EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – As voters continue to consider who to support in the upcoming election, the city of Eau Claire hosted a public candidate forum where current lawmakers and those running for office discussed the challenges with facing the city.

Of those that did go, Assembly District 93 was the only race where both candidates were present. From the topics of homelessness in the city to fiscal stability, the city of Eau Claire’s public candidate forum highlights the biggest issues facing the city and its residents.

“The biggest things people are talking about are health care, including access to reproductive health care,” said Christian Phelps, a Democrat running for Wisconsin’s 93rd Assembly District.

“They want to make sure somebody is going to be able to go out there and work on both sides of the aisle,” said James Rolbiecki, a Republican running for Wisconsin’s 93rd Assembly District.

City officials presented information on public safety and affordable housing. Lawmakers then shared their plans to try to fix the problem.

“I think the biggest part we’re missing here is not the big corporations, it’s the local owners who have the relationships, and those relationships have been damaged,” Rolbiecki said.

“We need to flip the floor so we can have some more democratically appropriate bills to address these economic concerns as well,” Phelps said.

Phelps and Rolbiecki are running for Wisconsin’s 93rd Assembly District. We asked them, if elected, what their highest priority would be to address in office.

“The biennial state budget will be drawn up very soon,” Phelps said. “I want to see him invest in our community. I want to see him invest in public schools, invest in kids, increase special education reimbursement and catch up with inflation.”

“There are good people here who want to work with both sides,” Rolbiecki said. “That’s what my whole campaign has been about, making sure that everyone’s representation gets to Madison and that we can get to work and continue to do the work that’s needed here.”

While the methods of addressing some of these challenges may differ, both candidates said that, if elected, they are committed to serving the 93rd Assembly District to the best of their abilities.

Other panelists included state senators Jeff Smith and Jesse James. Democrat Joe Plouff running for the 92nd Assembly District and Democrat Jodi Emerson running for re-election in the 91st Assembly District.

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