Rep. Jill Billings re-elected to Assembly in La Crosse
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — State Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, turned back Republican Jerome Gundersen’s challenge to represent the 95th Assembly District.
Billings, 58, a former teacher who was a La Crosse County supervisor from 2004 to 2012, was elected to the Assembly in a special election in 2011. She received 65.7% of the vote compared to Gundersen’s 34.3%. The final tally with 100% of precincts reporting was 19,682 to 10,270.
The district includes the city of La Crosse and small portions of the towns of Shelby and Campbell.
A member of the of the Governor’s Task on Opioid Abuse, Billings also serves on the Assembly’s Substance Abuse and Prevention Committee and has helped craft measures to address the deadly opioid epidemic in the state.
Billings is a long-time health advocate who has authored legislation to cap costs for lifesaving medications, advocated Medicaid expansion to bring federal health care funding to Wisconsin and proposed the Youth Vape Public Health Campaign legislation to address youth nicotine addiction.
Billings has advanced children’s issues, backed funding for K-12 public schools and pressed for protection for human trafficking victims through the Safe Harbor For Trafficked Youth Act.
Gundersen, also a former county supervisor, is a La Crosse construction contractor.
