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Sarah Keyeski
Sarah Keyeski (Democratic Party) is a member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing District 14. She assumed office on January 6, 2025. Her current term ends on January 3, 2029.
Keyeski (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Wisconsin State Senate to represent District 14. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Keyeski also ran for election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 42. She did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 13, 2024.
Keyeski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Sarah Keyeski earned a high school diploma from Cashton High School, a bachelor's degree from Luther College in 1993, and a graduate degree from Northwestern University in 1996. Her career experience includes working as a mental health counselor.[1]
Elections
2024
Wisconsin State Senate District 14
See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Senate District 14
Sarah Keyeski defeated incumbent Joan Ballweg in the general election for Wisconsin State Senate District 14 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sarah Keyeski (D)  | 51.1 | 52,483 |
 | Joan Ballweg (R) | 48.8 | 50,149 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 101 | ||
| Total votes: 102,733 | |||
| = 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 Senate District 14
Sarah Keyeski advanced from the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 14 on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sarah Keyeski | 99.9 | 20,637 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 19 | ||
| Total votes: 20,656 | |||
| = 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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 14
Incumbent Joan Ballweg advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 14 on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joan Ballweg | 99.6 | 13,216 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 49 | ||
| Total votes: 13,265 | |||
| = 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
Wisconsin State Assembly District 42
2024
See also: Wisconsin State Assembly elections, 2024
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 42
Maureen McCarville defeated Rebecca Witherspoon in the general election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 42 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Maureen McCarville (D) | 55.0 | 20,400 |
 | Rebecca Witherspoon (R) | 44.9 | 16,648 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 38 | ||
| Total votes: 37,086 | |||
| = 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 42
Maureen McCarville advanced from the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 42 on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Maureen McCarville | 99.9 | 8,253 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 6 | ||
| Total votes: 8,259 | |||
| = 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
- Sarah Keyeski (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 42
Rebecca Witherspoon advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Assembly District 42 on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rebecca Witherspoon | 99.2 | 3,879 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 32 | ||
| Total votes: 3,911 | |||
| = 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
2024
Wisconsin State Senate District 14
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sarah Keyeski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Keyeski's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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After graduation, I went off to study at Luther College in Iowa and then Northwestern University in Illinois for graduate school. I'd always had a desire to be of help to people and found my calling in counseling psychology, becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor and working as one for the past 25 years.
Another role I have, and adore, is being a parent. I'm a mom to six kids; four boys and identical twin girls. My husband and I were raising our kids in Sun Prairie, but in 2017 we decided to move to Lodi. When I became a parent, I saw the deep value of "small town life" and ran back to it! I wanted to give our kids that same foundation that I had growing up - a sense of safety and belonging in a close community and the sound ethics of hard work, resilience, and respect for the land and one another.
Unfortunately, a year later, my husband was diagnosed with throat cancer and we had to make some big life changes. As a result, I decided to open a private practice in my new town. It allowed me to work close to home, improve mental health access in my rural community, and invest in developing its floundering downtown.- Education. I see our rural schools as the cornerstone of our communities and a strong educational system as a critical part of investing in the future of District 14. I support increasing state funding to strengthen our public schools and lifting revenue limits. I also oppose using public funds to subsidize private school voucher programs in our state.
- Reproductive Freedom. I believe that women should have the right to make decisions, without governmental interference, over their bodies and about their reproductive options; including having access to abortion care, IVF (in vitro fertilization) and birth control. I also believe that we need to codify Roe into law so that women's liberties are restored for our daughters.
- Rural Communities. As a girl who grew up on a small dairy farm, I believe that rural communities are the backbone of our state! I will work diligently to protect our farms and agricultural businesses, invest in critical infrastructure like broadband and roads, support small businesses, and enhance economic vibrancy in our rural communities. I want young people to be able stay in their communities with the option of earning a good, family-supporting living.
As a mental health counselor, I am acutely aware of the mental health crisis our country is facing. I will fight to pass legislation that strengthens our mental health care services and improves the negative social circumstances impacting mental health (reducing poverty, advocating for gun safety and improving access to housing).
Compassion: I grew up on a dairy farm as one of five children. My parents were simple, down to earth people who taught us the ethic of hard work and modeled good, old-fashioned kindness. They were never too good for anyone and never looked down on others. They extended a helping hand without judgment and accepted everyone just as they were.
From their example, I internalized the value of compassion which led me to become a mental health counselor. While I have loved this work for the past 25 years, I’ve been compelled to do more. So, I am taking my knowledge and care for others beyond my therapy office to advocate to improve the lives of everyone in Wisconsin as a legislator. I want to help pass legislation that positively impacts our collective mental well-being through changes like improving public school funding, advancing gun safety reform, and expanding health care access.
Contribution: I believe in the mental health benefits of being in service to something bigger than oneself. As such, I’ve been a Girl Scout leader, gone on Mission trips, coordinated a feminine hygiene product drive for our food pantry and in 2021, I developed a nonprofit focused on having the community come together to volunteer for an annual day of service.
Being elected to the State Senate will allow me to contribute in a new, meaningful way. I will responsively represent and serve the direct needs of the constituents of the 14th district.
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 finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Wisconsin scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Wisconsin State Assembly District 42 |
Officeholder Wisconsin State Senate District 14 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 19, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joan Ballweg (R) |
Wisconsin State Senate District 14 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
