Many of our elected official seem to have personal bias regarding cannabis. There is been a lot of misinformation from individual elected officials. We aim to combat some of that misinformation on this page.
Wisconsin Republican opposition seems to center around the National Marijuana Institute (https://www.thenmi.org/) and their reports from Colorado under the “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas” along with personal bias and misinformation from individual elected officials.
Van Wanggaard (R) Senate District 21. The new district lines make some experts say this is a 50.3% DEM, 48.4% GOP and 1.3% OTHER. While some other reports I read still show a slight advantage to the GOP with 51.1%. Either way, it will be close and for the purposes of our analysis, we are labeling the seat very competitive and will be up in 2026.
This Senator holds onto the National Marijuana Institute (https://www.thenmi.org/) and their reports from Colorado under the “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas” as his bible for opposition. Along with personal bias reinforced from a career in law enforcement, this guy sits on powerful committees and is in the 2025-26 Republican Leadership as Majority Caucus Chair.
Van Wanggaard is a main obstacle to reform and is a prohibitionist. The new district maps will put current Senator Julian Bradley (SD 28) into the same district as Wanggaard. Bradley relocated in the past to run for office and moved again to keep representing a red district. Will Van Wanggaard retire in 2026 and let any other Republican take a stab at this new close district?
Chris Kapenga (R) Senate District 33. Kapenga hates marijuana, but loves the attention hating on marijuana gets him. The new maps do not threaten him and this will be a 67.5% GOP lean district. He was replaced as Senate President for the 2025-26 Legislative Session by Mary Felzkowski. He is up for re-election in 2026.
Devin LeMahieu (R) Senate District 9. This district is predicted to stay Republican with 57% of the vote when he is up for re-election in 2026. He was not as vocal an opponent of reform until he was elected Senate Majority Leader. Now he uses the “It remains illegal at the federal government level” and when asked about the GOP push for a medical marijuana start up bill to become law, he uses the “FDA” as an excuse. LeMahieu holds the current Majority Leader position in the Senate.
As Assistant Majority Leader in the 2019-20 Assembly, Feyen gave early signs of hope to medical marijuana patients in Wisconsin during a April 2019 interview saying “he’s open to the idea“.
During 2019, the Assembly Republicans prefiled a bill for the 2020 legislative session to create a medical marijuana program in Wisconsin (Senate Bill 683) which he failed to co-sponsor or publicly support. The support of Senator Feyen on this legislation would have been critical in the Senate.
April 2019: Feyen says he doesn’t support legalizing recreational marijuana, after hearing from police chiefs and sheriff’s departments.
April 2019: A statewide poll shows overwhelming support for legalizing medical marijuana, and a Republican from northeast Wisconsin says he’s open to the idea. Sen. Dan Feyen of Fond du Lac says he’d need to hear what doctors think, along with the FDA. He’s also concerned that the federal government still classifies marijuana, on the same level as cocaine and heroin.
Feyen was just re-elected to the Senate in 2024 and re-elected to his Assistant Majority Leadership position.
Steven Nass (R) Senate District 11. (Prediction 62% GOP lean) This guy was not redistricted and will remain the incumbent. He and Senator Stroebel are buddies and voted against hemp together. The southeastern border of Wisconsin is safe from legalization with this guy as your Senator. He is up for re-election in 2026.
Assembly Majority Leader Robin Vos (R) says he will not allow medical marijuana to be legalized until there is no chance it will lead to recreational marijuana.
The last bill Vos wrote was so controversial that the Republican Senate did not even submit a counter offer and it seems Vos did not want to work with the Republican Senate on the 2023-24 legislation, let alone will he ever work with the Democrats.
Vos survived two recall attempts, a primary challenger and a three way race in the 2024 general election, along with holding of Scott Allen (R) from attempt at his leadership position. Speaker Vos again will be controlling the flow in 2025-26 and has already said that with 10 less members, the GOP caucus just got tighter, and harder for them to pass medical marijuana within that caucus.
Assembly Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R) is a continued prohibitionist. She faced a primary challenger in 2024, but no Democrat on the final ballot.
2025 Senate Majority Leadership:
President – Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk)
President Pro Tempore – Sen. Pat Testin (R-Stevens Point)
Majority Leader – Sen. Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg)
Assistant Majority Leader – Sen. Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac)
Majority Caucus Chair – Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine)
Majority Caucus Vice-Chair – Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton)
