Is Shannon Zimmerman (R) Safe in AD30
What about Assembly District 30
Update: After the primary elections the forecast for this district changed to Tilt Republican.
Republican Shannon Zimmerman from River Falls won the 2022 election by 58% and the 2020 election by 56% of the vote. The new district maps for Assembly 30 changed, but does it matter? The district does still lean Republican maybe 5% according to some experts, but I have saw projections that it leans Republican by only a few percentage points. Most experts will agree that Assembly District 30 is now a competitive race.
The Assembly District 30 covers parts of St. Croix and Pierce Counties including Hudson, the Village of North Hudson and River Falls .
What has Zimmerman done?
According to DrugFree.org: The government has drug testing and monitoring systems in place to track the makeup of illegal substances. Any significant spike in cases involving this combination would likely be detected and reported immediately. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has recently issued alerts[2] about fentanyl-laced fake pills like Percocet and Vicodin for pain relief, and Xanax to address anxiety. They have also warned about fentanyl laced with Xylazine which is used to sedate animals. They have not issued alerts about marijuana.
Further, there are about 55 million[3] people in the U.S. who use marijuana. We would see overdose rates far higher than they are today if fentanyl was in the marijuana supply.
It’s more important than ever to think about where we get our information. Sometimes, news stories want to grab our attention by making things sound scarier than they really are. When it comes to the idea of marijuana mixed with fentanyl, trust information from reliable sources, like scientists and health experts. By looking at the facts, we can make better decisions about our health and not get caught up in unnecessary worry.
May 2024 Rep. Shannon Zimmerman lies about laced marijuana in his county:
Republican Assembly District 30 Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls) is not new to talking about marijuana reform this legislative session. He, fellow Republican Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond and Democratic Patty Schachtner hashed out marijuana reform in their districts in February of 2019.
Of course we all know everything marijuana reform in any budget bill was killed, gutted and left on the battle field, much like medical marijuana patients in Wisconsin.
Spring survey shows high support
In the spring of 2019 after overwhelming support in the Wisconsin public marijuana referendums the previous fall, many of the Assembly GOP members held a spring survey which was posted online and sent in the email to people on their mailing list.
The results of Assembly Representative Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls) spring survey are not surprising as 76.48% of his district supported medical marijuana.
Zimmerman has never co-sponsored any marijuana legislation since taking office in 2017.
Shannon Zimmerman for State Representative District 30 Facebook Page is probably the best place to contact him through his campaign website.
What next, who is running
I expect Zimmerman to run again, but I do not expect the Democrat who ran the last two times against Zimmerman to run. With most experts agreeing that this is a competitive race to watch in the November election, I will be watching to see which Democrat(s) run for this seat.
UPDATE:
Alison Page (D – River Falls)
It appears that Alison Page has announced she will run against Zimmerman in the general election. Will this be the fall of Zimmerman?
Alison spent her entire working career providing health care in this area, from being a nurse working directly with patients to being the hospital administrator.
In 2022 Alison Page (D) lost an election against Republican Incumbent Warren Petryk for State Assembly in a heavily gerrymandered GOP district.
During her Wisconsin Eye Candidate Interview in 2022 (at the 15:49 mark) She is absolutely supporting medical marijuana and says it is a shame patients who could benefit from it are denied. She says she needs to do more research on recreational and see if that is what we really want for our state. I would suggest watching the video segment and hear her own words on this topic. She transitions from referencing Wisconsin as the dairy state, or Holstein state and then seems to questions if legal adult use marijuana was wholesome…..and questioned if legalization was really best for Wisconsin. Again, please watch her video.
I have reached out to her campaign to see if she had revised her views or developed an additional stance on cannabis reform going into the 2024 election cycle and have not received a response (8/18/2024).
On August 21st, 2024 the The ACLU of Wisconsin sent a questionnaire to all candidates to gauge their positions on access to contraception and IVF, classroom censorship, marijuana legalization, and more. To my surprise I thought Page answered YES to marijuana legalization, but upon further digging into her actual profile answers, she answered both YES and NO to the marijuana legalization question. Her ACLU candidate questionnaire answer on the marijuana question was “Not sure on this one – I would like more information on the impact of legalizing marijuana, based on the experience of other states. Certainly, I support the decriminalization of marijuana use.“
On Sept 8th, 2024 Alison Page did reply to me adding “Like all issues – I want to be sure I fully understand the facts, the research, the experience of other states that have legalized marijuana, etc.”
My analysis of the all 84 Democrat candidates during the 2022 election showed only two (2) candidates supported medical marijuana only, with Page being one of them.
Her campaign facebook page is active and so is her website: https://www.pageforwardwisconsin.com/
Stay tuned and get active!
I will provide you additional 2024 Wisconsin State Election coverage throughout the campaign season. This next election is extremely important for marijuana reform and I will continue to bring you information as more candidates make their political moves.
In the event that we end up with divided government in the 2024-25 legislation session, the official formation of The Wisconsin Cannabis Caucus would be a must first step towards reform. The official establishment of this Caucus will represent the growing, bipartisan support in Wisconsin.
Although session as ended we still urge you to contact your elected officials. The top four action alerts are still functionable on The Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Action Network for you immediate use.
Sources: CNanalysis (Tilt Rep +3), WisPolitics /2024 Assembly Races (52% Rep), Davesredistircing, PeoplesMaps
