MEET KELDA
Kelda knows Wisconsin can be a place of opportunity and fairness. All Wisconsinites are worth fighting for – no matter who you are or where you’re from, you and your family deserve the freedom to thrive. That means lowering costs and raising wages, affordable healthcare, housing, and childcare, and great public schools for every child.
A lifelong Wisconsinite, Kelda was born in Marshfield and spent her early years in rural Taylor County, where her family lived in a one room schoolhouse they remodeled. Her dad, who spent his career in law enforcement, her mom, a social worker, and her stepdad, an environmental lawyer, taught her to find the good in people, take every chance to help others, and follow her passion for public service. For over two decades, Kelda has devoted her career to making real change for everyday Wisconsinites -- improving lives and making state government work for us.
As a mom and stepmom of five, Kelda’s commitment to Wisconsin’s future is personal — and she knows a thing or two about managing chaos. As our Governor, Kelda will be relentlessly focused on building a Wisconsin where everyone has the freedom to thrive.
As a state senator, small business owner, attorney, and champion for women’s rights, Kelda has spent her life putting people first – fighting for a stronger Wisconsin, and never quitting on tough problems until they’re solved.
As the Democratic Caucus Chair and youngest State Representative in the Assembly, Kelda fought alongside hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites against Scott Walker’s attack on working people. Kelda has been an ally to all workers, fighting for fair wages, good benefits, and dignity for every person in the workplace.
With abortion rights under attack by extreme politicians, Kelda has been a leading voice for reproductive freedom for over two decades – as executive director of a statewide pro-choice group, she helped pass Wisconsin’s first pro-choice law in three decades. As a legislator, she has fought relentlessly to protect abortion rights, expand infertility coverage and contraception access, and get politicians out of our private decisions. With democracy on the line, Kelda knows that our rights and freedoms are non-negotiable.
As a legislator, Kelda turns big ideas into real results: expanding BadgerCare to cover 80,000 more Wisconsinites and working with nurse practitioners to pass a bipartisan law to make health care more affordable and more accessible. On the powerful budget-writing committee, Kelda has championed affordable childcare, public education funding, and lowering costs for families.
When she saw the beginnings of the housing crisis, Kelda founded a business to lower fees and make it easier for people to buy and sell their homes. As a small business owner and entrepreneur, Kelda knows the challenges our small businesses face – and that solving them is the key to a vibrant, growing economy that works for everyone.
Kelda doesn’t bend to billionaires or bullies. She holds the powerful accountable: she stood up to the chemical lobby and authored the BPA Free Kids Act, to stop the neurotoxin bisphenol A from being put into baby bottles. She spoke out against the Foxconn boondoggle when others wouldn’t. And when Elon Musk tried to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat – she raised hell, urging him to be charged for violating Wisconsin’s election bribery laws. Kelda’s campaigns have always been powered by grassroots contributions, not corporate PACs.
As our Governor, Kelda will work tirelessly to make Wisconsin the best place to live, work, and raise a family. That starts by making our public schools the best in the country from early childhood to higher education, making health care affordable and accessible, and empowering families struggling to make ends meet by raising wages and lowering costs for all Wisconsinites. Kelda will fight until the job is done – she always has, and always will.