AD 74: Chanz Green (R) vs Jeanne Bruce (D)
The 74th Assembly district is located in northwest Wisconsin, the district comprises all of Iron, Sawyer, and Washburn counties, along with most of Ashland County, the southern half of Bayfield County, the southern half of Douglas County, and part of northeast Burnett County. It includes the cities of Hayward, Hurley, Mellen, Montreal, Shell Lake, and Spooner, and the villages of Birchwood, Butternut, Couderay, Exeland, Mason, Minong, Radisson, Solon Springs, and Winter. The district also contains the and most of the Chequamegon National Forest.
For a guy who has Green in his name he sure seems to just playing for team Red. If Incumbent Green thinks the GOP Caucus will be able to pass any marijuana reform measures without the Democrats is kind of silly and makes me wonder what he is smoking (or drinking) up there.
Green was recently asked: Is there any Democratic-backed initiative in the Legislature that you can get behind —keeping in mind that we don’t know which party will be in control in the next term?
Green:Â I have not seen a lot of things out of the Democratic side this session that I could support.
Chanz Green (R-Grand View)
Biography
Born Amery, Wisconsin, January 29, 1991; single.
Graduate Amery High School 2009.
Occupation: Tavern owner (Pioneer Bar in Cable and Ashland Event Rentals). Former assistant director of public works (Amery, Wisconsin); utilities manager (Ashland, Wisconsin).
Member: Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association; NRA; Hunter Nation; Wisconsin Tavern League.
Elected to Assembly 2022.
Current Committees
Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Committee on Forestry, Parks and Outdoor Recreation
Committee on Rural Development
Committee on Sporting Heritage
Committee on State Affairs (Vice-Chair)
Speaker’s Task Force on Truancy
Incumbent.
Green recently survived a 2024 primary challenger and emerged as the winner with 56% of the vote.
We first contact his campaign in July, 2022 and asked if he needed any information on this matter. This district had a primary battle back in 2022 also and we contacted his campaign three times.
Oct 4th, 2022 He says he is supportive of medical marijuana but before committing on recreational he would want to study it.
After the Fall 2022 Election and Green emerged the winner, supporters in this area of Northern Wisconsin stated they supported Green because of his stance on marijuana reform and some Republican insiders indicated he supported reforming the marijuana laws. Chanz Green was named by The Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Network as “One of the Republicans to keep an eye on in 2023.“
SuperiorTelegram Interview from Oct 10th, 2024: Reporter asked: The 74th District is fairly unique in that it’s one of only a handful in Wisconsin that borders two other states, in this case, Minnesota and Michigan. Are there things that those states are doing right that Wisconsin isn’t, and that affect the district’s residents? And what would you do to rectify that?
Chanz Green: An issue that both Michigan and now Minnesota have passed is legalizing recreational marijuana. We have seen a huge flow of people from Wisconsin go through to both states when it comes to recreational marijuana. I myself am a little leery of full recreational marijuana, but I did support a bill last session that would allow for medicinal use. I do believe there’s benefits to medical marijuana. If we allow for people to access it when it comes to health care treatment, I think that would be a big win for Wisconsin.
I won’t lie. I see a lot of traffic in northern Wisconsin, either headed to Minnesota or Michigan, and if you go through these little border towns, especially in Ironwood, Michigan, a lot of marijuana shops have popped up. It’s definitely an economic driver over there. So it’s definitely something that Wisconsin will have to consider in the future, but again, I’m hesitant to dive right in head first. I think starting with medical marijuana would be a more appropriate move and hopefully we can see something to that next session.
Rep. Green was not a co-sponsor of the Republican version on medical marijuana and did not co-sponsor any cannabis reform legislation since being elected to office.
Local activists and supporters of reform are very disappointed to see him run for State Assembly again without being more supportive of cannabis reform in public.
Please follow his campaign on facebook page and visit his official website for more details on this candidate.
vs
Jeanne Bruce (D-Spooner)
Relevant experience: A Democrat from Spooner, Bruce recently retired after a successful 30-year career in program and fund development in business, government and the non-profit sector. She has served on the Washburn County Board of Commissioners, Washburn County Health and Human Services Board, Solid Waste Recycling Committee, UW Extension Committee, and boards of the Washburn County Transit Commission, Indianhead Community Action Agency and Wisconsin Rural Housing Foundation. Bruce also served on the staff of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Russ Feingold. To learn more about Jeanne Bruce and her campaign, visit this link.
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 to gauge their positions on access to contraception and IVF, classroom censorship, marijuana legalization, and more.
Jeanne Bruce indicated she would support legalization of marijuana for Wisconsin.
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: RPubs, CNanalysis (Very Likely Rep +19) WisPolitics /2024 Assembly Races (61% Rep), Davesredistircing, PeoplesMaps, Ballotpedia
