioritize people over politics and invest in our schools which are the heart of our communities and our best chance for creating a bright future.
Investment and support for small businesses As a small business owner in a small town we know full well the challenges that small business owners face. We also know that our small shops, restaurants, and small businesses that line our rural downtowns are the bedrock of our communities. They are what draw people to our small towns, keep them coming back, create jobs, and even entice people to move here. We need to keep these businesses thriving and alive and these are some things that we can do to further that mission.
A plan for conserving and protecting our farmland and our natural resources, clean water, green energy When I was growing up here the weather was really different, we had more snow, less rain, and it was not as hot in the summer. We see the effects of climate change all around us, the water temperatures are warmer and some fish populations have moved farther north, many wells are contaminated, and heavy rains are washing out our infrastructure. The time is now to come together for immediate action to protect our clean air and clean water, to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, and to increase sustainability so that future generations will inherit a world they can enjoy. We all see how Wisconsin is rich in beautiful, natural environments and waterways. To me, it is the most beautiful place in the world. Clean water, land and air are essential to our economy and way of life in Wisconsin. Whether for outdoor recreation, tourism, hunting and fishing, or just enjoying being outside in our own communities, protecting Wisconsin’s diverse wildlife and natural resources is not just the right thing to do for our environment but also the best economic thing to do.
Common sense gun safety The republicans are choosing to prioritize their power over the safety of school children and our communities. In Wisconsin we have a long tradition of hunting, and with that comes proper training, safe handling, permits, licenses, and control of our wildlife populations which is important for our agricultural farms. Wisconsin hunters are some of the best advocates for our environment and add to Wisconsin’s strong economy — and venison is delicious. It’s important to me that people feel safe in their homes, and for some people that means having a gun. I didn’t grow up with guns in my house, but Kyle did, and learned at a relatively young age of 12 or 13 how to use, clean and handle a gun safely. But it is also important to me that people feel safe at the grocery store, in their places of worship, on public transportation, at a concert, and in schools. These things must be implemented on a federal level if they are to have an impact. It’s unacceptable that the GOP sits back and votes against bills that would combat gun violence. How many lives will it take? How many children will have to die while the GOP protects the 2nd amendment? There’s still time to save lives, but the time is now. We have a problem with mass shootings in America and for that reason I believe that we need:
The right to choose I feel so fortunate that in my life I have never had to make the difficult choice of whether or not to have an abortion. But I do know that that choice belongs to me and my partner and our healthcare provider. Our government has no place making those decisions for us. The autonomy of our bodies is a fundamental human right. To ensure that we have access to these basic rights we must protect women's health freedoms with all we got. Services like Planned Parenthood are vital for women to access birth control and basic reproductive care; cancer screenings and preventive care. I myself have relied on these services and getting birth control from Planned Parenthood allowed me to start a family when I was ready to. If we are truly want to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies we should work to expanded comprehensive sex education in schools and access to affordable birth control. I will always protect reproductive healthcare and the personal freedoms of all Wisconsinites.
Broadband internet It is clear that we need to expand access to internet access in rural Wisconsin. In the 51st every resident needs access to fast internet, small businesses, school children, seniors, those who work from home, and folks who take advantage of telehealth appointments. We need to think of internet access like we think of access to electricity and make it a real priority, and not just in some rural areas, I’m talking about the last house on the most rural gravel road.
Marijuana legalization The time has come to legalize Marijuana for medical and recreational use. Marijuana is proven to be less harmful than alcohol. Let’s legalize it and then we can regulate and tax it. The use of Marijuana provides an alternative to pain relief options, which may lower some of our dependence on prescription drugs like opioids. In studies published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that states that allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes had 2.21 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed per year under Medicare Part D, compared with those states without medical cannabis laws. Opioid prescriptions under Medicaid also dropped by 5.88% in states with medical cannabis laws compared with states without such laws, according to the studies. Wisconsin has some very harsh penalties related to majijuana possession, sale, and cultivation. Wisconsin’s prisons are overflowing with 23,000 people incarcerated. We need to drastically cut our prison populations by doing away with the incarceration of low-level non violent drug offenders.
Working class folks and unions It is very important for workers to have a voice in the workplace and access to unions. Workers in this state are still feeling the harmful effects of right to work and Act 10 that decimated the power of unions and working class people. We need to work with Unions to continue to grow and strengthen the labor movement. Wisconsin’s talented workers and dedicated employers deserve the chance to support and grow a strong, prosperous and thriving economy that supports our local and state-level priorities, mitigates climate change, and helps conserve our natural resources.
|
” |
| —Leah Spicer's 2022 campaign website[4] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Telegraph Herald, "Incumbent, small business owner to face off in Wisconsin Assembly race," June 15, 2022
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 31, 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Leah Spicer's 2022 campaign website, "Issues," accessed October 7, 2022
