Three legislators with records of bipartisanship and collaboration were given the second round of Rising Star awards on Tuesday night by the Millennial Action Project, a nonpartisan group that aims to boost those two characteristics among younger people in public life.
The organization started the prize program last year, marking MAP's fifth anniversary, to recognize lawmakers who have taken the lead in organizing chapters of its Future Caucus Network in 30 state legislatures. MAP says its is the largest nonpartisan organization of millennial elected officials in the nation.
The winners were:
- Democratic state Rep. Amanda Stuck from Wisconsin, who has been seeking GOP collaboration on proposals for reducing the murder and mortality rates on American Indian reservations and boosting tourism in the state. (She is mounting an uphill congressional campaign in 2020 against incumbent Republican Mike Gallagher.)
- Republican state Rep. Adam Neylon, also from Wisconsin, who has been working in Madison to advance bipartisan legislation on topics ranging from the lack of diaper changing tables in public men's rooms to the shortage of electric car charging stations. He and Stuck have collaborated on several bills.
- Democratic state Rep. Julie Fahey of Oregon, who was singled out for creating the bipartisan coalition that created the first state refundable tax credit for contribution to college savings plans
Samantha Shepherd, a child care director in Savannah, Georgia, and a single mom of two girls, said rising gas prices are affecting families at her center, including one mother who may not be able to take her children to school. (Courtesy of Samantha Shepherd)
