Келда Роис заявляет о лидировании в опросах среди независимых избирателей и призывает голосовать за нее на праймериз

As the Democratic primary winds down, state Sen. Kelda Roys is in interesting territory. To her left is state Rep. Francesca Hong, who currently leads in polling. A candidate with a similar platform, David Crowley, has earned an endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers. Like both of them, Roys has talked about her progressive platform. Like Crowley, she's touted herself as the more electable candidate in the Democratic primary Tuesday. But Roys brings up a different poll to support her candidacy: the Swing Voter Project, which surveys undecided voters, found that Roys led the field in electability in the general election, WisPolitics first reported. Roys thinks she's the one who should take on Tom Tiffany, the presumptive nominee on the Republican side after he earned President Donald Trump's endorsement. "No one knows Tom Tiffany's dirty deeds better than I, and no one will disembowel him better than I can," Roys said to the crowd at El Loro Mexican Restaurant on Saturday in North Hudson. "You want to see that? You've got to vote for me on Aug. 11." The final Marquette Law School Poll before the primary found that Hong had 38% of the support among respondents, leading the race. But 34% said they were undecided in the July 29 sampling. The poll also came at a time when Mandela Barnes, a moderate candidate who since dropped out, remained in the race. The issues: Pro-choice, KeldaCare Roys discussed her history as a fighter for Wisconsin's reproductive rights. As a legislator, she proposed the Abortion Rights Restoration Act, and she serves as executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. She also mentioned making social media feeds less addictive, working with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and fighting for Wisconsinites against data centers. 1. You brought up wanting a non-addictive social media feed. What does that look like to you, and how would you address it policy-wise? It kind of looks like Facebook 1.0. A non-addictive feed is one where you only see content from the people you follow when they post new content, and it's chronological rather than algorithmic. Facebook wouldn't be suggesting, "Oh, you might like this." Or, "If you liked a cute puppy video on YouTube, you might also like this snuff video." Or, "If you clicked on this thing about protein powder and bodybuilding, you might also like to hear about how you can suppress women." Before Facebook, there was a time when your feed came to an end. I think we just can't let kids be using a product that's designed to addict them. 2. You mentioned wanting to see more conversations with WEDC, maybe expanding or bolstering some of their resources. WEDC has had somewhat favorable views on data centers at times. Have you had those conversations with them, and what's your thinking there? You mean the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation? Their job is to carry out economic development for the state based on what the Legislature tells them to do. I'm skeptical that the way to have a strong economy is to attract big businesses by giving them a free ride, or worse, giving them money from our coffers — like the Manufacturing and Agriculture tax credit, which is a refundable tax credit. In my view, we should go back to having a Department of Commerce that's completely public and focused on local economic development, small businesses, homegrown entrepreneurs and high-growth tech startups that are local. I'm not a Luddite — I want us to have a booming tech sector. I don't think we get it through data centers. I think we get it through what we already have: biomedical, bioengineering, nuclear fusion, advanced manufacturing, gaming and game design. We have all these exciting industries burgeoning in Wisconsin that support those kinds of jobs. 3. Where do you stand on student loans and debt? Our kids are getting crushed by debt, and not just kids — people my age. I was in my 40s before I finished paying off my student loan debt, and I got to functionally go to law school for free, and I graduated college in three years while working full time. I had way less debt than most people, and it still took me a long time to pay it off. We should make sure that, through a Last Dollar Tuition Credit Program, the first two years of tech college are free. We should expand Wisconsin Tuition Promise statewide so you can go to any campus tuition-free. We have to let people refinance their student loans just like you can refinance a mortgage, at lower interest rates, and we should subsidize that so you're paying a lower rate. We should also expand forgiveness programs, especially for high-need career fields and high-need geography. If you're a mental health worker, a social worker or an early childhood educator working in that field, you should get your student loans paid and forgiven. If you're willing to serve as a physician in a rural or high-poverty area, you should get your student loans paid. 4. You mentioned the PSC. What would you do to better facilitate its work? That's a huge can of worms. Number one, you've got to appoint watchdogs rather than lapdogs for utilities. I want PSC commissioners who understand the full picture — not just that we need stable, reliable, safe power, which we do, but also environmental sustainability, protections for workers, public health and rate payers. We need increased staffing and salaries for PSC staff. If a utility has a million lawyers making a billion dollars and burying you in paper saying, "We need another rate increase, we need another rate increase," and you've got one junior lawyer who has to look at that and 50 other things, that's not a fair fight. So I also want to increase staffing and funding for the Citizens Utility Board so rate payers have a seat at the table. There are also technical changes we need on the regulatory side, like requiring integrated resource planning and making use of increased grid modernization, grid-enhancing technology and virtual power plants, which can help us better manage energy demand without building a bunch of new fossil fuel power plants. 5. What's something you've done in politics that you're most proud of? Expanding healthcare to 80,000 previously uninsured Wisconsinites. I went without health insurance in my 20s, and I know how scary that is, even when you're young and healthy. It's a life-changer, and it's one reason I'm so passionate about making sure everybody can have high-quality health insurance.