Meet the 4th Senate District candidates in the Democratic primary in Tuesday's election

Two candidates are in a rematch for the 4th Senate District seat of the state Legislature in the Aug. 13 primary election.

Dora Drake and LaKeshia Myers, both state Assembly representatives, are competing in the Democratic primary, a little over a month after their July 2 special election.

They ran in the seat that was formerly held by Sen. Lena Taylor, who resigned when she became a Milwaukee County circuit court judge.

Drake won the primary to serve the rest of Taylor's 2024 term and was unopposed in the July 30 general election.

Now, Drake and Myers are running to win a full four-year term. Again, there's no Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 general election so the Democratic primary winner will get the seat.

The 4th Senate District includes northern portions of Milwaukee, plus Shorewood and Glendale.

See the new state Senate districts

This map shows Wisconsin state Senate districts under the previous 2022 map on the left, and the new 2024 map on the right. Each district is colored according to whether itleans Democrat, leans Republican, or is acompetitive district (within 5%).

Old maps (2022)

New maps (2024)

Note: The partisan lean of districts is calculated based on voting data from national and local elections from 2016 to 2022. Districts with less than 5% difference in Republican and Democratic votes are considered competitive districts.

Map by Andrew Hahn and Eva Wen / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Here's what to know about the candidates:

Dora Drake

• Residence: Milwaukee

• Political experience: Two-term 11th Assembly District representative

• Occupation: Social worker

• Policies: In an interview and on her campaign website, Drake's policies include valuing rehabilitation over incarceration in the criminal justice system, increasing access to mental health services, increasing investment opportunities in Black communities and communities of color, and establishing incentives to increase teacher pay.

LaKeshia Myers

• Residence: Milwaukee

• Political experience: Three-term 12th Assembly District representative

• Occupation: Former K-12 teacher and administrator

• Policies: In an interview and on her campaign website, Myers said her top issues include state education funding; addressing problems in the state's prisons, with a focus on rehabilitation; and curbing reckless driving.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet 4th Senate District candidates in Democratic primary election