Sarah Keyeski, State Senate Candidate, Says She’ll Prioritize Living Wages in Rural Communities
Democratic candidate for Wisconsin Senate District 14 Sarah Keyeski grew up on a farm and says she believes “that rural communities are the backbone of our state.” In order to advance opportunities for rural communities, she says she commits to doing the following: protecting farms and agricultural businesses; investing in broadband infrastructure; and supporting small businesses. According to her campaign website, Keyeksi wants to “enhance economic vibrancy in our rural communities,” noting that she wants ‘’young people to be able to stay in their communities with the option of earning a good living.”
As a farmer’s daughter, Keyeski says she sees “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.” She supports “increasing state funding to strengthen our public schools and lifting revenue limits” and opposes “using public funds to subsidize private school voucher programs in our state.”
Republican incumbent Joan Ballweg lives with her husband in Markesan, where she served as alderperson on the City Council for four years, followed by mayor for six years. She served as the state representative for the 41st Assembly District from 2004 to 2020. Ballweg was born in West Allis, Wisconsin to a first-generation American.
According to her campaign website, “Joan has authored legislation impacting agriculture, small businesses, health care, education, state preparedness and homeland security in the State of Wisconsin.” However, she voted in favor of SB 1 – a bill which rejected Governor Tony Evers’ $365 million plan to invest in child care providers. According to the Wisconsin Examiner, the bill “replace[d] every item in the original $1 billion package with a $2.5 billion tax cut.” According to calculations from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, nearly two-thirds of the savings from the tax cut proposed in SB 1 would go to the wealthiest 20% of Wisconsin taxpayers.