Beth Meyers
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the 74th district
In office
January 5, 2015 – January 2, 2023
Preceded byJanet Bewley
Succeeded byChanz Green
Personal details
Born (1959-05-29) May 29, 1959
Bayfield, Wisconsin[1][2]
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseKevin Buzicky[1]
Children2[1]
ResidenceRussell, Wisconsin[1]
Alma materNorthland College (B.S.)

Beth Meyers (born May 29, 1959) is an American social worker and Democratic politician. She was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2015 through 2023, representing the 74th Assembly district, in northern Wisconsin.

Biography

Born in Bayfield, Wisconsin,[1][2] Meyers received her bachelor's degree in sociology from Northland College in December 1989.[1] She worked for the Red Cliff Tribe as family services division chief from 1990 to 1999, and later worked as the executive director of CORE Community Services, a nonprofit group serving seniors in the area around Chequamegon Bay.[1][2] Meyers served on the Bayfield County, Wisconsin, Board of Supervisors from 2010[1] until she resigned in 2015 to concentrate on her duties in the Assembly. She has also served as chair of the Bayfield County Health Board and Library Board, and as a member of the Northern Lights Services Board and of Bayfield County's Executive Committee, Sheriff's Committee, and Tribal-County Relations Committee.[2]

On November 4, 2014, Meyers was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Democrat replacing Janet Bewley (also a Democrat), who was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate.[3] She is the ranking member on the Assembly's Committee on Long-Term Care and Committee on Energy and Utilities, and a member of the Committees on Financial Institutions, Transportation, and Rural Development, the Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations, the Speaker's Task Forces on Foster Care and Suicide Prevention,[1] and the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force.[4]

On January 6, 2022, she announced that she would not seek re-election.[5]

Political positions

Meyers supported Governor Tony Evers's attempt to expand BadgerCare,[6] which she considered useful for the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, stating, "[W]e have a shortage of workers in this state. And what we need is for them to be healthy. We can’t have people who are supposed to be going to their job calling in sick … If their employer can’t provide them health care, we should be able to help them with this money."[7] She also supports state investment to help northern Wisconsin recover economically from the pandemic.[8]

Meyers supports greater government investment in broadband internet access, which she considers essential to northern Wisconsin's economic development; she has stated that the US Department of Agriculture's $80.9 million investment in expansion of rural broadband under Donald Trump was not sufficient to make a noticeable improvement.[9]

Meyers supports strong regulation of pollution to protect clean running water,[10] particularly as applied to mining; for this reason she opposed the development of an iron mine in the Penokee Hills of Iron County, Wisconsin, in 2014.[11]

In 2016, after the previous year's legislative session on the budget lasted 12 hours, extending into the early morning of the day after it began, Meyers proposed a bill which would require votes on the budget to happen during "normal waking hours", so that citizens would be able to observe the debates and votes.[12]

Meyers was one of the Democratic State Assembly members who, for the sake of safety from the COVID-19 pandemic, chose to hold a virtual inauguration ceremony after the 2020 election rather than attend the in-person State Assembly inauguration planned by the Republicans.[13]

Electoral history

2014

2014 Democratic Primary: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[14]
Candidate Votes  %
Beth Meyers 3,080 65.19
Graham Garfield 1,645 34.81
Total votes 4,725 100
2014 General Election: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[15][2][16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Beth Meyers 14,663 57.43
Republican Jamey Francis 10,862 42.54
Write-ins 7 .03
Total votes 25,532 100
Democratic hold

2016

2016 Democratic Primary: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[17]
Candidate Votes  %
Beth Meyers 4,652 99.81
write-ins 9 .19
Total votes 4,661 100
2016 General Election: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Beth Meyers 22,624 99.36
Write-ins 145 .64
Total votes 22,769 100
Democratic hold

2018

2018 Democratic Primary: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[19]
Candidate Votes  %
Beth Meyers 6,573 99.86
write-ins 9 .14
Total votes 6,582 100
2018 General Election: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Beth Meyers 15,738 56.16
Republican Jeffrey Fahl 12,276 43.81
Write-ins 8 .03
Total votes 28,022 100
Democratic hold

2020

2020 Democratic Primary: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[21]
Candidate Votes  %
Beth Meyers 6,934 99.76
write-ins 17 .24
Total votes 6,951 100
2020 General Election: Wisconsin State Assembly District 74[22]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Beth Meyers 18,163 51.46
Republican James Bolen 17,119 48.51
Write-ins 11 .03
Total votes 35,293 100
Democratic hold

Personal life

Meyers had two children and was divorced prior to attending college. She lives in Russell, Wisconsin, with her husband, Kevin Buzicky.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Meet Beth. Meyers for Assembly. Accessed June 4, 2021. Archived June 4, 2021, at archive.today.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Mullen, Amber. "Meyers resigns from Bayfield County Board". Ashland Daily Press, April 2, 2015. Archived June 4, 2021, at archive.today.
  3. ↑ "Janet Bewley wins 25th Wisconsin Senate Dist. 25 seat". NNCNOW.com, Granite Broadcasting, published November 5, 2014, last modified November 6, 2014. Archived January 28, 2015, at archive.today.
  4. ↑ "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force". doj.state.wi.us. Wisconsin Department of Justice. Accessed June 5, 2021. Archived June 5, 2021, at archive.today.
  5. ↑ Forester, John (6 January 2022). "Rep. Meyers Will Not Seek Reelection". www.wsaa.org. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  6. ↑ Meyers, Beth. "Rep. Meyers statement on Gov. Evers special session" [sic]. legis.wisconsin.gov. Accessed June 4, 2021. Archived at archive.today.
  7. ↑ Conklin, Melanie. "The special session that wasn't". Wisconsin Examiner, May 25, 2021. Archived June 5, 2021, at archive.today.
  8. ↑ "Bolen to challenge Meyers for Assembly seat". Price County Review. APG Media, April 29, 2020. Archived on June 5, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Sadowski, Jonathon. "Rural Broadband Will Need Federal Help. Here's What Trump Has Done and What Biden Proposes." Up North News, published August 24, 2020, last modified January 2, 2012. Archived on May 18, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "Meyers in TV ad promises to protect clean drinking water". WisPolitics.com, October 7, 2020. "The health of our families and our economy depends on clean water. That's why I'm [Meyers] fighting so hard against special interests that want to pollute our land and water."
  11. ↑ Kaeding, Danielle. "First Candidate in Northern Wisconsin Assembly Race Opposes Mine". Wisconsin Public Radio, February 26, 2014. Archived June 6, 2021, at archive.today.
  12. ↑ Whaley, KP. " 'Waking Hours Bill' Would End Late-Night Budget Sessions". Wisconsin Public Radio, February 2, 2016. Archived June 5, 2021, at archive.today.
  13. ↑ Lieffring, Christina. "Usually a Bipartisan Celebration, Inauguration Plans Get Caught Up In Pandemic Politics". Up North News, published December 30, 2020, last modified January 3, 2021. Archived January 21, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ "Wisconsin 2014 fall primary election results". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 12, 2014. Archived June 4, 2021, at archive.today.
  15. ↑ "Canvass results for 2014 GENERAL ELECTION - 11/4/2014". G.A.B. Canvass Reporting System. Wisconsin Elections Commission, November 26, 2014. Archived June 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ Walker, Don. "Wisconsin voters approve state transportation fund amendment". Duluth News Tribune, November 5, 2014. Archived June 5, 2021, at archive.today.
  17. ↑ "County by County Report: 2016 Partisan Primary: REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ASSEMBLY". G.A.B. Canvass Reporting System. Wisconsin Elections Commission, August 23, 2016. Archived October 18, 2020, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ "County by County Report: 2016 General Election: REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ASSEMBLY". G.A.B. Canvass Reporting System. Wisconsin Elections Commission, November 23, 2016. Archived January 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ↑ "2018 Partisan Primary: REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ASSEMBLY". Wisconsin Elections Commission Official Results. Wisconsin Elections Commission, September 7, 2018. Archived October 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine.
  20. ↑ "County by County Report: 2018 General Election: REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ASSEMBLY". WEC Canvass Reporting System. Wisconsin Elections Commission, December 2, 2018. Archived October 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ↑ "Ward by Ward Report: 2020 Partisan Primary: REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ASSEMBLY". WEC Canvass Reporting System. Wisconsin Elections Commission, August 26, 2020. Archived December 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ↑ "Ward by Ward Report: 2020 General Election: REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ASSEMBLY". WEC Canvass Reporting System. Wisconsin Elections Commission, November 18, 2020. Archived June 5, 2020, at the Wayback Machine.
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