Gragert Officially Kicks Off Bid for Eau Claire City Council President

Former Eau Claire City Council member and community advocate Jeremy Gragert has officially launched his campaign for City Council President.

Gragert held a campaign launch event at SHIFT Cyclery and Coffee Bar on Saturday, featuring speeches from current Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge and State Representative Christian Phelps. He announced his decision to run for the seat in December after Berge announced she would not seek reelection to focus on her campaign for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District.

During the launch event, Gragert highlighted his past experience on the City Council as a way to stand out to voters.

“Having that experience of serving on the City Council has been, you know, I feel like the best way that I stand out as a candidate,” he said. “You know I’ve worked with the council members, most of them, directly like while serving on council with them, but also since then. And being able to have that working relationship I think is really helpful and then working with the staff at the City.”

Gragert highlighted efforts to make Eau Claire a more affordable community and navigating uncertain times at the state and federal level as his main priorities. He says Eau Claire should be receiving more shared revenue from the state, and should push for more local control in decision making.

“We’ve been working through a lot of challenges that are coming towards us from the state and federal level,” he said. “And so we need to make sure that we’re standing up for ourselves as a community in terms of funding for our community, like shared revenue from the state. And making sure we have the local control we need as a City to make the best decisions for our community.”

Gragert will face off with Scott Rogers for City Council President in the April 7th election. Rogers services as the Senior Director of Governmental Affairs for the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce, but will retire from that position next month. Rogers says his goal is to continue the positive growth in the Eau Claire community by developing strong partnerships with small businesses and other local governments in the region.