What is new for Northwoods Drifter in 2026
Voters across Vilas County headed to their polling stations this week with uncertainty weighing heavy on their minds. From Eagle River to Three Lakes, residents shared surprisingly candid views about where the country — and their corner of the Northwoods — might be headed.
The spring election brought mostly routine county supervisor races to the ballot. But conversations at the polls revealed something deeper brewing beneath the surface of local governance.
Spring elections up here usually focus on potholes and snowplow budgets, not national anxieties. This year felt different.
Michelle Fawcett, voting in Eagle River, saw reasons for optimism despite one glaring concern. “I think it’s pretty positive except for the gas prices,” she said, echoing a worry that hits close to home in a county where everything runs on tourism dollars and long drives.
High fuel costs don’t just sting at the pump. They ripple through the entire Northwoods economy.
When gas prices climb, fewer families make the drive up from Milwaukee or Chicago for weekend getaways. Resorts notice the cancellations first, then bait shops, then restaurants along Highway 45. In a county where tourism supports the tax base, what happens downstate matters up here.
Gay Scheffen brought eight-and-a-half decades of experience to her Three Lakes polling station. “I’m 85 years old, and I have never been more scared and upset,” she said, her words carrying the weight of someone who’s seen plenty of challenging times before.
That kind of statement stops you in your tracks. When someone who lived through the Cold War says these times frighten her most, it means something.
Meanwhile, younger voters like Mackenzie Vold from Eagle River focused on what she sees as a fixable problem: the general mood. “I just feel like there’s a lot of negativity going around, and I feel like we need a more positive outlook,” she said.
“This too will pass, and when it does, I think we’ll be on a very positive trajectory.” — Don Osterberg, Vilas County voter and retired Army officer
That generational split in how people process uncertainty? It’s playing out in communities across the Northwoods, not just Vilas County.
Most of the 21 county supervisor seats on the ballot went uncontested this year. The real action centered on District 9, covering parts of Arbor Vitae and Lac du Flambeau, where incumbent Robert Hanson faced challenger Stephen J. Bunda.
These supervisor positions matter more than folks sometimes realize:
The Lac du Flambeau area adds an interesting dimension to Vilas County politics. While most of the county leans Republican — and has for decades — this reservation community tends to vote Democratic, creating a political mosaic that reflects different priorities within our shared Northwoods home.
Several voters who spoke with reporters mentioned ongoing conflicts overseas, particularly concerns about the Iran situation. Don Osterberg, a retired Army officer, acknowledged the stress of wartime while maintaining cautious optimism about the country’s trajectory.
Gay Scheffen put it more bluntly when discussing military action abroad: “People’s lives, whether they’re American or not. There’s a lot of lives at stake, and I think that’s tragic.”
Up here, military service runs deep through family trees. Nearly every tavern and VFW hall has memorial plaques honoring local veterans. When war becomes a topic at the polls, it’s personal, not abstract.
Some voters who declined to go on camera described national leadership using much harsher terms. Scheffen characterized it more diplomatically: “Our leadership is very strange.”
That’s about as Wisconsin-nice as political frustration gets, ya know.
Vilas County has voted Republican in presidential elections consistently since 2000, mirroring the broader rural-urban divide across Wisconsin. But spring elections reveal nuances that November ballots sometimes miss.
The county’s median age of 56 makes it the second-oldest in Wisconsin. Retirees and seasonal residents bring different perspectives than year-round working families. Tourism dependence creates economic anxiety that plays out differently than in manufacturing towns to the south.
Despite divided opinions on national issues, most voters Newswatch 12 interviewed expressed some form of hope — even if cautiously held. That resilience feels characteristically Northwoods.
Spring elections may lack the drama of November showdowns, but they offer something more valuable: honest snapshots of how neighbors actually feel when cameras aren’t always rolling and yard signs aren’t cluttering every lawn.
The conversations in Eagle River and Three Lakes this week revealed a community wrestling with the same tensions pulling at communities everywhere. High costs, political uncertainty, generational divides, and hopes that tomorrow might work out better than today feels.
County supervisor races won’t solve gas prices or ease international tensions. But local governance still matters when you’re trying to keep a tourism economy healthy, maintain good relationships across diverse communities, and preserve what makes the Northwoods special.
As Don Osterberg suggested, maybe these challenges really will pass and give way to something better. Or maybe, like so many things up north, we’ll just figure out how to adapt and keep moving forward together.
That’s usually been the Northwoods way, after all.
Written by
Mike has been coming up or living in the Northwoods since his childhood. He is also an avid outdoorsman, writer and supper club aficionado.
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