Niina Baum
Founder and owner of Valo Media (digital marketing agency)
Republican
Town of Crescent
Elected Experience
None
Q&A with the Candidate
Why should voters send you to congress?
I am the only candidate who has spent nearly my entire life in the 7th District. I grew up on a small dairy farm in Price County, co-founded Northwoods Young Professionals to keep young people here, built a small business, served on my town's planning commission, represented Team USA as a dog musher (earning silver & bronze medals), and organized events that brought $500,000 in economic impact to the Northwoods. I have accepted no corporate PAC money, spent under $20,000, and was still the first candidate in this district to secure ballot access. My opponents have taken millions. That contrast tells you everything about who we will each answer to in Washington. I will read the bills, seek testimony from constituents, and make decisions grounded in evidence and the needs of this district rather than party pressure or donor priorities. If we want Congress to work differently, we need to change the type of people we elect to office. Vote for one of us!
What is the top issue in your district? How would you address it?
Rural economic decline. WI's 7th-CD is losing small farms, healthcare providers, young people, and small businesses. These challenges are connected and getting more complex. AI data centers are coming to Wisconsin with promises of economic growth while driving up energy costs and receiving $1.5 billion in state sales tax exemptions with no federal standards attached. Social Security trust fund insolvency is projected by 2032; a 23% automatic benefit cut would be catastrophic for rural communities where seniors on fixed incomes make up a significant share of the local economy. I would address this by supporting policy for small farms, protecting Social Security benefits, investing in rural healthcare, removing unnecessary regulatory barriers to building houses, and establishing federal accountability standards for data centers.
What expertise would you bring into congress? How would it help your district?
I’m a small business owner and economic development professional who grew up on a dairy farm and spent my career in rural communities. Beyond that background, I bring specific expertise that directly applies to challenges facing this district. My B.S. in business administration from Northland College and master's in information and communication technologies from UW-Stout give me a foundation to critically evaluate the AI and data center policies reshaping our energy grid and rural landscape. I taught as an adjunct professor at a local technical college, giving me firsthand understanding of workforce development and the education to employment pipeline. I serve on my township's planning commission where I work directly on zoning, land use, and development decisions, the exact issues driving our housing shortage.
Should Congress exert more oversight over the president? Why or why not?
Yes, and this isn’t a partisan position. Former Republican Speaker Paul Ryan said it plainly at Harvard this spring: Congress has steadily ceded its authority to the executive branch, and that erosion predates this administration. Both parties are responsible. Conservatives by definition should believe in constitutional limits on executive power. The power to declare war, the power of the purse, oversight of federal agencies, these are legislative functions, not executive ones. A Congress that defers to a president simply because he or she is from the same party is abandoning its constitutional role. Ryan sued both the Obama and Trump administrations as Speaker to protect legislative authority. That’s the standard. I’ll hold myself to the same one regardless of who is in the White House.
What is your favorite fun Wisconsin history fact?
The Republican Party was founded on March 20, 1854 in a one-room schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. A group of everyday citizens gathered there fed up with wealthy special interests controlling politics and government. Their slogan was "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free people." They believed if you worked hard, opportunity should be there for you. That government should work for everybody, not for the powerful few. That is still the right idea. And it was born right here in Wisconsin. I think about that a lot as I travel this district asking for your vote.