Mitchell Berman

Mitchell Berman is an emergency nurse, the father of two girls and a Packers season ticket holder who grew up hunting and fishing in rural Wisconsin.¹ His father ran a roofing business, his mother ground pistons at a foundry, and his own first work included mowing lawns at 12 and earning a nursing assistant license at 17.¹

He became the first in his family to graduate from college, juggling three jobs and student loans while studying.¹ His nursing career has included more than a decade caring for veterans through the VA, and he says he still works emergency room night shifts.² He also brings a union background, beginning with the Teamsters in college and continuing through membership at organized nursing workplaces.³

Berman has not previously held elected office, so his case for Congress rests on clinical experience and the problems he says patients face when insurance or costs obstruct treatment.³ He proposes a public insurance option, restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies, reversing Medicaid reductions and expanding Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices.² His broader platform includes housing assistance, a higher minimum wage, stronger organizing rights and a ban on individual stock trading by senior federal officeholders and their families.²

He is challenging Republican Bryan Steil in a southeastern Wisconsin district Republicans have held for three decades.⁴ National Democrats have made the seat a target for winning the House, while the candidates offer different answers on affordability: Berman emphasizes health coverage and tariff repeal, and Steil tax relief.⁴