
With her first year as a state representative coming to a close, Rep. LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee) has a lot to reflect on. The Milwaukee native has been a member of the stateâs Democratic Party since she turned 18, gaining experience in student government before entering the political arena. As she became involved with various Democratic organizations between high school and college, Myers developed her perspective of how state government works, and her sense that state policy has âa deeper impact on everyday life more so than policies out of Washington do.â
Starting the journey
Myersâ path to Madison began with a gig in Sen. Lena Taylorâs office right out of college. Myers, 35, cherished the opportunity to learn firsthand what goes on into âan active legislatorâs office.â
âShe made sure that her office was responsive to everybody,â recalled Myers.
In Taylorâs office, Myers was exposed to and helped resolve a variety of community problems. From complaints of people who were dealing with unethical landlords and were facing homelessness, to helping people with high utility bills. âWe were able to see the direct impact of getting people services that went beyond the scope of what somebody thinks [when they say], âOh Iâll call my state legislator about that.ââ
âTo always try to help and serve the public is something that I always appreciated,â Myers told Wisconsin Examiner. âEspecially when you look at the numbers we have now in the legislature. Thereâs only eight African Americans that serve in the entire legislature. We have two senators, Sen. Taylor and Sen. Johnson, and thereâs six of us in the Assembly. And five of the six of us represent districts in Milwaukee.â
Milwaukeeâs size, and its role as a major political engine for Wisconsin, makes its representativesâ role in the legislature particularly important, she believes. âWe have more to deal with, quite frankly, than I think some of the other legislators that deal with smaller populations,â said Myers. Drawing on her experience in Taylorâs office, and as a younger woman, Myers sought to address the many âquality of life, bread and butter issues,â she felt werenât being addressed in the Capitol.
Myers has helped introduce bills on lowering prescription pill costs and expanding opportunities for student teachers since joining the state Assembly. âMy goal is to make Wisconsin the most equitable state that it can be,â she explained. She is a believer in bipartisanship, even in a highly partisan Capitol. âSometimes itâs not about being right, itâs about getting the work done,â she says, âI think thatâs what you have to focus on, versus some of the partisanship that happens.â
Prescription drug and healthcare costs, Myers says, are issues that people on both sides of the aisle agree need to be addressed. âWhen I have seniors that have to choose between taking medication today or paying bills … thatâs a problem for me. Because that lets me know that you may be skipping medications that you need in order to live. Or when we see our seniors having to work jobs longer, and theyâre past their working prime, but theyâre still forced to work to pay for prescriptions. No one should have to live like that.â Nevertheless, the prescription drug bill has yet to get a hearing.

âI grew up in my district,â Myers recalls, âand I could see the decline. Whether it be lack of goods and services that were in the neighborhood, to responses to public safety, things like that.â Dealing with some of those issues started with getting connected in the community, learning who the police and fire captains were, identifying community leaders, and maintaining constant contact with them and the public through social media, and flexible community meetings.
âMy community keeps me on my toes at all times,â says Myers. âYou get a grasp of whoâs in the area to make sure that youâre accessible to them.â Even if it means talking politics or answering questions from people who recognize her at the local grocery store.
A capital paralyzed by partisanshipÂ
The style and ethic that Myers has developed makes the political gridlock in the Capitol that much more frustrating for her. âI would have liked us to do more,â she says, especially on  pressing matters like Wisconsinâs gun laws.
âDisagree or agree, these are things that we need to talk about,â says Myers. Recent school security incidents have made these standoffs weigh even heavier on the freshman representativeâs mind. âThese are statewide issues,â says Myers â despite the fact that her GOP colleagues sometimes associate gun violence and other bills solely with Milwaukee. âThese things didnât happen in the city,â she says. âThese things happened in smaller suburban communities.â While itâs easy for some in the Assembly to point fingers at Milwaukee, Myers feels that when gun violence breaks out in the suburbs, âthey donât want to deal with that.â
Negative rhetoric about Milwaukee has been in Myersâ face since she arrived in the legislature. âIt is reiterated to me on a lot of different occasions where people say, âOh Milwaukee is so bad,â or âThey do this in Milwaukee.â And Iâm looking at the same people where opioid addiction is off the charts.â
Myers stresses that, âWe have to get out of the us-versus-them mentality. I donât know what it will take for my colleagues to get that, itâs not an us-versus-them. Itâs just an âus.â All of us in Wisconsin, together. And I think that has to be translated to people who live in rural communities.â From drug addiction to failing schools to human trafficking, the problems that afflict Wisconsin are not unique to Milwaukee, but are present in rural and suburban communities as well.
âWe have to look at things as a collective,â says Myers, âand not look at things as, âthose people over there, or down there.ââ She finds it paradoxical that Republican leaders target Milwaukee with political revenge and negativity, while the communities they represent depend on the city and the capital, Madison, for revenue and other benefits. âYou depend on those urban centers for your tax base, you canât have it both ways.â
Each time Myers enters Milwaukee, she passes signs listing the cityâs population of over half a million people. âI think about every last one of those people that I represent, even if they might not be part of my district.â While she accepts that not everyone is going to agree on all issues, Myers feels itâs always important to tell the truth. âIt can hurt you,â she explains, âbut it can also make you more palatable and make you a better leader.â She urges her colleagues, and all of her fellow Wisconsinites, to try harder to understand people from other areas, and to be more introspective. âAnd thatâs what I feel Iâm in the legislature to do.â