Campaign Spotlight: Assembly District 14

Nate Kieso, Brady Coulthard, and Angelito Tenorio are the three candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in Assembly District 14 in the upcoming primary on Tuesday, August 13th. While Milwaukee Beagle does not endorse candidates, we also do not shy away from having opinions. We base our opinions on the facts and hope to help our readers make informed decisions on election day. We recognize that political races do not take place in a vacuum and often those resisting positive change have access to much more resources. We hope to help even the playing field a bit while not compromising our commitment to truth. This is why Milwaukee Beagle only interviewed Kieso for this article. While not every Democratic race can be clearly split into an establishment Democrat vs an actual progressive, working class candidate, in this case, the contrast between Kieso and his opponents –in particular, Coulthard– is clear.

What’s your story? What made you decide to run for Assembly in AD14?

I’ve seen many injustices as a social worker and a union activist that require actions from the state that just aren’t coming. I think a lot of that has to do with GOP control of the Assembly but also there’s a number of people within the [Democratic] Party, who don’t really see eye-to-eye with the platform of the party. Often I’ve sat on the other end of the table during endorsement committees for my own union and the [Milwaukee Area Labor Council] and we’ll see people make big promises to the labor movement but they don’t follow through or do things contrary to what they say to us.

One of your opponents in the Democratic primary, Angelito Tenorio, is a former Alderman in West Allis, albeit one who didn’t finish his term there. Your other opponent, Brady Coulthard, has worked on a number of electoral campaigns, primarily or maybe entirely for Democrats, to varying degrees of success. How do you distinguish yourself from Angelito and Brady? Including your connections to West Allis/District 14?

I guess how I distinguish myself from the other candidates is that while, yes, I’m… a very political person, I’ve not been involved directly with the [Democratic] Party but through the labor movement. Yes, I’ve, you know, knocked doors for every Democratic Presidential candidate since Gore, when I couldn’t even vote. But… you know, I haven’t been directly involved as much with the Party. I say that, but then I realize I was on the [Democratic Party of Johnson County’s Board, in Iowa] for about a year before I came to Wisconsin, 8 years ago.1

I think a major distinction would be our CVs: I have a history of being a career-long healthcare worker. I’ve got a history of being a career-long union activist. If you look at Brady’s CV, you see someone who’s just worked as a campaign consultant, and doesn’t have that much life experience outside of that.

I think Angelito has some definite life experience and he’s been an Alderman. I think he legitimately has some vision. I was partial to him when he ran for Alderman… he was the first person in about a decade or so in West Allis municipal politics to approach the Milwaukee Area Labor Council [for an endorsement] and I urged the council to get involved. I was pretty excited for Angelito back then, and a little bummed that he left. When he ran for State Treasurer, I also thought he’d be the best candidate for that.

There’s a lot of ambition from both of them, whereas I came into this somewhat reluctantly. I hadn’t thought about it because I tend to think major change comes from mass movements. And I still do –however, there are just too many things that need to be done by the state. Mass movements can make pressure, but they need a voice in the Capitol.

At Milwaukee Beagle we talk a fair amount about who people in power are accountable to, since that’s likely to be who they’ll turn to when making tough decisions. When you’re faced with a tough decision, who will you be accountable to?

I mean, I absolutely want to be accountable to the constituents of the 14th Assembly District. I believe that they are largely working class… I mean, I think that about most of the world, but especially within our region. It’s very working class and supportive of the labor movement. The working class is my base and that’s who I’d want to be accountable to. And with that the political and mass movement power of the working class is within the labor movement, so I’d look to that for guidance, and for policy.

What’s the reaction been to your campaign on the doors? What are you hearing from people?

The perennial issue of healthcare, something that never gets done about. A number of half measures are attempted, but absolutely nothing gets done. We’re still stuck within a… what, 2013 is when the Affordable Care Act came into place and more than a decade later [Wisconsin] still hasn’t expanded Medicaid, even when we had a majority?

The Medicaid expansion is specifically for working people. These are people who are trying to improve their lives, you know, the people that you want to reward for what they’re attempting to do. With inflation, the cutoffs for Medicaid are far too low, you have to have an income so low it’d be incredibly difficult to have housing, to have enough food. With the way Social Security’s calculated, one would barely get any money from food stamps. These are people who are struggling immensely and we need to have the political will to change that.

There are a couple of competitive, contentious primaries in this election (especially Clancy vs. Anderson in AD19) that are showing divides in the local Democratic Party. You’ve experienced some of this dynamic, but instead of asking for your comment on that, how could we do better? And avoid a situation where two Democrats are throwing money at each other?

A policy proposal that comes up a lot is public financing of elections. Of course, you know, there’d still be machine politics, but that’d put a major curb on it.

I think voters should decide their leaders, not leaders deciding candidates. To be sure, Brady is a known quantity within the Democratic Party. But I didn’t really get the time of day from people within the Party, so I leaned more into what I consider my base, which is the labor movement. And the labor movement has overwhelmingly come out for me. I think having the AFL-CIO step up was a major indicator [of that].

There’s gonna be people who back a candidate first in any system. Public financing makes it so that one can more easily appeal to voters, to constituents, rather than just having those connections and money. I mean, I’ve raised a good sum, I think I’ve put a decent amount into mail, digital [ads], texting, etc. I have the privilege of having had a career and a spouse where we can put aside our nest egg to run for office. But it’s because I truly believe in the cause and I truly believe that the voters of West Allis, western Milwaukee, and southern Wauwatosa would find that appealing. It’s not a great sum, by any means, but… I believe around $30,000? (Nate clarified that around $14k is self-financed, and the rest is via donations, both from members of the public and from the contributions of unions that have endorsed him).

I mean, we think it’s pretty clear that Brady’s campaign is relying on the connections he built up through doing paid campaign work, and that’s probably true of his fundraising too, so… at the very least when you get endorsed by unions you have to go through the process of showing them that you deserve the endorsement. And building that relationship in a way that usually involves a process that’s accountable. 

Definitely, that’s why… I mean, I’m very proud of my individual endorsements, all people who absolutely align with my own values.2 I’m most proud of my labor endorsements –they go through a democratic process, it’s not just the endorsement of one individual, but thousands of working people across Wisconsin. 

And I can say that all of my endorsements align with my values, whereas when you look at Brady’s endorsements you find often contradictory positions from individuals who endorsed him. Some of whom are against public education, some of whom have a voting record that mirrors Republicans.3 I think with my endorsements you have a much clearer intention about my policy intentions.  

Any lessons you’ve learned from the campaign?

The money component is wild *laughs*. Personally, I would have figured out timelines better, specific dates for when I’d send out mail. Some of the union contributions allowed me to send more mail, pad out my digital budget, but… definitely would have had a better knowledge of timelines. Some things I would have done sooner, some things… you know, it’s mostly about mail *laughs*. Although most of them get recycled.

It’s like the Mitch Hedberg line about when someone hands you a flyer it’s like they’re saying, “Here, you throw this away!” 

Exactly! However when I’ve met a number of people at the doors who recognize me from the postcards they’re like, “Yeah, you came by earlier!” And I’m like, “No, I didn’t come by earlier.” And they say, “Well, how’d I get this, then,” and I want to say, “Well, that was the mail, the letter carrier.”

Ultimately, the biggest distinction between me and the other candidates is lived experience. I’ve worked in healthcare my entire career, but I’m also enmeshed in policy. I’ve been a case worker, I’ve evaluated grants, and I think that really sets me apart. That’s a perennial issue, it should be a human right. I’ve had to deal with the complexities of it and the shortcomings. I want to bring the caring ethos of a health care worker and the fighting spirit of a union organizer to the job in Madison. That sets me apart from the other candidates.

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1. For context, Coulthard is on the Executive Board of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County.

2. Kieso’s individual endorsements include –but are not limited to– Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski, Milwaukee Public School Board Member Missy Zombor, Milwaukee Public School Board Member Megan O’Halloran, Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez and AFSCME Council 32 President Paul Spink. More here.

3.