About Charly
Charly Ray knows and loves northwest Wisconsin, and is passionate about making it a better place for everyone to live.
As a forester and avid outdoorsman, he has spent countless hours walking the woods, paddling, running sled dogs and fishing, coming to intimately know the local environment he will work to protect.
He owns Honest Dog Books in Bayfield with his wife Julie Buckles and has first-hand knowledge of the challenges small businesses face.
As a community leader and local elected official, serving on the Town of Bayview board 10 years, and on the Bayfield County Board for five years, Charly Ray understands the issues facing northwest Wisconsin. Madison needs to do better on rural issues, whether it’s education funding, healthcare, or common-sense regulations, and Charly is the one to do it.
Why I’m Running
I am running for the 25th State Senate District because it is time for Wisconsin to work for the people. We have had failed leadership in Madison for a decade, and it is breaking the working people of Wisconsin. Our health care system is expensive and in chaos leaving us all in fear that one accident could bankrupt our family. Our public schools struggle for funding, putting us through repeated local tax referendums just to keep functioning while sending millions of school dollars to private schools. And what really ticks me off is Madison tying our hands from taking care of our own neighborhoods.
It is time for the citizens to come together, elect leaders that will speak out for us and figure out solutions to the real problems we face.
We can do better. I’ve been in local government for 15 years, taking care of things in the northwest and seeing how Madison is not delivering while we work to get done what we can. I will bring common sense to Madison and start building a future Wisconsin that works for us.
I’m running because it is time for good people to step up and stand up to the powerful that divide us to their benefit. It is time to end the gridlock in Madison. I believe this is a critical election in the history of this country and the state. This election is the first in the new post-gerrymander 25th Senate District. I want to be part of new leadership in Madison, that puts people instead of special interests first.
It’s easier to tear things down than build them up. Republicans want to throw people off of healthcare and I want to build a system that takes care of everyone. Republicans are defunding our public schools and I want to build up our public schools.
It is time to end the chaos in our health care system, in our school funding system. It’s time to tell Madison to back off on supporting mega projects that benefit corporations at the expense of our communities, to back off on tying our hands from protecting our lands, waters and neighborhoods from exploitation and projects we don’t want, reducing our property values and community values.
I believe it is a critical time to step up for the State and the Nation. I believe in a Wisconsin where we look to a brighter future where we live in confidence about our health care, our education system and the quality of our communities and the land and water we depend on.
