Brett Hulsey, a Dane County Democrat and former state Assembly member, is running a mostly self-funded campaign for Wisconsin governor.
You may see him on the road in a red convertible car topped with a boogie board and a sign that reads: "Don't Fret Vote for Brett."
"It’s a new theme — there’s a lot of fretting going on. It does rhyme," Hulsey said.
Hulsey is no stranger to politics. He served two terms in the state Assembly, was a Dane County supervisor for 13 years, and ran a distant second in the 2014 Democratic primary for governor.
He compares his grassroots strategy to that of former Senator William Proxmire, the longest-serving senator in Wisconsin history.
"My approach to running is called Proxmire, he was a little different," Hulsey said. "He would famously drive around the state and talk to people, and that's my basic strategy."
Watch: Brett Hulsey running grassroots campaign for Wisconsin governor
TMJ4's Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson caught up with Hulsey in Milwaukee on Earth Day to discuss his platform, where he noted the environment is an absolute top priority.
"For me every day is Earth Day," Hulsey said. "You can't have life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness without clean water — clean air."
When it comes to affordable healthcare, Hulsey credits the Affordable Health Care (Obamacare) for covering him until he joined Medicare. Drawing his plan on the back of a pad of paper, he explained his support for expanding the state's Badger Care program to include more government employees.
"So if we take the—take Badger Care, which the governor has control over, and a chunk of that, we can get about half of the market in a pool, expanding Badger Care. Badger Care works pretty good to bring these government workers in," Hulsey said.
"Shared responsibility, but we start with the government-funded programs. There has to be co-pays," Hulsey said.
Currently, Republican lawmakers and Governor Tony Evers have yet to reach a consensus on what to do with the state's projected $2.3 billion budget surplus. Hulsey said he prefers to invest the money, similar to the approach of former Governor Tommy Thompson.
"Invest it in a way that gives us the most long-term benefit, which I believe is picking up two-thirds of the cost of schools for the state," Hulsey said.
Two-thirds was the state's school funding formula goal, but it has since fallen below 50%.
As Hulsey collects names to get on the ballot, he has also employed a strategy to help the homeless. His paid campaign assistant, Tiara Ong, used to be homeless, and she credits him with addressing the problem.
"There's a huge number of people in Wisconsin that are homeless and hungry, Hulsey said, and in the richest nation in the history of the world, that should not be."
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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