Deborah Andraca (' Anderson; born April 10, 1970) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
politician,
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
specialist, and educator. A
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, she represents the 23rd district of the
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...
. The 23rd assembly district comprises three northerneastern
Milwaukee County
Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...
suburbs
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
—
Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield o ...
,
Fox Point, and
Bayside—as well as the village of
Grafton and eastern portions of
Mequon
Mequon () is the largest city in Ozaukee County, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, and the third-largest city in Wisconsin by land area. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore with significant commercial developments along Interstate 43, the comm ...
and the town of
Grafton. She was elected to her first term in November 2020.
Early life and education
Deb Andraca was born Deborah Jane Anderson in
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
, and moved with her parents to
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
as a child. She graduated from
Manheim Township High School
Manheim Township High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only high school in the Manheim Township School District.
As of the 2018–19 sch ...
in 1988 and earned her
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
in 1992.
After graduating from Syracuse, she moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for the
Solar Energy Industries Association
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), established in 1974, is the national non-profit trade association of the solar-energy industry in the United States. In 2019, the group reported at least 1,000 member companies.
SEIA is a 501(c ...
—a non-profit trade association which promotes the solar energy industry in the United States. While working full time for the SEIA, she also attended
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
and earned her
master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in political management.
Early career
She moved with her then-fiancé to Chicago, where she worked as communications director for the
Environmental Law and Policy Center
The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) is a Midwest-based non-profit environmental advocacy group, with offices in Chicago, Columbus (OH), Des Moines (IA), Duluth (MN), Jamestown (ND), Madison (WI), Sioux Falls (SD), and Washington, D.C. E ...
, worked as
press secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.
Duti ...
for U.S. representative
Lynn N. Rivers
Lynn Nancy Rivers (born December 19, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer from Michigan. She served four terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.
Early life and education
Rivers was born in Au Gres, Michigan, ...
on her successful
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
re-election campaign, and was vice president at the Chicago office of
FleishmanHillard
FleishmanHillard Inc. (formerly, Fleishman–Hillard) is a public relations and marketing agency founded and based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was acquired by Omnicom Group in 1997, becoming part of the Diversified Agency Services (DAS) division. T ...
, a
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
firm. They then moved to
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, and finally to
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
. After the birth of her daughters, Andraca became a
stay-at-home mom
A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...
to raise them.
Over the next several years, she remained involved in her community, leading her daughters'
Girl Scouts troops, volunteering at her daughters' schools, and serving as a board member and president of the school's
parent-teacher organization.
After the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...
, Andraca became involved with
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and began working to earn a teacher's license from
Alverno College
Alverno College is a private Roman Catholic women's college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
History
Chartered in 1887 as St. Joseph's Normal School, Alverno became Alverno Teachers College in 1936. It adopted its current name in 1946.
Academics
Alve ...
.
She has worked as a
substitute teacher
A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is absent or unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, maternal leave and so on. "Substitute teacher" (usually abbreviated as "sub") is the most co ...
for the Whitefish Bay School District and Bruce-Guadalupe Community School in the years leading up to her 2020 Assembly campaign.
Political career
In December 2019, she announced she would be a candidate for
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...
, challenging 14-year incumbent
Jim Ott
Jim Ott (born June 5, 1947) is an American politician and former television meteorologist. A Republican, he was a seven term member of the Wisconsin State Assembly representing assembly district 23, serving from 2007 to 2021. Before being electe ...
. In her 2020 election campaign, she described her experience as a teacher conducting a lockdown drill with a group of third graders as motivation. She asserted that years of correspondence and meeting requests with Ott had been ignored as she sought to communicate her concerns to her state representative.
Ott was seeking his 8th term in what had been a traditionally safe Republican district—Ott had won his re-election in 2012 and 2014 with more than 60% of the vote, and faced no opponent in 2016. Following the election of
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, however, suburban districts—like the 23rd—began to shift away from the Republican Party. In 2018, Ott managed only 52% of the general election vote. As a result of the movement in suburbs, Ott was a top target for Democrats in 2020, and Andraca reported strong fundraising success in the first half of 2020. Andraca was also assisted by Emerge Wisconsin, an organization which recruits, trains, and supports Democratic women running for office in Wisconsin.
Andraca was one of several candidates who dealt with
death threat
A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...
s during the 2020 election. She sought a
restraining order
A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault.
Restraining and personal protection or ...
against a man who said he wanted her to be shot, but the request was denied due to lack of evidence implying an imminent threat.
She also had to stop using her personal cell phone after her number was released on
mailers distributed by the conservative
political action committee Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is an association of manufacturers, service businesses and chambers of commerce located in Madison, Wisconsin. WMC was formed from what was the Wisconsin State Chamber of Commerce, the Wisconsin Manufactur ...
.
In the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, Andraca defeated Ott, taking 51.5% of the vote.
She was one of only two candidates in Wisconsin to defeat an incumbent in the 2020 general election.
Personal life and family
Deb Anderson took the name Andraca after she married Marc Andraca in 1998. They have two daughters and reside in
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
Whitefish Bay is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 14,954 at the 2020 census.
History
In the early 19th century when the first white settlers arrived, the Whitefish Bay area was controlled by Native Am ...
.
Electoral history
Wisconsin Assembly (2020)
, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 3, 2020
References
External links
*
*
Campaign websiteBruce-Guadalupe Community School
Emerge Wisconsin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andraca, Deb
Living people
Women state legislators in Wisconsin
Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
21st-century American politicians
Syracuse University alumni
George Washington University alumni
21st-century American women politicians
1970 births