When Nathan Kalmoe went to vote in Wisconsin’s Aug. 11 democratic primary, he saw only one name for his Senate district in Verona. Instead of voting for the dominant, moderate incumbent listed on the ballot, he wrote his wife’s name, Katie.
“I was really frustrated when I got to the primary and saw that nobody was challenging [the incumbent],” Kalmoe told The Daily Cardinal. “We didn’t have a choice… and that got me thinking.”
Kalmoe launched his progressive write-in campaign against Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, today to give voters what he said is more of a choice in the general election on Nov. 3.
Hesselbein, who has served the 27th Senate District since 2023, did not face a primary challenger in August, and she doesn’t face a general election challenger in November. If Democrats flip the Senate, which is likely, she’s poised to become a top leader in the powerful upper chamber of Wisconsin’s government.
Kalmoe is the executive administrative director of the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal and previously taught political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said he never thought he would run for office, but he told the Cardinal it was the right thing to do.
“I was frustrated that nobody stepped up to do this,” Kalmoe said. “And I thought, ‘well, if you’re frustrated about it, if nobody else is gonna do it, it’s on us to step up and do that.’”
Madison Rep. Francesca Hong ran a democratic socialist campaign for Wisconsin governor and led in the polls throughout the entire race. While she lost the primary election to the moderate Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, she won in Dane County, which most of the 27th Senate District is in, by nearly 8 percentage points.
Kalmoe said Hesselbein is “out of step” with the 27th District’s progressivism. He said his campaign is an opportunity to “energize progressives… particularly anybody who might be disappointed that Hong didn’t win.”
The goal of his campaign isn’t to win, Kalmoe said, but to give voters more choice, be a strong progressive advocate and push elected Democrats to “do better.”
Healthcare, campaign finance and data centers
Kalmoe said he largely agrees with Hesselbein on LGBTQ+ issues, support for unions and reproductive rights. What they disagree on, however, is healthcare, campaign fundraising and artificial intelligence data centers.
While Hesselbein has joined the fight for affordable healthcare and had heavily supported Medicaid expansion in an op-ed to The Cap Times, Kalmoe said she hasn’t done enough to prioritize public healthcare like Medicare for All and BadgerCare.
Though Medicare for All would be instated at the federal level, Kalmoe wants to make public options for BadgerCare, Wisconsin’s full Medicaid coverage plan, accessible to everyone despite income. He said “healthcare would be at the top” of his list to work on in the Legislature.
Kalmoe is capping individual campaign contributions to $200 and will refuse PAC donations, both of which Hesselbein has not done.
“Out of principle, even though that makes it harder to do things for the campaign, it’s important to me to draw that line because I think that money is corrupting politics,” Kalmoe said. He believes there should be a different system to fundraising campaigns rather than large private contributions.
As of July, Hesselbein had over $110,000 in her campaign chest.
Kalmoe wants to instate a moratorium on data centers and said Wisconsinites should be skeptical of large developments.
While Hesselbein has not said whether she supports a moratorium, she said in an August op-ed to The Cap Times she would want to “make data centers pay their fair share.”
Recent budgets have given data centers tax breaks, which was meant to draw in economic development, but is now projected to cost the state more than $2 billion. Kalmoe said he wants to remove these subsidies.
“There’s way too many corporate giveaways,” Kalmoe said.
Progressivism in the future
Kalmoe has received private support from various progressive lawmakers and candidates, but he won’t be getting their public endorsement.
“A lot of the people who I’ve gotten private support from, who are giving me lots of advice, feel like they can’t endorse, that they can’t be seen publicly supporting my candidacy because they’re afraid that will hurt the causes that they care about advancing,” Kalmoe said.
Having served in the Legislature since 2012 and being the only candidate on the ballot, Hesselbein has received the support of numerous lawmakers, the State Senate Democratic Committee and the state Democratic Party. Kalmoe said if progressives “cross” Hesselbein, they will be “shut out” and putting themselves and their priorities at risk.
Kalmoe said one of the lawmakers who privately supported him requested he not ask other lawmakers for endorsements because it will put them in “a really difficult spot.”
“To me, it’s sad,” Kalmoe said. “It helps show the contrast between myself and Sen. Hesselbein, that progressives worry that she’s going to be even more hostile towards progressive causes if they do something that’s supportive for the campaign.”
He said he understands why he won’t be receiving these major endorsements and ultimately wants what is best for progressivism, instead of his campaign.
“These kinds of elections, endorsements are really important, and we’re gonna have zero,” Kalmoe said.
While he said winning against Hesselbein is “a long shot,” he said he wanted voters to know the goal of his campaign is not to win, but to let them know they have a choice.
“Without a choice in elections, it’s not really a democracy,” Kalmoe said. “If nothing else, people will have a choice.”
He also said he wants this campaign to push Hesselbein to “legislate better” in the next session.
While he doesn’t plan on running for office again after this campaign, he said he would be fully ready to serve the 27th District if elected and resign from UW-Madison.
The general midterm election is set for Nov. 3.
Audrey Lopez-Stane is the state news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has written in-depth on free speech on campus, higher education and elections including the Wisconsin Supreme Court race and upcoming governor primary. Audrey previously interned at WisPolitics and now works for Wisconsin Watch. Follow her on X @ALopezStane.
