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Whatever the results in November, there will be a lot of new faces in both the Wisconsin Senate and the Assembly next year, with 20% of the legislature’s Republicans announcing they are leaving rather than asking voters to reelect them. Among the Republicans not stepping away is Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), the co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee who is facing one of this election’s strongest efforts by Democrats who want to encourage a voter-imposed retirement.
Three Democrats will face off in the Aug. 11 primary to determine who will challenge Marklein in the Nov. 3 general election for the 17th Senate District: Corrine Hendrickson, a former home childcare operator in New Glarus; Rep. Jenna Jacobson from the Dane County community of Oregon, who is leaving her seat in the 50th Assembly District to run in the primary; and Lisa White, a home improvement business owner in Potosi.
Hendrickson: raising awareness of the childcare crisis
We first began covering Corrine Hendrickson in UpNorthNews stories during the pandemic, when public awareness started building about the lack of affordable quality childcare.
“We are the workforce behind the workforce,” Hendrickson told us in 2023. “Without us, people can’t work.”
But despite testifying before the Legislature and Congress and years of lobbying efforts, Hendrickson and other providers have not seen Republicans willing to take their concerns seriously — and Hendrickson had to close down her center when funding ran out for the Child Care Counts program.
“I am running because I believe that people who have lived experiences should be at the table making decisions,” Hendrickson said about her state Senate candidacy. “I would be the only state senator with an education degree. With all my work with Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed and Main Street Alliance, I’ve worked with state and federal representatives on writing legislation. I am somebody who understands and listens.”
Hendrickson opposed the recent surplus spending proposal negotiated by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders of the Assembly and Senate. The package of tax relief measures and special education support was defeated in a bipartisan vote in the Senate.
“It’s another bait-and-switch for property tax relief,” Hendrickson said in describing the way the extra state funding would offset property tax funds for school districts but wouldn’t give schools any extra funds. “So most of this is actually blowing a giant hole in the budget.”
Jacobson: personal finance help on a state scale
Jenna Jacobson said the genesis of her public service comes from her mom, a pastor. After college, Jacobson worked as a financial analyst and a housing program specialist, helping people secure stable housing — before serving on her village board and then in the Assembly.
“I took the leap,” Jacobson said, “because I had been working on housing issues at the village board. I have a financial background. So, understanding the realities of people who are just trying to make ends meet, was critical to some of the work we were doing on the village board. I also have three kids in the school system, so the idea that we could also help with public education and local control for our communities really spoke to me.”
The surplus spending package passed the Assembly because 10 Democrats, including Jacobson, voted for it. She points to her local school district, where a referendum failed and led to the loss of about 20 positions, in explaining her vote
“I kept thinking that the money, the increased dollars for special education funding, if I could save even a few jobs that would be not only helpful for those folks individually, but the community — and bridge that gap until we can get a better school funding formula that really tackles the needs of our school districts.”
Jacobson said she was motivated to run for Senate because of Marklein’s support in the last state budget debate for no increase in general state aid for public schools, not even to keep up with inflation. Seven of the ten school districts in her Assembly district lost funding in this budget cycle.
“That kind of prompted me to say, hey, we need a senator who’s going to listen to the district and write a budget that is reflective of what folks need. I don’t feel like Howard has been responsive to the needs of his district. He had the opportunity and he chose a different path. And so I think it’s time to help him retire.”
White: business experience and a western perspective
Lisa White says she’s a lifelong Grant County resident who wants to bring to Madison the voices of the western part of the district, which hasn’t sent a legislator to the capitol for more than 50 years.
“When I’m out talking to people in Crawford, Grant, and Lafayette counties, they feel disenfranchised,” White said. “And that everything happens east of Dodgeville, specifically the greater Madison area. The people in my district, specifically in the rural areas, do feel very invisible and very cynical about the Madison bubble, so to speak.”
White has been involved in home construction and remodeling across the area for more than 30 years.
“I feel that since I’ve been a businesswoman in the most rural of areas and the most urban of areas, including all of Madison, I feel that I have a good handle on the broader voice — not just a singular topic and not just a singular zip code, but all of it.”
Had she been in the Legislature, White said she would have supported the surplus spending bill and felt too many legislators were using kids as “pawns” instead of trying to solve pressing needs.
“I don’t wholeheartedly embrace this bill. However, I think Governor Evers was making a good attempt at getting some money for these kids, specifically special education. And I think if we’re going to repair the divisiveness and for Wisconsin to really get work done, this would have been an opportunity to put a foot on that path, rather than holding out for perfect.”
All three candidates praised each other in their separate interviews, saying any one of them would be a better senator for southwest Wisconsin than Marklein.
