The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), the national organization responsible for helping elect Democrats to state legislatures, announced a slate of six Wisconsin Assembly and three Senate districts they plan to provide support for this session. 

The new target seats belong to Republican incumbents facing Democratic challengers or are open due to Republican retirements. 

“2026 presents a historic opportunity to fundamentally transform the balance of power in Wisconsin and take control of the legislature,” DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement. 

The organization consulted with the state Legislature’s Democratic caucuses to identify the races. According to the DLCC, the group will provide support and resources for data, research, polling, paid communication and direct voter contact for target seats. In addition, the organization also provides a direct link for fundraising for individual Democratic candidates who are featured on its website.

A first slate of target seats for the midterms was announced in April, comprised of incumbent Democrats running for another term in office in competitive districts including Reps. Joe Sheehan (D-Sheboygan), Ryan Spaude (D-Ashwaubenon), Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire), Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska) and Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick). 

During the 2024 election cycle, the DLCC invested heavily in Wisconsin and six other states. 

This year, the organization is hoping to build on that momentum and flip the Senate and Assembly and its first step is identifying target seats. The DLCC has not yet said how much it will spend in upcoming elections. 

Democrats currently hold 45 of 99 Assembly seats and 15 of 33 Senate seats, meaning they need to flip at least five Assembly seats and at least two Senate seats to hold majorities next session. 

“For over a decade, Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature have rigged their way to power and rubber-stamped Trump’s harmful agenda that’s raising costs, but now the tide is turning as Republicans retire in droves and Democrats build undeniable momentum,” Williams said.

There are a total of 27 states and 42 legislative chambers on the DLCC’s target list this year, though Wisconsin has been identified as one of its top priorities, given the potential to win Democratic majorities for the first time in 16 years and the success in the last election cycle when Democrats flipped 14 legislative seats. The success came after new legislative maps were adopted by the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers following a state Supreme Court decision that found the previous voting maps were an unconstitutional gerrymander.

There have been a number of Republican retirements in Wisconsin this year including both Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R- Rochester), Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Sens. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), who both represent competitive districts.

Apart from the developments in Wisconsin, the DLCC is looking at Democratic wins in the off-election years as a positive sign for the midterms. According to the DLCC, Republicans failed to flip any state legislative seats in elections since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term in 2024. Since then, Democrats in off-year elections have flipped 30 legislative seats, allowing them to secure a supermajority in New Jersey and flipping 13 seats in Virginia’s state legislative bodies. 

Williams said the DLCC would be with Wisconsin candidates “every step of the way until November.” 

Wisconsin Assembly races targeted by the DLCC:

• Assembly District 30 where Kevin Knoke, a veteran and educator from Hudson, is challenging incumbent Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls).
• Assembly District 51 where Ben Gruber, a conservation warden in Wisconsin who is member of AFSCME Local 1215, is challenging incumbent Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville). 
• Assembly District 53 where Becky Nichols, a former Menasha City Council member, is running for an open seat. Incumbent Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) is retiring and David Daniels is the Republican candidate. Rachael Dowling is running as an independent. 
• Assembly District 85 where John Kroll, a Marathon County Board supervisor, is challenging Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston)
• Assembly District 88 where Brandy Tollefson, a De Pere School Board member, is challenging Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere). 
• Assembly District 92 where Jeremiah Fredrickson, a fish farmer from Elk Mound, is challenging Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie).

The Wisconsin Senate races targeted by the DLCC:

• Senate District 5 where Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) is running for an open seat against Republican Mike Roberts, a physical therapist from Waukesha. 
• Senate District 21 where Trevor Jung, who most recently worked as the transit director for the city of Racine, is running against Republican Jim Croft. 
• Senate District 25 where Charly Ray, a small business owner, is running for the seat left open by Sen. Romaine Quinn (R-Birchwood). There are two Republicans, Angie Sapik and Erik Severson, running for the Republican spot on the ticket in November.

Delegates at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention over the weekend expressed optimism about winning trifecta control of state government in November even as many activists remained undecided in the party’s seven-way gubernatorial primary.

William Garcia, the chair for the 3rd Congressional District, has not made up his mind who he will support, though he said that it’s “becoming more realistic that we’re going to gain all three of those” branches of government, “and be able to really transform Wisconsin government in a way that helps Wisconsin working people.”

“It’s hard. It’s a difficult, difficult decision, and most people I talk to here have not made up their mind yet,” Garcia said of the convention.

Evers says Tiffany would leave Wisconsin in bad shape

On the first day of the convention current elected officials  weighed in on what Democrats need to do to win this year. Party members also expressed gratitude to outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, who opted not to seek a third term, creating Wisconsin’s first open gubernatorial race since 2010.

A tribute video recapped Evers’ two terms in office starting with his first election in 2018 when he defeated former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, his support for LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites, the adoption of new voting maps, ending a Republican gerrymander in 2024 and his support for abortion rights following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“You’ve probably heard of a guy named Tom Tiffany,” Evers said to booing from delegates, referring to the Republican U.S. representative running for governor. “Maybe you haven’t. We can’t all be the most popular elected official in the state,” he said, a nod to his positive numbers in  statewide polling from Marquette Law School.

“Talk about someone who will give you the willies,” Evers said of Tiffany. He warned that Wisconsin “will end up even worse than this position and where we were when I took office eight years ago” if Tiffany wins in November. 

Evers said Tiffany has spent his time in Congress “saying, ‘no’ to Wisconsin, and ‘yes’ to Donald Trump.” He listed Tiffany’s votes to cut Medicaid, to allow Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire, against the CHIPS and Science Act, which funneled federal money to Wisconsin, and in opposition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

In the weeks leading up to the convention, Democratic divisions were on display as lawmakers and Evers publicly clashed over their differences on a tax cut and school funding deal negotiated by Evers and Republican leaders, which legislative Democrats helped defeat. Evers said he was sure Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) had “people wrapped around her finger by giving them jobs that they want” and that there wouldn’t be another vote on the deal if she was against it. Those divisions were on ice during the convention, as Evers said Democrats need to come together to win in November.

“All of this is on the line if Tom Tiffany makes it to the East Wing. We cannot let this happen,” Evers said. “I know how to win, so take it from me. Our Democratic candidate for governor will need every single one of us when they win the primary, and immediately from day one, we’ll not have time for anyone to be sitting on the sidelines.”

Dems ‘might even flip more’ Senate seats 

Throughout the convention, Democrats expressed optimism about winning majorities in the Senate and Assembly for the first time in 15 years.

In the Senate, Democrats currently hold 15 of the 33 Senate Districts. They need to hold their current districts and flip two additional districts to win a majority.

Hesselbein said on Saturday evening that Democrats’ path to a majority will come via flipping four districts: Senate District 5, an open district currently represented by retiring Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), Senate District 17, currently represented by incumbent Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), Senate District 21, an open district currently represented by Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), and Senate District 25, an open district currently represented by Sen. Romaine Quinn, who plans to run in a different district this year.

“Who knows with all this nonsense we see from Trump and the chaos, mass confusion coming out of D.C., we might even flip more,” Hesselbein said. 

Trevor Jung, who most recently worked as the transit director for the city of Racine, is seeking to flip the 21st Senate District. He told the Examiner that he felt an optimism among Democrats at the convention that bodes well for “a lot of hard work, knocking on doors, talking to voters, and winning in November” and is sure Democrats are united. 

“Regardless of what’s happening in the halls of the Capitol, you saw here [Saturday], you know, everybody standing on their feet for a governor who has done an excellent job for the people of Wisconsin,” Jung said. “I think what people are thinking about is in less than six months we’re going to have a completely different state government with a different governor, different leadership, and that’s when we’re going to be able to really solve a lot of these problems.”

Since Jung entered the race, Wanggaard, the district’s longtime Republican incumbent, announced he would not run again. Republican businessman Jim Croft is also running for the seat.

“We are making the cost of living and the economy the No. 1 issue in this election,” Jung said.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) joined the convention Saturday evening via a video message with her daughter, Ingrid, who was born a week ago. 

“It is time for new leadership. In Wisconsin, leadership should put the people first. This is the moment that we have worked tirelessly for, and we finally have an opportunity to win a Democratic trifecta in November,” Neubauer said. “It is going to take all of us to get this done between now and November. We have to help people imagine a different future for our state. People need to know that we can build a Wisconsin where they are not one medical emergency away from going broke, where their kids can thrive at their public school and where we can all raise a family when we win.” 

Democrats in the Assembly need to capture an additional five seats to flip the body.

Garcia said the state’s new legislative maps are helping Democrats’ chances of winning in the Legislature, especially in the Assembly.

“The Assembly races look so much different because Republican resources are stretched so thin,” Garcia said. “Because now that we’ve got these fair maps, now that they have to spend money on every race, you can tell that they’re making decisions like, we’re not going to spend money on this race.”

Gubernatorial candidates work to win over support 

The top of the ticket is still unsettled with the primary fast approaching in August. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Devin Remiker put a positive spin on the crowded field, saying  Democrats’ general election nominee “will have earned it.”

“They will have worked hard. They will not just have had a Truth Social tweet that went from Donald Trump that anointed the nominee like on the Republican side with Tom Tiffany,” Remiker said in his speech Saturday. “This is really what a healthy party looks like. This is what a party with new ideas, energy and leadership looks like.” 

“We have 143 days,” Remiker added. “All gas, no brakes.” 

In March, a Marquette Law School poll found that 65% of Democratic primary voters were undecided. At the convention, Democratic hopefuls were focused on trying to win over party activists

The seven Democrats who will appear on the primary ballot include former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes, former head of Gov. Tony Evers’ Department of Administration Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys. 

On Saturday evening, delegates had the opportunity to meet candidates in their themed hospitality suites, including “Kelda’s Classroom” and “The Mandela Effect”, a remake of a Wisconsin dive bar and Crowley’s “Disco Night with David.” Hong’s hospitality room had the lights turned low, music playing and the Knicks vs. Spurs game playing on a wall.

Each candidate had about five minutes on Sunday afternoon to pitch themselves to party activists. Many criticized Tiffany and Trump as they outlined their visions for the state.

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez called herself the “proven winner” who can beat Tiffany, saying he is “afraid of fired-up Democrats ready to win this November.” She said that now is the time to stand up to “MAGA extremists like Tom Tiffany, who does whatever Trump tells him to do, rubber-stamping tax breaks for billionaires.”

“Since I’ve been your lieutenant governor, I’ve done what any nurse would do: Show up, listen, care, be there where it counts and stay until the job is done,” Rodriguez said. 

Brennan started by acknowledging “what’s happening in our country.” 

“We have a president who blows up the economy on a whim. It is relentless. It is intended to make us feel overwhelmed, like there’s nothing we can do,” Brennan said. “But here’s what I know about Wisconsin Democrats. We don’t quit. We’ve seen this before in Wisconsin.”

Brennan mentioned former Gov. Walker, saying he “gutted the public sector” and “hollowed out schools.” He emphasized the work he did with Evers as the head of the Department of Administration to rebuild the state after eight years of a Republican trifecta.

“We are not going back. For the first time in the generation, it stops,” Brennan said. “The Democrats can stop playing defense and go on the offensive.”

Crowley didn’t mention Trump until the end of his allotted time, starting instead with his “Badger Basics” policy pitch, which centers on “affordability,” “care” and “pursuing opportunity.” He proposed cutting the “minimum markup” law on gas to help lower prices. He also described  his background growing up in a low-income family in Milwaukee. 

“I learned that when systems fail, it’s families who pay the price,” Crowley said. “I’m tired of politicians who spend all their time talking about problems and none of their time solving, and here’s the reality: winning elections matter y’all, because none of these ideas actually become reality unless Democrats win this upcoming November.” 

Crowley added that bad poll numbers for Trump do not mean a Democrat will automatically win the governor’s office in November. He said the state needs a nominee who will “build a coalition that reaches every corner of the state of Wisconsin” and addressed head-on the question of his race as an African American candidate in a largely white state. 

Wisconsin has never elected a Black governor. 

“As I travel, people always ask me, ‘David, can a Black candidate become governor?’” he said. 

Someone in the audience shouted out: “Hell yeah!” 

“If it’s a candidate that has a plan that’s built on proven public policy, not whatever the latest poll says is popular,” Crowley continued. “Then, yes, the answer is simple, y’all.” 

Cindy George, chair of the Trempealeau County Democrats, told the Examiner Saturday before the speeches that she made her decision about supporting Crowley in the primary after hearing from each candidate in person at their county party meetings. 

“That’s how I really get my vibe about people, is just to meet them in person, because you don’t really get their true nature looking at a website or looking at a piece of paper,” George said. “He really had that good, well-rounded experience.” She added that “he wants to work across the table, and that’s the only one I’ve really heard say that.” 

“That’s not why I solely picked him, but I love that aspect because I think we need to get back to that. That’s one thing that’s been lost with the Trump agenda,” George said. “It’s my way or the highway with them.”

Barnes highlighted his background as an organizer and his childhood in Milwaukee before moving to the national moment. He said he’s running for governor to do things the “Wisconsin Way” by taxing the rich, freezing utility rates, funding public schools, passing universal child care, and providing healthcare access to Wisconsinites. 

“I know firsthand that we’re living in a rigged system. Everybody in this room knows that we’re living in a rigged system, and we see the rich become richer and richer… Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of our country and Wisconsin continues to pay the price,” Barnes said. “From day one of this campaign, my focus has been taking the fight directly to Donald Trump’s hand-picked rubber stamp Tom Tiffany.” Barnes added that Tiffany is “corrupt.”

Roys took note of the national political moment before telling the audience that she has bills and plans, including opening up the state’s health insurance plan and investing the state budget surplus in schools, to help make Wisconsin a “beacon of progress” again. She also touted an endorsement from former Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and from the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the state’s largest teachers union.

“This is a terrifying moment. Our democracy is under existential threat. Our economy… is controlled by the wealthiest, most powerful corporations in the world,” Roys said. “We have the power to change that.”

Alexander McDonough, a 20-year-old delegate from Vernon County who supports Hong and attended with his grandmother Christine McDonough, told the Examiner that Roys’ speech stood out to him, but not for positive reasons. 

“I’m just so used to, like, fear-mongering, and like, this giant gloomy shadow above head, and it was just kind of like, I don’t know, I’m completely null to it at this point,” McDonough said.

McDonough said Hong’s “politics of hope” appears powerful to him.

“So many young people, such as myself, are totally apathetic to any sort of politics or community engagement, and to have that candidate I can funnel that hope and just instill that vision of the future is so valuable,” McDonough said.

Hong, a Democratic socialist, sought to draw a parallel between her candidacy and Wisconsin legacies including Vel Phillips, the first woman elected to statewide office, Fighting Bob La Follette, a leader of the national progressive movement from Wisconsin, and environmentalist Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day.

“People before us, who imagined a better world and fought like hell to realize it, these folks were called unreasonable, impractical, and unelectable,” Hong said. “Today, they are considered visionaries because possibility is found only by our ambition.

Hong declared her support for a moratorium on data center construction and for universal child care and paid family leave. 

“I am the only candidate in this race who takes income and power inequality seriously,” Hong said. “When we acknowledge that [people] are getting screwed over, but that a better world is possible, they show up. We talk a whole lot of games about opposing Trump. That’s not enough to win a trifecta,” Hong said. “If we don’t build the power and organize the people required to deliver a better Wisconsin, if we don’t give people something that they can believe in, we’ll go back to fighting for survival every single election.”

Striking a different tone, Hughes spoke about her background working for Organic Valley, a farmer-owned cooperative and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and also told delegates that Wisconsin needs to fund public schools, build housing and create a healthcare system that works for everyone.

“We have work to do. Every bit of that work, will take resources, and we have to think about where those resources are going to come from,” Hughes said, adding that Wisconsinites “will trust us to deliver economic justice, but they know that in order to have economic justice, you have to have economic growth, and we have to deliver a candidate to them who has a proven record of results of building economic growth.”

Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said Thursday she’s confident legislative Democrats’ opposition to the property tax and school funding deal that fell apart in the Legislature late Wednesday night won’t hurt her chances at Democrats winning majority control of both chambers for the first time in more than 15 years. 

The deal, which was negotiated by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), all of whom are not seeking re-election, was passed in the Assembly with some Democratic support but died in the Senate after three Republicans joined all 15 Democrats in voting against its passage. 

Under the deal, the state’s school district would have received a higher reimbursement rate for special education services, state aid to schools would have been increased in an effort to lower property taxes, individual taxpayers would have received a $300 tax rebate check and state taxes on tips and overtime would have been eliminated. 

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Democrats largely objected to the deal’s long-term financial effect, arguing it would have left the state with a massive structural deficit ahead of next year’s budget cycle. But since the deal’s announcement Monday morning, its potential effect on the state’s midterm election politics has been at the forefront. Legislative Democrats expressed frustration that Evers was handing a lifeline to the Assembly Republican caucus. Most, but not all, of the candidates in the Democratic primary for governor opposed the bill’s use of the state budget surplus — taking away the nearly $3 billion pile of money they were anticipating to have for their own legislative plans. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive GOP nominee for governor, opposed the deal and lobbied Republicans to vote against it. 

At an event hosted Thursday afternoon at the Madison Club by WisPolitics.com, Neubauer said that she believed passing the deal would have been irresponsible financially. 

“Our caucus, alongside our Democratic colleagues, and many people were concerned that the deal would have put us in a very difficult financial position,” she said, noting federal cuts by the Trump administration, the higher burden placed on states for covering the costs of Medicaid and the economic uncertainty facing the country because of the war in Iran. “We did not feel it was responsible to pass a proposal that would very likely put us in a deficit in the years ahead.” 

She added that the structure of the deal would not have been enough to stop the cycle of local school funding referendums that school districts across the state have had to rely on in recent years to cover costs in the face of reduced state money. With the midterm elections so close, and accusations that the Democrats only opposed the bill because it might help Republicans in November, she said that passing bad policy to help vulnerable Assembly Republicans such as Reps. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) would have been irresponsible. 

She also said she believes voters understand that the problems facing the state are more attributable to 16 years of Republican legislative control than one vote. 

“Frankly I think their incumbents are in more trouble than our incumbents,” she said. 

Neubauer cited recent polling from A Better Wisconsin Together that found Democrats ahead in five of the most competitive Assembly districts, saying she is “optimistic” about the chances at Democratic trifecta control of state government in January. 

With this optimism, she said she’s looking at how to learn from the examples of states such as Michigan and Minnesota for how to manage newly won Democratic control. She said she’s working with Senate Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein and has had conversations with the Democrats running for governor to start planning how to prioritize. 

She said that lowering costs for regular people while easing the burdens facing schools and local governments would be among the first items on the agenda. Beyond those, she said that with majority control, Democrats would likely revive the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Grant program after its expiration this summer, regulate the growth of data centers and enact “pro-democracy” measures such as a bill to begin processing absentee ballots on the Monday before an election. 

To pay for these plans, she said that Democrats are looking at revenue generating actions such as legalizing recreational and medicinal cannabis, increasing the corporate tax rate and raising income taxes on millionaires and billionaires. 

On the governor’s race, she said she believes it’s healthy to have a vibrant primary race, even if it’s frustrating when one side has a crowded primary while the other has consolidated around one candidate. 

She said she’s spoken with all the candidates and it’s important to think about who can win in November, but it was unlikely she would endorse a candidate before the primary election in August. She added that Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin have been kept from having a say in their general election candidates in recent years. 

“I do think that we have a really good field,” she said. “I’m very confident that voters are going to elect somebody to go up against Tom Tiffany and win in November.” 

The property tax and school funding package negotiated between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) passed the Assembly Wednesday night in a bipartisan vote, but died in the Senate after three Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting against the measure.

After the failed Senate vote, Evers criticized the legislators, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee, for killing his deal.

“Wisconsin’s kids and schools aren’t going to get the investments they desperately need this year because Tom Tiffany and a few Republican and Democratic lawmakers chose to blow up a bipartisan plan to invest in our K-12 schools, lower property taxes, and help working families afford rising costs, all because they’d rather do what’s best for the next election than what’s right for the people of our state,” Evers said. “So many Wisconsinites feel left behind, frustrated, and disillusioned by politics these days because they think a lot of politicians in the Capitol are only here to serve themselves. And, today, they’re right.”

But Senate Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said that if her caucus wins a majority in November, they will work to deliver relief to Wisconsinites with a better process.

“If Democrats are in the majority, I promise we’re going to steer a course to a Wisconsin in which our economy works for everybody, where schools are sufficiently funded and health care is affordable and accessible, and those decisions will be made out in the open,” she said. “And we will have robust discussions, and let’s be honest, arguments. What’s happening today is so reckless, so completely reckless. If we are in the majority, we will lead with compassion, strength, tolerance, collaboration and fiscal responsibility that brings security, not bankruptcy, to future generations.”

The late Wednesday night votes followed more than nine hours of deliberation. Although Democrats in both chambers had panned the bill, 10 Assembly Democrats voted yes when the roll call arrived, after an amendment by Republicans that included disaster relief funds for parts of the state damaged during last year’s August floods and expanded a property tax cut for disabled veterans. The final Assembly tally was 61-32.

Despite the amendment, however, the Senate, meeting more than six hours after it was initially scheduled to convene, voted 18-15 against the bill. Republican Sens. Rob Hutton, Steve Nass and Chris Kapenga joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus in opposition.

Assembly Republicans talk up deal

The  funding package announced this week by Evers, Vos and LeMahieu, all of whom are retiring this year, was held up for hours Wednesday afternoon while lawmakers worked to get enough votes in the Senate. 

During hours of debate in the Assembly Wednesday morning, Republicans were self-congratulatory about their bipartisan deal-making and appeared poised to pass the bill on a largely party line vote. But in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slimmer majority, Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Nass (R-Whitewater) signaled their opposition to the bill from the start, forcing the authors to try to persuade the two Republican holdouts or peel off Democrats.

Tiffany also opposed the bill and was in contact with state lawmakers about their votes this week.

Democratic lawmakers, frustrated that they were left out of the negotiating process while Evers made a deal that could give a lifeline to an Assembly Republican caucus — which polls show could be on the cusp of losing their majority  next year — criticized the deal-making process and complained that it was a “Band-Aid” solution for the structural problems facing the state’s schools and homeowners. 

“I know you’re all standing up and congratulating yourselves on giving more money to schools, and yes, that is good, but you don’t get a prize for boarding up a window that you broke in the first place,” Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) said. “This proposal is a turducken. A turkey that was put together by a bunch of lame ducks, by a Republican Legislature that is too chicken to confront the structural affordability and education issues facing this state.”

Republicans meanwhile repeatedly touted the bipartisan nature of the deal, the special education funding and property tax relief that they say will return the state’s budget surplus to the people. Several of the chamber’s most vulnerable Republicans, including Reps. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville), Pat Snyder (R-Weston), Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield), Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere) and Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls), were repeatedly given the microphone to tout their support for the bill. 

“It is about compromise. It is about balance,” Zimmerman said. “This is balanced government that we’re witnessing here today. I applaud Gov. Evers for working with us to advance this, and what you’re hearing is, ‘but it’s not great.’ It’s not great today. I’ll take good.”

Republicans also frequently said the bills would help Wisconsinites manage the economic strains currently facing the state — without noting that the administration of President Donald Trump, through its tariffs and war in Iran, are largely the cause of that financial pressure. 

“I think that sometimes some of the arguments that I heard from the other side, people need to remember, we are not congressmen. We are not U.S. senators,” Franklin said. “We are state representatives. And the focus should maintain on the state of Wisconsin what we’re doing here.”

The legislation would have added $85 million to reimburse local school districts for the cost of special education in the current school year and $230 million for the 2026-27 school year. A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo estimated the additional funding would raise the state’s reimbursement rate this year to 42.7% and for 2026-27 to 50%, but added that the actual rate “could be higher or lower,” depending on actual costs.

When Wisconsin’s 2025-27 budget was signed in July, schools were told they would get 42% of their special education costs reimbursed for the current year and 45% in 2026-27. But in November the Department of Public Instruction announced that special ed costs and enrollment had both increased, so the first round of payments would only cover 35%.

Along with the additional special ed funding, the bill increased state aid to public schools by $302.5 million. Because of state revenue limits on school districts, the new state aid “would provide property tax relief but not additional resources for school districts,” according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo.

The bill gave the state technical college system an additional $50 million in state aid starting in the 2026-27 school year, also to replace property tax revenue, not increase trade school budgets.

The legislation included a $300 state income tax rebate for individual taxpayers whose state tax bill was at least that much in 2024.

It also would have made tip income and overtime pay exempt from state income taxes, mirroring federal tax policies that have been enacted under President Donald Trump.

On the Assembly floor, Democrats argued that the package would turn the current surplus into a budget deficit within three years, that the tax rebates would barely be a drop in the bucket for struggling Wisconsinites and that the poorest residents of the state would get no relief. 

Rep. Angela Stroud (D-Ashland) noted that for the median homeowner in Wisconsin, the property tax relief would amount to just $8.91 per month. 

“That’s less than two gallons of gas today,” Stroud said. “Who knows how much gas will cost by then?”

Republicans repeatedly touted the bipartisan nature of the negotiations between Evers and Republican leadership, mocking the Assembly Democrats for not being kept in the loop while accusing them have having a “meltdown,” a “temper tantrum,” “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and putting a “knife” in Evers’ back for not supporting the deal. 

“Let’s find a consensus, because the people of Wisconsin expect us to do better than to just stand up and shake our fists,” Vos said. “Maybe today, some of [the Democrats] will be persuaded by their own governor. Believe it or not, I actually was, and I feel like I’m probably a more harsh critic than the people on the left. So if people on our side are willing to listen and compromise, why can’t you? Why can’t people on the left just one time put aside politics and say, ‘let’s do the right thing.’”

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Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) criticized heavy spending in state legislative races, which is likely to continue this year, as he announced his retirement Monday. His departure creates an open race for a swing Assembly district that could help determine control of the Assembly. 

Kaufert said in a statement that family and health concerns have led him to retirement. 

“After a great deal of thought and reflection, there comes a time when you simply know it is time,” Kaufert said.  “Family and health concerns have led me to this decision, but it is not one I make lightly.  Representing the Fox Valley has been an honor and privilege.”

Kaufert represents Assembly District 53, which encompasses Neenah, Menasha and part of Appleton. Kaufert was the mayor of Neenah from 2014 to 2022 and also previously served in the state Assembly from 1991 to 2015. 

With new, more competitive legislative maps adopted in 2024, Kaufert came out of retirement to run for the state Assembly in 2024 and won in a close race to the Democratic candidate by about 360 votes — a result that helped Republicans maintain their majority during the 2025-26 legislative session. 

“Making a difference and standing up for those who need a voice — the little guy — has been at the heart of everything I have done,” he said. 

Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August (R-Walworth) thanked Kaufert for his service in a statement. 

“Dean’s decision to return to the Legislature for one more term speaks to his commitment to public service and to this institution. He didn’t have to come back but he chose to step forward and serve again, and we are better for it,” August said. 

Kaufert’s retirement means Republicans will not have the advantage of incumbency in the race for his seat and opens up the race for the district, which will help determine control of the state Assembly in 2027. 

Republican lawmakers currently hold 54 seats in the Assembly to Democrats’ 45 seats, meaning Democrats  would need to hold all their seats and win five additional seats in November to win the majority. 

Kaufert is now the eighth Assembly Republican to decide against running for reelection this session — the first from a swing district. 

Devin Remiker, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said in a social media post that the seat is crucial for an Assembly majority, noting that when the district elected Kaufert, it also voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race by 4.4 percentage points. The district recently voted for Justice-elect Chris Taylor, the Democratic-backed candidate in the April state Supreme Court race by 27.5 percentage points. 

“Republicans see the writing on the wall and the big victory in April has made it clearer than ever that change is coming to Wisconsin this November,” Remiker said. 

Other Republican lawmakers are planning their reelection bids including two incumbents from swing districts: Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls) and Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R- De Pere). 

In his announcement, Kaufert said the political environment in the state Assembly has improved and has led to more bipartisan work, but criticized the increasing negativity and spending in campaigns for office. 

“Campaigns have become increasingly more negative, with vicious personal attacks and an overwhelming influx of out-of-state special interest money,” Kaufert said. “The ‘win-at-all-costs’ mentality — where opponents are too often demonized and unfairly personally attacked — has taken a real toll on me and my family.”

Kaufert said that both parties are to blame, but called the amount of spending by Democrats on his seat, which pays a salary of about $60,000, “ridiculous.” In 2024, Kaufert’s Democratic opponent spent $1.76 million in his campaign for the seat. Kaufert spent $1.24 million, according to campaign finance reports.

Spending on campaigns will likely continue to increase this year, especially with control of the chambers on the line, and Democrats are already investing in the seats that could help determine control.

The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm for the Assembly Democratic caucus, contributed $1 million to Rep. Steve Doyle’s reelection campaign, according to his latest campaign finance reports. It was the most of any Assembly incumbents, according to WisPolitics. The Onalaska Democrat is one of the most “vulnerable” Democratic incumbents, having won his last election in 2024 by just 223 votes. 

Wisconsin election campaign finance laws, adopted in 2015 under the leadership of former Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature, allow political parties to accept unlimited donations from individuals and corporations and transfer unlimited funds to state-level candidates, including those for Assembly. 

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