My Story

Why I Decided to Run for Congress as a Write-In

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My name is Julie Hancock, and yes, I’m running for Congress in Wisconsin’s 8th district. If you’re reading this, you are probably wondering who the heck I am. You might even be wondering who do I think I am, which is a fair question.

Throwing myself into this big of a ring as my first foray into politics takes gumption, for sure. But — I come from a long line of rebels and patriots.  It explains my deep-seated need to fight for this country and the rights I believe we all are entitled to as human beings.

My Family Tree

John Hancock is a distant cousin.  My great x10 grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was one of the first several hundred settlers at Jamestown in 1619, and also died in the Jamestown Massacre the same year.

My other great x10 grandfather, Robert Hendry, fled Scotland (or was banished - this detail remains unclear) due to his involvement with the Jacobite Uprising. He came to settle in the new world and fought in the revolutionary war.

Others in my family fought for the Confederacy. They owned slaves. Though they were clearly fighting on the wrong side of history, I’m certain somehow they thought what they fought for was “right.”  I definitely would have fought for the Union, as I am today.

My father and half-brother are U.S. Air Force vets.

My ancestors were military veterans, farmers, business owners, blue-collar workers, educators, engineers, hunters and fishers, gun-owners, and single mothers who kicked ass raising their families.

My mom’s side of the family, The Rentmeesters, has a wide-reaching familial line. Farmers, community members, volunteers, churchgoers, salt of the earth people. If you’ve ever heard of Gravel Pete or Chicken Pete on the Finger Road, or used the term “booyah,” you know my family. My great grandfather was Chicken Pete, one of the Peter Rentmeesters on the Finger Road. The origination of the word “Booyah” came from a misprint in the Press-Gazette regarding a fundraiser my relative, Andrew Rentmeester was holding.

Read more about my booyah claims here.

About Me: The “Road Less Traveled” Path

I grew up in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin to a single mother raising three kids.  Mom got her college degree when I was 16 or 17, taking night classes while working full time to support us. I spent my weekends Up North at my grandparents’ cottage in the Town of Stephenson near Caldron Falls. I played flute in the Ashwaubenon High School Marching Band, worked at the McDonald’s on Oneida Street where I served Packer players on their way to and from practice, and hung out at Bay Park Square Mall and Port Plaza.

I went to college at Suffolk University in Boston where I paid my own way. Like so many others, I took out loans and worked full time while going to school full time, to make sure I got the degree I wanted. I moved to Orlando, Florida for a time, where I struggled to get ahead. I moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of dreams to work in the entertainment industry, but I hated LA.  I decided to go to law school at almost 30 and moved back to Orlando to do it, because I had a solid support system there.  After getting my law degree, I ended up back in LA. This time was very different. I worked in the entertainment industry for a couple years, and then moved on to work in-house for a large multi-national corporation, held back by a boy’s club with little respect for advancing women in the workplace. When the office decided to close-up shop and relocate to a more affordable state, I took it as a blessing.

This happened at the same time the now-infamous “travel ban” went into effect. I spent weeks at the start of 2017 volunteering my time and expertise to lead the coordinate efforts of lawyers around the world to help those affected.

I decided to take a little break, spend some time abroad, and sort out what I wanted to do next. It was Ireland that inspired me to start my law practice and take it “virtual” before it was pandemic-necessary to do it. This is also where my journey brought me back to my roots in Green Bay

Click Here to Read More About My Law Practice and My Work.

While I learned and grew as a person with every twist and turn on my journey, some things have stayed the same at every stop. I push the boundaries. I speak truth to power. And I stand up for what I believe in.  I have convictions and I stand by those.  I have reasons for everything I do, and everything I stand for. I believe in being honest and real with people — building relationships with authenticity and trust, not finding ways to use people to accomplish my goals.  Above everything, I believe in being honest and direct with people. I’ve been this way my entire life and stubbornly refuse to be any other way.

Why I am Running for Congress

I am like so many of you, in so many ways. Exhausted by the constant dramatics.  Feeling the pain in my wallet and my business. And simply exhausted and exasperated watching politicians who are supposed to be working for us more interested in their own political futures and agendas, while pretending to be interested in us.

I am part of a generation that seems to have limited paths to get ahead no matter how hard we work, or whether we do all the things we are supposed to do that we were always told as we grew up is how we get ahead and comfortable in life.

I am a small business owner who spent the last two years struggling to get the government to help me under programs set up to do just that while giants like the airline industries were given billions, and still can’t seem to get it sorted out. Did you apply for help from the SBA and struggled to get competent help?  Me too.

I am a woman who just had her rights taken away by a Supreme Court that was put in place by (mostly) men, and by the Republican Party, which once stood for “small government” and now seems to be fine with small government only when it suits their perceived rights being infringed. I can be arrested and jailed for a miscarriage or for helping another woman in my life whose life is in jeopardy due to a problem-pregnancy.

What have you done for me lately?  This is an honest question I find myself asking repeatedly about my representative, Mike Gallagher.  He showed up on January 6th all over the national media to express his dismay and horror, and to beg the Republican President to take action to stop the nightmare unfolding. Then, he changed his tune when the cameras were no longer pointed at him and refused to hold the Republican President accountable for his actions.

It’s amazing how political pressures and fear of political retribution will change the tune of someone more interested in power than the people.

Do you want someone who will fight only for the rights of the people who line their campaign coffers or who will fight for all of you, including those of you who may read this and think, “Nope, not for me!” You know what? I still got your back because that is the job. 

Do you want someone who is present, who will be real, and will talk to you like you’re a person with real concerns about your life? A real advocate for the people of  Northeast Wisconsin? Or someone who will gaslight you — post a Facebook video every now and then, or appear on the national news when it suits political aspirations — then vanish?  Being an elected leader requires leadership, not appearances and strategy that will propel us to the next, higher office. In fact, no one should be able to be “promoted” to a higher office if they can’t handle the job in the first place.    

I am you. 

So why did I decide to run?  Because nothing less than DEMOCRACY and our RIGHTS are at stake this November and beyond. And there is only so much armchair quarterbacking that can be done before real action is required to make change. 

People agree that America is in a bad place right now, and something needs to be done before it is too late.  We seem to be on common ground on that point. It’s why I am running for office. I can’t promise to magically fix things — but I can promise you that I will look for common ground as your representative to unite the county.

I want to see changes in so many things — the economy, inflation, gun responsibility, mental health care, healthcare, women’s rights, equality, police reform, criminal justice reform, the environment, election integrity, voting rights, court reform — especially in the Supreme Court, term limits in the Senate and House, education, infrastructure, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, gerrymandering . . I am leaving things out unintentionally.  The list is LONG, and we’ve been through so much in the last umpteen years that prioritizing certain issues over others seems to miss the importance of all the things affecting our day-to-day lives dramatically.

I feel ignored, left out, left behind, lied to, and treated like I’m stupid by my political leaders. I’m tired of being gaslit — told that they are working for the American people, or for the people of Wisconsin, or the people of the 8th Congressional District — and then watching them do the opposite.  Enough is enough.

Despite all of these things, I am still optimistic about the future of America, and trust that the will of the people can right the ship. And to do that, the People need an advocate in Washington to be a voice for them. For you.

It’s time to bring my brand of rocking the boat, coloring outside the lines, and caring about people to Washington.  Change happens one person at a time.  It’s incremental and slow at times. But we have to take the chance to make these changes now, while we still have a democracy where the peoples’ voices matter.  We can do this together.

In the words of Mandela Barnes “If we want to  change Washington, we gotta change the people we send there.”  And it’s time to make some changes.

Join me in my quest to elevate the people’s voices in Washington.

Please WRITE ME IN — JULIE HANCOCK — as your Democratic candidate for “Representative in Congress, District 8” and help me get onto the November ballot.

Please share and spread the word. In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more in-depth about my views on various issues.

What topics or issues would you like me to address or questions would you like answered? Leave a comment.