Kilbourn takes on Tiffany in seventh congressional district

Kyle Kilbourn, who is the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin’ seventh congressional district, acknowledges that he is not a native of northern Wisconsin but that’s not to say his arrival here was random, or without familial connections or passion for the area.

Indeed, what his arrival here represents, Kilbourn says, is a chance to return to small town roots and in a place offering great outdoors opportunities.

He says he’s not alone in finding the Northwoods a great place to move to.

“I grew up in a small town on a one-acre farm in North Dakota, but I married into Wisconsin,” Kilbourn said in a recent interview with The Lakeland Times. “I sort of looked at the census data and 30 percent of the people in the district aren’t from the district. It’s a district where people love being outdoors, and that’s one of the things that drew me to here.”

His parents actually grew up in Price County, Kilbourn said.

“So I do have that connection, and I’ve been coming to the district since 1999, so I’m pretty familiar with it,” he said. “It wasn’t just by chance. I grew up in a small town.”

In his childhood, Kilbourn said his dad was a construction worker and his mom was a waitress.

“We weren’t rich, but we worked really hard and they instilled in me the value of working hard to achieve the American dream,” he said. “They definitely did struggle. So for me, my way to achieve the American dream was to go to school and a lot of young people in rural areas have to leave and get a good job. So that’s what I did.”

All of which has prepared him for running for office in this district, Kilbourn said. He said his experiences taught him the importance of giving people opportunities to succeed.

“Having that rural background and knowing how important opportunities were for me, it doesn’t matter how hard you work if you don’t have those opportunities,” he said. “It’s hard to get ahead and, living where I am now, I see that our communities are struggling. For me, that was my way to think about how I can use my skills to contribute where I live.”

Kilbourn said he began his campaign in April 2023, and since that time he has making his rounds and talking to people about their priorities.

“There’s 26 counties, so it’s been a big challenge to get around, but we’ve been doing that and will keep on doing that,” he said. “And what I’m hearing is, there’s three to four different things that are sort of resonating.”

One of those is protecting Social Security, Kilbourn said.

“In this district, 30 percent of the people are over 65, so it’s a very older crowd, and they want to make sure that Social Security is going to be there for them when they retire,” he said. “And when they are retired, to make sure that they can survive on that.”

The second issue that resonates is health care, Kilbourn said.

“As a rural district, we’ve seen some hospitals close on the western side, and that is pretty scary for a lot of folks,” he said. “And myself, I drive 60 miles to go to my primary care doctor, and so, for a lot of people, having access to providers who are affordable is one of those issues that cuts across party lines.”

Finally, Kilbourn said, the cost of living is at the top of everyone’s mind.

“We know food, housing, insurance are all going up, and that’s one of those issues we need to tackle,” he said.

Protecting Social Security

As for Social Security, Kilbourn says it’s a challenge because the reserves will run out in about a decade or less from now.

“And so part of the challenge is how do we make sure that it stays funded?” he said. “It’s not like it’s going to disappear, it’s just that the benefits will be cut. And so it’s one of the things that people have been talking about and one solution that seems pretty simple is scrapping the cap.”

By cap, he means the cap on earnings that are subject to Social Security payroll taxes, which in 2024 is $168,600.

“So if you make more than $168,000, you stop paying into it,” he said. “I just think of all the millionaires and billionaires that aren’t paying into Social Security. I think they could afford to chip in to make sure that it is more solvent longer.”

Kilbourn was more circumspect about another oft-touted solution — raising the retirement age.

“If you have a desk job, you could probably work a little longer,” he said. “Your brain still stays pretty active. But we live in the Northwoods, people are working forestry jobs, farming jobs, manufacturing. And so they don’t work that long in their 70s. My parents both became physically disabled because their bodies broke down, and that happens to people. And so raising their retirement age I think is the wrong approach.”

As for the cost of living, Kilbourn said some inflation is good, but high inflationary pressures need to be cooled.

“The Federal Reserve has a 2 percent inflation rate target,” he said. “Prices are going to go up every year. If you stick at that 2 percent, they’re still going to go up every single year. So when you look back at prices, they’re always going to be higher.”

That said, Kilbourn said we need to combat excessively higher inflation rates, and he said part of that challenge is ignoring where it’s coming from. 

“A lot of corporations during the pandemic did quite well,” he said. “They made record profits, their CEOs got their bonuses, their shareholders got their stock buybacks. And we must make sure that the market is operating fairly.”

Kilbourn says he has worked at two Fortune 500 companies. 

“I know how they work, but it doesn’t mean we have to let them do whatever they want,” he said. “We need to make sure that they are accountable, making sure we have a free market and making sure there’s no price gouging. And so I think there’s some basic rules we can put in to say, ‘Hey, if it’s an emergency situation like a pandemic, maybe we have some caps on prices.’”

It’s the same with prescription drugs, Kilbourn said. 

“We’ve successfully negotiated prices with prescription drugs for the first time, and there’s ways we can sort of do similar things to make sure that in emergency situations we don’t have price gouging,” he said.

In addition to gouging, Kilbourn believes there are a combination of factors at work, from monopolies in certain industries to regulatory burdens on small businesses.

“We definitely know there’s duopolies and monopolies within the food industry, and maybe injecting some competition into that would help, but we still have to do that,” he said. “We can’t just let it go as is and say, ‘we will do that.’ So there is enforcing the laws [against monopolies] that are on the books right now, which hasn’t been in favor with a lot of legislators, and so making sure that we do that is important.”

Kilbourn said he thinks it is important to think about the impact big businesses in agriculture have on family farms. 

“Can we go backwards?” he asked. “Part of the issue is, once we’ve gone this far, how can we entice small owners, business owners, and farmers back into the industry? And it is tough. I think when you start talking about an amount of regulation — definitely more regulation is more advantageous for larger corporations.”

So a number of questions needs to be asked about the regulatory framework.

“Do we ensure that as a larger industry becomes consolidated, are there more regulations in place to make sure that we sort of manage that versus industries where they’re not consolidated, and do they need as much regulation because they do become a burden on small businesses?” he said. “And so I think there’s a way to sort of balance that out as industry become more consolidated and more developed, that perhaps regulations are important, and, if it’s an emerging industry with smaller businesses, the regulations are less robust.”

Health care

Kilbourn said health care is a priority issue and especially in rural areas like northern Wisconsin.

“Of the more than 600 rural hospitals in the country, 30 percent are at risk of closing,” Kilbourn said. “So it’s definitely an infrastructure issue. Part of that are the losses on giving patient services but a lot of it is inadequate payments from private insurance companies.”

Kilbourn says there has been a shift from Medicare to Medicare Advantage, and that means the insurance companies get to negotiate the prices and what they pay. 

“And so I think there is a way to ensure that health insurance payments cover the cost in rural communities, and this isn’t like rural people wanting to make sure that we survive, but it’s important to the health of the country that rural folks have health insurance because a lot of the products we produce from farming and our forest products are important to the rest of the country,” he said.

Kilbourn said we need a rural strategy to make sure that we’re supporting rural hospitals and clinics to ensure that local citizens are healthy enough to provide services to the rest of the country.

“I think that’s one issue that Congress can look at — the billing formulas — and make sure that our rural hospitals are adequately funded,” he said.

Kilbourn said that one of the amazing things about the sprawling seventh congressional district is that, in addition to a vibrant agricultural economy, there are a lot of small businesses.

“As a representative, that should be the focus,” he said. “I think for me, we must look at economic development, and so how do we bring the infrastructure dollars and the opportunities to the district that will support adjacent industries? I think about how at least the Northwoods has a thriving industry in tourism, and how do we make sure that they become resilient? Last winter when there wasn’t enough snow, how do we make sure that there’s other kinds of businesses and supporting services that will make sure that our taverns and our restaurants can survive?”

Maybe it’s about having more entertainment and arts that are part of a network of small businesses, Kilbourn said.

“Ensuring that it’s so robust that we’re not dependent on one way of making a living up here, but that these businesses actually are adjacent to each other so that they actually can support each other,” he said.

As for farming and forestry, the region needs to look at new processes in addition to traditional methods, Kilbourn said.

“We talk about the environment and climate change, and if you believe that or not — and I do — but if we think about our forestry products, there’s an idea called Biochar, that if you put Biochar into the ground, it actually helps the soil,” he said. “And how do we make sure that our forestry products could actually help our farmers create another industry that will sort build on and add onto the industries we have today?”

Biochar is charcoal that is used organically, such as in soils.

Kilbourn says manufacturing should not be ruled out in northern Wisconsin, either.

“If we start taking climate change seriously, there are a lot of incentives that have been built into infrastructure bills, and because we are not taking advantage of that, those manufacturing industries are going elsewhere,” he said. “We should be fighting hard to bring those renewable energies and those manufacturing practices up here.”

And the region needs the infrastructure to support it, Kilbourn said. 

“And so that’s part of it too, making sure that we’re voting on the bills that require that infrastructure and making sure that we’re fighting for that infrastructure to come up here,” he said. “And so I think there is a way to bring diversification in manufacturing.”

Wages and workforce

Kilbourn says he supports a higher minimum wage, but he believes it must be done in a way that does not negatively impact small businesses.

“It’s been decades since the minimum wage has gone up,” he said. “I know a lot of our small businesses, it would be a challenge to pay that. And I think part of that is how do we make sure that maybe health care isn’t something that private companies need to take on, and how do we make sure that if we’re raising the minimum wage, that it doesn’t put a burden on our small businesses.”

Kilbourn said that perhaps could be accomplished  by freeing up health care from something that businesses have to provide. 

“It’s the same with child care,” he said. “Is there a way to make sure that we can free up dollars so that child care is something that’s separate, that a business doesn’t need to worry about that per their employees? So I think we can raise the minimum wage while also thinking about how do we make sure that it doesn’t impact small businesses.”

Another hurdle for small businesses in rural Wisconsin, Kilbourn said, is the ongoing workforce shortage.

“Part of the biggest challenge is actually having enough workers,” he said. “I’ve driven around these 26 counties and the number of empty storefronts that I see is depressing. It’s right up there with the number of empty schools. And so part of the challenge of our rural areas is making sure that we can keep that workforce and make sure that these small businesses can actually have workers to hire.”

Kilbourn said attacking the federal debt will be a priority if he is elected, but reducing the debt doesn’t necessarily mean only cutting spending.

“There’s definitely two ways of looking at it,” he said. “One way is that we have to cut to make sure that we have a balanced budget and pay off that debt. It’s true that the interest payments are becoming a burden on our budget.”

But Kilbourn said there was another way to look at it.

“I think we can actually grow out of the debt,” he said. “And so if our economy becomes big enough, the debt becomes a smaller part of it. That is the other approach. How can we grow our economy so that the debt is a smaller part of our budget?”

And if Congress does pursue spending cuts, Kilbourn said, it’s going to have to be bipartisan.

“It has to be a good faith negotiation between the parties with a willingness to compromise and a serious effort to locate unnecessary spending,” he said. “I think it’s like 19 percent of the budget is discretionary, so squeezing from that 19 percent is going to be really hard and it’s going to take people across the aisle working together to say, ‘what can we really agree on to make that cut?’”

That’s the reality, Kilbourn said, adding that he would be all for trying to make it happen. 

“If there’s other people on the other aisle that say, ‘all right, let’s work together and see where we can make those cuts,’ I would,” he said.

Kilbourn said he would not commit to supporting a balanced budget amendment outright.

“I’d have to look more into what that proposal might be and what it might do to affect my family,” he said. “My number one concern is looking out for people in northern Wisconsin. So as long as we can make sure that it stays balanced, and doesn’t have a drastic impact on people in rural Wisconsin, then we will see what we can do.”

In other areas, Kilbourn said he would be willing to look at trimming the national defense budget, but he stressed that he wouldn’t support drastic cuts. He also said he supports aid to Ukraine but that there should be a debate about much funding that is.

“We are a democracy and we should be supporting democracies across the world,” he said. “I think one thing is, what does that level of support look like? And that’s something that we should really have a discussion around. I think as a democracy, we should be supporting democracies around the world to make sure that places like ours survive.”

Kilbourn said more funding is needed to secure the nation’s southern border.

“Part of it is fixing the broken immigration system because right now we don’t have enough funding to vet as people come over and make sure if they’re supposed to be here or not,” he said. “Part of it includes stronger border security, making sure that we have the funding to have border agents that are staffed and able to take that on. And so part of it has to be bipartisan funding.” 

On abortion, Kilbourn said he supports codifying Roe v Wade, and he also supports having a binding ethics code for Supreme Court justices.

Ultimately, Kilbourn says his key message is that it’s going to take new leadership to solve the problems facing the nation. 

“Tom [Tiffany] has been running for office for the last 20 years, and I just started a year-and-a-half ago,” he said. “So I think my career as a designer tackling tough problems, it’ll be a way forward to make sure that we have someone who is not only going to listen to them, but will get results and get things done.”

This election gives voters a clear choice, Kilbourn said.

“Do you want more of the same from a representative who prioritizes corporate donors and making political gains or do you want fresh leadership?” he asked.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.