Binnie says Assembly needs fresh perspective

“I’ve knocked on thousands of doors,” said Chase Binnie, the Republican running for Wisconsin’s 80th District Assembly seat. 

“I knock, take a few steps back so I’m 10 or 12 feet away,” he continued. “Some people like to talk to me through the screen. Some don’t want to talk at all and ask me to just leave a flyer. But that’s rare. Most people really want to talk.”

What they are saying has changed his perception of the race in which he is running, according to Binnie. 

“The big issue is safety,” he said. “On both sides. On the one side, people want safety from crime and violence, and on the other they want safety from COVID. But they all want to feel safe.”

Binnie, a Mount Horeb resident who is challenging Sondy Pope, one of the state’s longest-serving Democrats, is running on a conservative platform in a heavily progressive district that includes parts of three counties, all or parts of the cities of Fitchburg,  Madison, and Verona; all or parts of the villages of Barneveld, Belleville, Blue Mounds, Brooklyn, Hollandale, Monticello, Mount Horeb, New Glarus, Oregon and Ridgeway; as well as numerous townships. 

He said the things citizens have told him have changed the way he views the Nov. 3 election. 

“Right now, to me this election is about the true meaning of ‘Representative.’ I’ve done lots of those doors. It feels like I’ve done nearly every door in the district, and I know my opponent hasn’t,” he said. “People want to have a representative that knows their concerns and brings them to the capitol. People want their voices to be heard.”

Binnie said many people tell him they don’t know who their representative at the capitol is. 

“A lot of people don’t know who their State Representative is or what they do,” he said. “I don’t blame them for that. I think a representative should be out in the community, engaging with people and learning their concerns.”

“Obviously, there are differences between me and my opponent on issues, school choice being one of them; I’m a big supporter of it and she’s not, but this election seems to be mostly about representing people,” he continued. 

“Going into this, I thought we would be more debating issues and economics, but really what it seems to come down to for everyone is base needs,” Binnie said. “It comes down to,  you know, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.”

“It’s more non-partisan than I thought, too,” he added. “Most people support having the police to keep them safe. Most people support small businesses. Most people support big businesses, even; they employ a lot of people. We’ve got Epic in our district. Most people sort of want the same things.”

The one thing everyone seems to yearn for during 2020, he said, is consistency and stability. 

“I think the best thing right now is to provide some stability,” he said. “If you don’t know what is going to happen in two months, it’s very hard to make any decisions. Our economy needs us to keep things stable for a while.”

Even on specific issues, Binnie said people on the right and people on the left do  often have similar goals. 

“If you are trying to find common ground, you will find it,” he said. 

Two areas where Binnie says he already finds common ground with Democrats are climate change and marijuana legislation. He said he favors clean energy, and he thinks the push to legalize marijuana could solve several ongoing problems. 

“Marijuana could be a big benefit to our agricultural sector,” he said. “It’s a victimless crime and legalizing it would take power way from dealers and cartels and help farmers diversify. It’s such an untapped thing.”

“It would definitely make police officers’ jobs easier,” he added. 

One of the most significant endorsements Binnie received came from what some might see as an unlikely ally: Kimberly Smith. Smith, of Oregon, challenged Pope in the Democratic Primary this summer. After earning roughly a third of the vote in the Primary, Smith endorsed Binnie in his bid to unseat the longtime incumbent. Smith said she has faith Binnie would work to find common ground with people across the aisle. 

“Being endorsed by Kimberly Smith gave me the confidence that people want change,” Binnie said. “It gave me confidence that people can get beyond party politics. Many people are looking for new perspectives. They want someone who will represent all of the district, and that’s what I want to do.”

As the pandemic drags on, Binnie said it is not merely a crisis. He said it is also something the state’s leaders should learn from.

“One side blames China, one side blames Trump,” said Binnie. “But in a globalized world … this is something we should learn from. This is something that could happen again and we need to figure out how to deal with it.”

Part of dealing with it, according to Binnie, is figuring out how to keep people safe while also allowing them to make a living and put food on the table. 

“We want to keep businesses alive,” he said. “I just read that, I think half of hotels and B&Bs might go out of business by the end of the year.”

“It looks like we will have a shortfall of tax revenue. I’m not totally against raising taxes in general, but right now? Right now might be a time for government to tighten things up,” he commented. 

“We have learned a lot from this, too,” he added. “We have learned who is most vulnerable.”

One vulnerable group is working parents who recently found themselves forced to decide between keeping their jobs and leaving their young children home alone all day, unsupervised. 

“The school thing, parents are really upset about [schools closing],” he said. “What parents want is not to force anyone to go to school, but to have a hybrid model so it’s an option.”

“Now teachers unions are advocating for all schools to go virtual across the state, and that doesn’t make sense everywhere,” Binnie continued. “It’s clear to me that most of the parents are not being listened to.”

Binnie said he thinks there are key compromises to be made. 

“Look at what some other countries have done,” he stated. “Some of it is pretty positive.”

Young students aren’t the only people whose lives are in disarray right now. Even political campaigns have been upended by the pandemic. 

“I thought I would be doing parades and speaking at rallies, but of course there hasn’t been anything like that,” Binnie said. 

The theme is safety, in its many forms, remains the biggest issue as Election Day nears, according to Binnie. 

“I think Kenosha made a big impact in a lot of people’s minds,” he said. 

“Even around here, we have kids stealing cars and a lot of things we didn’t have a few years ago,” he said. “I think part of the problem is not having enough consequences for actions. And it starts in our schools and kind of leaks out from there.”

“I say plainly that I support law enforcement,” Binnie stated. “Some [Democrats] have had genuine ideas for police reform to listen to. But people want to be safe, I think they found out pretty quickly that ‘Defund the police’ didn’t track well with voters.”

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