Democrat Dennis Nitzel is challenging incumbent Republican Representative Rob Swearingen in the 34th State Assembly District.
The district includes most of Oneida and Vilas Counties.
When asked why he was running for State Assembly, Dennis Nitzel had a simple answer.
“Nobody else would do it,” said Nitzel.
When asked to expand on that, Nitzel said there’s important issues that need to be dealt with.
“They couldn't get anybody to do it, and I am willing to try to do what is good for the 34th Assembly District,” said Nitzel.
One of the topics WXPR talked to candidates about was PFAS.
Within the 34th District, the Stella area of Oneida County has been dealing with some of the highest levels of PFAS contamination in private wells in the country.
From that and other contamination sites, the conversation of who should have to pay for remediation has come up often.
Nitzel says the state should pay.
“We seem to have some money for stuff. There should be some money for this. How you address this? We got to know stuff about it. I do believe that in recent time, money has been donated to or acquired by the university to set up a lab to study this. We got to go with the science on this,” said Nitzel.
On his campaign website, Nitzel describes himself as “an agronomist by vocation, a potato grower by desire, and a research scientist by sheer good luck.”
“I would say that I have all the respect in the world for women. I'm looking out for the environment. I care about education. I don't want to go to referendum every couple years just to keep the school open. If you think that's a good idea, vote for me. If you want different, vote for Rob,” said Nitzel.
The election is Tuesday, November 5th.
You can learn more about what’s on the ballot, candidates, and the voting process with the WXPR Voter Guide.
