BY MIKE WARREN
EDITOR

MARSHFIELD – Among a trio of Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for the 86th Assembly seat in the November election is Donna Rozar of Marshfield, who feels she is running for an office she already holds.

“I am a sitting legislator seeking reelection. I am just seeking reelection in another Assembly district because I got redistricted out of my old district when the Supreme Court decided our maps were unconstitutional and demanded that we have new maps, so I got redistricted out and my residence is now in the 86th Assembly district,” Rozar told us during our recent visit.

The newly re-drawn 86th Assembly District now includes portions of Wood, Marathon and Portage counties.

“It was disappointing,” Rozar said about the passage of the new maps and the redrawn Assembly districts. “We all work hard to get elected and I guess we thought after the Census which we do every ten years, we just kind of thought it was a done deal and we’d be in our seat. Even though we represent about sixty-thousand people, for those sixty-thousand people to be fluid is disheartening because you get to know them, and we have constituents that tend to have the same problems over and over again and we help them navigate the bureaucracy of government, and then you lose them. This redistricting that we just had that we’re all now running under is chaotic, confusing and divisive.”   

The new 86th Assembly district consists of portions of four different former districts. 

“Forty-eight percent of the population in that district is my old 69th Assembly district,” said Rozar. “Twenty-five percent of that is the old 86th Assembly district. Twenty-one percent is Nancy VanderMeer’s old 70th Assembly district, and six-percent of that is Representative Edming’s, who has retired, but he represented the 87th Assembly district. So, this new, realigned 86th district is not the same district at all. It is comprised of four different districts.”

Rozar points to her diverse background as her main qualification for a seat in the Assembly.

“I bring unique life and work experiences to this,” she said. “With the retirement of Gae Magnafici (28th Assembly district), I would be the only nurse in the State Assembly. You may know I’ve been vice-chair of the Assembly Health Committee, and that has been a really interesting perspective to bring because I can stand up and say, ‘As a nurse, let me tell you.’ I’ll give you a perfect example. My first term in the State Assembly, I really fought for increased dental reimbursement for Medicaid patients because as a cardiac nurse, I know what poor dental hygiene does on the cardio-vascular system and on the body as a whole. I was able to go to the powers that be – the JFC (Joint Finance Committee) – and say, ‘Let me tell you what happens to somebody when they can’t get in to see a dentist,’ and then I told my story about this guy that had pulled his teeth with a vice pliers up in northern Wisconsin and he ended up in our hospital for six weeks on IV penicillin, had horrible damage to the endocardium of his heart and ended up dying in the operating room. Do you have any idea how much that cost the taxpayers to take care of him and his subsequent death? If he had just been able to go to a dentist and have those teeth extracted under sterile conditions, he would’ve never ended up on my unit and then dying,” Rozar recalled. “So, I’m able to share those kinds of stories, and I was able to get a forty-percent increase in dental reimbursement for that population.”

Rozar also cites her nearly quarter century of experience on the Wood County Board of Supervisors, which she says is a perfect fit for a state legislator.

“County government is the arm of the state. County government can do nothing unless the state gives them permission to do. So, when I went to Madison I was able to talk about road construction, infrastructure investment, shared revenue, and so I know how the programs that start at the state affect the local government,” Rozar told us.

A Republican Primary now looms in mid-August between Rep. Rozar, Rep. John Spiros (R-Marshfield) and political newcomer Trine Spindler of Stratford. Spiros will represent the present-day 86th Assembly district until current legislative terms expire in January.

“I run as a Republican because I believe in limited government, reasonable taxation and personal freedom,” said Rozar. “I have dug my roots deep in this town. I’m not a Marshfield native, but I’ve been here since the 80s and I have truly made central Wisconsin my home.”

In Wood County, the newly-redrawn 86th Assembly district now covers the cities of Marshfield and Pittsville, the villages of Arpin, Auburndale, Hewitt, Rudolph and Vesper, and the towns of Arpin, Auburndale, Cameron, Cary, Hansen, Lincoln, Marshfield, Milladore, Richfield, Rock, Rudolph, Sherry, Sigel and Wood.

In Marathon County, the villages of Edgar, Fenwood, Marathon City, Spencer and Stratford now find themselves entirely in the new 86th, along with the towns of Bergen, Cassel, Cleveland, Day, Eau Pleine, Emmet, Green Valley, Marathon, McMillan, Rib Falls, Spencer and Wien, and a portion of Stettin.

Parts of Portage County which now find themselves in the realigned 86th are the village of Junction City, and the towns of Carson and Eau Pleine.

The entire village of Milladore – which falls in parts of Wood and Portage counties – is also now in the new 86th Assembly district.

Since 2013, the city of Marshfield has been split among two Assembly districts – the 86th and the 69th. Rep. Spiros has represented the 86th district since then. Bob Kulp was the 69th district representative from December 2013 through 2020. Rep. Rozar has represented the lion’s share of Marshfield since January 2021.

Under new legislative maps, Rozar, Spiros and Spindler will now have to face off in a Republican Primary Aug. 13.