Representative Angie Sapik 2024 Election Statement
Superior, WI -- For my entire adult life, I have been concerned about the state of our country and the state of our state. I believe we are headed in an irreversible direction that is affecting our mental state and our wallets in ways that will forever change us. After the pandemic of 2020 and seeing the reaction of our government officials, I realized that the time for action is now, so I ran for Assembly in District 73 in 2022. In a seat that was close to 50% Republican vs 50% Democrat, I won by a margin of around 500 votes.
For the last twenty years, there has been next to zero communication from our sitting legislators. I make it a priority to be an unignorable voice in Madison and to let people know what was happening daily through email, news, press releases, and social media. In this short span of time, I secured 400 million dollars for the new bridge, the highest percentage increase in shared revenue for every municipality in the district in decades, and historically high increases in aid for public education. Also, the 3 million dollars I fought for to renovate Pattison Park and Amnicon State Park is available through the state grant program. A lot has been accomplished in a short amount of time!
Being a good legislator means you do what’s best for your district and the state, and that is what I have done. I continue to have difficult conversations and challenge authority to benefit this region. I have grave concerns about the elected officials running this city. From lack of fixing our streets to using extra shared revenue for “saltless deicer” for our plows, these poor decisions waste tax dollars with little thought to how it affects the city. There have been endless resources dumped into worthless projects from ice sculptures to murals. We have taken on expensive, unnecessary renovations costing us millions of dollars annually. In addition, even more of your tax dollars are being poured into a tourism media company out of Minnesota instead of keeping your hard-earned money in Northwestern Wisconsin. I feel it’s important for people to realize that the City of Superior is capable of so much more and while we should support the arts and tourism, our first priority should be Superior’s infrastructure.
In Madison, we passed laws that affect everyone statewide including my Rural Dentistry Scholarship Bill and tomorrow the governor will sign my bill prioritizing getting more people on the organ donation list. We are accomplishing great things through legislation and the budget, but there is still much work to be done.
Unfortunately, with the swing of the Supreme Court in the middle of my term, the current legislative maps were deemed unconstitutional, and we had to vote on new district lines. In this situation, I could either vote for the newly drawn governor’s maps, which would give us the most likely chance to keep Republican Majority in the House or vote against the governor’s maps and open the opportunity for even worse gerrymandering by hired out-of-state cartographers.
In the governor’s map, our district changed from nearly 50/50 Republican versus Democrat to an overwhelming 62% Democrat seat. Ultimately, and honestly in the last seconds, I decided to hit the green button and vote for the Governor’s Maps – for the good of the party and what I deemed to be for the good of the state. Essentially, I voted myself out of office to help save the Republican majority.
Now, campaign season is here. I am announcing today, after grappling with this decision for months, I will not be running for reelection for Assembly in the 2024 election.
There will be ample opportunity for future political endeavors, and I highly anticipate that I will not quickly fade into the night. Of course, my office is available as it always has been to help anywhere I can through the entirety of my term. Thank you all for your support and understanding of this very particular, unique, and unfortunate situation.
All my best,
State Representative Angie Sapik
Last Update: Mar 22, 2024 7:04 am CDT
