Campaign Spotlight: Assembly District 51

Assembly District 51 is one of the closest Assembly races this cycle, and is therefore pivotal to winning a Democratic trifecta. AD51 has been narrowly electing Republican Todd Novak since 2014. Despite voting for Democrats at the top of the ticket, just enough people in this district continue to vote for Novak to keep him in office. For example, in 2024 Harris beat Trump here by +3.5% and Baldwin won by +7.8%, but Novak took the seat with 51.6% of the vote. The new, fairer (but still skewed to benefit Republicans) maps brought down Novak’s margin significantly compared to 2022, despite higher turnout, but not enough to finally defeat him. Hopefully this year will be different. 

How does Novak do it? 

By pretending to be politically independent. He was the mayor of Dodgeville for most of his tenure in the legislature (2012-2024). This non-partisan office helped him downplay his affiliation with the Republican Party. He also seems to standout as the first openly gay Republican elected to the state legislature, though he’s known to clash with the LGBTQ caucus. 

He likes to spruce up that appearance of independence by lying about his voting record. Way back in 2016, Novak told Wisconsin Eye “I’m pretty much all over the place… I vote my district.” This wasn’t true then, as his opponent at the time, Jeff Smith pointed out, and it’s not true now. He votes almost entirely in lockstep with Republicans. 

That means he is a forced-birth conservative, who loves data centers, voter suppression, and greedy corporations. He supports high rates and profits for utility companies, tax breaks for wealthy industries, and protecting the wealth of healthcare and insurance industries. He voted against stopping insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, and against a resolution requiring the Assembly to even consider the question. He also voted to interfere with safe organ transplants, and for GOP budgets that blocked badgercare expansion. Novak also votes against transgender people and working class people. His record earned a low 19% rating from the AFL-CIO. 

Novak runs away from this record, and in 2024 he refused to participate in a debate where he would have had to defend his positions. This year, Iowa County school districts are hosting a candidate forum (tonight, actually), and Novak has not confirmed whether or not he will attend. 

Novak’s rare breaks with the conservative agenda have been on environmental and water quality issues–which Republicans indulge by appointing him to do-nothing task forces while refusing to protect our water against forever chemicals. He shows up for photo ops with conservation groups funded by the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program and then votes with his party to defund them. This dishonest political theatre helps Novak burnish his reputation in his beautiful rustic district which stretches from the Wisconsin River to the southern border between Plateville and Mount Horeb. 

How can we beat Novak?

This year Novak is going to have a hard time on those environmental issues because his opponent has strong conservation credentials. Ben Gruber is a DNR conservation warden and union organizer. He has stood up to retaliation for workplace organizing and eventually won. His organizing experience likely prepared him for running against dishonest Republican attacks, which he deflects with confidence and ease. 

Gruber grew up in the district and has seen the consequences of the austerity measures Republicans like Novak imposed on residents. From long school bus rides, to delayed ambulances, and closed healthcare facilities Gruber has first-hand experience with the hardships imposed on rural parts of our state. 

Gruber is also taking a lead fighting back against data centers and the 765 utility line, which cuts through wilderness in his district to supply AI fascists and tech billionaires with power for their dystopian schemes. Gruber’s economic populism and deep roots in this rural district are a great recipe for taking out a fake independent like Todd Novak. 

Will we win?

Dan Shafer from the Recombobulation Area identified AD51 as one of three toss-up districts on which the Assembly majority, and thus the chance of a Democratic Trifecta rests. He also pointed out that there’s a third candidate from the American Solidarity Party- a socially regressive but economically populist Christian party.  

Ben Gruber is more of a working-class populist than previous Democratic challengers. In the last three cycles Democrats put up small business owners. In 2020 they ran Kriss Marion, a small-business owner from Pennsylvania and Chicago. In 2022 they put up Leah Spicer, also a small business owner who grew up in AD51, but left and moved back. Most recently, it was Elizabeth Grabe, a realtor and business owner who grew up in Mount Horeb, but lived in Miami for 20 years and returned in 2005. 

With such a long history of losing tight races to Novak, you would think the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee (ADCC) would prioritize this race, backing Gruber early and helping him stand up to Novak’s incumbent advantage and Republican money. Unfortunately, their priorities are elsewhere. The ADCC did contribute $241,341 to Gruber over 6 transactions, but he also paid them $95,000, so that’s a net of $146,341. Meanwhile, they gave data center darling Dan Bukiewicz twice as much to first clear the primary field of popular Democratic candidates Jessica Seawright and David Liners. On Todd Novak’s side, he has received more than $413,000 from the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee this year.

If Democrats don’t win races like AD51 and fail to secure the trifecta, we need a serious look at the ADCC strategy of spending so much money against other Democrats during the primaries and not having enough to beat Republicans in the general. This behavior is enough to make me question whether or not corporate Democrats even want to win. 

Please consider volunteering with and donating to Ben Gruber.