Ben DeSmidt and Kyle Flood, both Kenosha Democrats, are prioritizing marijuana legalization and public education funding in their 65th AD primary campaigns.
DeSmidt serves on the Gateway Technical College Board of Trustees and is owner of Union Park Tavern and Pavle’s Lounge in Kenosha. DeSmidt’s also a former teacher at Carthage College. Flood is the community organizer at the Kenosha Education Justice Coalition and served on the Kenosha Unified School Board.
DeSmidt, 51, and Flood, 30, spoke to WisPolitics about their platforms.
The winner of the primary will face Republican Party candidate Brian Gonzales, R-Kenosha, who is running unopposed. Tod Ohnstad, D-Kenosha, currently holds the seat, but announced he will not seek reelection after serving in the Assembly for a dozen years. Ohnstad endorsed DeSmidt for the seat. The Kenosha-area 65th AD is 55% Dem.
Flood and DeSmidt both would like to see portions of the state’s projected $3 billion surplus for 2023-25 put toward education.
Flood added he would like to use the funds to expand BadgerCare and would like to “rewrite the entire formula of how our public schools are funded.”
“We need to get rid of the voucher school model and go all-in on fully funding public schools for gifted programs, special education and language programs,” Flood said. “I would definitely be more in favor of using our surplus to do things like that. I think that there’s reforms we can make to how we tax corporations in this state and locally that could also help us find dollars to do big things.”
DeSmidt said the Kenosha School District has gone through school closures this year to stave off a budget deficit. He would like to see surplus funds put toward public education so that it doesn’t continue.
“That money has already been committed by the voters and taxpayers to the support of the state, so I think we should use those funds principally for programs that support all the citizens of the state,” DeSmidt said. “We have a commitment to educate our citizens in the public system. If there are budget shortfalls, that would be a great thing to put the surplus towards.”
Both Flood and DeSmidt said they support legalizing marijuana for recreational and medical purposes. DeSmidt is endorsed by state Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, a leading Wisconsin lawmaker pushing marijuana legalization, and Flood is the president of Residents for Cannabis Reform which, through referendums, helped push the Kenosha City Council to lower first-time marijuana possession charges to $1.
Flood said he would like to see medical marijuana legalized “ASAP” and wants to make sure Wisconsin has the best system for recreational marijuana use.
“[I want] a system that is enriching the state, but also not putting too many barriers to the business owner or to the consumer in the way that we’ve seen in Illinois with their exorbitantly high taxes,” Flood said. “So I’d really like to make sure we have a good system in place. Let’s legalize it, and let’s use the tax dollars for things like education and health care.”
DeSmidt said he believes in complete legalization across the board.
“It’s hard for me to comprehend how something that has a medical purpose would not be legalized,” DeSmidt said. “Whatever your opinions may be about recreational use, to deny a medical treatment just doesn’t make sense.”
In addition:
- Neither candidate supports GOP efforts seeking to ban transgender athletes from playing girls sports.
- Both candidates support Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes of GOP efforts to reduce or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion positions in state government, including at the Universities of Wisconsin.
This is a continuation of a series of WisPolitics interviews with Assembly primary candidates. The primary is Tuesday.
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