MADISON, Wis. — The new year is underway with a new Senate Minority Leader at the helm for Democrats in Madison.
Spectrum News 1 Political Reporter Anthony DaBruzzi sat down with State Sen. Dianne Hesselbein of Middleton to talk about the transition and what she hopes to accomplish this year.
Hesselbein was elected to the leadership post by her colleagues in early December, after State Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, announced her campaign for Dane County Executive and decision to step down from her role in the caucus.
“I've certainly been impressed with Senator Agard’s leadership over the past year and watching that, and it was an opportunity when she decided to run for county executive. I thought, 'How can I serve my community or the caucus more?' And I thought, 'I could do this,'” Hesselbein explained. “And so, I ran for it, and I was fortunate, and it's a real honor to be selected.”
Hesselbein isn’t a new face in the Legislature, having previously served in the Assembly. However, her election to the Wisconsin Senate in 2022, and now as leader of the minority caucus, gives her the opportunity to work across the aisle in a new way.
She said her Republican colleagues, including Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Senate President Chris Kapenga, have already reached out to congratulate and meet with her.
“There's a lot of things that happen in the Senate that are different than the Assembly, different procedures that can happen,” Hesselbein added. “And so, just kind of meeting with them to see how they perceive the rest of the session going.”
In this biennium, so far, Republicans and Democrats have been able to come together on a state budget, an overhaul of shared revenue, which is how the state funds local units of government, as well as an agreement to keep Brewers baseball in Milwaukee, among other things.
Hesselbein said she is proud of those accomplishments but feels there is more work to do when it comes to finding consensus.
“I think it's good that we have an open-door policy and that we can have those frank discussions,” Hesselbein said. “I think we can agree on a lot of small bills, and sometimes when it comes to larger bills, we have a hard time, but there is room for bipartisan compromise once in a while.”
With 2024 being a major election year, lawmakers are expected to wrap up their work sooner rather than later — something Hesselbein, now in her new role, doesn’t want to see happen.
“[We’ll] continue to push our legislative priorities of Medicaid expansion, cannabis legalization, fully funding K-12 schools, funding our higher education as well; those are things we're always going to be pushing for,” Hesselbein said. “I'm not sure when we're going to be done this year, though. I've heard rumors that we might be done in February, which I think is a shame. We have a lot of work to get done — whether it's child care, workforce development — there's a lot of things that we could be meeting and voting on, and I'm hoping we continue to work throughout the entire legislative session.”