KIMBERLY, WI — Alicia Saunders, a Navy veteran and industrial sanitation worker, announced Thursday that she is running for Wisconsin’s 2nd Assembly District, challenging seven-year incumbent Shae Sortwell.
After running in 2024, Saunders says she didn’t step away — she kept working.
“I didn’t lose and disappear,” Saunders said. “I stayed. I worked. I kept showing up.”
Saunders, who travels throughout Northeast Wisconsin for work, says her campaign is grounded in real-life experience — not political talking points.
“Families in this district are watching their electric bills climb while their Assembly rep votes against postpartum Medicaid coverage and tells disabled veterans that property tax relief ‘isn’t fair,'” she said. “That’s not representation. That’s neglect.”
She pointed to growing community opposition to large-scale data center development across the district.
“Communities across this district have passed moratorium resolutions. They’re asking questions about water, about infrastructure, about who this actually serves. Their representative isn’t asking those questions with them.”
Saunders also highlighted two years of continued veteran advocacy work since her last campaign.
“I’ve spent the last two years sitting across the table from veterans who needed someone to show up for them — not after an election, but right then,” she said. “That’s the job. That’s what I intend to do.”
