Wisconsin Right Now

Citing discrimination against nonminorities in farming assistance programs, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiff Robert Holman's litigation against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He's a corn and soybean farmer. The institute is calling on the incoming Trump administration to address the issue among other federal agencies as well. In an amicus brief supporting Holman, the conservative-leaning institute says prioritizing members of races deemed “socially disadvantaged” in taxpayer-funded assistance programs is unconstitutional. “During the Biden administration, race discrimination infected every nook and cranny of the federal government,” Deputy Counsel Dan Lennington of the Institute for Law and Liberty said. “These programs impact Americans and small businesses every day. The new Congress and administration should immediately dismantle each one of these discriminatory programs. Otherwise, we’ll see them in ...

Republicans in the Assembly re-elected Speaker Robin Vos, while Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate re-elected Dianne Hesselbein as Minority Leader. Senate Republicans last week re-elected Sen. Devin LeMahieu as Majority Leader. Democrats in the Assembly are the only ones who have not yet voted for their leader. That vote is set for Tuesday. The leadership re-elections signal that next year likely won’t be that much different from the past two years at the Capitol in Madison. In fact, both Vos and Hasselbein said their priorities for the new session are no different than their priorities from the one that’s about to end. “We have an opportunity to make sure that the wishes of the public in Wisconsin become the reality that we work on over the next 14 to 15 months,” Vols told reporters. The new legislature will be tasked with writing a new state budget. Hesselbein said Democrats want to add to that state budget and spend more on Gov. Tony Evers’ top priorities. “We know ...

This is an opinion column. It’s time to celebrate. Dane County put Trump over the top. You know what Biden is now thinking - “Damn if only I had stayed in the race, I could have won.” Unfortunately, like Hillary Clinton, Harris tried to trainwreck the victory celebration by refusing to concede and instead literally going to bed - leaving 330 million Americans hanging! She didn’t speak until an entire day later, at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. It was clear by 12:48 am that the margin of Trump’s voting win was big enough that Harris could never overcome it, and based upon that, she should have conceded by 1 a.m.  Instead, she insults the nation and hides in her bedroom. Now since you couldn’t attend the ‘parties’ last night, I attended them for you! I went to the victory party of the Republican Party of Dane County Tuesday night and also went on to attend Hovde’s party after that. You missed a historic event unfolding before our eyes and it was worth staying up to 3 a.m. Tru...

Incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin defeated Republican challenger Eric Hovde in a race declared Wednesday afternoon. Baldwin held a lead of 28,958 votes with 49.38% of the vote to Hovde’s 48.52%. “The voters have spoken and our campaign has won,” Baldwin wrote on social media. “Wisconsinites chose someone who always puts them first, shows up, listens, and works with everyone to get the job done. I'm proud to head back to the Senate to keep fighting for our workers, farmers, and families that make our state great.” Wisconsinites chose someone who always puts them first, shows up, listens, and works with everyone to get the job done. I'm proud to head back to the Senate to keep fighting for our workers, farmers, and families that make our state great. If the difference remains less than 1%, Hovde will automatically qualify for a re-count. After the unofficial tallies are done, a canvas must be complete and filed by Nov. 19. Then Hovde would have three days from the time the...

Third District Congressman Rep. Derrick Van Orden defeated Rebecca Cooke in a race that was called late Wednesday morning by multiple outlets. Van Orden, the Republican incumbent, had 51.35% of the vote with 211,696 to Cooke’s 48.65% with 200,556 votes in the district that includes Eau Claire and areas south of the city and extending east toward Oshkosh. Incumbents won seven of the eight U.S. House seats in Wisconsin as the Republicans hold a 6-2 advantage in the state. Republican Tony Wied topped Democrat Kristin Lyerly in the 8th District to fill an empty seat held by Republican Mike Gallagher until his April 24 resignation. Wied received 57.3% of the vote to Lyerly’s 42.7%. Republican incumbent Reps. Bryan Steil (1st District), Scott Fitzgerald (5th District), Glenn Grothman (6th District) and Tom Tiffany (7th District) won races along with Democratic incumbents Mark Pocan (2nd District) and Gwen Moore (4th District). Pocan represents a district including Madison and Moo...

Wisconsin voters approved a state constitution change requiring someone to be a citizen to vote in elections. The ballot measure had 75% approval with more than 95% of the statewide voted tallied. Currently, the Wisconsin constitution states that "Every United States citizen age 18 or older who is a resident of an election district" is a qualified voter; the ballot proposal would replace the phrase “every United States citizen” with “only a United States citizen.” The ballot measure comes as leaders across the state called for a process for the state to check its voter rolls for noncitizens and remove them, ensuring election integrity in the state. Currently, election commissions cannot check their rolls with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to ensure an estimated 90,000 individuals who are currently legally in the state, who can get a drivers license, do not register to vote. Several voting groups across the state spoke out against the ballot measure, ...

New polling from Wisconsin shows the presidential race in the state remains too close to call. The survey, conducted Oct. 16-24 by Marquette Law School, shows Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris barely leads Republican former President Donald Trump 50% to 49% among Wisconsin voters. The results fall well within the poll’s +/-4.4 margin of error. “It should not surprise anyone if Donald Trump wins, and it should not surprise anyone if Kamala Harris wins,” MLS poll Director Franklin said. “Because the polling – both ours and the polling averages for the state, which is under a 1% average margin right now – are just so close that polling is not going to help us at all to have confidence in who’s the likely winner.” The partisan makeup of the poll sample, which included 834 registered and 753 likely voters, is 39% Republican, 31% Democratic, and 34% Independent. Favorability ratings have remained mostly stable for the presidential candidates, but have significantly changed for ...

With a total of 137 local school referendum questions spread across ballots in Wisconsin, recent data shows voters’ support for increasing property taxes to fund public education is waning. Marquette Law School polled 834 registered Wisconsin voters from Oct. 16-24, asking their opinions on presidential candidates, the direction of the state, and public school referendums, among other things. The poll found that voters’ desire to prioritize public school spending over lower property taxes peaked in late 2018, when 57% of Wisconsin registered voters polled said increasing school spending was more important and only 37% said reducing property taxes was more important. But now, voter support for increasing school district funding has fallen to its lowest level since Marquette began tracking the sentiment in 2013, with only 44% in the most recent survey saying school spending is more important, versus 55% who chose lower property taxes. The change occurs even as voters’ reported s...

There’s a warning about invasive carp in two western Wisconsin rivers. The Department of Natural Resources said silver carp have been found in both the lower Chippewa River and lower Black River. “In July, the DNR began receiving reports from anglers of jumping fish suspected to be invasive carp at the Dells Dam on the lower Chippewa River in Eau Claire. The Dells Dam in Eau Claire prevents further upstream passage of invasive carp in the Chippewa River System,” the DNR said. “On Aug. 1, DNR staff went to the dam and observed jumping fish but were unable to verify the species of fish.” The department said it confirmed silver carp in the lower Black River in September. “The dam in Black River Falls is a barrier to upstream fish migration, and no observations or other detections of invasive carp have been reported in the lower Black River at this time,” the DNR added. Silver carp are an invasive species in the Midwest and have done immense damage to other rivers where they’...

Wisconsin Republican Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil testified at a House Judiciary Committee meeting last week about the dangers of sanctuary cities and the community challenges illegal immigration has posed across the state, particularly in Whitewater. Steil has previously pointed to Whitewater as a “case study” of the damaging effects of illegal immigration under the current administration. The influx of roughly 1,000 migrants to the city of 15,000 has led to increasing strain on law enforcement, school resources, and housing capacity in Whitewater, according to reports . Now, the city is witnessing cartel activity, including drug and human trafficking operations, Steil testified, referencing multiple reports . “We know the danger that that poses in our communities,” Steil said. “And there has been state legislation where we could have had an opportunity to ban sanctuary cities here in the United States, and we’ve not been successful in doing that under Democratic leade...

Wisconsin’s Senate race between incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde are nearly dead even, polls from Emerson College and Trafalgar Group showed. The results are like a Quinnipiac poll of 1,108 likely voters showing the two candidates are too close to call. The Emerson College poll of 800 likely Wisconsin voters had each candidate at 48% support in a poll conducted Oct. 21-22 through contacting the cell phones of potential voters (61% of respondents) and an online panel of voters (39%). The Emerson poll had Donald Trump with 49% support and Kamala Harris with 48% in the state. Nearly 65% of the 1.2% of undecided voters said that they lean toward Harris while 35% lean toward Trump. The poll showed that nearly 42% of voters believe the economy is the most important issue facing the state while 17% said threats to democracy, 10% said abortion access and 9% each said immigration and housing affordability. Of those surveyed, 46% said they voted...

Wisconsin’s Senate race between incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde is too close to call, according to a new Quinnipiac Poll. Baldwin has 49% support amount the 1,108 likely voters polled from Oct. 17-21 while Hovde saw 48% of the support in a poll with a 2.9% margin of error, making it too close to call. That’s a tightening from an Oct. 9 poll that showed Baldwin with 50% support compared to 46% for Hovde. The toss-up call is similar to how the Cook Political Report sees the race. The two faced off in what was expected to be their only debate Friday evening. The Quinnipiac Poll has run since 1994 and uses a random sampling of adults using random digit dialing with live interviewers calling both cell phones and land lines. The poll also showed Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are tied with 48% support from likely voters in the presidential race in the state. All third party candidates received less than 1% support. That compares to an Oct. 9...

Wisconsin has seen 305,000 absentee ballots returned heading into the final two weeks before the election. In-person absentee voting begins Tuesday and runs through Nov. 3 at sites throughout the state. Voters can register in person at their local municipality and need to show valid identification to receive an absentee ballot. The deadline for online and mail voter registration has passed. Wisconsin provides information on in-person absentee voting based upon address on its MyVote site . An updated list of ballot drop boxes shows that 107 drop boxes are in use throughout the state that have been reported to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, up from 78 that were listed a week ago. That includes 14 in Madison, 14 in Milwaukee and seven in Racine. There were 500 drop boxes in use for the 2020 presidential election during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wisconsin has sent out 586,616 absentee ballots of the 593,550 requested through Friday with 305,344 already returned. https:...

Wisconsin saw a 2.1% increase in its general sales and use tax collections in the first quarter of the new fiscal year in numbers released Thursday. The state collected more than $1.32 billion after collecting $1.29 billion during the same period last year. The numbers represent collections from July through September. Overall, the state collected an adjusted amount of $4.15 billion in general purpose revenue during the first quarter, up from $3.97 billion in the first quarter of last fiscal year. Wisconsin collected $21.3 billion last fiscal year, ending in June, after collecting nearly $21 billion the year before. The numbers represent a continuation of a trend of slowed growth in sales tax revenue for the state in the post-COVID timeframe. The state collected $2.73 billion in state sales taxes over the first five months of 2024, a 0.4% increase over the $2.72 billion in the same five months the year before, according to Wisconsin Policy Forum . “The retail sector contr...

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed a lawsuit for several parents of students against the Milwaukee Public School District for failing to provide the required 25 school resource officers in its schools. Wisconsin’s Act 12 requires MPS to have 25 SROs in place by Jan. 1, 2024, during normal school hours. “I think MPS needs to take their input from the parents and put those safety resource officers in the school,” MPS parent Charlene Abughrin said in a statement. “Otherwise, it’s just reckless and dangerous behavior left unchecked. No discipline, no consequences. What are we teaching our kids?” The WILL lawsuit cited several times this year when the SRO requirement was publicly discussed at board meetings or by district leadership, which acknowledged the requirement has not been met. “The actions and inactions of the board and the statements of these board directors all make clear they are aware of their plain duty under state law, but are deliberately not compl...

Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde said in a 2012 interview that he was in favor of raising the retirement age for Social Security, something that is the focus of a new political ad from incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Hovde clarified his thoughts to the Milwaukee Press Club and on social media this week with a statement saying that his proposal won’t impact those nearing retirement or currently receiving Social Security. Instead, his proposal applies only to those under the age of 40 because the Congressional Budget Office predicts that Social Security will have negative cash flow by 2033. “If we don’t act now, Social Security will no longer be able to pay out full benefits,” Hovde wrote . Hovde added he has never proposed to cut Social Security either, instead proposing to put Social Security in a trust so it cannot be used for other government spending. “This should have happened from its beginning,” Hovde wrote. “For decades, Congress has treated...

Wisconsin will send an estimated $1.56 billion to local governments in shared revenue in 2025. That total includes $770 million for county and municipal aid, $281 million for supplemental county and municipal aid, nearly $174 million for Act 12 personal property aid, $98 million for exempt computer aid, $97 million for utility aid, nearly $76 million for personal property aid on locally assessed machinery and tools, $58 million in expenditure restraint incentive program aid and $10 million in video service cable provider aid. The estimates include a $23.6 million increase in county and municipal aid based on last year’s sales tax collections. “I’m excited to see how the results of our historic shared revenue increases are going to help support communities and families across Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said. “We’re helping make sure our local communities can meet basic and unique needs alike, including investing in fire and emergency services, fixing local roads, expa...

Twenty-five Republican governors want to know how many illegal foreign nationals have been flown into their states by a Biden-Harris administration plan they argue is burdening their residents and creating an unsafe environment. Those being flown in have arrived through more than a dozen parole programs created by U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The governors only inquired about one: the CHNV parole program, created to fast track previously inadmissible citizens of Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela moving into the country. According to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, 530,000 CHNV parolees were released into the country in the past year, in addition to 813,000 foreign nationals processed into the country from all over the world through a CBP One app . Attorneys general from multiple states sued to stop them, arguing they are illegal. The U.S. House impeached Mayorkas for them and other actions they argue created the border crisis...

The Wauwatosa School District is asking voters to approve a pair of referendums worth $124.4 million on the Nov. 5 ballot. But a taxpayer advocacy group believes the district , with declining enrollment, should “right-size” its current budget rather than using a referendum to spend more taxpayer money. The group pointed toward a second planned referendum in 2026 as part of a cycle of tax increases that it believes needs to end. The group points to a reported $4 million budget mistake by the district as a sign of mismanagement. The district’s two proposals include $16.1 million per year for four years to fund operational expenses such as salaries and benefits and a $60 million referendum for maintenance and capital projects at Eisenhower, Madison, Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Washington elementary schools, Montessori/Fisher and Wauwatosa East and West high schools. State law caps how much a district can increase its property tax levy without voter approval. The district says t...

The referendums would increase the property tax bill of a resident with a home assessed at $350,000 an additional $241.50 in the first year, $733.99 in the second year, $895.10 in the third year and $1,053.24 in the fourth year. The Madison school district wants voters to approve a pair of referendums worth more than $600 million on the Nov. 5 ballot despite the school district’s dropping enrollment. The ask comes as the Madison Metropolitan School District had a $39 million deficit in this year’s budget after the pandemic funds and previous referendum it was using to pay teachers have run out. Last school year, the federal COVID-19 funds were used to pay 111 educators while reserves were used to pay an 8% increase in wages for teachers and school staff, according to Wisconsin Policy Forum . The referendum asks for a cumulative $100 million in operational funding over four years. The second referendum asks for $507 million over 23 years to build new schools. The district has 2...