SPOTLIGHT RACE: Sarah Keyeski for WI-SD14
Let me introduce myself... I'm a candidate for the 14th Senate District and I'd like to tell you how I got to this most unexpected place and, more importantly, why. If you'll read along, I'll tell you my story.
I grew up on a dairy farm in Cashton, WI with my parents and four siblings. My dad managed our family farm while also working on the Burlington Northern Railroad (which was, importantly, a union job!). My mom worked part-time as a nurse and raised us kids. Life was pretty darn good (except for picking rocks out in the hot sun in open fields... but I digress! 
Like many kids, I was eager to move away from "small town life" after graduation and I went off to study at Luther College in Iowa and then Northwestern University in Illinois for graduate school. I'd always had a desire to be of help to people and found my calling in counseling psychology, becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor and working as one for the past 24 years.
Another role I have, and adore, is being a parent. I'm a mom to six kids; four boys and then, surprise!, identical twin girls. (Definitely harder than rock picking!) My husband and I were raising our kids in Sun Prairie, but in 2017 we decided to move to Lodi. It turns out, when I became a parent, I saw the deep value of "small town life" and ran back to it! I wanted to give our kids that same, solid foundation that I had growing up... a sense of safety and belonging in a close community and the sound ethics of hard work, resilience and respect for the land and one another.
Unfortunately, a year later, my husband was diagnosed with throat cancer and we had to make some big life changes. As a result, I decided to open a private practice in my new town. It allowed me to work close to home, to improve mental health access in my rural community and to invest in developing its floundering downtown.
Then Covid hit. Our town, like most, was deeply hurt, not just financially, but emotionally. Our residents became more anxious and increasingly divided over responses to the pandemic and the small town values of mutual respect and connection began to erode. As a mental health provider, I was in the "trenches" seeing, and feeling, the devastating impact this was having and I felt compelled to help. I became convinced that, to heal our division, we needed to all come together with a shared, positive purpose.
So, I decided to form a non-profit entity that I named "Lift Lodi" and charged forward. The mission was to "bring Lodi together to revitalize what's around us and lift what's within us." For the past two years, I've worked with seven other devoted community members to coordinate community-wide days of service where over 220 people each year work together to pick weeds, paint fences, rake yards, clean up garbage, plant flowers, put up birdhouses, etc. to improve our shared surroundings.
And finally (thanks for sticking with me!) this is where my story makes a big shift and leads me to write this message to you...
In March, I was quite unexpectedly asked by community members to run for the 14th Senate seat. They said they had seen my love for the community and my devoted efforts to improve where we live and wanted me to be their representative in Madison. Since politics had never been an aspiration of mine, I had to think long and hard about it.
At first, I wrestled with pure fear. Politics is an ugly business and honestly, I'm sensitive. I worried about me and my family, about people being mean and unfair or untruthful and of us getting hurt. But after sitting in that anxiety, I was slowly pulled by that same sensitive disposition toward the idea of serving. The request to run, and then having others enthusiastically support the idea, began to transform into an inner moral mandate to run, to fulfill a sense of civic obligation... to be of help where people are hurting and to serve where I'm needed. You see, I've always been guided by a strong inner compass with three prominent values; compassion, contribution and courage. It turns out, this was in full alignment, I just didn't know it until others showed me.
I've now officially declared my candidacy to represent the people living in the 14th district and to be the outspoken voice for their pain, frustrations, hopes and needs. I'm doing it to protect our faltering democracy, to be a civic role model for my kids, to be of use for a cause bigger than myself and to help leave a better world for my children and theirs.
Thanks for reading about what motivates me to be here. I hope, in time, I will earn your vote.
https://www.keyeskiforwi.com/