The city of La Crosse will be electing a new mayor come the election on April 1, 2025. Until then, four candidates have been campaigning ahead of the primaries on Feb 18.
There are four candidates you will see on the ballot: Chris Kahlow, Vicki Markussen, Ellie McLoone and Shaundel Washington-Spivey. One name in particular that will not be included is current La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds, who has decided not to run for a second term.
Beth Franklin, CEO of the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce sat down and interviewed each of the candidates. The interviews give voters an opportunity to learn about each candidate as well as their views on local issues.
Each interview lasts approximately twenty minutes. Each candidate was asked the same questions in the same order following their two-minute opening statement. Questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters in the La Crosse area and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students in political science classes.
Here is some information about what each candidate discussed in their allocated interview:
Chris Kahlow
Kahlow currently serves as the president of the city council and was elected in 2023. She joined the city council in 2019 where she represented district 6.
She is active in community involvement including serving on the Board of Park Commissioners and the Heritage Preservation Commission.
Kahlow also supports the Pathways Home initiative to address homelessness and advocates for creating incentives for developers to improve affordable housing. Homelessness, which is a key issue in La Crosse, is something voters will be looking for.
“La Crosse needs a mayor who can hit the ground running on day one,” Kahlow said.
For more information on Kahlows plans, you can watch the entire interview here.
Vicki Markussen
Markussen also has some experience in city government positions as she waa formally executive director of the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce.
When asked what her top three initiatives will be in her first term as mayor she replied:
“Homelessness, housing, and city administrator.”
By addressing these issues, Markussen believes it will push La Crosse in the direction it needs to go.
Creating a city administrator position will take the city’s $72 million budget off of mayors duties and instead make someone’s sole job focussed on maintaining the city funds. Marcussen said if the city is not looking at the qualifications of a mayor who can navigate this money, that additionally someone else needs to be hired at City Hall.
“Those are the qualifications the mayor has to have, and if we are not going to elect based on them, then we need to hire an administrator who has those capabilities,” Markussen said.
For more information on Markussen’s plans, you can watch the entire interview here.
Ellie McLoone
Mcloone, a La Crosse native, is seeking election this April. She has a plethora of community professional experience as she worked as a realtor, in education, but also in sales and marketing. Mcloone said her diverse background of work in La Crosse will help her better the La Crosse community.
“I think coming in not as a politician will be something new for the city and will benefit everyone as a whole, ” McLoone said.
According to McLoone’s website, some of the initiatives she wants to support include affordable housing for young families and senior citizens and fixing the necessary infrastructure in the La Crosse community rather than spending money on ‘wish list’ items.
For more information on McLoone’s plans, you can watch the entire interview here.
Shaundel Washington-Spivey
Washigton-Spivey is a University of Wisconsin La- Crosse alumni and community member seeking election this April. Washington-Spivy has strong ties to the La Crosse region through his work in the community. He is the co-founder of and Executive Director of B.L.A.C.K (Black Leaders Acquiring Collective Knowledge), a nonprofit working towards supporting the black community in La Crosse.
Washington- Spivey said because of his background in various initiatives in the greater La Crosse area, he has the ability to unify different parts of the community.
“As mayor, a strong suit I would bring is being able to bring institutions together,” Washington-Spivey said.
For more information on Washington-Spivey’s plans, you can watch the entire interview here.
On Feb 6, following all filmed interviews, the mayoral candidates participated in a panel in the Student Union for a debate style conversation hosted by WIZM and the UWL political science and public administration departments. This included a live audience of more than 100 people.
The four candidates were questioned by local reporters from WIZM, the Tribune, WPR, WKBT and WXOW. Lee Rasch, director of La Crosse-based nonpartisan nonprofit organization LeaderEthics, moderated the panel.
The panel of reporters each asked questions spanning from homelessness, housing costs, water quality, a city administrator position and police cooperation with ICE raids on immigration.
After the event each of the candidate was individually asked why college students should consider voting for them in the April election:
“I can make sure that students have quality housing and good places to live, and make sure their neighborhoods are safe,” Kahlow said.
“I would really like to engage the students in terms of how we can make the community better,” Markussen said.
“I am heavily involved with the Alumni Association, because I love the connection to a smaller university,” McLoone said.
“As mayor, [I want to] figure out ways we can connect with our institutions and work on a collective where we can truly get college students involved in the work we were doing,” Washington- Spivey said.
For specific answers to certain questions, you can watch the entire hour-long debate on WIZM’s website.
Results of the primary will narrow the race to just two finalists on April 1 election. More election information is available at lwvlacrosse.org/elections2025.
