Mike Thurow
Firefighter; HAZMAT director
Mequon 
Elected Experience
None
Q&A with the Candidate
Why should voters send you to congress?
2% of Congress comes from the working class. As its made up now Congress is a club of millionaires serving the interests of billionaires and multi national corporations. Both parties take billions of dollars from these corporations, I am not and will not take money from them. I will work to break up corporate monopolies, ban Congressional stock trading and take on the for profit health industry profiting from our sickest and most vulnerable.
What is the top issue in your district? How would you address it?
The Economy. From gas to groceries this economy is failing the vast majority of us. Most markets have shifted from free markets to anti-competitive cartels controlled by 4-5 major corporations at the top that stifle competition, set prices for sellers and buyers, and hoard profits for themselves. This has happened in farming, grocery stores, healthcare, tech, fire truck production, etc. I will show up to congress on day one ready to bring case after case to the FTC to enforce anti-trust rules, as they have mostly gone unenforced since the 1970s.
What expertise would you bring into congress? How would it help your district?
I am currently Wisconsin's HAZMAT director meaning I coordinate directly with government agencies, and build budgets based on available state and federal resources. So I have experience in allocating and selecting government resources based on a state wide departments needs. Most importantly though I bring the expertise of a normal American. I work 52 hour weeks, pick up overtime when I can, send my kids to public schools, and try to give them access to more than I had. Lived experience is not something you can't teach, or read about, and to continue to send a representative to DC who does not have this experience that the vast majority of WI-06 has is why we continue to see Congress not listen to us.
Should Congress exert more oversight over the president? Why or why not?
Since Obama started his drone wars with half the Middle East our Congress has allowed every president since to commit daily acts of war without their vote of approval. It is one of the most cowardly things I can think of from any government body, and has been going on for almost two decades now. So, in short, Yes!
What is your favorite fun Wisconsin history fact?
The Republican party started and was founded in Ripon Wisconsin in response to the failure of the Democratic party and the Whigs.
NEW News Lab general election questions
Relevant Experience
Thirteen years in the fire service, now as a captain and director of a regional HAZMAT team. I have worked structure fires, chemical spills, helped plan National Special Security Events and coordinate state responses – work that earned Department of the Army and Secret Service commendations. Before the fire service, I spent five years at Healthcare for the Homeless as an outreach worker. I am a proud union member, IAFF Local 215, and a father of four. My career has been solving real problems for real people under pressure, working with whoever is on scene.
Would you agree to hold in-person town halls if elected? Why or why not?
Yes, without hesitation. I am a fire captain. Showing up is the job. I will hold town halls in every county, every year. If you cannot stand in front of the people you work for and answer for your votes, you should not have the seat. That is exactly what is broken right now. Both parties send people to Washington who stop showing up between elections. I will not be one of them.
What policies are most important to address Americans' concerns about cost of living?
We need to break up the monopolies driving up your groceries, prescriptions and utilities costs. Let Medicare negotiate every drug price. Pass Right to Repair so you can fix what you own. Ensure every worker has a voice in their work place by passing the ProAct. This economy needs to work for everyone, not just the rich and the connected. Corporations were created to serve the public, and along the way it got the break and you got the bill. This is the kitchen table issue in this district, and neither party is treating it like one.
What changes, if any, should Congress make to federal tax policy?
We have a system where you’re taxed at a higher rate if you work and earn a paycheck, than if you simply bet on the right stock and you live off your capital gains. That’s wrong. America should be a place where hard work is rewarded not punished. Close all the corporate loopholes that allow billion-dollar companies to pay a lower effective tax rate than a teacher or nurse. I am not interested in raising taxes. I am interested in making the system fair, so the folks doing the work are not the only ones paying full freight.
What should Congress do to prepare workers and the economy for changes due to artificial intelligence and automation?
New tools should work for us, not replace us and squeeze us. AI holds promise, but even the people building it warn it could do real harm, and it's being rushed out before we understand it. Congress has to catch up. Protect workers with retraining and apprenticeships tied to local jobs. Pass strong data protection, so your information can't be used to charge you more, pay you less or track you. Put workers at the table before decisions get made, not after.
What actions would you take, if any, regarding the reduction in federal funding for special education, school meals and Head Start?
We do not balance a budget on the backs of our kids. Special education, school meals and Head Start are the basics that give every child in this district a fair shot. Cutting them to pay for tax breaks to corporations or people who don’t need them is wrong. I would fight to protect that funding. I would listen to parents, teachers and school staff, because they know what these kids need better than anyone in Washington does.
What steps can Congress take to alleviate court backlogs in Wisconsin?
Justice delayed is justice denied. I will be honest, this is not an area I have spent my career in, and I would not pretend otherwise. What I do know is you clear a backlog by resourcing it: fill the judicial vacancies, fund the courts and public defenders so cases actually move and make sure our rural counties are not left waiting the longest. I would sit down with the people who run our courts here and take their lead on what genuinely clears the docket.
What federal policies would you prioritize to help address concerns about drug trafficking, overdoses and strains on local law enforcement?
I have run these calls. Fentanyl is killing people and stretching our first responders past the breaking point. Go hard at the traffickers moving this poison. Treat addiction as the health crisis it is, because we are not going to arrest our way out of it. Your zip code shouldn't matter. Everyone deserves a well funded and trained police, fire and EMS system. We shouldn't leave small towns to carry these services on a shoestring budget. I’ve sat with the families after the worst call of their lives, this one is personal to me.
How significant an issue is climate change? What would you advocate for related to climate change if elected?
It's real, It's here. Ask a farmer who's watched the weather swing from flood to drought. Remember the wildfire smoke that made it hard to breathe last summer. I take it seriously. But I'm not going to Washington to fight about the label. I'll focus on what helps: protect our water and farmland, bring energy costs down with sources that include Wisconsin-made power and keep big projects like data centers from dumping their costs on your electric bill. Good stewardship of our land and water is common sense and done right it saves families money.
Wisconsin’s bipartisan support for a PFAS law to hold polluters accountable and the state's lower maximum contaminant levels for drinking water put it out in front nationally on forever-chemical protections. Some say the best way to prevent PFAS contaminations is to outlaw their use, while others hope to reverse the regulations. How important is this issue? What still needs to be addressed? How should remediation costs be raised?
The principle here is simple: the polluter pays for the cleanup, not the family whose well got contaminated. I would protect drinking water and private wells and hold the companies that caused the problem accountable. Recently, a federal court ruled that you do not have a constitutional right to clean water. This is wrong and highlights the need to codify a right to clean water into law. Clean water is not a luxury. It is the most basic thing we owe to one another and to future generations.
Non-citizen immigrants make up a significant portion of the home health and nursing home workforce. What do you think about federal immigration policy, especially as it relates to the immigrant workforce among Wisconsin’s home health aides and nursing home staff?
Our nursing homes and home health agencies are already short-staffed. A lot of the people doing that hard, essential work are immigrants. If we drive them out with no legal pathways, the people who pay the price are our seniors and the families counting on that care. Secure the border, that is the only way we have a country, but we also need a legal, workable pathway to work visas and citizenship so the folks caring for our parents and grandparents can keep doing it.