Elections officials in battleground Wisconsin on Thursday approved guidance for local clerks to help them know what to do if federal law enforcement officials show up at the polls on Election Day, as some activists fear might happen.
A Republican on the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission cast the lone vote against sending the guidance, saying it “is only going to scare away some people from the polls.” A hotly contested race for governor tops the ballot in Wisconsin.
“I personally think this guidance is unnecessary because we have not seemed to need it the past 201 years,” Republican Commissioner Bob Spindell said.
Clerks have been deluged with questions from voters about what they would do if agents showed up at the polls, Wisconsin elections administrator Meagan Wolfe said. The guidance is intended to explain how to handle it, she said.
“I see this as just like any other contingency planning we do to assist our clerks,” she said.
The memo tells Wisconsin’s roughly 1,800 clerks who administer elections what to do if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Department of Homeland Security officials, FBI agents or local law enforcement shows up at the polls.
If officers arrive, the guidance says the head of the polling site should inform the municipal clerk, who should then tell the county clerk and the state elections commission. If the agents are there to observe, they must check in like any other observer and be subject to rules governing them, the guidance says.
Democratic commissioner Ann Jacobs said she was concerned about uniformed officers intimidating voters. The commission agreed to her recommendation that the guidance tell clerks to encourage law enforcement agents planning to come to the polls to be in plain clothes and not uniforms.
“I don’t think we want full flak jacket, whatever, law enforcement three feet from our voters,” Jacobs said. “I think that is much different from an ordinary, quiet observation by somebody in plain clothes.”
Department of Homeland Security officials have said they don’t plan to send immigration enforcement officers en masse to patrol the polls and have dismissed concerns that they plan to do so as “fearmongering.”
Election legal experts say federal law clearly prevents the government from deploying any armed troops, agents or officers to election sites except to “repel armed enemies of the United States” — a high bar to clear.
But organizations that represent Latino, Black and Asian American voters say the rhetoric and ICE’s own activity make them worried at a time the number of immigration arrests is soaring as President Donald Trump carries out his mass deportation agenda.
Wisconsin elections officials have been traveling the state in recent days holding news conferences to discuss the process for casting and counting ballots. They have been saying they don’t anticipate anything unusual at the polls this year.
“I expect this election will go like all other elections,” Republican Don Millis, chair of the elections commission, said Thursday.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
President Donald Trump, speaking alongside cryptocurrency leaders at the White House this week, made a statement that Republican and Democratic candidates alike wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” Trump said, “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous.”
It’s not the kind of message anyone is using in competitive midterm races.
The race to build data centers, which power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, has run aground amid frustration from voters who don’t want to live near the massive warehouse campuses. Even the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm warned that anger over data centers — some of which dwarf football stadiums and use more energy than small cities — could cost them a seat.
Opposition stretches across the political spectrum because of fears that the behemoths will jack up electricity bills, drain people’s water wells, create unhealthy amounts of air and noise pollution and forever change a community’s character — all while getting lucrative tax breaks from states competing for their business.
Trump has framed data centers as a necessary component of a top national and economic security priority: winning the AI race against China. However, he also has acknowledged concern over rising electricity bills, previously saying “it’s only fair” for the companies to shoulder their costs.
He also suggested this week that data centers need “a little public relations help.” In recent months, he has gotten tech giants to sign a voluntary pledge to shield U.S. consumers from higher utility bills from data centers, even as he pushes to streamline the process for companies and utilities to build their own power plants.
But building power plants doesn’t happen overnight, and the immediate political reality for candidates across the country is far different.
“It is yet another dimension in which the White House appears tone deaf — tone deaf at best and indifferent to the interest of other Republican candidates at worst,” said James Henson, the director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, Austin, a nonpartisan research organization.
Republican committee issues warning over data centers in Ohio
Statewide candidates from Nevada to Wisconsin, both Republican and Democratic, are weaponizing data centers against their opponents, and candidates who absorb those attacks are subsequently trying to distance themselves from them.
In Ohio, a data center hot spot with closely contested races for governor and U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a memo Tuesday that Sen. Jon Husted is vulnerable to losing his seat because of the centers.
Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown is airing attack ads against Husted that call him the “face of data centers in Ohio” as people gather signatures for a statewide referendum to ban their construction.
The Republican memo said it’s been a “sleeper issue for the entire election cycle.”
“Brown is using it because it works,” the NRSC said. “More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck. If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”
The memo suggested voters may balk at Democratic candidates who want to stop data center construction altogether in favor of a Republican candidate who only wants data centers built if a community approves it in a local vote and it pays for its own power, water and other utilities.
Most registered voters oppose building a data center in their area, according to a July Fox News poll.
Still, the issue falls behind other voter concerns, such as cost of living, as November looms. A Quinnipiac Poll conducted in June asked voters what issues were important in deciding who to vote for in U.S. House elections, and about 4 in 10 mentioned AI data centers.
Trump’s statement already put to use in Nevada race
In Nevada, Democrat Aaron Ford quickly tied Trump’s statement to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, characterizing them as being in “lockstep on data centers.”
In a statement, Ford said Trump and Lombardo are “Nevada data centers’ biggest cheerleaders” who “only care about catering to their ‘billionaire friends’ while Nevadans pay the price.”
Ford this week unveiled a policy platform in which he said he would halt new state tax breaks for data centers — he estimated them at $200 million currently — while auditing existing projects to ensure they are delivering on promises. He also said he would ensure data centers pay for their electricity needs, do not deplete Nevada’s water supply and help local governments negotiate strong benefits agreements with developers.
Texas’ governor changed course and got a jab from Trump
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who last November celebrated Google’s announcement of a $40 billion investment there by calling the state “the epicenter of AI development,” is under attack from his Democratic challenger, Gina Hinojosa, over his pursuit of data center development.
Abbott has since changed course by promising tougher action, such as removing the state’s sales tax exemption and holding up projects to review their energy usage.
Trump criticized the shift, saying “I think it’s a mistake” in a recent interview with Punchbowl News.
Asked about Trump’s support for data centers, Abbott’s office said the governor’s “top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life and ensure the integrity of our power grid and water supply.”
“Simply put, Texans must come first,” Abbott’s office said.
Data centers complicated Wisconsin governor race
While Trump embraces data centers, even some of his allies are using them for political attacks. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, running for Wisconsin governor, released a TV ad this week branding his Democratic opponent as “Data Center David Crowley.”
The ad includes a clip of Crowley saying Wisconsin could become the “AI and data hub not only for the entire country, but for the entire globe.”
Crowley has said local communities must have veto authority while also calling data centers a part of the modern economy that could bring significant economic benefits to the state.
Tiffany, who Trump has endorsed, has also said positive things about data centers. In January, Tiffany called data centers “exciting new technology,” in an interview with PBS Wisconsin. And last December, he voted for a bipartisan bill known as the SPEED Act, which is designed to accelerate construction of new AI infrastructure projects like data centers. It hasn’t passed the Senate.
Neither Tiffany nor Crowley support a moratorium on new data center construction.
Tiffany has called for repealing the state tax incentive for data centers, while Crowley has not. They both have called for stricter regulation.
Crowley, at an event Wednesday where he received the endorsement of the environmental group Clean Wisconsin, downplayed the attacks Tiffany has made against his data center position.
“He’s getting very good at saying one thing and doing something different,” Crowley said, pointing to Tiffany’s votes in support of the SPEED Act.
“What Congressman Tom Tiffany’s doing is lying because he’s trying to run away from his record in Congress,” Crowley said.
This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
A Wisconsin appeals court on Wednesday overturned a ruling that had restored abolished collective bargaining rights, in a setback for unions and public workers in the state. Unions are expected to appeal, sending the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is controlled by liberal justices.
The 2024 ruling striking down the law as unconstitutional had been on hold pending appeal, so Wednesday’s reversal does not change the status quo. The law remains in effect, as it has been the past 15 years, as the legal fight continues.
Enactment of a 2011 anti-union state law, championed by Republicans, sparked weeks of protests and made Wisconsin the center of a national battle over union rights.
That law, known as Act 10, effectively ended most public employees′ ability to bargain for wage increases and other issues and forced them to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits.
Supporters of the law say it gives local governments more control over workers and the powers needed to cut costs. They argue that repealing the law, which allowed schools and local governments to raise money through higher employee contributions for benefits, would bankrupt those entities.
Opponents argue the law has hurt schools and government agencies by stripping employees of the right to collectively bargain over pay and working conditions.
Christina Brey, a spokesperson for the unions that brought the lawsuit, said they remain confident on the merits of the case and that they are considering all available options.
“Wisconsin is better when all employees have a say in our workplaces, whether about class sizes in our schools, safety on the job, hours or any other number of areas,” Brey said. “Public service workers across the state won’t stop until we regain free, fair and full collective bargaining rights to negotiate with our employers.”
Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who introduced and championed the law, praised the decision.
“This ruling is a major win for the hard-working taxpayers of Wisconsin and the people they elect to run our schools, state, and local governments,” Walker said in a text message.
All five of the Democratic candidates for governor this year have vowed to repeal the law if elected. The primary is Aug. 11.
Tens of thousands protested the anti-union law at the state Capitol
The law was Walker’s signature legislative achievement, catapulting him onto the national political stage and spurring an unsuccessful attempt to recall him from office. Walker used the furor to mount a brief, ill-fated run for president that ended in 2015.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law despite the massive protests that went on for weeks and drew as many as 100,000 people to the state Capitol.
The law effectively ended collective bargaining for most public unions by allowing them to bargain solely over base wage increases no greater than inflation. It also disallowed the automatic withdrawal of union dues, required annual recertification votes for unions and forced public workers to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits. It led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across Wisconsin.
The law has withstood numerous legal challenges over the years, but this is the first since the Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to liberal control in 2023.
The lawsuit, filed by seven unions and three union leaders, argued Act 10 should be struck down because it creates unconstitutional exemptions for firefighters and other public safety workers. Attorneys for the Legislature and state agencies countered that the exemptions are legal and have already been upheld by other courts and that the case should be dismissed.
The Legislature said in court filings that arguments made in the current case were rejected in 2014 by the state Supreme Court. The only change since that ruling is the makeup of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, attorneys for the Legislature said.
Appeals court agrees with Republicans, questions timing of lawsuit
The three-judge appeals court panel ruled in a 2-1 decision to overturn a December 2024 ruling from Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost, saying the challenged provisions of the law did not violate equal protection guarantees of the Wisconsin Constitution.
The lower court “had no legal basis” to declare the law unconstitutional, the appeals court said.
The Wisconsin Legislature had a “rational basis” for only placing certain public safety workers under the law, the appeals court said.
“Courts must respect both precedent and our role in deferring to the Legislature’s fiscal policy decisions,” the appeals court said.
Appeals Court Judge Shelley Grogan said in a concurring opinion that the timing of the lawsuit was “to say the least, suspect.” The lawsuit was filed in November 2023, three months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court switched from majority conservative control to a majority of liberal justices.
“Renewed attempts to attack Act 10 on already-rejected bases simply because the composition of our supreme court has changed must be rejected,” Grogan wrote. “A law’s constitutionality does not ebb and flow with a court’s composition, and the judicial branch must not be used to advance political agendas on either side of the political spectrum.”
Appeals Court Judge Lisa Neubauer, the lone liberal on the three-judge panel, dissented, saying the lower court was correct. She said the Legislature made “arbitrary and irrational distinctions” by taking away collective bargaining rights from some public employees but not others.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Protesters burst into a Thursday news conference about the police shooting of a homeless man in Madison, taking the microphone from the police chief and arguing with some attendees who said they wanted to hear more about the investigation.
The group of roughly 20 protesters burst into the room at the Madison police station, shortly after Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and Common Council President Sabrina Madison identified the man killed by police as Corey Durell Ruiz, a homeless resident.
Ruiz, 38, was shot and killed Wednesday after police said he resisted arrest and injured an officer with a knife.
Police Chief John Patterson stepped away from the microphone when the protesters were shouting, and one man in the group took his spot at the podium. The event quickly devolved into a shouting match.
A vigil for Corey Ruiz was held Thursday at the intersection of Williamson Street and South Baldwin Street in Madison, where Ruiz was fatally shot by a Madison police officer. We spoke to several Madison residents about the fatal shooting. Madison Police Department’s police chief, John Patterson, said Ruiz’s death will be investigated as a homicide during a press conference shortly before the vigil. The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. #wisconsinwatch#coreyruiz#mpd#madisonshooting#madison
One protester held a sign saying “Corrupt cops deserve to die too!!!”
Moments earlier, the mayor said the shooting will be “rigorously investigated.”
“It does not matter who you are or what your past is, you should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement,” Satya Rhodes-Conway said.
Madison, for her part, said “Corey could have been my brother because my brother is homeless and he often rides a bike.”
Court records show Ruiz had been in and out of jail over the past decade on charges including failing to pay child support, driving a vehicle without consent, jumping bail, threatening authorities, taking a vehicle without consent, possessing drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer and retail theft.
“He’s a human being. He had a family. He has parents who loved him who brought him home, who cared for him,” Madison said, adding that she’s struggling to understand what she’s seen in videos of the shooting that have circulated on social media.
“My first thought is, when the officer’s walking away, why isn’t he walking away in cuffs,” Madison said. “I’m angry, there’s no way around it.”
Once the protesters quieted down, the chief resumed his presentation, promising his department’s full cooperation with the state investigation.
Police have released few details
The shooting has roiled Wisconsin’s capital city, with Gov. Tony Evers calling for “transparency and accountability” and Madison community members gathering Thursday at a growing memorial.
Protesters march after a Madison police officer shot and killed a man, July 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (Kayla Wolf / Associated Press)
None of the four officers who were detaining the man wore body cameras, but passersby recorded the confrontation on video, and accused the officers of overreacting.
“I thought, ‘Holy cow — what could have warranted that?’ It looked to me like they had him under control,” David Ortiz-Whittingham, who saw officers swarming and heard the gunshots, said Thursday. “Even now, knowing about the knife, did he have to die for it? Could this have been de-escalated without him losing his life?”
The police chief released few details Thursday, saying the investigation into the officer-involved shooting must run its course.
Earlier Thursday, Madison’s independent police monitor, Aeiramique Glass, said police have not yet shared evidence or the officer’s identity with her office, which will review the case and can recommend to the district attorney that charges be filed if warranted. She said the department and city are “obstructing what the community and the public” want.
“Let me do my job,” she said.
Patterson said the police were committed to cooperating with Glass as the independent monitor’s investigation is carried out, at the same time as the state’s probe.
The chief urged people not to draw conclusions
Patterson has urged caution in reading too much from the cellphone videos. He said none show the perspective of the officers, and additional video that hasn’t been released is being reviewed.
The officer who fired his weapon is a veteran of the force, the chief said. He and the three other responding officers will be placed on administrative leave pending an independent investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation, as required under state law.
Patterson said police were responding to calls that someone was attempting to enter parked vehicles, and the suspect fled on a bike before the officers surrounded him. One deployed a taser, but Patterson said he didn’t know if the taser worked. Those efforts failed to control the man, Patterson said.
In the videos circulating online, the man can be seen standing before he’s brought to his knees as the officers struggle to force him into a prone position. Then he falls quickly to the pavement after what sounds like three gunshots and seems motionless as the officers handcuff him behind his back. Arriving officers then escort one of the officers a short distance away.
Patterson said he did not know the extent of the injuries sustained by the officer who was injured by the knife.
“This situation was clearly dangerous,” Patterson said. He later continued, “I am incredibly saddened by the loss of life.”
A neighborhood now accustomed to police shootings
The shooting happened in the middle of an intersection in the popular Marquette neighborhood, which is lined with restaurants, bars, shops and homes less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the state Capitol. The bystander videos show numerous cars at the scene, with people watching and commenting as it unfolded.
A man crouches to light candles at a memorial site as mourners gather during a vigil at the site where Corey Ruiz was fatally shot by Madison police, July 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (Wes Hogg for Wisconsin Watch)
“I saw everything! I saw everything! You did not need to kill him! … We watched it all!” a woman yelled in the video recorded by Ortiz-Whittingham. Three loud shots could be heard among the sirens, followed by screams.
Residents who dealt with two other police killings within the same few blocks expressed their frustration on Thursday.
In 2015, a white police officer shot and killed Tony Robinson, who was biracial, on the same street. Large protests followed, but the district attorney filed no charges, determining the officer was justified. In 2012, Paul Heenan, a white musician, was fatally shot after he had been drinking and mistakenly entered his neighbor’s house. That officer was exonerated as well.
The chief acknowledged that the neighborhood “has experienced a lot of trauma” and urged people to support one another.
“I want transparency, I want accountability,” Patterson said.
A man addresses a crowd as marchers and mourners converge at a vigil for Corey Ruiz, who was fatally shot by a Madison police officer, on July 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (Wes Hogg for Wisconsin Watch)
Questions about race and technology emerge
The race of the officer who fired his gun on Wednesday and that of the man he killed were not released by police.
But Black advocacy groups, protesters and politicians spoke out against the crime and said they believe the man was Black.
The shooting also focused attention on the Madison Police Department’s lack of body-worn cameras. The force of around 500 is among the largest in the Midwest that doesn’t use the devices.
Common Council President Sabrina Madison said Thursday that she expects a police request for $400,000 to be approved, enabling the cameras to be phased in over the next three years. Others lamented that cameras aren’t already being used.
Attendees gesture during a candlelight vigil where a Madison police officer shot and killed a man Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (Kayla Wolf / Associated Press)
“Nobody can agree on anything,” said Katey Nelson, a member of the police civilian oversight board and operations director at YWCA Madison, a racial justice group. “Now we’re here, looking at another police shooting where we don’t have what we need to make sure the officers are held accountable.”
The mayor said her budget, which has not yet been released, will include funding for body-worn cameras. Rhodes-Conway said the city needs to put together a policy for the use of the cameras, and said that will be completed before the budget takes effect in January.
And now it’s a talking point in the governor’s race
Wisconsin State Rep. Francesca Hong, a Democrat running for governor, embraces a woman at a vigil for Corey Ruiz, hours after a Madison police officer fatally shot Ruiz, on July 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (Wes Hogg for Wisconsin Watch)
Madison, home to the University of Wisconsin, has a long history of organized protest dating back to the 1960s. More than 100,000 people marched on the state Capitol in 2011 in favor of union rights. There were large demonstrations that turned violent after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
And so the shooting quickly infused itself into the race to succeed Evers as governor, with voting already underway in the Aug. 11 primary.
“This state sanctioned violence was an execution,” posted Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist candidate who appeared with a bullhorn at the scene just a few blocks from her campaign office. She has called for defunding the police.
Another Democrat in the race, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, said while the details must become public, “these reports are painfully reminiscent of the tragedies we have witnessed in Kenosha, Minneapolis, and far too many communities across our country.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany called on his rivals to let the state investigation “establish the facts without politicians rushing to judgment or stoking division” in a statement that also said he would “work to end revolving-door criminal justice policies.”
Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: The Associated Press erroneously reported George Floyd was shot and killed by police. An officer in Minneapolis murdered Floyd by pinning him to the pavement and putting a knee to his neck. This story has been updated to reflect the correction.
Billionaire Elon Musk likely broke Wisconsin law when he promised to hand out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election, a bipartisan panel has found.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission last week referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney’s office, which can choose to bring criminal charges over violating the state law against election bribery. Prosecutors have 40 days to report back to the commission.
Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, was deeply involved in the effort to flip majority control of the highest court in battleground Wisconsin.
The tech titan and groups he supported spent at least $20 million on the candidate backed by Republicans, Brad Schimel. However, he lost by 10 percentage points to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford.
A month after the lopsided loss, Musk announced that he would be spending far less on political campaigns. Spending on the election topped $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
The complaints, which are confidential under state law, were brought by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, which is in Brown County. Musk handed out checks at a rally there just days before the election.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission, consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 in closed session on Thursday to refer the complaints to the district attorney, the commission’s spokesperson Emilee Miklas said.
Brown County District Attorney David Lasee, a Republican, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
The motion approved by the elections commission said it found probable cause that Musk broke Wisconsin law by making a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the Supreme Court election “in order to induce them to vote in that election.”
Spokespeople for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk gave $1 million checks to 3 Wisconsin voters
Three Wisconsin voters received checks from Musk, including two who got them in person at the Green Bay rally. Two weeks before the election, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, offered $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to “activist judges,” or referred someone to sign it.
Crawford’s win kept liberals in control of the state Supreme Court, and their majority grew to 5-2 after Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor’s victory this year.
Musk’s spending on the 2025 race has already resulted in one lawsuit filed by a government watchdog group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which seeks to prohibit him from ever again offering cash payments in the state.
That lawsuit is pending in Brown County. It alleges that Musk and two groups he funds violated prohibitions on vote bribery and unauthorized lotteries and that his actions were an unlawful conspiracy and public nuisance.
Attempts to stop Musk failed in 2025
Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general sued to stop Musk from handing over the checks to two voters, but was rejected by state courts.
Musk’s attorneys argued in legal filings in 2025 that Musk was exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions.
The payments are “intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate,” Musk’s attorneys argued in court filings.
Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the 2024 presidential election, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second amendments. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
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