Rozar easily wins in 69th Assembly

Republican Donna Rozar handily beat her Democratic opponent, Brian Giles, on Tuesday, ensuring that the 69th Assembly District would remain red for at least the next two years. Rozar, a member of the Wood County Board of Supervisors who lives in Marshfi eld, captured about 66 percent of the vote (18,567), compared to 34 percent for Giles (9,603). The Republican won wide majorities of the vote in all local municipalities and in both Clark and Marathon counties, which make up a bulk of the district.

Rozar will take over for fellow Republican Bob Kulp of Stratford, who had represented the district for the past six years after replacing Rep. Scott Suder.

At a campaign stop in Abbotsford on Oct. 27, exactly one week before the election, Donna Rozar said one of her first priorities once elected is to establish regular office hours throughout the district.

“As I’ve said before, I look forward to being an accessible, approachable representative,” she said. Once she goes through the orientation process for new lawmakers, she will be able to hire someone for her office.

“I want a staff member who’s going to be responsive to the needs of the people in the 69th, and communicate with me about what people need so I can help navigate the bureaucracy,” she said.

Rozar also plans on setting up appointments with all of the mayors and municipal leaders in the district to discuss their expectations for her in Madison As a registered nurse, Rozar said she’d love to be assigned to a committee that deals with health care issues.

“I think that would be a good fit,” she said.

Infrastructure is another issue she has an interest in, especially since she represents a rural district that is always concerned about roads, bridges and other forms of transportation.

Rozar said many of her constituents drive from places like Loyal or Medford down to Marshfield for work.

Broadband internet access is also something she wants to promote while in Madison.

Also, Rozar says her 20 years of experience on the Wood County Board of Supervisors, including time on the executive committee, has made her well-versed in issues of finance and personnel.

Rozar plans on finishing out her current term as a county board supervisor, which expires in 2022.

The newly elected lawmaker said she’s not sure what bills might come before her during first few weeks or months in Madison.

“The legislature really hasn’t met face to face for quite some time because of the COVID stuff, and Madison is locked up tight as a drum,” she said. “Dane County has been pretty restrictive.”

Rozar said she really enjoyed getting out and talking to voters before the election, and hearing their concerns.

“Public safety seems to be a huge issue with the public,” she said. “People want to be protected and their property to be protected, and there’s a lot of concern that we may not see that.”

Rozar said she’s “proud to be associated with the party that doesn’t want to defund the police.”

Due to the economic impacts of COVID- 19, Rozar said she expects the state will have less tax revenue to work with as they start to work on the next budget.

“I think the budget is going to be really tight this year,” she said. “As a Wood County supervisor, I worked really hard on the budget.”

Still, moving from county level government to the state legislature will be quite a leap, Rozar said.

“I’m really excited about representing the people of the 69th Assembly District, and I will do so passionately and enthusiastically,” she said.

Rozar said she wants to serve at least two terms in the legislature if possible.

“It takes you at least one term to kind of learn things,” she said. “Bob Kulp was in there six years, three terms.”

When Mayor Lori Voss asked Rozar about whether she supports term limits, Rozar said she’s “not a big fan” of them. She said it takes a number of terms to figure out how Madison works.

“Term limits affect the effective people just as much the ineffective people,” she said.

Instead of term limits, Rozar said she would like to see more people running for office every cycle to keep the races competitive.