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Dianne Hesselbein: “I then ran for Dane County Board. I took out a 16 year…”

Featuring: Dianne Hesselbein, Democratic | Wisconsin State Senate, District 27

Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D

Published June 4, 2025 | Video Starts at 04:35

Sure. Well, I was first elected to the school board in the Middleton area and I served there from 2005 to 2008. I then ran for Dane County Board. I took out a 16 year incumbent by knocking on every door three times. And you know, in the winter, it was over 100 inches of snow that year. Served on the day board. I know you remember things like that. Yes. (04:35–04:42)

CLAIM

Asserts that Dianne Hesselbein defeated a 16-year incumbent to join the Dane County Board.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Dianne Hesselbein

“We have a $4 billion surplus in [Wisconsin's] state budget.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 18:39-18:44
“The Republicans did just that. They stripped everything out, over 600 things out of the budget.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 27:57-28:02
“Those voucher and accountable schools, they get 90% reimbursement.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 29:47-29:51
“I was first elected to the school board in the Middleton area and I served there from 2005 to 2008.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 04:29-04:36
“Then I ran for State assembly in 2012 and I served there and then just recently ran for the state Senate when John Oppenbach decided he was…”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 04:52-05:02
“Now I'm the Democratic leader.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 05:05-05:07
“Fair maps are amazing. They were a real game changer for the state of Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 10:22-10:26
“We need to repeal right to work.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 11:09-11:12
“We need to reinstate the prevailing wage.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 11:11-11:14
“Really tackle PFAS because the Republicans are refusing to do that.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 11:18-11:22
“Right now the Republicans have sent in the Senate we have 18 Republicans and 15 Democrats.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 12:11-12:19
“I think the majority leader, Devin Lemahue, is having a hard time getting 17 votes to do anything.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 12:43-12:49
“I'm not sure how we're going to get a budget passed with the Republicans in charge in the state Senate without Democratic votes.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 13:03-13:09
“Rural hospitals are going to close, kids will go hungry, seniors are going to get kicked out of nursing homes.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 17:58-18:05
“2 billion is the cost to continue [current programs].”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 18:43-18:47
“We're looking at 250 million for SNAP if we have to come up with something for that.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 18:55-19:00
“It's been over 100 days since Governor Evers introduced his budget.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 27:00-27:04
“The Republicans ran to their press conference and Howard Mareline said we're Throwing the whole thing out.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 27:11-27:15
“Joint finance had four meetings all across the state having listening sessions.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 27:23-27:28
“People would wait for eight to 10 hours for two minutes just to say something on the governor's budget.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 27:27-27:38
“The Senate Republicans have a problem trying to figure out how they will pass a budget with 17 votes that the governor would be able to…”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 28:20-28:28
“Governor Evers thought let's get it to 60 [percent special education reimbursement] so at least we can get something.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 29:51-29:55
“We have a responsibility to get our budget done by the end of June.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 33:18-33:22
“Cities, towns, villages, school boards are counting on us to get our job done.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 33:21-33:25
“This is the most important thing we do for the state of Wisconsin is pass a budget.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 33:47-33:51
“We are working on getting like a package together that we're going to hopefully unroll sometime soon [for housing].”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 36:23-36:29
“Rent is astronomical. I mean, it's just really, really hard right now for families.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 36:32-36:38
“The other thing we, I think we're doing a better job talking about now is the importance of mental health.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 36:40-36:45
“Senator Sarah Kieski got elected... she's a mental health provider.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 36:46-36:55
“She's really opening up doors on both sides of the caucus, talking to Republicans and Democrats about the importance of mental health.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 36:54-37:02
“June coming up soon is dairy month. So we're going to be [releasing a] higher agricultural package for our farmers.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 37:17-37:24
“Let us know what priorities you have as we move forward with this budget because we really do want to reflect the will of the people.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 40:46-40:52
“I send [an email update] every single week about what's happening and a lot of my colleagues do as well.”
Wisconsin Legislative Challenges and Opportunities: A Discussion with Mark Pocan, Sara Rodriguez, Dianne Hesselbein, and Speaker D | Uploaded June 4, 2025 | 43:34-43:39