State Senate candidates Lisa White (left, photo courtesy of candidate), Corrine Hendrickson (center, Wisconsin Examiner photo) and Sarah Harrison (right, photo courtesy of candidate)

Wisconsin Democrats have their eyes set on winning the Senate majority in 2026 and are two seats away from that outcome. With the general elections over a year away, current lawmakers started working towards their goal over the summer — endorsing their preferred candidates and working with them to boost their messages and critiques of Republican incumbents. 

But the strategy has ruffled feathers with some announced and potential candidates, who say lawmakers discouraged them from running and are acting as though party “insiders” should be able to determine who represents local communities.

November 2026 will be the first time legislative maps adopted in 2024 will be in effect for the 17 odd-numbered Senate seats up for election. Democrats were able to cut the Republican majority from 22 seats to 18 seats in 2024. They will need to win two additional seats to take the majority in 2026. 

There are three seats on Democrats’ target list: Senate District 17, currently held by Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), Senate District 5, currently held by Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), and Senate District 21, currently held by Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine). Democrats are also looking to hold Senate District 31, currently represented by Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick). 

After the new state budget was signed in early July, Democrats immediately turned their attention to the elections. Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and other members of the Senate Democratic caucus showed up for a pair of campaign announcements in July. 

Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) announced her challenge to Marklein, and Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) launched her campaign challenging Hutton. The announcements were boosted by the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Campaign Committee (SSDC), which is the lawmakers’ political arm that works to help Democrats win elections.

“One of the reasons why senators are getting involved with these candidates that are running is because we’ve known them for years,” Hesselbein said, recalling that she first met Jacobson in 2017 while she was serving on the village of Oregon Board of Trustees. “I was really excited about her candidacy.”

Hesselbein told the Examiner in July that the endorsements are not coming from the party.

“It’s senators that know the content of the character of Jenna Jacobson and Robyn Vining,” Hesselbein said. “That’s why we’re supporting them. We know that if there’s going to be a primary, there’ll be a primary.”

Hesselbein said she spoke with all of the people who were considering running to let them know what she was thinking. She said it was important to her that people know where she stood, mentioning that when she ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly in 2010, a late endorsement took her by surprise.

“I wish I would have known at the beginning what they were going to do. I’ve always been very extremely honest and forthright with everybody,” Hesselbein said. “They might be upset that I chose a candidate, but they certainly know the reasons why, and we had a conversation about it.”

Senate District 17 

For the last decade, Marklein has represented Senate District 17 — winning three elections easily and serving as the chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee since 2021.  

Lafayette County Democratic Party Chair Nancy Fisker said her community is looking for someone who will represent the values and needs of rural Wisconsin and the task of beating Marklein, who tends to vote along party lines, will be hard. 

“He’s a great politician. He has a really great ground game. He’s been in office long enough that he has people in place who will put him in the right place at the right time,” Fisker said. “He’s very sociable, and people love that.”

Marklein won SD 17 with 60% of the vote in 2022. Under the new maps, however, the district is more competitive. An analysis by John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University, found the district leaned Democratic by 1 percentage point in the 2024 presidential election and by over 4 percentage points in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. 

Marklein hasn’t announced whether he will run for reelection yet. In July, he reported raising over $69,000. 

Fisker said the new maps have led to renewed excitement around these races. That excitement can be seen, she said, in the number of people who have shown interest in running, which was as many as seven people at one point. 

The first candidate to enter the race was Lisa White, a Potosi businesswoman and grandmother. She said she’s been concerned about cuts to Medicaid by the Trump administration as well as women’s and rural health care in general.

“My determination is to represent the southwestern portion of our state, which has not happened for decades,” White told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview. “I feel I’m the singular voice in that pool of people who can truly, truly represent the entire district, and not just the Madison area.” 

White also said she wants to see an end to the private school voucher program in Wisconsin.

Corrine Hendrickson, a well-known child care advocate, is also planning to enter the race for the seat and launch her campaign later this month. 

Hendrickson told the Examiner in an interview that the recent budget process pushed her to consider running. The budget’s investment in child care did not meet what many child care advocates, including Hendrickson, said was necessary to help keep them afloat. Hendrickson also recently made the decision to close her own family child care program.

“We’re talking to the representatives. We’re inviting them in. We’re showing them our books… and it’s not enough, and so to me, that means that our representatives truly aren’t listening, and they’re just really moving the goal posts so that they have an excuse not to invest in child care,” Hendrickson said. 

Hendrickson said she was excited when she learned so many people were considering running in the race.

“We’ve had to beg people to run against this man in the past,” Hendrickson said, adding that knowing there were others weighing running made her consider, “Am I the best person? What makes me the best person?” 

“Really, the only way to find that out is to go through the process,” Hendrickson said.

With so many potential candidates, Fisker said county parties across the district decided they would host forums for those considering a run. 

County Democratic parties in Wisconsin usually do not endorse candidates in primaries, Fisker said.

“It’s always been very difficult to get people to run. People just aren’t interested in running for a variety of reasons. So this year we started looking around like we always do, and you know, we had seven people who raised their hand and said, ‘I think I’m interested, but I want to look into it a little further,’” Fisker said. “We were amazed.”

It’s not entirely unheard of for the state party to make endorsements ahead of primaries, especially when an incumbent is running for reelection. During the 2025 primary for the state superintendent, for example, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin endorsed state Superintendent Jill Underly for a second term.

Fisker noted the SSDC has nothing to do with the state party, and she said it was clear early that the sitting senators were planning to endorse a candidate.

“We thought we really had convinced them to wait,” Fisker said. “All it would have taken was them to wait for three or four months. We’re way out here from the election, and you know, the candidates would have self-selected at some point.”

Jacobson, surrounded by five Democratic senators, launched her candidacy the Monday after Gov. Tony Ever signed the new state budget — just a few days ahead of any county party forums taking place.

Hendrickson said she received a heads up from Hesselbein that she would be endorsing Jacobson and the top Senate Democrat encouraged her to run for the Assembly instead. Hendrickson said she felt the decision for Jacobson to announce alongside the senators just ahead of the forums being held “was a move to pressure us to back up.”

“They’re not voters. They don’t live in this district,” Hendrickson said of the lawmakers. “This district is hungry for a candidate that’s from the area, that understands the deep rural part of this district and how hard we’re all struggling as communities because of the state budget and because of the decisions that Marklein’s making as the co-chair of the JFC.”

Matt Raobin, owner of Brix Cider in Mount Horeb has decided against running for personal reasons, he said, but he described a similar experience in a Facebook post, saying that he reached out to members of the SSDC as he was considering a run.

“In that meeting, it quickly became clear that these are the people who choose the candidate, for better or worse. “We want to avoid a primary,” I heard repeated multiple times,” Raobin wrote, adding that he understood the desire to avoid a primary but also found it problematic. 

“We are in a moment when the Democratic Party needs to reinvent itself. Approval ratings are low. Nationally, we’re taking beating after beating from a Republican trifecta and a hard right Supreme Court. The last thing the Democratic Party should be doing is taking steps to block out new voices from having a chance to be heard,” Raobin wrote. “Avoiding a primary means avoiding the hard work of renewal. It stifles creativity. It squashes out new ideas before they’ve had a chance to grow. It prevents us from testing a candidate’s true viability, and it heavily favors insiders over outsiders.”

The county parties pushed ahead with the forums, giving candidates and potential candidates a chance to introduce themselves to answer questions from the community. 

“I’ve really not seen anything quite like this… we had people from six different counties who came to our forum in Hazel Green,” Fisker said. “It’s been really interesting and fun to see how much people want this… This is what democracy looks like. It should be up to them whether they want to run or not, and then, and then it’s up to us as voters to get out and vote for them in the primary and make our choice.”

White, who is continuing her campaign, said she understands that she is the “underdog” in the race, but thinks it will be worth it no matter the outcome. She said she hopes she is informing people along the way about the issues faced by  the district. 

“There’s no way I can lose if you look at the big picture,” White said. “How can you lose when you are bringing people in… that would have ordinarily tuned out.”

Senate District 5

In the southeast corner of the state, a similar situation has taken shape in Senate District 5. 

The district has been represented by Hutton since 2022 but has changed since the last time he ran. It’s a purple district that represents portions of Milwaukee County, including West Allis and Wauwatosa, and Waukesha County, including Pewaukee, Brookfield and Elm Grove.

Weeks before Vining’s announcement, Brookfield businesswoman Sarah Harrison became the first to enter the race.

Harrison told the Wisconsin Examiner she was encouraged by people in her community to run for the seat — some even reached out to make sure she was still running after Vining’s announcement. She said there is excitement about the race for the 5th Senate District because it appears winnable for Democrats. 

The self-described “data geek” said that as she considered whether to run, she looked at where Democrats had the strongest performances in the past and areas where Democrats could pick up votes and Democrats could grow more in parts of the district that cover Waukesha County. She said her strong “grassroots ties” there would help her connect with voters in areas that have long been represented by Republicans. She said she also brings her experience as a single mom, a business owner and someone who has worked with Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 companies.

“I still believe that I’m the best candidate for this seat,” Harrison said. Waukesha County residents, she said, “have been underrepresented for so long.”

Vining currently represents a third of the district in the Assembly. The other two Assembly districts are represented by Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) and Rep. Angelito Tenorio (D-West Allis).

Hutton hasn’t announced whether he’ll run again. He has raised over $5,600 this year, according to his July 2025 report, and has about $89,770 on hand. Campaign filings from July 2025 showed that Vining had raised about $3,000 from January through June and had about $22,000 on hand. Harrison had raised a little over $2,100. 

Harrison said she felt heard in her initial conversations with the SSDC about running, but that it soon became clear that there wasn’t anything she could do to earn the support of the lawmakers. She said primaries should be about vetting the “best candidates and the best ideas.” 

“We fought to end the gerrymandered maps so that voters could choose their representatives, and I respect that the SSDC wants to have a say,” Harrison said. “I won’t let that stop me from running. I’m a fighter.”

Harrison has run for office, running in 2022 for the Assembly in the seat once held by Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is now the first Democrat to announce a campaign for governor. She pulled in 43% of the vote in the Republican-leaning seat. 

“It was drawn to be essentially unwinnable,” Harrison said. 

Michalski lost his reelection bid in 2024 to Vining. When Vining made her own pitch for her Senate candidacy in July, she underscored her record of winning competitive races.

In 2024 with new legislative maps in place, Harrison ran for the Assembly again, this time against Rep. Adam Neylon of Pewaukee. She brought in 41% against the incumbent.

“I took on the work and the labor, and I ran two really good campaigns that were beneficial to folks up the ticket, beneficial to the communities. I did all of that at my own cost, in terms of money and time. I had some support from the party, but not a lot.” Harrison said. “To turn around and make this endorsement, it was disappointing.” 

Harrison, who runs a data consulting company, said some of her top issues include ensuring local governments have sufficient funding and that people have access to affordable and accessible child care.

“We’re seeing that folks are hit hard by the need for local referendums because the state has not fully funded a lot of the things they’re requiring,” Harrison said, adding the 2023 law, which updated the way local governments received their shared revenue payment, was just “a toe in the right direction.”

When it comes to health and child care, she said “both of those impact working families and their ability to participate in the economy and to build a better life for their families.” 

She said she would also want the state to accept the Medicaid expansion and work towards “making sure that folks are able to be seen [by a doctor] in a timely manner.” However, she acknowledged the new obstacles that will exist to making those changes under the Trump administration.

“I’m very concerned, especially with some of the changes at the national level that we at the state level are going to have to provide more of a safety net,” Harrison said. 

As she continues her campaign, she has been doing “walk and talks,” getting out in the community to find out what’s on the minds of residents. 

“A lot of people do not want an anointed candidate that was chosen, kind of, by folks who are seen as being insiders. They want to make that choice. They want to have that primary to vet the best candidate. They don’t want a candidate handed to them.”

“It absolutely does make it more challenging for me,” Harrison said of the senators’ involvement. “But it also shows that I’m not someone who’s going to be a yes man. I am going to stand up for what I believe is correct.”

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At the location of the future Moss Universal Park, surrounded by about 50 people, including Democratic lawmakers and community members, Vining focused her remarks on creating a world where everyone can thrive. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

WAUWATOSA — Continuing Senate Democrats’ effort to flip control of the state Senate next year, Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) announced her campaign late Thursday afternoon for Wisconsin’s 5th Senate District, which is currently represented by Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield). 

At the location of the future Moss Universal Park, surrounded by about 50 people, including Democratic lawmakers and community members, Vining focused her remarks on creating a world where everyone can thrive.

“It’s going to take some construction — just like at this park,” Vining said, referring to the playground, which is designed to be accessible to children with disabilities and open to everyone in the community. “If we want a world that works for everyone, we need a government that works for everyone — not the few and the connected, but for everyone. That is the world I want to fight for. That is the world that we all deserve, and when we flip this seat and when we win the majority, we will work hard to create that world. We will move closer to a government that works for everyone.” 

November 2026 will be the first time new, more competitive legislative maps adopted in 2024 will be in effect for the 17 odd-numbered Senate seats up for election. All the seats in the  state Assembly and the governor’s office will also be up for election.

“We’re going to have a trifecta,” Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) told reporters. “We’re finally going to be able to get things done for the very first time in a very long time. We’re going to be able to fund K-12 education, higher education, child care and all the priorities that we’ve been fighting for for over a decade.”

Whether Democrats achieve “trifecta” control of both houses of the Legislature and the executive branch of state government hinges in part on a Democrat holding the governor’s seat. Gov. Tony Evers has not yet announced whether he’ll seek a third term in office, but the decision could come any day. 

“It’s my understanding that Gov. Evers is going to make up his mind in the next week and a half,” Hesselbein said. “If the governor wants to run again, we’re behind him all the way.” 

“It’s either going to be him or it’s going to be someone from the absolutely fabulous bench that we have, so we’re not worried,” Vining said. 

The path to the Senate majority, Vining and Hesselbein said, runs through Senate District 5. Republican lawmakers currently hold an 18-15 Senate majority, meaning Democrats need to flip two seats and hold all of their current seats to win the majority for the first time in more than 15 years. Two other competitive seats include Senate District 17, where Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) is up for reelection and Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) announced her candidacy last week, and Senate District 21, where Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) is up for reelection. 

Senate District 5 includes portions of Milwaukee County, encompassing West Allis and Wauwatosa, and Waukesha County, including Pewaukee, Brookfield and Elm Grove. 

According to data from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the current 5th Senate District went for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 6 percentage points and Sen. Tammy Baldwin by 5 percentage points. The three Assembly districts that make up the Senate District are split — represented by Vining, Rep. Angelito Tenorio (D-West Allis) and Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee).

“We see this as like a 50-51-ish… race where we’re favored ever so slightly,” Vining told reporters. “I mean, that’s the challenge.”

Vining is not the first Democrat in the race. Sarah Harrison, a Brookfield small business owner who ran a failed campaign for the Assembly in 2024, launched her campaign for the seat last month.

The incumbent, Hutton, hasn’t said whether he will run for another term in office. 

Hutton was first elected to the seat in 2022. In the Senate, he currently serves as the chair of the Senate Universities and Technical Colleges Committee and vice-chair of the Senate Transportation and Local Government Committee and has introduced legislation related to transgender Wisconsinites, including banning transgender girls from sports teams that align with their gender and allowing for civil action against medical professionals who provide gender affirming care, and some criminal justice bills, including some related to parole revocation and Wisconsin’s John Doe law.

Prior to the Senate, Hutton served in the Assembly from 2012 to 2018 and on the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors from 2005 to 2012.

Vining said of Hutton that constituents are “frustrated because they don’t know where he stands” on many issues, adding that education funding should be one of the top priorities for lawmakers. 

“What’s the special ed reimbursement rate that he supports? What is it? He’s not going to tell you. There’s going to be issue after issue where you really don’t know where he stands because he’s not going to tell you. I’m going to tell you, I support a 90% special ed reimbursement [rate], I’m going to tell you where I stand on issues,” Vining said. 

Vining has some experience running in competitive races. She flipped Assembly District 14 in 2018, beating out Matt Adamczyk, a former Wisconsin State Treasurer, by slightly more than 130 votes — less than half of 1 percentage point. In her reelection campaign in 2020 with Republicans targeting the seat, Vining beat the Republican candidate by 8 percentage points. In 2024 with new legislative maps in place, Vining ousted one of her Republican colleagues with whom she shared the new district.

“I’ve been the same person in politics the whole time — fighting for families as if they’re my own, fighting for affordable health care. I’m fighting for the things that people care about. People care that you A) listen to them and B) act on it,” Vining said. “I want to continue being the person that hears that you want a 90% special ed reimbursement rate and write the bill to do it and when your EpiPen is too expensive, I’m going to write a bill to try to make that better.”

Showing up to talk to constituents helps win tough districts, Vining said. She has represented about two-thirds of the new Senate district and said she is excited to get out and meet voters in areas she is less familiar with. 

“We have events. We talk with people. We listen. We build relationships,” Vining said.

“Democrats want to take the majority, and we can now spend the next 16 months casting vision for what it would mean to Wisconsinites for us to be in the majority,” Vining said. “It’s our job to cast vision so that people can latch onto it.” 

Vining’s vision focuses on finding the best way to serve people. She listed a number of issues that would be her priority to work on if she were elected and Democrats won the majority, including boosting education funding, improving child care, finally passing postpartum Medicaid expansion and addressing gun violence. She also said she wants to finally pass some of the bills she has proposed over the years while in the Assembly minority, including mental health related measures and a bill that would mandate universal adult-sized changing stations in restrooms in public buildings and encourage businesses to install them as well to help ensure accessibility for those who need it. 

“What we do as representatives is we need to see what we’re missing, and then make sure that we’re talking about those things,” Vining said. In the Assembly, Vining currently serves on the Children and Families Committee, the Health, Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention committee and the Small Business Development Committee. 

Constituents brought the issue of universal changing stations to her attention, she says  — something that other states across the country, including Alabama, have taken action on. A voter named Sarah and her son Matthew, who is disabled, had trouble going to public events because he would have to be changed on the floor of restrooms, she said. 

“Sarah came into my first office hours in February of 2019, right after I was elected, with Matthew [her son]. I met them, then she told me about the problem,” Vining said. “We wrote the legislation. We introduced the legislation and I’ve introduced it every cycle since.” 

Vining said she plans to introduce the legislation again next week. 

“Getting the majority also means making Wisconsin more accessible,” Vining said.

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Jacobson launched her campaign outside an elementary school in Ridgeway that was closed after the Dodgeville school district combined two elementary schools into one. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Committee)

With the Wisconsin state budget completed just last week, Senate Democrats are gearing up for 2026 elections and their shot at a majority. Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon), surrounded by a group of current Democratic senators, launched her campaign Monday for Senate District 17, currently represented by one of the Senate Republicans central to shaping Wisconsin’s budget. 

There are about 16 months until November 2026 when half of the state Senate, the entire state Assembly and the governor’s seat will all be up for election. This will be the first time the new legislative maps adopted in 2024 will be in place for the 17 odd-numbered Senate seats.

Democrats gained four seats in the Senate in 2024 — breaking the GOP supermajority and leaving Senate Republicans with a margin of 18-15 majority. They will need to win at least two seats if they are to win the majority for the first time in more than 15 years.

Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), the co-chair of the powerful budget committee, is the incumbent, having first been elected to the seat in 2014 after serving two terms in the Assembly. 

Lisa White, a Democrat who runs an interior painting business, is also running for the seat.

Jacobson, who is serving her second term in the Assembly, told the Wisconsin Examiner that she is challenging Marklein in part because he hasn’t been listening. 

Marklein won the district with 60% of the vote in 2022, but Senate District 17 changed considerably under the new maps. According to an analysis by John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University, the district leaned Democratic by 1 percentage point in the 2024 presidential election and by over 4 percentage points in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. 

“The biggest thing that I see about this district is that people really want somebody who’s going to represent what they’re fighting for, what they need and listen to them, and even listen to them when they don’t necessarily agree,” Jacobson said. “They’ve been not receiving that in their current state senator.” 

Jacobson cited a report in the Monroe Times of a Marklein listening session in Belleville in January — coincidentally on the same day that Jacobson was holding one there. 

“There was a list of rules of what would and will not be happening in that listening session,” Jacobson said. “That, to me, is the starkest example of what it means to listen to your community, because I was inviting anybody… there are no rules. I’m open to having a conversation with anybody at any time.”

Marklein’s notice told residents that it was “designed for the senator to receive input and ideas about issues facing residents in the 17th Senate District” and he didn’t “plan to answer questions, debate ideas, challenge the ideas, or otherwise comment because he is seeking to hear every point-of-view equally.” The notice said that “the goal is for every attendee to feel comfortable sharing their input.” It also advised those attending that  their comments might be subject to a time limit. 

Jacobson launched her campaign outside an elementary school in Ridgeway that was closed after the Dodgeville school district combined two elementary schools into one. She called Marklein a “classic politician” who she said has “failed” the Senate district. 

“Our district has time and again been forced into referenda to fund our schools because Howard Marklein has chosen power over people,” Jacobson said. “He has chosen ideology over voting for the needs of the district. That is irresponsible governing.” 

Jacobson first ran for the state Assembly for an open seat in 2021 and said her service on the Oregon village board showed her how local government intersects with state government and why it’s important to shape the latter.

Her announcement came less than a week after lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers completed the state budget. The Republicans’ narrower Senate majority led to a new dynamic during the budget process. With Democratic votes necessary to pass the bill, Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) became involved in budget negotiations.

Hesselbein joined Jacobson at her campaign announcement Monday, along with Sens. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit), Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) and Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska). 

Jacobson has been fighting for public school funding, Hesselbein said. “In the Senate, she will dedicate herself to lowering costs for your families, to creating a bright future for your children, and making our state stronger every day,” Hesselbein said. “We are excited and proud to be standing behind her in this campaign and we look forward to her joining us and helping us win a Democratic majority.”

Jacobson voted against the budget, joining 37 other Assembly Democrats.

Democrats credited the new maps and the Senate’s closer margins for the budget agreement, which included an increase in funding for special education, the University of Wisconsin system and child care. The bill passed thanks to five Senate Democratic votes, although a recurring theme among Democrats whether they voted for or against the budget, including Jacobson, was that it wasn’t perfect. 

Jacobson said that was part of the reason she launched her campaign. 

“I was hoping under these new maps — with even more voices talking so loudly about the fact that they need state assistance when it comes to affording child care, they need more funding for our schools, they need real help on the everyday costs that are facing Wisconsinites — that under this new more competitive district that would be represented in the state budget,” she said. “What we’re seeing is that the cycle of referendums is not going to end under this budget… and that was a missed opportunity in this budget.” 

During the final discussions over the budget, Marklein emphasized that the document was a “compromise” between Republicans and Democrats while highlighting items affecting his district, such as funding for the UW system that would help the Platteville campus. Marklein did not respond to an email from the Wisconsin Examiner on Monday asking about his 2026 plans and his response to Democrats targeting SD 17.

Jacobson said she doesn’t view Marklein’s long tenure as a state lawmaker as a challenge. She said she is more concerned with the size of the Southwest Wisconsin Senate district, which encompasses Iowa, Lafayette, Green, Crawford and Grant counties as well as parts of Dane County.

“It’s a big district, but the benefit of that is that it’s filled with these amazing rural communities that when people think about Wisconsin that’s what they think of…,” Jacobson said. “Sure [Sen. Marklein has] been an incumbent for a while, but has he been out? How much is he doing outside of walking a parade to really listen to the district?” 

Jacobson, a mother of three children, said public education funding will be one of her top issues, though she is also more concerned about hearing from others. She said she has been traveling the district over the last few weeks and hearing an array of concerns from residents.

“They’re concerned that they’re going to have to have more referenda because of the lack of school funding to increase their property taxes even more,” Jacobson said. “They’re concerned that without meaningful work or support from the state — our health care system in that area… seven hospitals… multiple clinics — those are going to potentially be in jeopardy.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of seats Democrats need to gain in 2026 to win a Senate majority. 

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Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said his caucus has “no trust” in Evers and his office and said that is the result of vetoes in the past on bills. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Friction between Democrats and Republicans was on display Wednesday as the Senate passed several bills along party lines that create programs, grants and facilities without state funding attached. 

Republicans argued the bills need to be signed before funding is included in the budget to assure them there won’t be any changes made by Gov. Tony Evers using his partial veto, and Democrats said the funding needed to be included to assure them the bills don’t become unfunded mandates.

The first bill — SB 41 — would instruct the Office of School Safety in the Department of Justice to establish a program that allows public and private schools to apply for grants to improve safety in school buildings and provide security training to school staff. The program would sunset in July 2027 under the GOP bill.

The bill initially had $30 million in funding attached, but Republican lawmakers passed an amendment that removed the funding.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said, while the Senate debated the bill, that his caucus has “no trust” in Evers and his office and said that is the result of vetoes in the past on bills. 

LeMahieu noted three vetoes from last session as example: the veto in the state budget that extended revenue limit increases for schools for 400 years, one on a bill funding a new literacy program and another on a bill meant to help combat PFAS. 

“It is our commitment to you that we are hoping these bills get bipartisan support — they’re bills that are important for Wisconsin,” LeMahieu said. “And if they get through both the houses and the governor signs them. We intend to fund this through the budget process.”  

LeMahieu said that otherwise lawmakers would be funding a program without knowing what it will look like.

“Frankly, there is a trust issue between our caucus and Evers,” LeMahieu said. 

Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a statement to the Examiner after the floor session that the GOP-led Legislature has “spent years undermining our constitutional checks and balances by giving themselves outsized influence and control over the policymaking process.” 

“It’s ‘my way or the highway’ for Republicans, who’d rather go as far as passing a Frankenstein budget in pieces than try to work together to get good things done for the people of our state,” Cudaback said. “If Republican lawmakers spent more time working across the aisle in good faith than they do trying to exhaust every avenue to preserve their political power while they still have it, Wisconsinites would be better off.”

Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) said during floor debate that Democrats cannot trust the funding will actually come if the bills are done in that way.

“We’re supposed to trust that bills are going to get passed with no funding because they are going to get funded later,” Smith said, adding that “when there is no funding behind the bill it’s hollow. It means nothing.”

Smith authored an amendment that would have put the funding back. Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) — the author of the bill — voted in favor of every amendment to the bill, including the ones authored by Democrats to provide the funding and in favor of the amendment that he authored that removed the funding from the bill. He made similar votes on other bills that he authored. 

Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) said he has asked Republican lawmakers, including those on the budget committee, about funding for several proposals, but has never gotten a clear answer on funding. 

“Come back and talk to us when you’ve decided. Is it $ 5 [million]? Is it 10 [million]? Is it nothing? Are we actually doing this? If you were bringing this up later with the budget, if we actually had a budget, if we weren’t just waiting for you all to decide whether you’re going to cut the UW budget, if we had a budget in front of us… maybe we could talk,” Spreitzer said. “We have absolutely no idea what you’re doing on the budget. We have no idea if you actually have 17 votes on a budget.” 

With the budget still in process, Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) have expressed reluctance to support  the budget proposal as approved so far by the Joint Finance Committee. This could leave Senate Republicans — who hold an 18-15 majority — without much wiggle room to pass a budget.

That could give Democrats more leverage. Hesselbein said she is hopeful she can work with Republicans to pass a budget that invests in priorities including public education, higher ed and child care.

“It certainly seems that Sen. Kapenga has been very clear,” Hesselbein said. As for whether Democrats will vote for it, she said, they will “have to see what that budget looks like” but her “door remains open to have those conversations.”

The Senate floor session came after Evers had been urging lawmakers to make sure their bills include funding. 

Evers’ legislative affairs director Zach Madden sent letters to Republican authors of bills last week, which Democrats read during the floor session, expressing Evers’ concern about the lack of funding attached. His office identified 16 bills needing funding.

“While the Governor is supportive of the policy concept the bill aims to accomplish, the bill does not include the necessary funding to implement the bill. Without providing the necessary funding, the legislation is effectively nothing more than an empty promise,” Madden wrote. 

Madden wrote that Evers is requesting the bill be amended to include the funding, the bill be incorporated into the budget bill or that language be added to the bills to “make clear the requirement of the bill is only mandated after adequate funding is appropriated in subsequent legislation specifically for the purpose of the bill.” 

“The Legislature has increasingly tried to pass legislation to create new and unfunded mandates, add additional requirements or policies that require resources to implement, and tie up hundreds of millions of dollars in critical investments in a trust fund or the JFC supplemental fund that never leave Madison to serve the purposes for which they were intended,” Madden wrote. “Due to the Legislature’s inaction, districts still haven’t seen one cent of that funding even as the various policy requirements went into effect.” 

Madden said that lawmakers splitting the bills in the budget from their funding is  “unsustainable and untenable,” and is interfering with the Evers’ ability to exercise his partial veto power. He said the change needs to be made if the bills are going to be signed into law. 

“It is clear the overarching goal of these practices is designed to prevent the Governor from exercising his constitutional veto authority, and it is further apparent the Legislature is now attempting to use this practice to effectively try to pass a biennial budget in pieces.” 

Wanggaard called the letters “intimidating” and “threatening” at one point. 

“That was the intimidating letter that was sent,” Spreitzer said, after reading one of them. “If that was intimidating, then you must not have worked in politics long.” 

The debate became heated with Spreitzer at one point standing up and asking for his name to be removed as an author from one of the bills he had co-sponsored, saying it was an “unfunded mandate.” 

Youth corrections bills

Several of the bills the Senate voted on came out of a study committee held over the summer of 2024 charged with considering legislative solutions to issues with the emergency detention of minors.

One bill — SB 106 — would establish psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTF) in Wisconsin. The facilities are meant to offer long-term treatment for children diagnosed with psychiatric conditions, including bipolar disorder, disruptive behavior disorders, substance use disorders, severe emotional disturbance or post-traumatic stress disorder. Lawmakers want to establish the facilities to help prevent minors from being sent out of state when they’re in crisis. 

“We’re willing to vote for this if it’s real, if it has funding,” Smith said. One of the Democrats’ proposed amendments to the bill would have provided DHS with nearly $1.8 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27 for the administration and funding of PRTFs. 

Sen. Eric Wimberger called Democrats’ amendments a “stunt” and said the Wisconsin Supreme Court had changed the rules for how Wisconsin does the budget. 

“If we were to put an appropriation in the bill, he could line-item the whole thing and just take the money,” Wimberger said. “We’re going to maintain the authority of our branch.”  

Wanggaard said that if Evers vetoes the bill it is on him and not on the Legislature. 

Other bills passed by the Senate that Democrats said needed money attached included:

• SB 108, which requires the Department of Health Services (DHS) to develop an online portal that would facilitate sharing of safety plans for a minor in crisis with specific people. Democrats had requested $1 million in funding to be attached.

• SB 111, which establishes that counties are responsible for the transportation of a minor to emergency detention if they approve detention for a minor. Democrats wanted to include open-ended funding, while an amendment was made to provide a specific amount of funding. 
• SB 182, co-authored by Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) instructs the Technical College Board to provide grants to technical colleges that provide emergency medical services courses that train and prepare people for their initial certification or licensure as an emergency medical responder or services practitioner. The bill also instructs the Higher Educational Aids Board to reimburse students or their employers for tuition and materials necessary for someone to qualify for the initial certification or licensure as an emergency medical responder or an emergency medical services practitioner.
• SB 283, which requires the Department of Transportation to establish and administer a public protective services hearing protection program. 

Assembly talk about education, child care plans

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said on Wednesday morning ahead of the Assembly floor session that the proposals from Republican lawmakers aren’t adequate.

“Our public schools are in crisis. Our communities are being forced to go to referendum year after year, our child care industry needs direct investment to keep it afloat, and our universities need essential dollars to provide the best services for our students,” Neubauer said. She added that Republican lawmakers declined to raise special education funding in schools to 60% and are preparing cuts to the University of Wisconsin system.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said his caucus supports cutting $87 million from  the UW system, but wouldn’t say if that’s the final proposal the budget committee will take up. The system has said it needs additional funding and Evers had requested $855 million in his proposal for it. Vos says Republicans want “reform” of the UW for the “broken process that we currently have.” 

“That would have serious consequences for economies across Wisconsin and the future of our state. A cut like that could mean closed campuses — the Platteville, River Falls or Stevens Point Marathon County — at risk,” Neubauer said. “Cuts like that would have consequences for thousands of students, staff, and faculty, and is just unacceptable.” 

Neubauer said that lawmakers need to work with Evers and Democrats to pass a budget that will “ensure the continuity of essential services” in Wisconsin.

“There is still too much political correctness on campus,” Vos said. “We don’t have enough respect for political diversity — heaven forbid, if you’re a student who’s Jewish or has a different viewpoint on campus, where you feel like you’re either targeted or the victim of potential hate.” 

During the last legislative session, Republican leaders leveraged pay raises and funding for building projects to get the UW system to concede on diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Assembly Republicans also announced their plans to address the child care crisis in Wisconsin — again rejecting Democrats’ calls for funding Child Care Counts, which faces a quickly approaching deadline for when funding runs out. Evers had requested a $480 million child care measure and some providers have argued it’s necessary to help keep child care businesses open. 

The outline announced Wednesday includes allowing 16-and 17-year-olds to staff child care facilities as assistants and to count towards staff to child ratios, increasing the number of children that a family provider can have from 8 to 12 and creating a zero-interest loan for child care providers and a 15% tax credit for the business expenses at a child care facility.

Vos said Democrats’ approach to the child care issue wouldn’t be effective. He said Republicans’ plan was “comprehensive” and a “good idea.”

“The plan that they have basically put out is saying that the way we drive down the price of groceries is to pay the owner of the grocery store more, hoping that it will trickle down to cost carrots and eggs less,” Vos said. “What we prefer to do is to give the money to the consumer to the parents to actually make those decisions.” 

Shawn Phetteplace, national campaign director for Main Street Alliance, told the Examiner that the proposal is a sign that Republicans are “deeply unserious” about working to improve the child care crisis. 

“If you look at what the actual crisis is in child care, it is the fact that parents can’t afford it, and that providers do not make enough to be able to make a living and stay and enter the industry. We believe at Main Street Alliance that the solution to this is to invest in the Child Care Counts program and not to do budget gimmicks that have been proven to be failures over the years.” 

Phetteplace said that Vos’ grocery comparison was “oddly” appropriate given that the U.S. already subsidizes farmers. 

“We provide generous subsidies to allow them to have consistent, predictable markets for their goods,” Phetteplace said. “What we’re asking for is to make sure that the child care providers are making enough, and the parents can afford it to ensure that we have a market and child care that works for Wisconsin families. The proposal today by the Speaker and Assembly Republicans is simply an effort to deflect this issue and to make it less politically salient. We believe that is not the right approach, and we urge them to get serious and to negotiate with [Evers].” 

The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to meet to continue its work on the budget Thursday.

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