One of the best parts of my job is getting to talk to you, my constituents, directly to hear about what is on your mind. Over the past several months, I have been knocking on doors across the 17th Senate District to hear about your concerns, your worries, and your successes. As I travel our beautiful district, one thing is clear: from Prairie du Chien to Lancaster to Barneveld to Brodhead to Oregon, the 17th Senate District is filled with unique communities and wonderful people.

While the communities are different, many of the concerns and issues I'm hearing about are the same. People are sick of the bickering and fighting and just want both parties to work together to address the rising cost of living and ensure everyday essentials are affordable.

I hear you.

I have a history of working across the aisle to get things done. During the most recent legislative session, all 21 of the bills that I authored that made it to the Governor's desk were bipartisan. In fact, nearly 90% of all the bills that I authored or co-sponsored were bipartisan, making me one of the most bipartisan members of the legislature.

I worked with both parties to address the rising cost of living and improve the affordability of everyday goods. In fact, this session we delivered more than $1.7 billion in tax cuts in bipartisan fashion. We cut taxes for all taxpayers. We even eliminated the tax on a portion of retirement income.

In addition, we passed legislation to exempt overtime and tips from the state income tax. Unfortunately, those proposals were vetoed by the Governor and a second attempt failed on the Senate floor with all Senate Democrats and a few Senate Republicans voting against the legislation.

To help offset rising utility bills, we exempted residential utility bills from the state sales tax. This amounts to a 5.5% cut on your electrical bill each month. I also co-sponsored a bill to regulate data centers to ensure consumers are protected and that data center developers pay for their own costs.

I look forward to knocking on your door soon to talk with you about my record of working across the aisle to get things done, being a responsible steward of taxpayers dollars, and returning more money to you.