Vinny Egle is a small business owner running in the GOP primary for the Wisconsin Assembly’s 59th district. He faces Ty Bodden, chairman of the Republican Party of Calumet County and former Village of Stockbridge Trustee, in a race that will all but officially decide who wins the seat.

The 59th Assembly District, which contains parts of Washington, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Calumet Counties, is currently represented by Rep. Tim Ramthun, who is running in the GOP primary for governor. The winner of this race will appear on the ballot unopposed in November, as there is no Democrat running for the seat. Egle, 44, spoke to WisPolitics.com in an interview about his platform. Bodden did not respond to WisPolitics.com’s requests for an interview.

“We need a common-sense middle-class voice in Madison,” Egle said. “We need normal people to have their voice heard instead of a political agenda.”

Egle said he would like to see exceptions for rape and incest added to Wisconsin’s abortion ban that came into effect when the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, but only in the beginning of the pregnancy. As it stands now, the ban only includes an exception for the life of the mother.

“Yes, I believe we need to modify it … if it was rape and incest only, and only up to six weeks. It’s a very small window, but at six weeks the baby has a heartbeat,” Egle said, later adding “we still need to protect that child.”

Egle expressed concern about the state’s projected $5.4 billion surplus, saying he would “look and see where the surplus came from and decide from there on where to take it back.”

“There’s a bunch of surplus that came from the federal government that came from COVID relief and is being used to help Governor Evers look like he did a decent job on his budget and created a surplus, but I believe it was just taken away from the public that needed it, small businesses, and the people of Wisconsin,” Egle said.

Concerning controversy around the 2020 election, Egle said he would vote to decertify Wisconsin’s electoral votes if presented with the choice, but he’s unsure whether it’s a legally viable option.

“If it came to a vote I would rescind, but I am not a lawyer so I can’t say that it’s possible to do it or not possible to do it,” Egle said. He added that “in the future with a Republican governor and Republican House and Senate we can fix things properly,” but for now “we need to not spend a whole lot more taxpayer money on it.”

Egle expressed concern about a temporary suspension of the gas tax to reduce gas prices and what it would mean for the projects that would lose funding.

“We need to keep the gas tax that we have for our roads,” he said.

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