For Sandrina Garcia, a former caseworker at a housing nonprofit, losing her home started an 18-month search for a house across southern Wisconsin. The journey opened her eyes to a life she'd previously only seen through her job.
The post As homelessness rises in a Wisconsin city, one family struggles and hopes for solutions appeared first on WPR.
"The fusion voting concept actually goes back to the formation of our country. It had substantial use for the first 120 years of our nation's history," says Lee Rasch of LeaderEthics.
The post Fusion voting draws renewed attention from Wisconsin advocates appeared first on WPR.
When a grand, old tree is cut down, it can take generations to replace it. Now, Madison officials are trying to protect those trees with updated rules for construction projects.
The post Big, old trees take decades to replace. A Madison ordinance aims to save them. appeared first on WPR.
State health officials are urging families to vaccinate their children before the upcoming school year, following the first cases of measles reported in Wisconsin this weekend.
The post Health officials urge school year vaccination following Wisconsin measles cases appeared first on WPR.
A proposal from a Republican Wisconsin congressman would make it harder for universities to use a work visa program to hire faculty and staff from other countries, while limiting private businesses' ability to recruit high-demand workers from abroad.
The post US Rep. Tom Tiffany’s bill would make it harder for universities to hire faculty from abroad appeared first on WPR.
Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives have taken a page from Wisconsin's not-too-distant political past by walking out of their state Capitol and holing up in states like Illinois.
The post Texas Democrats left their Capitol to block a key vote. In 2011, Wisconsin Democrats tried the same tactic. appeared first on WPR.
A bear that had been wandering the Northwoods with its head stuck in a plastic jug has been freed.
The post A black bear ‘in a terrible predicament’ finds a happy ending appeared first on WPR.
Wisconsin is sharing $1.4 billion with local governments this year, keeping a promise it made two years ago. But the head of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities says cities, villages and towns are still too reliant on property taxes.
The post Wisconsin lawmakers kept promise to give more to local governments, advocate says appeared first on WPR.
Charles Schreyvogel’s oil painting, circa 1900; Disneyland hand-colored architectural elevations, circa 1954; a 1982 Bob Mackie beaded gown.
The post Antiques Roadshow:Palm Springs appeared first on WPR.
A nurse gives an MMR vaccine at the Utah County Health Department on April 29, 2019, in Provo, Utah. The vaccine is 97% effective against measles when two doses are administered. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is urging residents to get vaccinated amid the confirmation of the first measles cases in the state this year and as families begin back-to-school preparation with vaccine rates still down.
DHS confirmed nine cases of measles in Oconto County over the weekend — the first cases in the state this year. The agency said no public points of exposure have been identified and the risk to the community remains low.
The first case was confirmed through testing at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, and the eight other cases were confirmed based on exposure and symptoms. Each person was exposed from a common source during out-of-state travel.
Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer of DHS’s Bureau of Communicable Diseases, told reporters during a press conference Monday afternoon that given the number of cases across the country, the agency has been preparing for its case investigations and outbreak response for months.
“While we were surprised that we had our first cases this past week, we were prepared,” Westergaard said. “We’ve been making sure that we have adequate MMR vaccine in stock and have worked in partnership with all of our local and tribal health departments to make sure that we have a solid response that everyone is aware of, and so far for this case,… things have gone well.”
Cases of the highly contagious disease have hit a 33-year high nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are reports of over 1,300 cases this year, with more than 150 people having been hospitalized for measles. Three people have died this year.
Measles was declared eliminated in 2000, but decreasing vaccine rates, which have fallen below herd immunity, have led to a resurgence of the disease. Prior to 2025, the last similar outbreak was in 2019 when more than 1,200 cases were confirmed in the U.S.
Westergaard said the state agency is not considering the nine cases in Wisconsin an outbreak because the investigation found a common source during out-of-state travel. He said the agency won’t be releasing additional information about the cases due to state privacy laws. The agency has said it is working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed.
The agency is urging families to get vaccinated in light of the cluster of cases and reported Monday that vaccination rates among students mostly held steady during the 2024-25 school year. Vaccination rates are still below pre-pandemic levels.
“Vaccination is the first line of defense for your child’s health. Each vaccine is approved only after being proven safe and effective,” Stephanie Schauer, director of the Wisconsin Immunization Program, said in a statement. “Taking time now to ensure your children have received the recommended vaccines will make them less likely to get seriously ill, meaning less time out of school and away from work. And routine vaccines don’t just protect your child — they help keep classrooms and the whole community safe.”
During the 2024-25 school year, 86.4% of students met the minimum immunization requirements — a 2.8 percentage point decrease from the 2023-24 school year.
“This tells us that most Wisconsin families are protecting their children with vaccines,” Westergaard said at the press conference. “Unfortunately, this level is below where we need to be to protect our state against outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. As we head into the new school year as a physician and as the father of kids who attend public schools, I want to encourage all caregivers to reach out to a trusted health care provider with any questions or concerns that you have to concern to ensure that students are up to date on their vaccines this year.”
The agency attributed the overall decrease in meeting the immunization requirement to people being unfamiliar with a new meningitis vaccination requirement for 7th and 12th grade students. Without data on the meningitis vaccination, 89.3% of Wisconsin students met the minimum requirements — a 0.1% increase from the 2023-24 school year.
DHS reported in December that families in the state have fallen behind other states when it comes to receiving childhood vaccines including polio, pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus (DTaP), and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). When it comes to measles in particular, Wisconsin has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
Measles can spread from person to person through the air, and the vaccines to prevent it are highly effective. One dose of the MMR vaccine provides about 93% protection from measles, while two doses are about 97% effective.
“Our school vaccination data tells us there are children in our schools who are not protected from an outbreak of preventable diseases like measles,” State Health Officer Paula Tran said in a statement. “In public health, we know that 95% of people in a community need to be vaccinated against measles in order to prevent an outbreak, which is why it’s so important to get children the vaccines they need on time.”
Milwaukee city leaders, looking to take preventative steps due to the measles cases, also urged residents to get vaccinated on Monday.
“As a father and as mayor, I take this threat seriously,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in a statement. “We’ve seen how quickly diseases can spread when vaccination rates fall behind.”
Children’s Wisconsin President of Pediatrics Dr. Mike Gutzeit emphasized that serious side effects from the MMR vaccine are rare.
“The risk from measles itself is far greater. When families choose not to vaccinate, they’re not just putting their own children at risk, but also newborns and people with weakened immune systems,” Gutzeit said. “Measles was nearly eliminated in the U.S., but now we’re seeing hundreds of cases and hospitalizations again. We can’t afford to go backward.”
Other vaccine-preventable illnesses surged in classrooms last year, according to DHS. Nearly 3,000 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, were reported.
The measles cases and data on school vaccine rates come as some Republican lawmakers are seeking to increase awareness of vaccine exemptions. Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton) and Rep. Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) recently introduced a bill that seeks to highlight Wisconsin’s vaccine exemptions, saying there isn’t enough transparency around them. Current law already requires that schools and day care providers “inform the person in writing of the person’s right to a waiver.”
During the 2024–2025 school year, 6.7% of students had a waiver for one or more vaccinations. Of those, 5.8% of students had a personal conviction waiver, 1% had a religious waiver and 0.4% had a health waiver.
Westergaard said the rate of waivers in Wisconsin is higher than other states.
“We’re one of only 13 states that has the personal conviction waiver. Many states do not allow that,” Westergaard said, adding that health forms typically include notice of the waiver availability.
“We feel in public health that knowledge of the exemptions of the waivers is commonplace,” Westergaard said. “We don’t hide them, but our recommendation is that people get their kids vaccinated because we, as a public health entity, feel any risks far outweighed by the benefit, both to individual health and to our community health.”
Westergaard said those with concerns should speak with a trusted physician and be open with their questions.
“For many families, childhood immunizations are a fact of life, and they’ve accepted them when they’re recommended, but we know other families have questions and concerns,” Westergaard said. “If there are questions you have, if there is information that you’ve seen online or heard that makes you question the safety or the effectiveness, let’s talk about them… There’s near unanimity among people who have seriously reviewed MMR safety data and other childhood vaccine data that they are on balance very safe and very effective and continually monitored for safety and adverse effects.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Melissa Beson. (Photo courtesy LDF Police Department)
The Lac du FlambeauTribal Police has received new information about a tribal member missing since March 17, Melissa Beson, 37.
The new information has redirected searches on the reservation in Vilas County and raised a new theory that she may have been picked up while walking along a county road.
Initially, Beson was last reported on Indian Village Road in Lac du Flambeau on the afternoon of March 17. Subsequently, thousands of acres of the forested reservation in the vicinity were searched.
New information received by the police reveals that after Beson had been seen on Indian Village Road, she received a ride from three local individuals in a van that ended up at a Kiboniki Lake boat landing on Highway D, where Beson got out of the vehicle and walked toward the south.
Police report that a male in the van said he was concerned for Beson’s safety because of the remoteness of the area, and he followed her and encouraged her to return to the van.
When a northbound vehicle stopped near Beson, the man said he ran into the woods because he had an outstanding warrant, and he believed the vehicle was law enforcement.
Police have identified the driver of the northbound vehicle, who reported that Beson appeared to be “highly agitated,” and refused a ride. She continued walking south as the driver continued northbound.
After this new information was reported, search efforts were conducted in an area near Highway D, south of the Kiboniki Lake boat landing, according to the tribal police department. Searches have been conducted on foot and using drones and dogs with no success in finding Beson.
Police Chief TJ Bill said his office is also considering the possibility that Beson may have been picked up by another driver on Highway D.
Previously, police investigated reports that Beson may have been staying with friends in the Wausau area, but those reports have never been confirmed.
Beson’s mother, Winifred Ann Beson, “Winnie,” has expressed concerns that human traffickers may have taken her daughter.
Beson is a Native American female, 5’7”, with a medium build, brown hair and brown eyes. She has numerous tattoos, including on her neck, arms and legs.
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Tribal Governing Board has authorized a $25,000 reward for credible tips leading to the recovery of Beson, to charges against those who might be responsible for her disappearance, or both.
Anyone with any information regarding the disappearance of Beson is asked to call either the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Department at (715) 588-7717 or the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office at (715) 479-4441.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
A voter leaves a polling place after casting a ballot in the state’s primary election on March 5, 2024, in Mountain Brook, Ala. Before the November 2024 election, the Alabama secretary of state initiated a purge of thousands of registered voters but was blocked by a federal judge. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Alabama resident Roald Hazelhoff treasures his newly won right to vote. When election officials flagged the naturalized U.S. citizen’s voter registration for possible removal last August, the Dutch native fought back.
Hazelhoff, then a 67-year-old college instructor, sued to stop Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, from seeking to kick him and more than 3,200 other registered voters off the rolls. The lawsuit was part of a multifront legal challenge led by him and three other voters, along with voting rights groups and the Biden-era U.S. Department of Justice.
A federal judge halted Alabama’s effort within weeks — and Hazelhoff voted in his first presidential election last November without incident.
Ten months later, Hazelhoff is watching with deep concern as the Department of Justice, in President Donald Trump’s second term, is demanding that states turn over their voter registration lists and other election information, citing unspecified concerns with voter list maintenance.
“My initial reaction was of sadness that this could happen but that still a mistake could be made,” Hazelhoff, who lives in the Birmingham area, told Stateline. “Now, I’m more in a stance of saying this is the most fundamental right afforded to citizens of the United States, and I am a legal citizen of this country and I will fight for that right.”
The Trump administration’s effort to scoop up voter registration lists and other information from a growing number of states underscores how state-controlled voter lists are a major battleground in fights over access to the polls. The Justice Department told the National Association of Secretaries of State that it will eventually contact all states, an association spokesperson wrote in an email.
Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wisconsin have so far declined to provide full voter registration lists to the department amid questions over the legality of the requests and uncertainty over how the information will be used. Maine Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows plans to deny a similar request, telling the Maine Morning Star that federal officials can “go jump in the Gulf of Maine.”
The Justice Department declined a Stateline request for comment.
Even before states began tangling with the department, how election officials oversee these lists — including when and why voters can be removed — was under increasing scrutiny. The stakes for voters are foundational: How states maintain the lists determines who is on them — and therefore who is able to vote. Power over voter registration lists is the power to shape the electorate.
“Voting should be easy, not akin to trying to get a U.S. passport when it’s been lost or stolen and you’re in Nicaragua, you know what I’m saying?” Hazelhoff said. “It should be something that we encourage and this is not encouraged. This is the exact opposite.”
Some states in recent years have signed up for competing systems to help identify duplicate or noncitizen voter registrations, after the largest operation came under fire from Trump. Election officials in some states have also entered into ad hoc agreements with some of their counterparts to share data.
Other states continue to tighten voter list maintenance requirements as well. New Hampshire legislators in June approved a bill requiring local officials to verify voter lists annually instead of once a decade; the governor signed the bill on Friday. Idaho lawmakers passed a bill, signed by the governor in April, that requires state agencies to share data with the state secretary of state to help check the accuracy of voter registrations.
Chief election officials in some states tout their annual or regular elimination of registrations.
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced in mid-July that his office was sending cancellation mailers to 477,883 inactive registrants. Last week, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, directed local election officials to begin a new round of removals. The registrations will be eligible for cancellation in 2029 following a federally mandated notification process, he said in a news release.
The Trump administration is also pushing states to use a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services tool, typically used to determine the immigration status of people seeking government benefits, to identify noncitizen registered voters. The agency now allows state and local officials to conduct bulk searches using the tool, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program, instead of one at a time.
I am a legal citizen of this country and I will fight for that right.
– Roald Hazelhoff, a naturalized U.S. citizen who sued after his Alabama voter registration was made inactive
Voter fraud and noncitizen voting rarely occur. But Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in 2020, along with an uptick in anti-immigrant sentiment among conservatives before last year’s election, has driven attention to the voter registration lists.
Election officials and voting rights activists across the political spectrum agree accurate, up-to-date voter rolls ensure that elections remain secure. They split over how to balance cleaning the lists with protecting voters from accidental deletion — and where to draw the line between legitimate maintenance and politically driven purges.
“It has to be done fairly. It has to be done transparently. And it has to be done legally,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan group that often challenges voter restrictions in court, including the Alabama effort.
“I think that any time you are doing voter list maintenance in a way that disenfranchises more people or is careless, then there has to be a hard ‘no’ on things like that,” Stewart said in an interview.
After initial request, U.S. DOJ has not obtained Wisconsin voter data
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, said he wants to find a middle ground where “everything is balanced.”
Scanlan declined to provide the Justice Department with his state’s voter rolls. He wrote in a July 25 letter that state law doesn’t authorize him to release the list to the department. Still, he noted that under the law the department could obtain voter lists by contacting local election officials.
In an interview, Scanlan also predicted the New Hampshire legislation requiring annual verification wouldn’t be an onerous change and would improve the accuracy of the rolls. He said he wants a system that makes voting easy, but one that’s also transparent and ensures everyone casting a ballot is a legitimate voter.
“I think that’s where we’re headed,” Scanlan said. “It’s not a straight line to get there.”
Trump helped usher in the current era of division over cleaning voter rolls in March 2023 by attacking the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, and calling on states to pull out of the group. He posted on social media at the time that it “‘pumps the rolls’ for Democrats and does nothing to clean them up.”
Within months, eight Republican-led states had withdrawn.
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit allows member states to submit voter registration and motor vehicle department data. It also has access to Social Security death data and address change information from the U.S. Postal Service.
ERIC then identifies potential duplicate and out-of-date registrations, dead voters and possible illegal voting. Member states also reach out to individuals who are likely eligible to vote but haven’t registered, a requirement that angers some Republicans.
Some Democrats are now quick to point out what they see as the irony of Trump’s Justice Department voicing concerns with voter list maintenance practices after the president undermined ERIC — a system they say is effective in helping states clean their voter rolls.
“It is an extra layer of … hypocrisy and ridiculousness that they would turn around and be critical of the one organization” ensuring voter rolls are clean and up to date in its member states, said New York state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat who sponsored a bill passed by the state legislature to require New York to join ERIC. The measure hasn’t been delivered to the governor.
Twenty-five states — a mix of red and blue states, as well as presidential swing states such as Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania — and the District of Columbia currently use ERIC. In an email, ERIC Executive Director Shane Hamlin wrote that the organization remains committed to attracting new members. Hamlin cited the New York legislation and noted that Hawaii recently joined.
Republican states haven’t coalesced around a single alternative to ERIC, but an Alabama-led system comes closest. The Alabama Voter Integrity Database, or AVID, includes Alabama and 10 other mostly Southern states; the latest state, Virginia, joined in late May.
The Alabama secretary of state’s office, which maintains the database, didn’t respond to multiple interview requests or written questions from Stateline.
“Voter file maintenance is the foundation of election integrity,” Allen, the Alabama secretary of state, said in a June news release. “Ensuring that Alabama’s voter file is the cleanest and most accurate voter file in the country has been a top priority of mine since day one.”
As states weigh the value of ERIC and AVID, some election officials aren’t racing to pick a side.
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, a Republican, said ERIC likely isn’t the right solution, though he said he had no reason to criticize it. To have an effective system, every state needs information from their neighboring states, as well as the states where their “snow birds” go, he said.
He identified those states as Florida in the East, Texas in the Midwest and California and Arizona in the West. Florida and Texas belong to AVID, while Arizona belongs to ERIC. California belongs to neither.
“We need a broader solution. … It’s tough in this environment, where everyone’s guards are up on the political spectrum,” McGrane said in an interview.
In Alabama, Hazelhoff said his experience demonstrates the nightmare that can unfold when voter roll cleaning crosses the line into an illegal purge.
“That was a total shock when that happened,” said Hazelhoff, who was born in the Netherlands, moved to the United States in 1977 and became a citizen in 2022.
In August 2024, he received a letter from the Board of Registrars in Jefferson County, where he lives, informing him his voter registration had been made inactive and that “you have been placed on a path for removal from the statewide voter list.”
The reason, the letter said, was that Allen had provided information showing Hazelhoff was issued a noncitizen identification number by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security while also being a registered voter.
After Hazelhoff and others sued, U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco, a Trump appointee, ruled that Allen had blown past a deadline in federal law that prohibits systematic purges of ineligible voters less than 90 days before a federal election.
Allen had announced his purge 84 days before the election, she wrote, and had later admitted his purge list included thousands of U.S. citizens. He had also referred everyone on the list to the Alabama attorney general’s office for criminal investigation, despite the inclusion of citizens.
When Hazelhoff went to his polling place last year, he said he still felt some trepidation, even after the court ruling. He questioned whether he would be escorted out for casting an illegal vote.
“It worried me,” Hazelhoff said. “But then the actual voting experience was great and the people were polite. The system seemed to be working.”
Stateline reporter Jonathan Shorman can be reached at jshorman@stateline.org.
Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and other Wisconsinites took part in a city celebration for Transgender Day of Visibility in March. Wisconsin and 14 other states are suing in opposition to a Trump administration executive order blocking gender-affirming care for people under 19. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
A coalition including 15 state attorneys general have filed a multistate lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s effort to restrict access to medically-necessary care for transgender, intersex and nonbinary youth.
The lawsuit challenges recent federal action to deter doctors and medical providers from offering gender affirming care to youth under the age of 19 years old, including states like Michigan where that care is legal and protected.
Joining the suit are the attorneys general of Michigan, New York, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
“The Trump administration shouldn’t be interfering with the provision of health care,” said Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul in a statement Friday. “The administration should be respecting individual liberty and equal rights, not shamefully targeting transgender people.”
The attorneys general have asserted that President Donald Trump’s White House is overstepping its authority, using threats of criminal prosecution and federal investigations to pressure health care providers.
“The Trump Administration is attempting to strip away lawful, essential healthcare from vulnerable youth. These orders are illegal and dangerous and have no medical or scientific basis,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in a statement. “I will continue to protect families, defend doctors, and stop politicians from putting our kids’ lives at risk.”
Trump in the beginning of his second administration signed an executive order stating that the U.S. would only recognize two sexes, and called for an end to what Trump labeled “gender ideology.” A second order focused on medical restrictions, directing the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue enforcement actions related to that care.
Since then, Nessel’s office said the Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to providers under the guise of criminal law enforcement, but the attorneys general filing the lawsuit Friday argue those efforts lack legal standing and are intended only to intimidate.
“Health care decisions for kids should be made by parents and doctors, not by politicians,” said Erin Knott, executive director of Equality Michigan, a LGBTQ+ advocacy group, in a statement. “The federal government is using funding as a weapon to force providers to abandon their patients and override parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their own children.”
Patricia Wells, a doctor and the medical director of The Corner Health Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, said in a statement that she and her colleagues are distressed by new punitive changes to funding and regulations, which threaten to dismantle essential care.
“These policies do not protect children; they endanger them,” Wells said. “They undermine trust in the medical system and place affirming providers in an impossible position, forcing hospitals to close clinics and providers to stop offering the very care that helps young people survive and thrive. The loss of these services would not simply be a policy failure; it would be a moral one.”
Wells said the nation must do better.
“These young people deserve our compassion, our evidence-based care, and our unwavering commitment to their well-being,” she said. “I applaud the leadership of the state of Michigan for protecting transgender and gender nonconforming youth, their families, and the caregivers who are saving lives every day.”
Erik Gunn of Wisconsin Examiner contributed to this report.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin stands outside Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry in Portland, Oregon, on July 31, 2025. (Photo by Jacob Fischler/States Newsroom)
PORTLAND, Oregon — Democrats must be more aggressive organizers and campaigners to win back the working-class coalition they have increasingly lost to President Donald Trump, according to Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin.
Too often in recent decades, the party has ceded ground to Republicans, Martin told States Newsroom in a one-on-one July 31 interview during a stop on a visit to community groups, activists and fundraisers in Oregon.
Since 2009, the national party’s infrastructure has deteriorated, allowing the GOP to build organizational advantages across the country, define Democratic candidates before they can define themselves and put too many states out of reach, he said.
In sometimes more pugnacious terms than might be expected from someone with Martin’s clean-cut corporate look and Midwestern demeanor, he said his task as party leader is to reverse that trend.
“We’re not here to tie one of our hands behind our back,” Martin said. “In the past, I think our party would bring a pencil to a knife fight. We’re going to bring a gun to a knife fight.”
The knife-fight analogy was an answer to a question about how Democrats should respond to Texas Republicans redrawing congressional district lines as the GOP struggles to keep its slim U.S. House majority, but it could apply to other aspects of Martin’s vision for the party.
Martin, whom Democrats elected in February to lead them for the next four years, said Democrats should never turn off their messaging and campaigning apparatus, and work to build party infrastructure in regions, states and cities where they have not competed in decades.
Over 45 minutes, he invoked the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, a liberal whose populist approach to campaigning and governing practically sanctified him among Democrats in Martin’s native Minnesota, several times and indicated Wellstone would be an effective model for Democrats in 2024 and beyond.
“I think what the American people are looking for is people who are going to stand up and fight for what they believe in,” he said. “People didn’t always agree with Paul Wellstone all the time, but they still voted for him. They said … ‘He’s not one of these finger-in-the-wind politicians. He’s standing up for what he believes, and I’m going to give him credit for it even if I don’t agree with him on a particular issue.’ They want authenticity.”
The day after Texas Republicans released a map of proposed new congressional districts in a rare mid-decade redistricting effort that could net them five more U.S. House seats, Martin implied he would support blue-state leaders who retaliated with their own maps to give Democrats an advantage — even as he disparaged the move by Republicans.
He called the redistricting effort “a craven power grab” by Trump and Republicans, accusing them of “trying to rig the system.”
“If they can’t win on their own merits, they’re going to cheat and steal,” he said. “That’s essentially what they’re doing right now.”
But, even as Martin condemned those moves, he said Democrats should feel empowered to respond in kind. “We can’t be the only party that’s playing by the rules,” he said.
Leading Democrats in California, New York and Illinois have openly explored the possibility of emergency redistricting if the proposed Texas map becomes final, even though the issue has raised the ire of some usual allies who support less partisan election infrastructure.
The national party would be “very involved” in challenging the Texas map, as well as working with governors seeking to change their own maps, Martin said.
Martin brought up, unprompted, some of the challenges his party faces.
Twice as many voters had an unfavorable view of Democrats as a favorable one in a July Wall Street Journal survey that showed the party with only 33% of support.
Voters now see Republicans as the party of working-class voters and Democrats as representatives of the elite, Martin said. In the 2024 election, the party did worse with nearly every slice of the electorate other than college-educated voters and wealthy voters.
Martin noted Trump made historic inroads with some traditional Democratic constituencies, earning a higher share of Latino, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, young and working-class voters in 2024 than any Republican candidate in years.
That result was part of an ongoing trend going back 20 years, Martin said, and represents an existential threat to the Democratic party.
“We lost ground with every part of our coalition,” he said. “If we continue to lose ground with working people in this country, with all of the other parts of our coalition, we’re toast. We’ve got to reverse course.”
Democrats’ slide with those constituencies is in part “a branding issue,” permitted by the party’s willingness to let Trump and other Republicans’ campaigning in off-years go unanswered and a lack of a positive message articulated to voters, said Martin.
“We didn’t start our campaign until the spring of 2024 — way too late,” he said. “I would argue that they had already defined us before we ever had a chance to define ourselves. That can never happen again. Never, ever, ever. So that means we have to be campaigning all the time, year-round. Year-round organizing, year-round communications. We never stop talking to voters. We never stop campaigning.”
That campaigning should be focused on a positive view of what Democrats offer voters and include an appeal to “the vast majority of Americans, not just the people at the top.”
“We have to fix our brand,” Martin said. “We have to give people a sense that we’re fighting for them. We have to stand up and fight with everything we have right now, not just against Donald Trump, but for something. We have to give people a positive vision of what their lives would look like with Democrats in charge.”
Democrats’ message should be about a rising tide lifting all boats, Martin said, quoting Wellstone, for whom Martin, 52, interned at the beginning of his career and still considers an inspiration.
“Remember Paul’s famous slogan: ‘We all do better when we all do better,’” he said. “That should be the slogan of the Democratic Party.”
He praised Zohran Mamdani, the winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, for running an energetic campaign that was focused on showing how he could improve New Yorkers’ lives.
That should include a policy focus on affordability, health care access and a government that works for people beyond the elite.
But even as Martin articulated the positive message he said Democrats should focus on, he slipped into slamming Trump and Republicans, saying the tax and spending cuts law Trump signed last month would take health care away from people. The law was among the least popular in decades, he noted.
There was room for both a positive campaigning and highlighting Republicans’ unpopularity when appropriate, said Martin.
“It’s a both/and,” he said. “Let’s tell folks what is happening and let’s tell folks what Democrats are going to do.”
The unpopularity of Republicans’ law, which is projected to cut more than $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, food stamps and other programs while lowering taxes on high earners, gives Democrats an opening in a difficult cycle for U.S. Senate races, Martin said.
Democrats — who control 47 seats, including two independents, compared to 53 for Republicans, who also hold a tie-breaking vote in Vice President JD Vance — need to net four additional seats in next year’s elections to win the majority in the chamber, which Martin said was possible under the right circumstances.
That view is out of step with current projections, which show Democratic seats in Georgia and Michigan at least as likely to flip as Republican seats in North Carolina and Maine. Democrats would have to win all four of those most competitive races, plus two that would be further stretches, to gain a majority.
Beyond North Carolina and Maine, Martin said the map to Democrats’ regaining the Senate would go through traditionally red states.
Iowa, where incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst could be vulnerable, and Alaska, where former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola would be a strong challenger to incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan, could be Democrats’ 50th and 51st Senate seats, he said.
Or, if right-wing primary challengers defeat more establishment incumbents in Louisiana and Texas, those states could turn into pickup opportunities, he said — though Trump won both states easily, by more than 20 points in the former.
To win next year and beyond, Democrats must unify, he said.
Elements of the party that would impose purity tests on others — whether that’s progressives excluding moderates or vice versa — make that harder, he said.
“I believe you win elections by addition, not subtraction,” he said. “You win by bringing in people, new voices, and growing your coalition.”
Martin also wants to grow the map and compete across the country, using a strategy pioneered by former DNC Chair Howard Dean, who was chair from 2005 to 2009.
When President Barack Obama’s political team took control of the party apparatus in 2009, it “completely eviscerated” the state party infrastructure Dean had built, Martin said.
Earlier this year, he announced an initiative to provide at least $1 million a month to all state parties. The goal is to expand the number of competitive states and districts, reversing a trend that has seen fewer presidential contests focused on fewer states.
“There’s no such thing as a perpetual red state or a perpetual blue state,” he said. Turning states from Republican strongholds to competitive, or from competitive to favoring Democrats — or even to maintain Democratic strength — takes investment of money and energy, he said.
“It’s critical, and it’s something I firmly believe in,” he said. I’ve seen for so many years our national party and other party committees not making the investments to actually call themselves a national party,” he said. “You can’t be a national party if you’re just competing in seven states.”
Diana Higgenbottom is pictured during the filming of “Love Differently,” a short documentary film depicting her journey of adoption and finding her identity. (Photo by Emma Siewert/Courtesy of Racine County Eye)
This report is republished by agreement with the Racine County Eye, where it originally appeared.
If a bill making its way through the sponsorship process becomes law, adult Wisconsin adoptees for the first time will have access to their original birth certificates.
Advocates say the measure is a long-overdue correction to a system that keeps vital identity and medical information hidden from the very people it concerns.
“We’re not asking for anything extraordinary,” said Diana Higgenbottom Anagnostopoulos. “We’re just asking for the right to know who we are.”
The proposed legislation — currently known as LRB-3879/1 — was introduced by State Rep. Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc) and State Sen. André Jacque (R-New Franken). According to Steve Hall, spokesperson for Tittl, this is not the first time Tittl has championed this cause.
“This was the first bill that he introduced back in 2014,” Hall said in an interview. “And he’s introduced it every session since.”
Hall noted that Tittl is not adopted himself but believes strongly in adoptees’ rights. “He just thinks that people ought to have that right,” he said.
The bill would give adult adoptees access to their original, unredacted birth certificates—something currently restricted under Wisconsin law. While most modern adoptions are open, Hall said that a small but significant number—about five percent—remain closed, which can leave adoptees in the dark about crucial health and identity information.
“We spoke with someone who was close to 50 years old,” he added. “She had been worried about health conditions she thought ran in the family, only to learn after her adoptive parents passed away that she’d been adopted. When she finally got her real family history, it turned out she was concerned about the wrong things all along.”
Behind the renewed momentum is former Racine resident and adoptee Diana Higgenbottom Anagnostopoulos, who has worked with legislators and advocates across the country.
She traveled to Madison in late July to speak with lawmakers and staff, sharing clips from “Love Differently,” a documentary she produced that highlights the emotional and legal struggles adult adoptees face.
“When we were in Madison, we knocked on as many doors as we could,” she said. “It’s about educating lawmakers. Most people don’t even realize this is still an issue.”
According to Anagnostopoulos, several lawmakers have shown early support. Rep. Angelito Tenorio (D-West Allis) and Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) — who now represent Anagnostopoulos’s district after redistricting — were among the first to notify her when the bill began circulating. She now lives in Wauwatosa.
“Tenorio emailed me first thing the morning it started to circulate,” Anagnostopoulos said. “He made a promise to help restore our civil rights.”
She also credited the office of state Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Caledonia) with keeping her updated.
“They’ve been stellar. They actually sent me the draft of the new bill introduction,” Anagnostopoulos explained.
Anagnostopoulos sees the legislation as a civil rights issue, not a challenge to birth parents’ privacy.
“We’re not asking for our full adoption file,” she explained. “We just want our original birth certificate. There’s nothing in it that should be controversial—it’s just a record of who we are.”
She also pointed out that adoptees face practical barriers because of redacted records.
“With REAL ID requirements, some of us can’t even prove who we truly are with the documents we have,” she said.
While some critics argue that birth parents may have chosen closed adoptions for privacy reasons, Anagnostopoulos and others believe that does not outweigh an adoptee’s right to know.
“I didn’t sign up for this. I was a baby — I didn’t consent to having my identity sealed,” she said. “We’re not trying to show up for Thanksgiving. We just want to know who we are.”
Despite the growing support, Hall said it’s too soon to predict whether the bill will pass this session.
“There’s a lot of momentum, yes—but as we’ve seen with other bills, anything can happen,” he said, pointing to Tittl’s previous efforts that stalled despite early enthusiasm.
The co-sponsorship period for the bill closes July 31. After that, the Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos has 10 working days to assign a bill number and refer it to a committee.
“We’ll know more in the next couple weeks,” Hall said. “But there’s no question: the groundswell of support is bigger than it’s ever been.”
The issue gained visibility with the release of “Love Differently,” which features Anagnostopoulos’s own story and others across the country. The film was screened earlier this year in Sturtevant and won an award at the 2024 Door County Film Festival.
According to a story from CBS 58, the documentary showcases both the emotional and legal dimensions of adoptee experiences.
One scene features a New York state senator changing his position during live testimony. Anagnostopoulos shared that clip with lawmakers in Madison to show what can happen when people truly listen.
“This feels different,” she said of the current bill. “It feels like we’re closer than we’ve ever been.”
According to a report from Adoptees United, Wisconsin’s efforts mirror a broader national movement. States like Oregon, New York, and Illinois have passed laws restoring unrestricted access to original birth certificates.
Wisconsin has introduced several similar bills in past sessions, including SB 483/AB 502 in 2021, but none have passed.
“Change is coming,” Anagnostopoulos said. “Whether it’s this year or not — I believe we’ll get there.”
Reports republished from Racine County Eye are not available for republishing elsewhere.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
In the long, never-ending struggle to protect our environment, it can be easy to feel helpless, powerless. Maybe nothing underscores that feeling more than trying to stop a big foreign oil interest from building a pipeline across your state. But there is something you can do to speak out against the Line 5 oil pipeline. And it's fun! Amy looks at the Move People Not Oil campaign.
Host: Amy Barrilleaux
Guest: Jacob Ahrens-Balwit, Strategic Communications Manager, Clean Wisconsin
More Resources for You:
Enbridge Line 5 Blasting Area Photos (Instagram)
Move People Not Oil - Take the pledge and more information
Login