Rippling Voices Interview #1: Wisconsin’s 89th Assembly Representative Ryan Spaude

Ryan Spaude, 31, is the State Representative for Wisconsin’s 89th District, which covers the west side of Green Bay and the village of Ashwaubenon. He was raised in northeast Wisconsin in a working-class family and was politically active as a Republican before becoming a Democrat. As a former prosecutor, a fifth-generation Wisconsinite, and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Spaude intends to use his office to give back to all of the people in his district.  

(Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

1: So it says on your website that your father was a welder and your mother was a dental hygienist. Given that these aren't overtly political careers, what inspired you to go into politics, and how is your family background related to how you see it? 

Yeah, so I filed to run in January of last year, so January 2024, back when we actually had the old maps. I filed in a district that was gerrymandered, but it was a light red district, and I figured I'd give the incumbent a run for his money. 

I figured I’d run because I like talking about politics– obviously, I wouldn't be here otherwise. And I figured I could do a better job than a lot of the yahoos down in Madison. And I mean that. There's a bunch of folks down there who are just taking up space. With the new, gerrymandered maps, I went from, you know, in a, probably-not-going-to-win district, to a purple as purple can be district. It was a district that Trump won the first time, then Biden won the second time. And I was like, you know what? I think I'm a good fit. I was a Republican. Growing up, I was raised straight, Christian, conservative, Republican. That's just kind of the default setting, I guess, in Oconto County. And for me, my parents instilled some really great values in me. And I still have those values. It’s just, my life went on a little journey after high school, going through college, undergrad, and then working in Washington, DC, for a few years. Then I did law school, and I realized that the law is a great force. You can use it to pull people up, or really force them down. During that time, I came out as a gay dude,I went to law school, and the Republican Party went absolutely off the rails around the same time, January 6th. I vividly remember that. That was basically the nail in the coffin for me. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm not a Republican. I'm a Democrat. 

So that's kind of tying it all together, why I ran, my life story. I live within 25 minutes of my folks. I've got one younger sister. She's in Rochester, New York. But otherwise, almost all of my aunts, uncles, cousins are still in little concentric circles around Green Bay. That's home. 

2: Your website also states that your main reason for running is working families. I know you haven't been in office for super long, but how have you, or how do you intend to use your seat to improve working families? And have you ever had a moment where you saw those impacts play out in the lives of someone around you? 

This answer will be shorter. Robin Vos is still Speaker of the State Assembly, with Republican majorities in both chambers. So many, many, many of the ideas that I ran on, those bills can be introduced, and they have been introduced, but I will never be able to vote on them this year. I'm still committed to doing everything I can. We're going to take some wins if we can get them, maybe postpartum Medicaid expansion. But a lot of the things that I ran on, I will be running on again. It's imperative that we win a majority. And we'd like a blue trifecta. Because there are still a lot of families in my district, in the Green Bay area, who are struggling. Inflation is still kicking their butts. And the Republicans right now really don't seem to be listening, or they don't care, or it's a combination of both. 

3: As part of all this, you've been encouraging Wisconsin to use its money on public education, raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid. These can be unpopular talking points sometimes, even with the working voters that they might help. So, how do you attempt to sell them to voters or your colleagues? 

I'll just say this– I disagree. The things that I ran on, I discovered, are overwhelmingly popular. Tax cuts for the middle class are popular– not tax cuts for the wealthiest of us, or big corporations; those things are unpopular. Raising the minimum wage– it's like an 80-20 issue, 80% support, 20% oppose. Fully funding our child care system– the Child Care Counts program is facing a dire situation right now. If we don't, as the legislature, invest in it, the money's going to dry up. It’s overwhelmingly popular. So is investing in health care, public schools, K-12 public education. I'll just say, on the West Side of Green Bay, and Ashwaubenon, people know we've got to invest in these things.

4: Since you have the perspective of being in state politics, how would you convince someone of the importance of voting and being informed about, and being engaged with, this level of politics, too? 

Yeah. So there's 99 assembly seats. There's about 40- ish that are drawn with the current maps to be reliably Democrat. There's 40- ish that are drawn to be reliably Republican. And you've got a few purple seats in the middle. I'm in one of them.

And I had an incredible amount of support last year when I ran, from family, friends, but also other Democrats, the ADCC, the state party, Wisconsin Progress, and a lot of other organizations, like LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. There are so many people that helped and surrounded me. And I will say, through that, we were able to raise and spend millions of dollars. Voters were actually very engaged. They knew who the candidates were in my district. They knew where we stood. So actually, I did not have that problem.

We’ve got fair maps now. Every two years now, control of the state assembly is hanging in the balance. Like, it can go either way every two years. And we, I think, are just getting used to that. We had 14 years where that was not the case.

5: OK, so you’ve already talked about this, but I've seen that you were once a Republican, but became a Democrat. How did that process happen? And how much of it was changes in your life or perspective, versus changes to the party's platform?

It was a combination of those two. Part of what changed was that the Republican party went, pardon my language, batsh*t crazy. And I had a little bit of a life journey, like I said, and realized I'm a Democrat. 

I'm not gonna lie, I lost count last year of the number of conversations I had with somebody who said, “Oh, I used to be a Republican,”  or “I'm a Republican”. And I'm like, “Oh, I was too up until a few years ago.”  I never had to stoptostop a conversation or give up just because someone says, “I'm a Republican,” or “I used to be a Republican,” or “I tend to vote for Republicans.” I heard that last line the most– “I usually vote for Republicans…” because, I mean, who really wants to be affiliated with that party these days? Those were always the best conversations. I’d simply say, I used to be one. I'm a Democrat now. Here's why I changed. Here's my values.

6: You also served as a prosecutor for two years, primarily against drunk drivers, which is, of course, a massive issue in Wisconsin. How, I guess, was there any way that experience inspired you to go into politics? And was that something you brought up on the campaign trail?

I care about public safety. I ran for state assembly because I care about my community, its safety, and its future. And I did not leave my job when I started campaigning. At any given point in time, I usually had around 900 open cases.

Sometimes, I think Democrats struggle to talk about crime. For me, it was easy when I was campaigning. “Oh, you say your top issue is crime? Like, what kind of crime? Are we talking property crime? Are we talking drugs? Are we talking guns? How do you think the Green Bay Police Department is doing?” And then they usually would end up saying, “Wait, you’re a Democrat?”  I think this helped me connect with soft Republican voters and independents.

7: You're an openly gay politician, and as you probably know, with Trump's re-election, fewer establishments have been celebrating Pride, which is a profound change from a few years ago. Like, the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison– I saw this recently– has been chosen not to fly a flag this year. So I guess, what are your thoughts on the backlash against queer rights, and how would you encourage progressives to respond? 

Shame on them. When we bow under pressure, we strengthen the bigots who want to take us back in time. You're right, there's so many different big companies or large organizations that, in the past, would celebrate Pride Month [that don’t now]. It's really disappointing. It's kind of sickening. And it’s like, what is the reason? The only reason is that there's a different individual sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office. That is the only difference. If you actually cared about those things last year, why should that change? It just doesn't make sense. And we should call them out, call out folks who do things that don't make sense, that are deeply irrational.

We should support the organizations, the businesses, the groups that continue to celebrate Pride. Let's celebrate them. Let's lift them up, give them money. And we gotta hold our ground. We are on the right side of this. I mean, gay marriage– not that long ago, or most of human history, it was unthinkable. We've made an incredible amount of progress. And we are continuing to grow to include everybody. I'm thinking right now especially about our transgender community, about our trans kids. They're the current targets. There was a set of bills in March, I believe, that the Republicans put forward targeting our trans youth. I don't know where the hate comes from. I don't know why they picked them out. Probably because they think they're the most vulnerable and they can use them as pawns in their political games. I’m proud that there was a resounding no from Democrats on the floor. We just gotta stand our ground, we gotta stick to our guns on this.

8: Wisconsin Progress, the organization I work for, exists to help progressives who want to run for office– especially people who, because of their income level or identity– may not believe that they could do so successfully. What's your best advice for people who might be interested in running for office? 

Talk about running for office. Talk about running for office with your family, folks who are active in your community, your other elected officials, and groups like Wisconsin Progress. I don't think anyone can really regret starting the conversation. 

Then we have to be realistic about what it takes to run. And I'm just eternally grateful that Wisconsin Progress was there. I mean, I remember talking with them over a year, or about a year, before my actual election, back in November of 2023. I distinctly remember asking Becky [Becky Ramussen, Training Director and Northeast Wisconsin Candidate Services, Wisconsin Progress], “When's the right time to file your candidacy?” And I think she said January 2nd. And I was like, okay.  And I did what Becky told me, and I filed on that day.

So yeah, do it. Raise your hand, step forward. And, you know, with Wisconsin Progress– I imagine my campaign at the very start, like a plane on the runway, like it's picking up steam, it's moving. I don't know if it would have actually taken off, gotten off the ground, without folks like Kristina [Kristina Sandherr, Executive Director, Wisconsin Progress], without folks in Wisconsin Progress, or other progressive, values-aligned organizations. You need the team, you need to have a big, big network. And I was very lucky that I had that. 

9: That’s great. Last question– while I obviously wasn't going to miss the opportunity to get a representative’s story, this blog is also about trying to find the smaller, low-level changes that people do to make the world a bit more progressive, safer, and welcoming. So, do you have any stories of something that you did before politics, or something someone else did in your life that maybe felt small, but had a significant impact?

Here's a good story. I remember the first time I went door-knocking. This would’ve been in 2011. I was still a Republican, and I went knocking on doors for someone who was running for reelection, a Republican state senator. And the person who showed me how to knock on doors, his name was Jason. He went with me for the first couple doors and showed me, “Hhere's what you say. Here's what you do. Here's how you handle unhappy people or folks who are just having a really bad day.” Just, how you share your message. 

As soon as I was by myself, it started downpouring. Jason had to come get in his car and rescue me because I don’t think I even had an umbrella. And what Jason did that day, he showed me not just how to knock doors, how to do campaigning. He started my political journey. That's my origin story. That's advocacy. Last year, when I was running for state assembly, as a proud, out gay dude, as a proud Democrat– every chance I could, when someone new would come in, a first time volunteer who had never knocked doors before, I always wanted them to come with me so I could show them how it worked. It's not just the mechanics of doing it, of knocking someone's door or ringing the doorbell. How do you talk about your values? How do you connect with people? How do you make your community a better place? I want as many people to feel confident that they can do it. Or do phone calls, or texts, or something else– I just want everyone, as many people as possible, to realize that they can do this. They can be that little spark that lights a flame. They have the ability within themselves to make a change.

Sophia Forster, Wisconsin Progress Intern, wrote the questions for, conducted, and wrote up this interview blog piece in June 2025.