Republican State Representative Rob Swearingen is running for reelection in the 34th Assembly District. He’s being challenged by Democrat Dennis Nitzel.
The district covers all of Vilas County and majority of Oneida County.
Swearingen has represented the 34th district in the State Assembly for 12 years. He says there’s still unfinished business.
“Right now, we have divided government, which is what, you know, the voters voted for the last couple of cycles. I think there's still unfinished business. I mean priorities like broadband and PFAS and those issues that are yet to be unsolved,” said Swearingen.
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.
Swearingen says he was in support of a bill that would free up $125 million for PFAS clean up, but lawmakers and the governor disagreed on key points like DNR oversight.
“We stalemated out on that, the Legislature, the Joint Finance Committee and the Governor, so we'll see where it goes from here,” said Swearingen. “But as we sit here, clearly the PFAS has even gotten further in terms of what's going on in Snowden Lake and the Moen's Lake Chain. I'm not sure at this point how effective we will be totally cleaning it up, but we have to do something.”
Swearingen says his background in hospitality also makes tourism a priority for him, saying he wants to ensure the Northwoods continues to get “a piece of the pie” when it comes to the tourism budget.
“Somebody in Madison has to convince even our own colleagues that there's life north of Highway 64. I think that I've done a good job of that the last several cycles, and I'm looking forward and applying once again for the job,” said Swearingen.
You can learn more about Swearingen and his stance on issues on his website.
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.