Senate 30: Wall (D) vs Rafter (R)
The new maps placed three Republican Incumbents into this district and they all are either retired, moving to run in a different district or are running for another seat. That should be our first clue to how this story is going to end. Senator Cowles retired, Senator Wimberger is going to run for the 2nd Senate District and Senator Jacque has a current congressional bid going with Republican Primary looming almost for certain.
Senate District 30 is now basically the City of Green Bay, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bellevue, Ashwaubenon, Allouez and De Pere.
The pollsters like WisPolitics put the new Senate District 30 as a 52.6% Democrat favorite. Other projections put the district as a toss up with a slight 1+ advantage to the Democrats.
There are 5 competitive Senate Races and 2 out of those 5 are listed as toss ups. The other 3 races either tilt, lean or are likely Democrat. In a close toss up district like this, every vote will matter to both parties.
UPDATE AFTER PRIMARY ELECTION AND NEW FORCAST NUMBERS REPORTED: This race moves from the “Toss Up” category to the “Tilt Democrat” category.
The Democrat
Jamie Wall (D – Green Bay)
Business consultant Jamie Wall announced he is running for the Green Bay-area 30th Senate District. Wall does strategic planning and analysis for businesses out of Green Bay and helped establish the northeastern Wisconsin economic development organization New North.
There are 99 state Assembly seats and 16 state Senate seats on the ballot this November. The ACLU of Wisconsin sent a questionnaire to all candidates and published their answers on August 21st.
We are not surprised that he answered YES to the ACLU question: Do you support the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana for recreational use by adults 21 and over in Wisconsin?
Wall for Wisconsin Campaign Website; Campaign Facebook Page Wall for Wisconsin.
Wall also ran as the Democratic Candidate for Congressional seat in 2012 in which he lost to Republican Reid Ribble.
The Republican
Jim Rafter (R – Allouez)
I saw that Michael Best Strategies had Jim Rater (R) campaign announcement in their Capitol Insight Archives. Rafter has been president of Allouez for eight years. He was first elected to the Allouez Village Board in April 2014.
Campaign Facebook contacted June 3rd with no repsonse.
On July 8th Rafter acknowledged receipt of this link from NORML, asking him about his stance on marijuana reform.
August 21st ACLU publication indicated that candidate Rafter did not respond to their legislative candidate questionnaire.
I again contacted his campaign on August 23rd and am eagerly awaiting a response.
An activist in the district did give me an early report saying that Rafter was concerned about roadside testing for police officers. So far nothing public has been said by Rafter about cannabis reform.
Stay tuned and get active!
I will provide you additional 2024 Wisconsin State Election coverage throughout the campaign season. This next election is extremely important for marijuana reform and I will continue to bring you information as more candidates make their political moves.
In the event that we end up with divided government in the 2024-25 legislation session, the official formation of The Wisconsin Cannabis Caucus would be a must first step towards reform. The official establishment of this Caucus will represent the growing, bipartisan support in Wisconsin.
Although session as ended we still urge you to contact your elected officials. The top four action alerts are still functionable on The Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Action Network for you immediate use.
Sources: CNanalysis, WisPolitics /2024 State Senate, Davesredistircing, PeoplesMaps
