Candidate Profile: Lyerly hopes to connect with Northeast WI voters

This article first appeared in the Oct. 3, 2024 print edition of The Brillion News.

By David Nordby

The Brillion News

Kristin Lyerly has always had passion.

So much as a teenager at Kaukauna High School that the school created an outstanding school spirit award for her after she was on the poms team, in the drama club, and was an athletic trainer for the football, basketball and baseball teams.

At the University of Minnesota, she was the Goldy Gopher mascot for the college’s football, basketball and hockey teams. The university is also where she became the first college student in her family and eventually the first doctor.

“I’ve always been the kind of person who is just living my life to the fullest and enjoying everything around me and appreciating what I’ve got, and so when I went to college as the first person in my family to go to college, that was the goal that my parents had set for me, and I loved college. It was a blast, just like high school was a blast,” Lyerly said in a recent interview with The Brillion News.

Now, Lyerly has focused her passions on more serious issues. She hopes that the 8th Congressional District of Wisconsin elects a Democrat for the first time since incumbent Steve Kagen defeated John Gard in 2008 when voters choose between her and Tony Wied, her Republican opponent, in the Nov. 5 general election.

The district of around 750,000 people, includes Brillion, Chilton and Hilbert, sprawls through Calumet County, reaches as far north as Marinette County and northeast through Door County. Since Kagen’s 2008 win, the district voted for Republicans Reid Ribble in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and Mike Gallagher in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022. Gallagher did not face a Democratic challenger in 2022. He beat Democrat Amanda Stuck with 64% of the vote in 2020.

Lyerly, 54, has focused on abortion, something she became ardent about during her career as an obstetrician-gynecologist. She lives in Ledgeview and is the mother of four sons – Abe, Julian, Lindsey and James. Her partner, Craig Carlson, is a 25- year veteran of the Green Bay Police Department.

Voters will see Lyerly and Wied’s names twice on their ballots, the first vote to fill the remaining two months of the term left behind by Gallagher, who abruptly resigned from Congress in the spring, and a second vote for the full two-year term that begins January 2025.

Before Politics

Lyerly grew up in Kaukauna and had her first job when she was 16-years-old working as a cashier at the Shopko in Kimberly.

“For some crazy reason, I really, really, really wanted that job and I was very excited about it, and I loved it,” Lyerly said. “It was before the scanners, so you had to key in all the numbers. It was just so much fun chatting with the customers and helping to stock the shelves. I cannot explain why I loved working at Shopko so much, but I did.”

She started college at 17, initially selecting the University of Minnesota because she thought she would pursue a degree in architecture.

“You change a lot when you’re in your late teens and early 20s,” Lyerly says.

Somewhere along the way, and in part because she says she loved science and was good at it, medicine became her field instead of architecture.

“I just had this clear vision that this was something that I would be able to do, and I could do it well and I followed my North Star,” Lyerly said.

Lyerly has had a long career in the medical field, which has included engagement behind the scenes.

“I worked at an abortion clinic. I worked at a clinic in rural Alaska on an island which was just an incredible experience, and everything kind of pointed me toward women’s health but even back in 2003 when I started medical school, women’s health was already political,” Lyerly said.

That was where her career and politics started to meet.

“[Women’s health has] always kind of been political so I knew that I wouldn’t just be able to take care of my patients in the exam room. I would have to be able to fight with them on a different level so when I entered medical school, I also entered the field of advocacy and I’ve been doing advocacy work for over two decades now,” Lyerly said.

Entering Politics

Lyerly ran for Wisconsin State Assembly District 88 in the 2020 election, losing to John Macco 52.3% to 47.6%.

“I got involved with politics when I realized that advocacy wasn’t enough,” Lyerly said.

2020 was when, Lyerly says, conversations around COVID made her pursue office.

“When COVID was happening and we were hearing these politicians spread misinformation for their own political gain, that was where I just put my foot down and said, ‘I just can’t do this anymore,’ because people were literally dying because of what they were hearing politicians say,” Lyerly said.

Lyerly says she heard stories from her friends in emergency rooms of those who did not get a COVID vaccine and wound up in the hospital.

“We – doctors, nurses, those of us in healthcare – we went into this field to take care of people and when we see politicians interfering in our medical decisions, whether it’s reproductive healthcare, related to COVID, whether you’re going to get chemotherapy for your cancer or treated for your heart failure, it doesn’t matter. You need to be making those personal medical decisions, and that was the thing that propelled me into politics,” Lyerly said.

There were two specific instances that pushed Lyerly to run for the Assembly seat in 2020, she says. The first was when voters were sent to the polls for the April 2020 spring election when information about the spread of COVID was still uncertain, but the state legislature kept in-person voting in place. She observed voters waiting in line that day.

“They were putting their own health at risk to vote and to preserve our democracy and to use their voices, and that was when I said to my son, ‘There has to be something more that I can do as a doctor during a pandemic to help fix this problem,’” Lyerly said.

She says the other important moment for her was when United States Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) talked about then unproven potential cures for COVID. “People I loved were listening and getting their advice from him, and people I loved died because they listened to Ron Johnson instead of doctors,” Lyerly said.

Lyerly has worked behind the scenes with the Fair Maps groups in the state, assisted reelection efforts for Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul, and helped with the election of state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, whose election victory gave the court a liberal advantage for the first time since 2007.

She was also one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that kept abortion legal in the state after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

Spotlight on Abortion

Lyerly has made the bulk of her campaign about abortion, which she says is the top issue for young female voters in the country.

“I think that [Gallagher resigning] back in the spring was why the spotlight was on this district but I think now the spotlight is on this district because it’s a vacant district, it’s a district that’s very much in play, and it’s a district in the past, people have looked at the people here and said, ‘I don’t know if we can talk about reproductive rights in Catholic Northeastern Wisconsin,’ but we’re starting to realize we can and actually we do, and nobody understands that better than a doctor who grew up here in a Catholic tradition who has been taking care of people in this region,” Lyerly said.

Lyerly says that one in 4 women in the U.S. receive abortion care and “Catholics are no different.”

“Over 99 percent of people who are sexually active use contraception at some point in their lifetime. Catholics are no different. The difference between Catholics and everybody else, is they talk about it differently, but because I talk to them about it in the exam room and in public, I know how to make that message happen,” Lyerly said. “And because reproductive rights is such a big deal across the country right now, there is a light on this district. This district truly does have the potential to be the national referendum on abortion.”

Lyerly has dialogue with friends in other states about how the nation currently views abortion.

“My friends who live in states like Arkansas and Idaho, where they really have no chance of restoring abortion rights in these very difficult states, the only way they get it is with national protection for abortion,” Lyerly said. “With someone like me, who can actually speak with the voices of my patients, I’m a practicing doctor … I have all of these stories,” Lyerly added.

Lyerly is a practicing physician, and has worked in Green Bay, Oconto, Marinette and Sheboygan. She also regularly travels to provide services to rural and underrepresented communities in Minnesota and Arizona.

Earlier this year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Lyerly was reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice in March 2020 after an investigation that she “failed to timely deliver an infant in December 2018.” An emergency C-section was then performed.

“I practice now and have always practiced with a full unrestricted license to practice medicine,” Lyerly said. “Nobody’s skates through life Scot-free and that’s just part of the process but I think the thing that I took away from it, I’m a better doctor. Every time there’s an opportunity to do something better, I grab it because I know that I’m in charge of people’s lives and I take that incredibly seriously. It’s an absolute honor to be able to take care of moms and babies and help people build their families.”

Lyerly and Wied’s race has often looked like others nationally, with her focus on abortion, his endorsement from former-President Donald Trump and him calling Lyerly “radical.”

“I’m like most of the people in Northeast Wisconsin. I’m an independent thinker, I’m a moderate, I’m someone who wants to be fiscally responsible, I balance my own budget, but I also have a vision for a better tomorrow. I want my four sons to be able to buy houses at some point in their lives, I want them to be able to have families, so yeah, I’m a moderate, but most of all, I’m a Northeastern Wisconsinite,” Lyerly said.

Other Issues

Lyerly says the people in the district that she has spoken with are tired of politics and want to feel more heard.

“The one thing that I find to be a constant throughline is people are tired of the politics. They’re tired of Congress being inefficient and not getting things done for the people, and they’re really, really tired of it in Wisconsin because our state legislature is the same way. They want a government that is functional, that hears them and that actually starts solving problems,” Lyerly said.

She says that the economy is the top issue for all.

“When you can’t afford to buy groceries, when you can’t afford to put gas in your car, that impacts the rest of your life. It impacts where you live and your ability to get an education and the job that you choose, and I clearly remember as a little kid, at the Piggly Wiggly in Little Chute, being in the line and my mom saying, ‘Go put that back,’ because we couldn’t afford it, so I get it on a really fundamental level. We were on food stamps when I was little. We ate noodles and bread sometimes because it was all we could afford. I understand what it’s like to scrimp and save and try to envision something better in the future, and there are so many things that we can do in Congress, if we are a functional body of Congress, that we can do to take the pressure off of everyday hardworking Wisconsinites. The economy is the number one thing,” Lyerly said.

Ariens Company in Brillion, like other manufacturers in the district, have had layoffs in the past few years.

“It’s tough with the prices the way that they’ve been since the pandemic and frankly, with corporations making out like bandits off of our backs. The backs of regular people and small businesses in our small towns. I wouldn’t call Ariens a small business, but you look at what Ariens means to Brillion. Without Ariens, Brillion is struggling. Without the Packers, Green Bay struggles, so we all recognize the importance of our local businesses and the need to invest and reinvest our time and our love and our energy into our local businesses, and that’s as individuals, it’s as communities. It’s necessary for the lifeblood of Northeastern Wisconsin,” Lyerly said.

Flipping Seats

Lyerly says that the new maps in the state will make elections fairer in local races. (Editor’s note: The congressional district maps have not changed.)

“We’re the third largest population center in the state, yet only two Democrats have been elected to this region in the last couple of years, and in many seats, Democrats don’t even run because they just don’t feel like it’s winnable, but that’s all changed now that we have fair maps,” Lyerly says.

Lyerly says that “representatives haven’t had to represent” the people in certain districts in Wisconsin.

“They’ve just been able to phone it in because their elections have been easy. So many of them have gone unopposed. Well, that doesn’t make the people of Northeast Wisconsin feel comfortable; it actually makes people feel really uncomfortable because they’re stressed out. They recognize that what’s happening right now in the state and in Washington, D.C. is not working for them. Now that they’re able to talk about these things and I hear story after story after story about the hope that people are feeling, like they really are being heard, like there can be a change where we’re making solid economic decisions. Where we can balance the budget, reduce the deficit, fix the problem at the border, there’s so many problems to solve but we have to have the political courage to do that. For me, as an independent, as a moderate from the district who truly cares about the region, I’m going to do that.”

Closing Message

Lyerly has a simple message for voters in the district.

“I’m one of them. I’m a kid who grew up in Kaukauna,” Lyerly said. “Actually, Calumet County is where my people are from. They all emigrated from Germany. They were following a charismatic priest. Charlesburg was named after my great-great-great-grandfather. My family’s all dairy farmers in that area. I get it, and it would be an absolute joy to be able to represent the voices – of the people who raised me, the people who I still talk to every single day – in Washington, D.C., to try to get some of these problems solved and make sure that we have better lives. We deserve better lives,” Lyerly said.

Editor’s notes: The Brillion News also requested an interview with Wied, whose representatives did not respond to multiple invitations.

Lyerly and Wied met for a debate on Sept. 27, which is available for viewing by visiting WBAY TV-2’s YouTube page.

A few lighthearted questions

Has she gained a soft spot for the Vikings after all her time in Minnesota? Oh, no! No. (said laughing)

Favorite TV show or movie: There’s not a lot of time for TV and movies right now. I really loved Ted Lasso.

Favorite candy: I’m a Snickers kind of gal, but I also love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Who was on the poster on your wall as a kid: Not a poster, my bedroom was plastered with Duran Duran posters.

Favorite hobby or thing to unwind: Riding my bike.

Three guests at your dinner table: Barack Obama, Bob Uecker and Dave Grohl.