Will overwhelming support for paid family leave translate into Wisconsin votes this November?

With so many Americans feeling “sandwiched” between child care and elder care, support for paid family leave is strong, even among Republicans. But Wisconsin’s GOP lawmakers have consistently stood in the way.

When Megan Diaz-Ricks’ mom was fighting cancer in 2019, she remembers needing a “Frankenstein” approach of cobbling together paid time off, unpaid time, vacation time, and others contributing their own time before she could take a break from her job and provide her mom with the time they both required.

“I was resentful not to get the time with her,” she said when Democratic legislators were proposing a paid family and medical leave program for Wisconsin workers in 2022. 

Later, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would also propose a paid family leave program. Republicans controlling the Legislature removed the proposal from the state budget bill and ignored his call for a special session to deal with family-friendly proposals such as paid leave and affordable childcare.

In 2024, with new legislative maps and favorable tailwinds for the Harris-Walz ticket, advocates have renewed hope that things could change in Wisconsin next year—ending years of Republican obstruction to pro-worker policies that could help businesses deal with employee recruitment and retention in the midst of a long-term labor shortage.

“It means that people, especially women, aren’t forced to leave the labor force to care for their families or their health,” said Tricia Zunker, a former Wausau School Board president and an associate justice for the Ho Chunk Supreme Court, on UpNorthNews Radio. “We also see benefits in the working environment, things like improved morale, a stronger economy, healthier families and businesses, and truly greater equality for women and families.”

READ MORE: Where Harris and Trump Stand on Paid Family Leave

“We’ve seen where Minnesota has a paid family leave policy. Illinois has a paid family leave policy,” said Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski. “And so how are we getting people to want to stay in Wisconsin and move to Wisconsin? We have to have family friendly policies. And paid family leave is a great example, because you can’t just take off work to take care of a sick child or a sick parent.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made it a centerpiece of a legislative agenda that led him to becoming the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Minnesota will have paid family leave in 2026 that allows people to take time off for a range of family, medical, child, parent, and other needs—and be paid a portion of their wages, 55% to 90% depending on their current pay so that lower-wage workers aren’t disproportionately penalized for needing to the service. 

Illinois implemented a mandate last year that includes leave at full pay, but only up to 40 hours per year.

“We are the only developed nation that does not have a paid family leave policy,” Godlewski said. “And so states are understanding that they’ve got to do it now, on their own. They can’t necessarily wait for the federal government.”

Evers proposed 12 weeks of paid family leave, starting in January 2025. The program would have been initially funded by $243 million in state funding, then through a state trust fund with contributions from employers and employees, estimated to be approximately $2.00 to $3.50 per week. 

GOP lawmakers rejected both attempts.

“Republicans will not support the creation of new taxes on hardworking Wisconsinites,” state Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in February 2023.

But hardworking Wisconsinites overwhelmingly support the idea. A Marquette Law School Poll conducted in November 2022 showed 73% of respondents —even 62% of Republicans— favored a proposal that would require businesses to provide paid family leave for mothers and fathers of new babies.

The Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy (CFFE) found a similar level of support in its survey.

“The fact is that 77% of working people—that’s more than 2 million people in Wisconsin—don’t have access to paid leave through their jobs,” CFFE executive director Sondra Goldstein told UpNorthNews Radio. 

Democratic legislators like Rep. Francesca Hong of Madison will continue proposing and pushing for paid leave, whatever the results in November.

“For the economic security and the care for our working Wisconsin families and working Wisconsinites, legislation and policies that include paid leave are critical,” Hong said at a state Capitol news conference earlier this year. “No one should ever have to choose between care for themselves or a loved one and a paycheck.”