Jimmy Anderson wants to improve healthcare access

Jimmy Anderson first noticed the importance of policy issues when he started a nonprofit in 2013 to help people impacted by drunk driving.

“That experience made me realize that these issues are compounding and complex,” Anderson said.

Anderson is currently the 47th District Representative in the State Assembly, where she has been since 2016. He is now running to represent District 16 in the Senate, which covers parts of Dane, Dodge and Jefferson counties, including Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills, Waterloo, Deerfield and Marshall. Ratcliff is running against Representatives Melissa Ratcliff and Samba Baldeh.

Anderson was paralyzed after a car accident with a drunk driver in 2010, and after going to law school and practicing as a lawyer, was inspired to run for Wisconsin State Assembly in 2016. He has since served four terms in the Assembly.

In the legislature, Anderson has worked on healthcare legislation, school funding and disability rights and access. Because Anderson was in the minority all eight years, he said he had to learn to get agreement and compromise.

Anderson said there are three reasons he is uniquely qualified to be in the Senate.

First, Anderson said that experience matters. He has been in the Assembly longer than the other two candidates and has built more relationships and connections.

Second, Anderson said that he has been effective. When he first joined the Assembly, Robin Vos would not allow representatives to call into committee meetings, even if those meetings were early in the morning. Anderson got Vos to change this to accommodate people who relied on caregivers to get to the Capitol and sometimes were not able to make the early morning meetings. Anderson cited this as an example of his effectiveness.

“I don’t know another Democrat who got Robin Vos to do something he didn’t want to do,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the third reason he would be a strong candidate is that he is the only significantly disabled person in the legislature, and this brings a perspective that would be helpful in advocating for the rights of disabled people.

“It’s not that people don’t care about disabled people,” Anderson said. “They just don’t see what’s going on.”

Anderson said he wants to be in the Senate to serve the community.

“I have genuinely fallen in love with this community in a way that is surprising to me,” Anderson said.

He still remembers a moment when he got his wheelchair stuck in a snowbank near Bascom Hill. A man driving by got out of his car on a cold winter day to help Anderson get out. Since that moment, Anderson has known that people in this area are so special.

“I really want to give back to the community that has given me so much.”

Since all three candidates are running as Democrats, there will only be a primary election on Aug. 13. Whoever wins the primary will win the Senate seat.