Progressive Voters Guide

Abigail Lowery has spent her life in education and healthcare as a special ed. teacher, autism line therapist, respite care provider, group home coordinator, and special education assistant. She is advocating for Medicaid expansion, a minimum wage increase, more rural broadband investment, nonpartisan redistricting, campaign finance reform, a transition to clean energy, and fully funding public schools. She also supports the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing voting accessibility. She is challenging incumbent Republican Representative John Jagler. Lowery is the progressive choice in this race.

Democrat Melissa Winker is running to unseat incumbent Republican Barbara Dittrich. Her top issues are affordable healthcare and expanded coverage, education, creating good jobs, gun violence prevention, and clean water. On these issues, her proposed policies are Medicaid expansion, mental health funding, preventing unfair billing practices, lowering the costs of prescription drugs, reducing student loan debt, investing in worker training, and universal background checks. Dittrich favors keeping police officers in schools and opposes reproductive freedom and fair maps. Winker is the progressive choice in this race.

Longtime educator Don Vruwink is running for re-election to his third term in the Assembly. Vruwink has been a leader in the fight for nonpartisan redistricting and an advocate for fair compensation for teachers. Vruwink supports a worker's right to join a union and collectively bargain and sees the creation of family sustaining jobs as a top priority. He is being challenged by Republican Beth Drew, whose principles include limited government and family. Drew has not released more specific policy positions. Vruwink is the more progressive choice in this race.