Newly elected legislators are finding their way at the Wisconsin State Capitol, with more than one-quarter of the members in the Assembly and Senate are freshmen after legislative districts were redrawn in 2024. There are 23 new Democratic lawmakers in the Assembly and eight new Republicans in that chamber.

A month into the 2025 legislative session, two of these new state representatives pull back the curtain on their new roles, offering a candid look at life in the political spotlight.

“I, full disclosure, am completely overwhelmed,” said state Rep. Angelina Cruz, D-Racine.

“We sat down and I said, ‘Let’s do this.’ And we went a hundred miles an hour from there,” said state Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls.

Brill and Cruz are newbies in the Wisconsin Assembly.

“It’s a new job, it’s a new environment, it’s a big building,” Brill said. “So even getting my directions down has been a challenge. But I’m excited for the challenge.”

They spent the first few days after inauguration on Jan. 6 getting their bearings in the Capitol ahead of the first session.

“I keep describing it as like speed dating with different governmental departments, like you get like the quick overview and then they’re like, ‘Here’s our card and you can reach out at any time,’ and then you move on to the next one,” Cruz said.

As they begin budget season, Brill and Cruz represent the changing face of Wisconsin politics, bringing fresh perspectives to the state Legislature.

Brill is one of eight Republican rookies in the Assembly, representing the 27th district.

“The easiest way to describe it would be if you take Sheboygan — so town of Wilson, city of Sheboygan, the town of Sheboygan — I’m pretty much everything around it all the way west to Fond du Lac and down, so Taycheedah would be the edge of my district all the way down to Cascade and then over to I-43.” said Brill about the district.

On the other side of the aisle, Cruz is one of 23 new Democrats in the Assembly, representing the 62nd district.

“The vast bulk of it is the city of Racine,” said Cruz about the district. “It stretches to the north — it’s Racine and then North Bay and it stretches up to Wind Point — and then it covers like a sliver of Caledonia and a sliver of Mount Pleasant.

While both Brill and Cruz are first-time lawmakers, they represent opposite ends of the partisan spectrum, each seeking to make their mark on Wisconsin politics. Brill made headlines in her first week after sitting out the vote where Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, won a record seventh term in that office.

“I just felt we needed to head in a more conservative direction,” she said. “I think there’s sometimes some things that went a little more moderate than I would have voted for. But I respect the way the vote went, and I look forward to working with leadership and knowing that, or, trusting that they’ll lead us where we need to go.”

In contrast to Brill, Cruz brings a progressive perspective to Madison, as the first Latina to represent Racine, and a member of the LGBTQ community. She ran unopposed in the newly drawn district.

“We had been the most gerrymandered state in the country and these more fair maps presented an opportunity to actually be in the statehouse and be an advocate in a way that potentially could be more effective,” she said.

Cruz is the president of her local teachers union, and first got involved in politics when the state Legislature passed Act 10 in 2011, which made it harder for teachers to unionize.

“I feel like everybody wants to talk about money, right? It’s budget season,” she said.

Cruz’s top priority going into the 2025-27 budget session is funding for public schools.

“People just want a hand up in terms of meeting basic needs,” she said. “That’s mostly what I heard on the doors — the opportunity to purchase a home, the opportunity to send their kids to school, just to have their basic needs met.”

On Feb. 17, Cruz met with union teachers at Schulte Elementary in Racine, a school in her legislative district. They shared concerns about an April 1 referendum, and how they’ll support their students if it doesn’t pass. Cruz said the answer is in the state budget.

“I encourage you strongly to use your teacher voices,” she said to the union teachers. “Call your legislators, let them know like, ‘You need to fully fund public schools, you need to fully fund special education.’ That’s something the state Superintendent Jill Underly put into her recommended budget to the governor.”

In Sheboygan, Brill got started in politics young.

“My mom had kind of always been the political one in our house,” she said. “We spent many times talking about the pro-life movement, how we wanted to be a part of protecting the unborn.”

Brill described how she decided to become politically involved.

“The campaign manager was good friends with my mom, and he came to her funeral, and I promised him I would carry on the torch for her, she said. Brill took over her mother’s hobby farm after her passing.

She ran for office with the goal of protecting life beginning at conception, an issue she won’t compromise on.

“I know that’s probably not one that I’m going to reach across the aisle and probably have a lot of conversations about. But I do think there are others,” she said.

Heading into budget season, Brill’s priority is addressing the fentanyl crisis in her district.

“Being able to see how people struggle in our community was one of my main pressures to want to go to Madison to see change for them,” she said.

Brill works at Samaritan’s Hand, a faith-based drug and alcohol treatment center, and was named vice-chair of the Assembly Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention.

“These are people I’ve cared about. These are people I’ve called family, I’ve lost, and people that are still here. My dad has been sober for 12 years, and his journey was a part of me wanting to get involved in here,” she said.

In Madison, Brill and Cruz continue navigating their first term in the Legislature. Cruz says she’s never felt more like a grade schooler.

\”One of the things I always liked about teaching is working with kids,” said Cruz. “They bring such new and fresh perspectives and are excited about everything.”

She say that in a way, there are 31 new kids under the Capitol’s dome.

“Maybe you can assign that to our naivete about what we’re about to experience, But I like to think it brings an energy that maybe is needed at this moment in time,” said Cruz.

“Throughout our state, we have constituents who have elected Republicans and Democrats to represent us,” said Brill. “So at the end of the day, we’re called to work together to best represent our people.”