
Transcript
Even a Tornado Can't Stop Becky Nichols | WI Assembly District 53
The Dr. Kristin Lyerly Show · Wed Oct 7, 2026
The message I leave with voters, this election, you know, is really local.
What happens in Madison and in Wisconsin impacts your daily life, right?
Every day and I said the beauty of it is I live here and I serve you and you might run into me in the grocery store or the library or the gas station and you get to say to me, wow.
I really like what happened with that policy, or
I really
like what you did there.
Or you get to say, what in the hell were you thinking?
Is that what you're saying?
Yes.
Hold me accountable.
You get to hold me accountable.
I'm Dr. Kristen Lyrely and today I have Becky.
Nichols joining me.
She is the candidate for assembly district 53.
She is a Manasha resident and if that sounds familiar, that's because there was a terrible tornado recently in Manasha and unfortunately Becky has suffered the consequences along with many of her neighbors.
So we're going to talk about that.
There's so much going on with this race.
This is a targeted race.
It's an open seat.
It is highly competitive and she is a proven leader in a place where she has made
a huge difference in her community.
I'm so excited to welcome you, Becky.
Thank you.
I'm
to
In
What does
It is.
Really, I just like to say that I'm from the eastern side of Lake Winnebago.
I grew up around lots of rolling hills and farmland where every little town has a church, a bar, and a supper club.
So the land of supper clubs, think Rebke's Village Inn, or Jim and Linda's, or Schwartz's in St.
Anne's.
That's where I grew up.
You think?
Okay.
Yeah, and I should have mentioned, I grew up in Charlesburg.
way.
No way.
Did he also help build the church there?
Yes.
Yeah, I lived right next to the church.
That's where I grew up.
I spent many of winter shoveling snow at the church and taking care of the church, all of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
go.
little bar.
forget Dorn's Bar.
You know, growing up my parents taught me to work hard, to lend a hand and to always show up when it matters most.
And I think I carry those values through life in everything that I do.
I was the first in my
family to graduate from college and went off to be a teacher in in rural Wisconsin the Pittsville the geographic center of the state and Not far from Nielsville and everybody has some connection to Nielsville.
I can't tell you how many stories I've heard from people that have some connection to Nielsville because it's the middle of the state Yeah, yeah, so
You know, I guess and growing up that's what we did.
We helped our neighbors when they needed help We helped on the farm when my uncles needed help on the farms We helped my grandma when she needed her lawnmode and my neighbors with the same thing and whenever somebody needed something we were there to step up and so I think you know my History of service is rooted in in those things in being a good neighbor in
helping people when they need it and showing up and just taking care of each other.
Yeah,
that's
Was that the first time you ran?
Yeah, 2013.
Yeah, that's a great question.
And it's still part of why I'm here today.
Running for assembly.
Like I said, I was a music teacher in Pittsville.
Got my
start there.
Married my husband, who's from Monashia.
And moved back here.
And as a music teacher, back then, things were really
really locked up here.
Music teachers were in their jobs for a long time and had long legacies wherever they were.
I did a lot of substitute teaching, landed my first job as a music teacher here in the valley, and then decided to step away for a few years when my kids were born.
And it was right after that that Act 10 was passed in Wisconsin.
And
so Act 10 shuttered
public sector unions, and also cut school funding drastically.
And we're sort of seeing the results of that 20 years later right now.
But as a music teacher, when Act 10 passed, my job opportunities went away.
There weren't very many music jobs available at all.
And my earnings would have been significantly less.
And so instead of sitting on the sidelines, that's when I decided to run for city council.
It was like somebody has to, I have to do something to push back on this.
And I ran for city council in 2013.
It was my first time ever running for office and I won.
And I served on the council.
It was a privilege to serve there for 12 years, 12 years I was there.
I ran
for
mayor two times.
which is an interesting story in itself because the first time was 2020 and the whole campaign stopped because of COVID.
And you know how hard it is to take on an incumbent
in
any kind of race.
And so that was against a popular incumbent, but I decided to give it a try.
And then it all stopped in 2020.
And so I finished second in that race, but I learned a lot, right?
And I took those lessons with me four years later and ran again and lost again.
And so to this day, Manasha still has not elected a female mayor.
Just saying.
We'll get there someday.
We'll get there.
You know, I took a lot of lessons from those races into this one.
And Act 10 is the reason I ran for office the first time.
And it's still a driver for me today.
And now, you know, we have these issues that we're running on, like lowering the cost of living and fully funding public education.
and making sure that health care remains accessible to people and affordable.
And what is really pushing me right now and keeps me going every day is the fact that you mentioned it at the beginning.
We had this terrible tornado come through our community, unimaginable experience for all of us and people.
I think it's just so important to have someone in Madison that understands exactly what people are going through right now and what our communities are going through because recovery and rebuilding is a long process.
And rebuilding is a very physical thing.
Recovery involves both physical and spiritual things.
There's so much, you know.
to process and deal with.
So it's really important to me.
I think it's so important that folks have someone in Madison who understands what they're going through who will fight for them to make sure they have what they need to go through this process to get through to the other side because it's going to take a long time.
And I promise to remember and fight for them the whole way.
the whole way through.
I remember it.
I'm in Green Bay and I remember hearing about it and just looking at the pictures that Doty Island leveled and feeling so moved even though I wasn't affected really in any way.
My neighbors got together and donated diapers and bicycles and water and supplies and brought them down to the valley.
You were living it.
This was your reality.
Where were you and what was that day like for you?
I still get goosebumps talking about it.
And yesterday, September 27th was just two months, right?
And when you say that out loud, you're like, it was two months ago.
sounds like a short time and at least for me it feels like a lifetime ago already because things move so quickly and so slowly at the same time.
I live on Dodie Island and I was home with my kids that day and I remember it happening so quickly like the sirens went off we went into the basement and
everything happened so fast and when we came upstairs we are like everything was instantly changed right nothing was as we had remembered it and it was a little while like you know the first thing we did was go outside and check on our neighbors
Right make sure everything that everything was okay that people were okay.
Yeah, and We came up from the basement and Soon after realized that we like had lost our roof and it was raining inside of our house But really
You know we all banded together and made sure that we were okay and helped out where we could wherever we could in that moment And then literally the next Two weeks were really just taking care of each other whether that was you know my immediate family and figuring out what we were going to do and then you know making sure that my neighbors had
Hot meals, and generators, and water, and whatever was needed in that moment.
Our world became very small.
It's still hard to talk about, really, it is.
But my efforts were really focused on taking care of our
immediate need at that moment and then making sure that the people closest to us in our vicinity had what they needed to get through eight to ten days without power and hot meals and just that they were physically okay.
I know one of my neighbors had to go to the ER and just you know really rallying around each other.
Which is unbelievable.
Yeah.
It is.
It's a miracle that nobody died.
It really is.
Yeah.
We're doing okay.
We're doing okay.
You know, we are...
So much more fortunate than a lot of other folks we Are able to live in the house right next door to our house for now while our house is getting fixed up And so we are extremely grateful for that we Are so grateful for all of the friends and people who showed up to lend a hand to help out I know there were so many people that came by that I didn't even get a chance to say
hello to or thank you they came they did something they went right and so we're so uh incredibly grateful for all of for all of that um this experience has really has been like none other for me personally um that sense of losing control
of what is happening around you.
And it's not only about your home, it's about, I mean, there's home in the sense of those four walls that hold so many memories.
And then there's the home that extends beyond those four walls that includes the people and the neighbors and the families that you know.
And the neighborhood that you've been in for such a long time, the places that look familiar or that were familiar are not there anymore.
And you see different things that you didn't see before.
Like something to me that is absolutely striking, two things actually.
The St.
Mary's steeple is a visible 365 degrees now no matter where you are in the city.
It's so strange to me and I mean it's beautiful don't get me wrong, but it's like Disorienting your brain isn't supposed to see that mm-hmm and when I
When I look across the river I see the street grid now because all the trees are gone and you can literally see like at 7 o'clock in the morning You can look across the river and see the bus picking up kids across the
river
Not supposed to see that and so your brain has to learn a new way of of thinking and it's just really strange We are all
Like I sought out mental health services just to help process the trauma and some of my family members are doing the same.
And so it's a very disorienting and sad, like powerless.
You just feel powerless.
And it's hard to get comfortable with that feeling.
I'm so sorry.
Thank you.
And the powerlessness has to feel as an individual.
but as a member of your family and a long time leader in your community.
I have to imagine that you feel a sense of responsibility to the people that you have served for so long.
And that's a whole other dimension of feeling this lack of an ability to help in a meaningful way.
Well, I think in the initial.
phases, right?
There, I and the folks with my campaign, right?
We reached out and organized and volunteered when and where we could for those first weeks, you know, helping the community where we could, showing up, helping folks, volunteering, doing the things that we could to make a difference.
As time goes on, I really do feel a sense of urgency and wanting to help and making sure that folks have what they need for the long term.
clear.
I know there's a ton of focus on Manasha, my hometown.
I love Manasha.
And this storm impacted the Fox Cities, right?
I
mean, when you think about South Appleton through Fox Crossing in Manasha and Nina, the one thing I learned very quickly is that everybody has a story about that day.
And so
I think I'm a person, the kind of person who's always been focused on long term solutions.
And so I think about, I have a real sense of urgency about how I, as a state legislator, can really help.
the Fox Cities rebuild and recover in a way that allows people to have ownership of their own recovery process and makes sure that they have the things that they need and the resources, the resources.
What does it take to rebuild a home and a neighborhood and
a community.
What does that look like and what's needed to help to make that happen?
And so I feel a sense of urgency around those sorts of things and taking care of my neighbors and the people who live here.
Personally,
As a leader, as someone running for office, you must have been thinking about it as somebody who cares about the long term.
You have to take care of yourself in the short term, but you have to be also thinking about building back for sustainability.
What kinds of lessons have you learned as you've made your way through this process?
And how do you think it will guide you in your journey as a state legislator?
I think we are still in the early stages of learning lessons and right now we're still maybe at a stage of asking questions.
But really my primary goal right now is checking in with as many people as I can or having some really closely held.
surrogates do that for me and reporting back because I I want to have a really good understanding of What people are going through right now and what they need So that we can work to take care of those needs and in that process We can be asking ourselves questions about what our communities need long term
make sure that we rebuild and recover responsibly and sustainably, always keeping in mind that we need to take care of the people who live here and the community we serve.
We always recognize that the physical health piece is so important when we talk about health care but that also includes our mental health.
Our mental health has a huge impact on our physical health and one thing that you can certainly do as a legislator is to help fight for access to health care across the state.
We know that access has been depleted.
We think it's going to continue to be depleted.
in the future because of some of the federal actions that have been taken.
So it's exciting to know that you recognize that and that you are already ready to fight for it.
I am.
You know this is the first time in my life that I've actually reached out for therapy because there was something going on that I just couldn't figure out and deal with and I knew
that I needed to do that quickly and I needed someone else's help to do that.
And so I really encourage people to take advantage of the resources that are available in the community right now because healing your heart is so important to healing your mind and body.
and being able to make decisions and like it's just a really important part of putting your life back together, so to speak.
Yeah.
in the months
For sure.
And with you in the driver's seat and Assembly District 53, you have a much bigger role than many.
This
is a very exciting race.
It's an open seat.
It is hotly contested.
It is, many people think this is the seat that if Democrats can win this one, we'll have that trifecta that we want so badly.
What has that experience been like for you?
As your life has been a roller coaster for the past few months, how has this race been for you?
This race has been unconventional, crazy, exciting, and really inspiring.
You know, I was a latecomer to this race.
I got started in June, and literally, I got the phone call.
I said no, and then I thought about it a little more.
I thought about it a little more.
And an old friend of mine had called me.
In fact, he's someone that I met on my first campaign for Alderman, for city council.
I met him in that race.
And he had lived in Menasha at that time.
And he's the one who called me up and said, Becky, would you run for assembly?
And I said, no.
I left at him.
And I said, no.
And he said, I appreciate your honesty.
I understand.
And we hung up.
And the next day, I texted him and I said, okay.
And I slept on it and I think I'm to maybe, and he goes, okay, you need to talk to these people and these people and these people.
But the really important words that he said were, I believe in you.
Wow.
Just kind of stuck with me, right?
So I was literally finishing out the school year at my job.
My daughter was graduating from high school.
We had a graduation party and Like the next Monday I started the campaign open to bank account.
This was in early June like June 9th, July 22nd We had our campaign kickoff and then July 27th the world stopped and
I had run campaigns before, right?
So I knew this was going to be bigger.
I didn't quite understand the intensity of it all.
And plus, when you're working in that shorter time frame, your on-ramp is really short and you just go.
And so I wasn't prepared for that.
But, you know, I got through because I'm a fighter and I'm strong.
But holy cow, when mother nature throws you a curveball and you have to, you know, just figure it out all of a sudden and your campaign stops, your life stops and you pick up things.
Like you just figure out how to get through the day, right and you take care of the people you care about the people you love and your community I Am Completely just so inspired by my neighbors
By all the people who came in to help right in those early days by my neighbors who continue to show up for each other By this community and the resilience that it has shown and just the fighter in each and every one of them Inspires me to keep going and This is
Really exciting.
It's an open race and we all understand like everyone knows that the path to a Democratic majority goes through this district So we're out every day every single day knocking on doors making phone calls and The support
Like, people have really shown up for this campaign, for this campaign.
It's been amazing.
Like, the other two weeks ago, I think, we collectively knocked on over 3,000 doors.
Amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
And that is thank you to so many people from elected representatives, other Democrats in the caucus, to volunteers from
From our local community and from the whole region showing up believing in this race and this seat and really believing in in the people who live here and fighting All the way through to the finish line and when someone says like my friend said I believe in you and We have been through so much in the 53rd that I just I have to believe in the 53rd like
We're going to win this thing.
And
it's because of all the people who believe in it.
And we always say, you know, when we work together, we win.
And we're at the point.
It's almost October.
We've been through hell and back.
And like, I just I have to believe in the energy is really good on the ground.
The conversations with the voters are really
Really good solid productive conversations and people are ready for change and so We just continue to do the work every day and we believe
Started this campaign late, had a very short on ramp.
It was intense.
Your daughter graduated from high school.
You lived through a tornado in which the roof of your house was ripped off.
You engaged in community aid because that's what the people around you needed.
You've been out knocking doors, killing it because you know that's what you need to do.
And tonight, you were bit by a dog.
Yes, I also moved my daughter off.
I also moved my daughter off to college in the midst of all of that and tonight I was bit by a dog
we have a saying in the 53rd like It's crazy here, it's crazy here, but people keep coming to help so that's great, but yeah
If it can happen, it's going to happen here.
That's all I have to
say.
One
of the people I work with, he always says, Becky, this has never happened to me before.
And you have to understand, this is me.
And I have another friend who says, Becky, when you win, we're going to take some sage to your house and just do a little thing with the sage.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Let's talk about that.
Let's talk about that because I want to give you a chance to clear the air because what happens, what tends to happen with these attack ads is they find something that has a nugget of truth in it and they completely take it in a different direction.
So talk to me about these attack ads and just take
minute to talk to the people of 53rd and tell them what this is all about.
Yeah.
So first let me just say this.
I'm going to rewind here a little bit.
My Republican opponent was on television in people's mailboxes less than two weeks after the storm attacking me and telling lies about me.
Like
People had barely gotten their electricity back.
And they were already pushing this stuff out.
Saying that I took, that I used taxpayer dollars to remodel my house.
A house I can't even live in right now.
And all of it is a lie.
Manasha has a wonderful program called the Strong Neighborhoods Program, which I helped pass on the City Council.
It allows people to fix up the exterior or the interior of their homes to make improvements, and it was really an effort to sort of shore up our housing stock here in the city.
We're a city full of older homes, right?
And repairing
homes is really expensive.
We all understand that.
And so I made it possible.
I made a motion on the City Council that made it possible for anyone in the city to apply for this program.
Everyone could be eligible.
And that includes city council members, right?
The entire city, anybody.
But I never, I never applied for those loans for those funds.
I never accepted funds because as an elected official, I knew that that wouldn't look good.
And to this day, I still haven't done it.
There's no money, no taxpayer money fixing up my house.
Those are lies.
They are, they are.
And the thing is, you know,
I was on the city council for 12 years working really hard to make people's lives better, to keep our community moving forward.
That gives me a voting record,
right?
And so they're choosing to take my voting record, my good work, and twist it and turn it, and make me into some evil, terrible, corrupt person.
But when most people see me at their doorstep, they're like, oh, so this is Becky Nichols.
I kind of like her.
Thank you for asking that.
I am most proud of my work getting the lead pipes out of Manasah's water system.
And we were one of the first municipalities in Wisconsin to accomplish that.
And when the proposal first came forward, it was going to be 100% responsibility.
on the homeowner, right?
They were going to pay 100% of the cost.
And so, you know, part of my voting record is voting no to removing lead pipes, right?
But I voted no because I didn't think it was okay to make that, to place that entire burden on the homeowners.
Three to $5,000, maybe more.
And so I worked really hard, brought people together, people that I didn't always agree with.
And it took about a year for us to come to a compromise.
It took a lot of listening, a lot of understanding different perspectives and working together, finding compromise.
And the end result was a program that divided
the cost into three parts.
And it left the homeowner with one third of the cost.
The city picked up another third and the water utility picked up the other third.
And in the process, in the process, the whole thing actually saved taxpayers over a million dollars in the end.
So not only did we save
Did we lessen the burden for homeowners?
We saved the city and the community a lot of money by doing it that way.
And so I think that's an example of delivering real results, real results that improve lives and that keep, you know, moving communities forward.
And so I'm really proud of that work, and I use it every day as an example of what can be accomplished when people work together.
I'm
This is the stuff that I think voters don't get because campaigning is all about what can you fit on a bumper sticker?
What is that slogan?
What is that attack ad?
What is that quick little thing?
Because they don't know all about your voting history and your record and all of the service.
When you can actually meet them at the door and they can see your face and they get they get the vibe They know that you are an authentic real human who deeply cares for your community That's the trick that is the golden nugget that's gonna get you over the line
right and that's what I I share that story on every single door and people smile and they say Wow, that's really neat
And so, you know, it just shows what I can do and what I'm capable of.
And really, I am the candidate in this race with the experience, with the record of getting things done, and the willingness to work with other people to get those things done, always with the goal of improving lives and keeping our communities moving forward.
Oh, yes.
I am a flute player.
A floutist.
Yes.
that's
That's good.
That's good.
That's good.
And you know what?
I talk about this on the doors, too.
And it's probably, you're going to be like, this is another boring conversation, but I get
super excited
about it.
I get super excited about it.
Because I always tell this story.
So people ask, really, they ask me, what can you do about my property taxes?
They're
getting
so high.
Within the class of living is people's property taxes and they're getting really concerned about them and part of the reason is the Referendums that school districts keep asking for right whether that's a building referendum because Schools haven't been able to keep up with their maintenance needs on their buildings or it's an operational referendum Simply to keep teachers in the classroom the doors open and the lights on
Yeah.
And so that's where so many of our school districts are at right now.
And the story I tell people is that, yes, this is possible.
Let me tell you how we got here.
16 years ago, the state legislature decided that they were not going to send the same level of dollars back to our public schools and to our local communities.
And when they made that decision,
Our cost didn't go down over here.
They stayed the same.
What shifted was who's paying for them.
Instead of the state of Wisconsin sending its shared revenues back to our school districts and communities, they kept it and placed the burden on the local taxpayers.
And now, almost 20 years later, we're seeing what that looks like through referendums at our schools or loss of services.
at our local community level.
And so, when the state, when the legislature decides to restore that shared revenue, that level of commitment to our communities and to our school districts, then we can lessen the burden to local property taxpayers.
They won't have to pay as much.
And people are like, oh, yeah, I kind of remember that.
And that's really good to hear.
And that's the other thing.
That's another lie the Republicans tell about me is that I voted to raise property taxes, right?
She raised your property taxes and they have this weird bobbly head of me on top of the mailbox.
Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
And really, as a member of the city council, I voted to make sure.
that we have, that when you call 911, the police department or the fire department shows up, right?
not
That's right.
right.
And I voted to make sure that the library stays open, to make sure that your garbage is picked up, to make sure that your street is plowed and maintained.
Those are the things I voted for because I knew my neighbors wanted those things.
Yes.
And so, you know, sometimes we need to talk about what we vote for and what we fight for instead of what we're fighting against all the time.
Yeah.
When
They've been in control for the last 16 years.
That's why the government is a disaster the way that it is.
They have created this lack of shared revenue.
They have starved our schools and our police departments and our libraries.
It's time to bring that back together and create a community that we can afford to live in, that people are proud of, where all of those things that you just mentioned, the streets, the garbage, all of that stuff, that is the stuff that affects us the most every single
day.
Every single day.
And so that's the message I leave with voters.
This election, you know, is really local.
What happens in Madison and in Wisconsin impacts your daily life, right?
Every day.
And I said, the beauty of it is I live here and I serve you.
And you might run into me in the grocery store or the library or the gas station.
And you get to say to me, wow.
I really like what happened with that policy, or
I
really like what you did there.
Or you get to say, what in the hell were you thinking?
that what you're saying?
Yes.
Hold me accountable.
You get to hold me accountable.
And people at the doors, they're getting it.
They're like, I've been voting for Republicans all along, and I just get more of the same thing, which is,
a big nothing burger really things just keep getting worse they don't do anything they don't fix anything so yeah we need to change and we need it now yeah because this is the time this is our shot
that's an awesome question go to beckynickels4assembly.com you can
Reach out.
You can look everything over.
You can sign up to volunteer, which doesn't always mean door knocking, by the way.
There are a million ways to volunteer for this campaign.
Writing postcards, writing thank you notes, writing, calling people, a million ways.
And also, money helps too.
I know things are really tight right now.
And my budget is really tight, too, because of everything that's happened.
But every little bit matters, right?
And so we're making a final push here towards election day.
So you know the old saying, dollars and doors, dollars and doors.
But anyone can reach out to me through my website or my social media pages, and we'll let you know how you can help.
and we will link all of those things in the show notes so it will be really easy for people to find them.
Becky, Nichols, thank you so much for taking the time to hang out with me after you got back from the urgent care.
Everything you've been through, you are such an inspiration.
The service that you have given to your community for so many years, especially recently, it's been so intense, but you do not give up and you are exactly the kind of fighter.
that we need in our assembly.
Thank
you.
Thank you so much.
This was wonderful.