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At a recent Oktoberfest parade through downtown Prairie du Chien, Republican state Sen. Howard Marklein tossed candy and shook hands with constituents. A few weeks earlier on the same strip, his Democratic challenger state Rep. Jenna Jacobson spoke with voters on the final stop of what her campaign dubbed “The Marklein Markup Tour.”

Neither candidate has been on the ballot before in this Mississippi River community on the western edge of the 17th Senate District, not even Marklein in his previous three runs.

That’s because the Wisconsin political landscape has changed significantly since Gov. Tony Evers signed new legislative maps into law in 2024.

The city of 5,000, which voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020 and then Donald Trump in 2024, was represented for more than a decade by Democrats in a state Senate district that stretched north to La Crosse. 

Prairie du Chien today is now part of one of four key Senate races in 2026 that will determine which party holds the majority in the chamber next year. The 17th previously stretched north to deep red Juneau County, but now incorporates more of deep blue Dane and more mixed Green and Crawford counties. 

It’s those kinds of changes to lines on the Wisconsin political map that helped Democrats in 2024 flip four Senate and 10 Assembly seats, even as President Trump won Wisconsin on his way back to the White House. The four-year Senate seats up for election this year, including the 17th, weren’t on the ballot in 2024.

It’s also a different political environment in 2026 with Democrats surging amid high gas prices, the war in Iran and Trump’s plunging popularity. The national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee lists 17 target races that could lead to the party achieving majorities in the Senate and Assembly. Political analysts are watching the legislative districts where former Vice President Kamala Harris won two years ago as a sign of what seats in the Assembly and the Senate could flip this year. 

It’s still a question if the national midterm blue wave that polls are predicting will flow down the ballot to legislative races. Republican legislative campaign committees are outspending Democrats by more than $5 million in the Assembly and more than $2.5 million in the Senate in the final month before the election. Many Republican incumbents opted not to run this year, but others, like Marklein, are putting up a fight. 

Marklein said the increased pressure on the race from Democrats has not changed how he campaigns.

“It’s just the same as we’ve always done,” he said. “In sports, some games are bigger than others. The fundamentals don’t change. It’s blocking and tackling and, you know, it’s the same strategy.”

The momentum is certainly there for Democrats to flip the Senate, said John Johnson, a research fellow at the Marquette University Law School who has analyzed the political trends of the state’s legislative races. Of the three Republican-held seats, Marklein is the lone incumbent running for reelection. 

“In the Assembly, Democrats have to beat some strong Republican incumbents if they want 50 seats there, and in the Senate they don’t have to,” Johnson said. “They can just win the open seats and hold the seats they’ve already got, and that’ll be enough. So I think it really comes down to incumbency advantage and which seats are open.” 

The stakes of who wins these legislative races in 2026 are especially high, as the parties that control each of the chambers next year must work with a new governor in the executive branch.

If Democrats or Republicans win the governor’s office and both the Assembly and the Senate, they will gain full-party control of the Capitol, which creates a fast track to advance their party’s policies from bill to law. When Republicans swept into power after winning the governor’s office and the Legislature in 2010, they were able to pass policies such as Act 10, the controversial anti-union law that stripped collective bargaining rights for public sector unions.

On the other hand, Wisconsin could see continued split government if one party wins the governor’s office and the other wins one or both of the chambers of the Legislature. That’s been the case since retiring Evers won in 2018.

Wisconsin Democrats see potential to win complete control of state government. Democratic candidates have focused their campaigns on how the Trump administration and legislative Republicans have blocked access to health care or expanded public funding for private school vouchers. While Jacobson knocks doors in the 17th Senate District, she told Wisconsin Watch people plead for changes to help the cost of living. 

“The number one thing that I hear from folks is, please just do something. Literally anything,” Jacobson said. “They feel whatever has been happening at the state level is not filtering down.”

Marklein has had two years to introduce himself to the new parts of his district. In 2022, under the old district lines, he outperformed the Republican gubernatorial candidate. 

“I always outperform the top of the ticket,” Marklein told Wisconsin Watch. “I’m a farm boy. I don’t know any better than to work hard.”

Here, in a nutshell, are the 14 Senate and Assembly races to watch on election night to see which party will control the Legislature in the new year.

Senate District 5

Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, and Republican business owner Mike Roberts are competing in the general election after incumbent Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, decided not to seek reelection. 

Both Harris and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin won this district in 2024.

Vining, who has served four terms in the Assembly, is campaigning to increase funding for public schools, expand access to BadgerCare and defend reproductive rights. She serves on the committees on Children and Families; Health, Aging and Long-Term Care; Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention and Small Business Development. 

Roberts is campaigning to lower property taxes, increase staffing and resources for law enforcement agencies and lower health care costs by expanding access to preventative care and increasing food assistance spending on whole grains, fruits and vegetables by 20%.

Senate District 17

Of the three vulnerable Republican Senate seats on the ballot this November, Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, is the lone incumbent seeking reelection. He faces a challenge from two-term state Rep. Jenna Jacobson, D-Oregon, in the first election under the district’s new boundaries. Harris won the district by 1% and Baldwin won by nearly 5% in 2024. 

Marklein has served in the Legislature since his election to the Assembly in 2010 and is in his third term in the Senate where he is a co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee tasked with crafting the biennial state budget. Jacobson was elected to the Assembly in 2022 and previously served on the Oregon Village Board.

Republicans have criticized Jacobson for co-sponsoring a series of bills during the recent legislative session after they were signed into law. Jacobson told Wisconsin Watch that was a “clerical error.” 

Jacobson’s campaign has argued the 17th District needs new leadership after Marklein’s decade-plus in the Legislature, and that Republican control has led to funding challenges for public school districts that have then turned to taxpayers through referendums.

Senate District 21

Republican Jim Croft and Democrat Trevor Jung are competing for an open seat after Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard chose not to seek reelection. Both Harris and Baldwin won in the district in 2024 by a narrow margin. 

Croft is a data analyst and Jung is the transit and mobility director for the city of Racine. Both candidates have centered their campaigns on easing the cost of living, although they differ on how to accomplish those goals. Croft is focused on lowering property taxes and limiting “red tape” to support businesses in the state. Jung has campaigned on addressing health care costs through exempting over-the-counter drugs from the state’s sales tax and insulating utility rate payers from rising energy costs due to the rise of data centers. 

Political attacks have been a key part of the race. Jung has faced allegations, which he denies, from Republicans that he has campaigned while also being paid for his job in Racine. A city spokesperson told the Racine County Eye that it reviewed Jung’s time logs and payroll and found no violations of overlap of his city job and campaign.

Senate District 31

Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Smith faces a challenge from Republican Michele Magadance Skinner, an Eau Claire County Board member. 

Smith has served in the Senate since 2018. Smith won in 2022 by 1 point, though under different legislative maps. Harris won the Eau Claire County-centered district in 2024 by just over 2 points.

The State Senate Democratic Committee filed a lawsuit against Skinner in August to remove her from the November ballot for alleged residency in Georgia, but a Dane County judge denied the request for removal. 

Smith currently serves on the Joint Legislative Council and Committee on Health, and he is running on abortion rights, funding public schools and protecting clean water in the state. Skinner serves on the Committee on Judiciary & Law Enforcement Highway Committee in Eau Claire County, and she is running on lowering income and property taxes and advocating for rural businesses and residents. Both candidates call for access to quality health care.

Assembly District 21

Democrat Dan Bukiewicz, mayor of Oak Creek, will face Republican Dylan Pfaffenbach, a Carroll University student, in November to replace Joint Finance Committee member Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, who is not seeking reelection. 

Rodriguez won the district by 2.8 percentage points in a district where Harris won by a little over 4 percentage points in 2024.

Bukiewicz is campaigning on lowering costs, ensuring community safety and increasing oversight on data centers. Pfaffenbach’s priorities include lowering property taxes, ensuring access to affordable health care and addressing concerns surrounding data centers development. In August, Pfaffenbach was placed on the Republican State Leadership Committee’s 2026 Wisconsin Candidate Spotlight series, asking voters to support his race to maintain control of the Legislature.

Assembly District 26

Freshman state Rep. Joe Sheehan, D-Sheboygan, flipped the district in 2024 by unseating former state Rep. Amy Binsfeld. He now faces a challenge from former Sheboygan Ald. John Belanger.

Sheehan won by 3 percentage points in 2024, while Harris carried the district by 2.7 percentage points.

Sheehan serves on the committees on Education and Workforce Development, Labor and Integrated Employment. He has supported legislation to eliminate sales taxes on over-the-counter medications, make child care more affordable and expand BadgerCare via federal Medicaid expansion. Belanger, who lost his city council seat in April, is prioritizing affordability, addressing concerns about data centers’ potential effects on costs and water resources and advocating for quality, affordable health care.

Assembly District 30

Democratic retired public school educator Kevin Knoke is challenging Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, who won by 8.5 percentage points in 2024, while Trump carried the district by 4.5 percentage points. 

Zimmerman, who has held the district for nearly a decade, is campaigning to reduce income taxes, connect education centers with businesses and protect Wisconsin’s natural resources. In 2023, Zimmerman introduced legislation granting data centers an exemption from the 5% state sales tax and local sales tax for purchases involved in their construction and equipment, which received extensive lobbying support from Microsoft, We Energies and Alliant Energy.

Zimmerman has also faced criticism for missing more than 225 votes and a quarter of the Assembly’s floor sessions in the 2025-26 legislative session. In an Oct. 14 candidate forum, Zimmerman noted personal family matters that have impacted his attendance, including the passing of his nephew in early 2025, his 3-year-old grandchild being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition and an older parent battling cancer. 

Knoke offered condolences to Zimmerman and his family, but noted there are people in the 30th District facing similar familial concerns who can’t take time off work.

Knoke’s priorities include expanding affordable housing, ensuring access to affordable health care and increasing funding for public schools.

Assembly District 51

State Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, has long held one of the five Assembly districts that Harris won in 2024. In 2026, Novak faces challenges from Democrat Ben Gruber, a conservation warden from Arena, and American Solidarity Party candidate Nathan Tataje, a personal trainer also from Arena. 

Novak, the former mayor of Dodgeville, was first elected to the Assembly in 2014 and has often won close elections. Except for a 12-point win in 2022, the rest of Novak’s victory margins have come within five percentage points over Democratic opponents. In 2024, he outperformed both Harris and Baldwin, who both won the district. 

Novak was among a group of Assembly Republicans earlier this year who lobbied Speaker Robin Vos to allow votes on a bill to expand postpartum Medicaid for new Wisconsin mothers and Gail’s Law, the bill that required insurance companies to cover additional screenings for women at increased risk of breast cancer. 

While Gruber has no elected experience, he is no stranger to state government. Gruber is among the plaintiffs in the case pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court that seeks to restore collective bargaining rights for public employees that were eliminated under Act 10. He also was among plaintiffs in a case before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which found the state Department of Natural Resources retaliated against members of the conservation warden’s labor union.

Assembly District 53

Three candidates are competing for an open seat after Republican state Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, chose not to run for reelection. Both Harris and Baldwin won the district in 2024. 

The candidates in the race include Republican business owner David Daniels, Democratic teacher Becky Nichols and independent candidate Rachael Dowling, a Winnebago County Board member.

Daniels and Nichols have said the top issue is affordability, although Daniels has focused more on reducing property taxes and returning the state surplus to taxpayers while Nichols has pointed to increasing funding for public schools to lower property taxes and providing more options to access health care. One of Dowling’s top issues is the “threat” of data centers and how they might increase electricity demand and costs across the state.

Assembly District 61

State Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, faces a challenge this year from Greendale veteran Ben Brist. 

Donovan was first elected to the Assembly in 2022 after serving two decades on the Milwaukee Common Council. He won his 2024 reelection campaign by just over 3 percentage points. At the same time, both Harris and Baldwin won in the suburban Milwaukee County district. 

In the Assembly, Donovan was among a group of vulnerable Republicans who at the end of the legislative session rallied GOP lawmakers to support a bill to expand postpartum Medicaid for new Wisconsin mothers and Gail’s Law, the bill that required insurance companies to cover additional cancer screenings for women at increased risk of breast cancer. 

Brist has campaigned on addressing cost of living increases and changing the public school funding formula so that fewer districts need to turn to taxpayers through referendums. He also is in favor of a statewide moratorium on data centers so the state can establish a “proper regulatory framework.”

Assembly District 85

State Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, faces a challenge from Democrat John Kroll, a former member of the Marathon County Board who works in the energy efficiency industry. In 2024, both Trump and Baldwin won in the district, which Snyder carried by 6.5 points. 

Snyder was first elected to the Assembly in 2016. He chairs the Assembly Committee on Children and Families and led the Speaker’s Task Force on Elder Services, which produced a bill Snyder authored and was signed into law to increase protections against scams for individuals using cryptocurrency kiosks. Snyder also was the Assembly author of the bipartisan legislation that expanded postpartum Medicaid for new mothers in Wisconsin. 

Kroll has run on issues such as expanding career and technical education in schools and increasing energy production in Wisconsin in an effort to lower costs.

Assembly District 88

Republican incumbent Rep. Ben Franklin, R-De Pere, faces a challenge from Democrat Brandy Tollefson, an accounting manager and De Pere School Board treasurer.

Franklin was elected to the Assembly in 2024 and won the De Pere district by less than 1 percentage point. However, Harris won the district the same year, also by less than 1 point. 

Franklin serves on the Corrections, Criminal Justice and Public Safety, Jobs and Economy committees and is the vice chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. He’s also on the Speaker’s Task Force on Protecting Kids and wants to position the state as a national and global leader for energy technology, touting the nuclear fusion tax break bill that was signed into law. He also highlighted his passed legislation that gave more money to veteran homelessness services, as well as legislation that raised the age limit of recorded statements in court. 

Tollefson is running on expanding BadgerCare, raising the state special education reimbursement rate — currently at 35% — to 60%, ending the statewide private school voucher program and building affordable housing.

Assembly District 89

State Rep. Ryan Spaude, D-Ashwaubenon, faces a challenge from Republican Bobby Lindsey, a criminal justice instructor and retired Milwaukee police officer. 

Spaude flipped the district under new maps in 2024 after more than two decades of Republican control, defeating his opponent by about 3 percentage points. Harris won the district by 2 points. 

Spaude serves on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety, Judiciary and Tourism committees, and he is running on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, ending the statewide private school voucher program and regulating data centers. Lindsey, a Marine veteran, supports repealing Evers’ 400-year school funding increase, holding insurance and pharmaceutical companies accountable and using the state’s budget surplus to fund infrastructure, public schools, public safety and some kind of tax rebate or reduction.

Assembly District 94

Rep. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, faces a challenge from Republican Army veteran Keith Purnell.

Doyle has served in the Assembly since 2011 and won the district in 2024 by 1 percentage point, even as Trump won the district that year by 2 points.

Doyle is currently on the Commerce, Criminal Justice and Public Safety, Financial Institutions and Insurance committees. He is also the vice chair of the Speaker’s Task Force on Elder Services, and he supports keeping family farmers competitive, a data center moratorium, expanded BadgerCare and lowering income and property taxes. Doyle was one of the few Democrats in the Legislature to vote in favor of the failed deal to use the state’s $3 billion surplus to lower taxes and increase special education funding earlier this year.

Purnell emphasizes cracking down on drug and human trafficking, parental transparency in the classroom, eliminating fraud and supporting emergency services like law enforcement, fire and EMS.

Here are the 14 Wisconsin districts that will decide which party controls the Legislature is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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With an education background, Appleton parent and education advocate James Bacon knows what his kids’ teachers face.

He has two sons in elementary school. They’re thriving, largely because of their teachers, he said. But, should he need to advocate for more support, he worries about the additional strain that could place on the already overburdened teachers and systems.

Bacon’s concern has driven his advocacy work. When the Appleton School District voted to go to an operational referendum for $15 million in the spring 2026 election to balance its budget and add student supports, Bacon helped organize a group of volunteers to get the word out. Many in the group were parents who had to rearrange busy schedules, he said.

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In the weeks leading up to the election, the group’s Facebook page posted multiple times a day. They set up presentations, printed yard signs and connected with residents, urging them to vote and to invite a friend along.

While he was talking to voters, Bacon said two concerns stood out to him. On one side, people were worried about increasing the strain on their own pocketbooks through property taxes, especially in Grand Chute, where homeowners just had their property reassessed. On the other, some thought the district wasn’t asking for enough help for their students; some supported going as high as $17 million instead.

Ultimately, the referendum in Appleton was successful, passing with about two-thirds of the vote from over 26,000 people. But across the state, more than a third of all school referendums failed during the same election, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

The conflict between higher property taxes and increased school funding has been over three decades in the making, according to researchers, administrators and advocates. Any potential solution may mean rethinking a school funding situation that has been in place for that long.

The November elections for state Assembly and Senate will influence who is part of that solution, as the new Legislature will begin work on the next biennial state budget in January.

How does Wisconsin fund its public schools?

Wisconsin has 421 public school districts, each with taxing authority. Districts receive money from four sources: state aid, property taxes, federal aid and other local non-property tax revenues (such as fees and interest earnings).

The state-provided aid generally falls into two buckets:

• Equalization aid, distributed through a formula based on a district’s equalized property value per pupil.
• Categorical aid, meant to partially fund programs like special education and student transportation services.

Wisconsin school districts are capped when it comes to the total funding they can spend, called the revenue limit. It is the amount districts can collect from equalization aid and property taxes. Categorical aid and federal funding don’t count against the limit. The revenue limit for each district is calculated using a school district’s total enrollment and the revenues it collected in previous years.

The state Department of Public Instruction calculates the total revenue limit using a formula, but revenue limits are often expressed as a per-pupil dollar amount.

The revenue limits have been in place since the 1993-94 school year. Until the 2008-09 school year, districts’ revenue limits were indexed to inflation. From that time until the 2023-24 state budget, changes to revenue limits had to be approved year over year by the state Legislature. In six of those school years, districts received no increase at all, and in 2011-12, the revenue limits actually decreased by an average of $554 per student. Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto of the 2023-25 biennial budget set revenue limits’ annual increase to $325 per student per year.

However, even with that increase, Wisconsin school funding hasn’t kept pace with inflation overall and has fallen relative to other states.

Wisconsin Policy Forum reported that Wisconsin’s per-pupil funding per student in 2003 was 11th in the nation. In 2023, it was 26th.

Wisconsin’s approach to school funding differs from many other states, said Sara Shaw, a researcher from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Illinois, for example, uses “evidence-based funding,” where the state aims to fund its districts at an “adequacy target.” That level is determined by the estimated cost to educate students and the local resources on hand.

Many other states, like Minnesota, use a weighted system; each enrolled student is funded at a basic per-pupil amount, but the state increases funding based on the number of students who might need additional support, like English language learners, students in smaller school districts and students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Wisconsin’s equalization aid formula, Shaw said, isn’t based on need but local property wealth. While local property values and student need can align, she said that’s not always the case. She gave vacation and tourism communities as an example: While local property values in those communities might be high, residents’ socioeconomic status might be lower. In the Sturgeon Bay School District, for example, property taxes will support over 60% of its general fund in 2025-26, partly due to rising property values. But nearly half of the district’s students were considered economically disadvantaged in the 2025-26 school year, according to data from DPI.

How do school districts manage their budgets?

For the first quarter of the fiscal year, from July 1 to Oct. 15, school administrators and financial professionals are working off of an estimate for how many students they’ll have.

Holly Burr, finance director for Appleton’s public schools, said that budgeting is “an ongoing project,” but that twice a year her department examines every single class and building in the district to see where staff are most needed. The department does this in the winter and summer in order to set staffing levels for the beginning of the next school year.

It’s “kind of backwards from how you think of budgeting,” she said, because the district must hire staff before it knows the exact amount of funding it’ll have for the school year. Districts count their students on the third Friday of every September, and their revenue limit information is released in the middle of October. Budgets are typically set by the end of October.

Districts also look for ways to increase revenue and decrease costs. For example, enrollment in summer school increases student counts for the revenue limit. If a district finds ways to attract more students through open enrollment than it loses, that increases the head count as well.

For lowering costs, Burr said the Appleton School District bids annually for property and liability insurance and tries to keep employee health care costs down without burdening staff. Three years ago, the district moved to self-funded health insurance and is part of an in-house clinic co-op with another district and the city of Appleton, Burr said.

District spending bound by student needs and the law

Student needs are one of the main drivers of school budget decisions.

For the 2026-27 school year, Burr said the district hired more counselors, psychologists and social workers with the money from the referendum because it saw students needed more mental health support after the COVID-19 pandemic. It also added three positions to assist with about 1,500 English language learners, one of which doubles as a social worker.

School budgets are also bound by mandates from the state and federal government — and help covering the costs of those mandates is limited. Special education students are entitled to a free and appropriate public education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires schools and districts to help English language learners overcome language barriers in their education.

Giving these students support usually means hiring more staff, like paraprofessionals, physical and occupational therapists, interventionists and interpreters. But districts get limited help paying back the extra costs.

During the 2025-26 school year, the state reimbursed 35% of the money used for special education, despite 42% being promised in the 2023-25 state budget. According to DPI, the reimbursement is paid from a fixed pot of money determined by the Legislature; if more claims come in, then the rate drops.

In 58 districts that qualified for aid for English language learners, the state reimbursed only about 8% of the costs in 2024-25.

Any money that the state doesn’t reimburse for those costs must be taken from districts’ general fund. In the 2025-26 school year:

• Milwaukee Public Schools transferred about $163.6 million from its operating budget to its special education fund.
• Madison schools transferred $61.9 million.
• Green Bay schools transferred $32.4 million.
• Appleton schools transferred $28.7 million.

And while overall student population declines, the number of students needing special education services has been increasing.

The student population declines are largely driven by an overall decline in the birth rate. However, more families are also choosing other educational options for their students, like homeschooling or using one of Wisconsin’s voucher programs, which pay qualified students’ private school tuition using state funds.

School districts turning to operational referendums to balance budgets

As Burr looked ahead to the task of balancing Appleton’s budget for 2026-27, she said the cost of employee health insurance has been increasing by double-digit percentages every year. For the 2026-27 school year, she also anticipates increased student transportation costs partly because of the rising cost of diesel.  

Due to budgetary pressures, school districts are increasingly turning to their main mechanism to increase their budget: asking their communities to increase their taxing authority by going to referendum.

School districts typically go to either capital or operational referendum:

• Capital referendums are meant to address building needs in a district.
• Operational referendums are meant to help districts balance their budgets.

In Little Chute, the school district is opting for both in the November election.

The capital referendum would authorize the district to collect more money for building maintenance and repairs, including fixing the roof, which would extend its warranty for 20 years. Its operational referendum is meant to supplement the district’s technology budget, which would allow it to keep offering one-to-one devices for most students and provide cybersecurity upgrades.

District Superintendent Heidi Schmidt said that while Little Chute has saved money where it could, these costs are beyond the district’s ability to pay within its revenue limits.

With only about 1,600 students enrolled, the Little Chute district is the smallest in the Fox Cities. Schmidt said she wants to ensure her students have the same opportunities as students in bigger districts.

At the same time, the cost of that technology keeps rising, which is part of the reason Little Chute is going to an operational referendum for the third time since 2007.

Besides the stakes of going to referendum, the process also takes time and work from school district leaders. Schmidt said a top priority for her was showing the community that the district is using taxpayer money wisely. She’s leading three information sessions in October and expects to spend up to 10 hours before Election Day getting information out to the public.

Burr said going to referendum is a last resort for most districts looking to balance budgets, and districts typically will consider referendums when they believe further budget cuts will impact student learning.

“It is a significant amount of work,” Burr said. “Nobody likes to go to their taxpayers and say, ‘We can’t live on the money that the state is giving us.’”

Schools face consequences for budget shortfalls

In schools, a lack of funding can mean closing school buildings, laying off staff, increasing class sizes, shutting down programs and even dissolving the school district altogether.

Several northeastern Wisconsin districts will go to their communities to balance their budgets this fall:

• Seymour schools are going to referendum in November to maintain their programs and facilities.
• Green Bay has closed seven schools in the past five years and will go to an operational referendum this fall.
• Gillett school leaders warned a failed operational referendum in November could lead to stopping courses not required by the state, like tech ed, band and choir.

Other districts have had to deal with the consequences of failed referendums throughout 2026:

• Fond du Lac has had to lay off teachers and library media specialists.
• Southern Door County has laid off staff, cut programs and changed its employee health plan.
• After a failed spring referendum, the Hustisford School District is taking steps to dissolve, with the final decision in the hands of the DPI’s boundary appeals board as of July 20.

More schools are going to referendum as fewer voters indicate they want to support them. According to a Marquette University Law School poll from February, a record number of voters, 60% to 40%, said that lowering property taxes was more important than increasing funding K-12 for education. At the same time, the Wisconsin Policy Forum also found that 2025’s 94 referendum questions were the most in an odd-numbered year since 2007 and that almost 40% of these questions were “retries” — where voters rejected a referendum question, and a district goes back to the voters to try to pass the measure again.  

Shaw said that while school referendums were originally meant as a way for communities to exercise local control, it seems to be contributing to funding gaps between districts. According to another report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the gap in per-pupil funding between the top 90% and the bottom 10% of districts has grown in the past 20 years from 24.6% in 2005 to 37.6% in 2025.

Efforts made to explore potential funding solutions

The Legislature has examined school funding before, and in 2017, the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding began examining ways to adjust school funding in Wisconsin.

The commission, which included lawmakers, district administrators and other stakeholders, published its report in 2019, along with 20 policy recommendations. Among other potential actions, it recommended:

• Increasing per-pupil aid and matching those increases to inflation.
• Gradually increasing special education reimbursement to 60%.
• Changing how English language learners and students from lower-income households are counted for the revenue limit.
• Adding support to low-enrolling rural districts.
• Providing additional funding for Head Start and school-based mental health services.

In May, Evers and a group of Republican lawmakers tried using the budget surplus to give schools more than $617 million by increasing the special education reimbursement and general school aid. While the plan had broad support from voters, it failed when Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany and Democratic lawmakers opposed it.

A group of superintendents from the top five school districts in Wisconsin, as well as the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, expressed disappointment the deal failed in separate statements. However, the Wisconsin Public Education Network said that the deal didn’t do enough because the general school aid would have fallen under revenue limits — meaning it would have delivered property tax relief but not actually given districts any extra funding.

‘This is not sustainable, point blank’

Meanwhile, groups of education professionals and advocates believe the current state of Wisconsin school funding is inequitable enough to violate the state Constitution — and they’ve taken the state Assembly to court to force a solution.

The lawsuit was filed in April by Law Forward and the Wisconsin Education Association Council. The plaintiffs are the Wisconsin Public Education Network; the Wisconsin PTA; the Necedah, Adams-Friendship, Beloit, Green Bay and Eau Claire school districts; and other education associations and individuals. They are asking the court to rule the current school funding formula unconstitutional.

“We’ve exhausted every opportunity that democracy affords us in this work, and it seems to fall on deaf ears,” said Heather DuBois Bourenane, a Sun Prairie-based parent and director of Wisconsin Public Education Network. “If our lawmakers aren’t going to do their job, it’s time for the courts to hold them accountable for doing it.”

The group’s position is that the state needs to “align its spending priorities with the priority needs of our children,” DuBois Bourenane said

She called the current funding system “antiquated and deeply broken” and “picking winners and losers” among students.

“We have a school funding system that’s based more on property tax relief than it is on meeting the needs of kids,” she added, saying that Wisconsin has fallen short with students with disabilities, English language learners and students from lower-income households.

In response to the initial suit in April, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a statement, “This complaint is another meritless attempt by liberal activists to defund the state’s highly successful school-voucher program and interfere with the Legislature’s authority to fund public schools. We will vigorously defend against this suit and are confident that the courts will soundly reject it.”

Lawsuits related to school funding have had mixed success in court across the country. In 2000, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the state’s funding formula was constitutional, but left the door open for the current case to be brought.

As the lawsuit plays out, Shaw sees the next election as an opportunity for voters and their representatives to consider their priorities — and to envision “what equitable planning and adequate funding looks like” for their schools.

But until a solution is found, school administrators’ warnings have become increasingly dire. Burr said school districts across Wisconsin find “their backs against the wall.”

“This is not sustainable, point blank,” she said.

Kevin Dittman, Kayla Huynh, Nadia Scharf, and Alec Johnson contributed to this report.

Rebecca Loroff is a K-12 education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. Contact her at rloroff@usatodayco.com. 

This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a consortium of five news outlets.

Wisconsin schools face funding squeeze as voters pick Legislature is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• In recent years scammers have extracted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wisconsin residents through schemes involving crypto ATMs.
• Wisconsin lawmakers recently passed a law that regulates crypto ATMs, and law enforcement officials say they are already noticing a reduction in scam reports.
• The state opted not to ban the machines like in three other states in response to lobbying from the industry.

Robert Semanko told police he thought he couldn’t be scammed.

Then last October the 31-year-old father of three from central Wisconsin got a call from a scammer posing as the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office. Semanko was told he missed jury duty, resulting in two citations, and owed an additional $2,000 fine. Over three hours the scammer tricked Semanko into inserting $7,000 into a crypto ATM.

Crypto ATM scams have become more prevalent in Wisconsin and throughout the U.S. in recent years, leading lawmakers to pass legislation. The scams have caused headaches for local law enforcement agencies and oftentimes pain, embarrassment and irreversible financial damage to victims.

Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, who as a Cadott police officer responded to Semanko’s case, co-authored recently approved legislation that places significant regulations on crypto ATMs statewide.

But unlike a handful of other states, including Minnesota and Indiana, Wisconsin opted not to ban crypto ATMs completely as lobbyists pressed regulation-averse Republican lawmakers for looser restrictions.

As the first law in Wisconsin to place consumer protections on crypto ATMs, Act 226 restricts daily transactions to $1,000, requires receipts after each transaction, mandates consumer identification and offers refunds to victims.

Now, incidents as severe as Semanko’s are far less likely to occur, according to lawmakers, law enforcement officials and Wisconsin’s Department of Financial Institutions.

“People need to be educated on this more,” James said. “I think with the new law, it’s gonna definitely help because people will be more well versed on how this is coming about.”

Crypto ATMs offer potential for scams

Cryptocurrency kiosks, also known as bitcoin ATMs or crypto ATMs, have sprouted throughout the United States in recent years. With at least 28,000 locations in the U.S., and around 700 in Wisconsin, these machines convert cash into a digital crypto currency, stored in a digital wallet similar to a bank account, with valuations depending on the market value of the cryptocurrency.

They are most commonly located at convenience stores, gas stations and grocery stores.

A CNN investigation found crypto ATMs charge 20-30% in transaction fees, far more than other forms of crypto purchasing. Because cash is the primary medium for crypto ATM deposits, transactions are often untraceable, which means lost money is often unrecoverable, making the machines an alluring instrument for scammers.

In a written statement, Coinflip, a major crypto ATM operator, said the company takes consumer protection seriously. 

“We take proactive steps to mitigate fraudulent activity on our platform, including 24/7 customer support, multi-factor verification and ‘Safe in 6,’ an industry best-in-class consumer protection framework,” the company statement said. 

Bitcoin Depot, formerly a major player in the crypto ATM industry, wrote the company is “fully committed to the fight against fraud.”

“It hurts our customers, damages our reputation, and undermines the integrity of the digital asset ecosystem,” a company spokesperson said, adding the company has “zero desire to profit from fraudulent activity.”

Despite reassurances from machine operators, crypto ATMs have contributed to sometimes enormous damage for many across all corners of Wisconsin. 

In July 2024, a Dodge County woman lost $200,000 through a crypto ATM scam. A victim in Ozaukee County lost over $98,000 over 19 transactions in October 2024. And in September 2025 a Milwaukee County resident lost $114,000, a Dane County consumer reported losing $135,000 and a Walworth County victim reported a loss totaling $400,000.

Scammers disproportionately target older adults, with 86% of losses from crypto ATM scams involving Americans over the age of 60, according to Raj Shukla, AARP Wisconsin’s state director. 

“A lot of people really have this idea that this only happens to our seniors in the state,” James said. “It happens to our young families as well.” 

Fraudsters, often international actors, lead victims through an arduous, manipulative process.

Beth Sewall, a 63-year-old grandmother from the Fox Valley, told a Wisconsin Senate committee in February 2025 she clicked on an online pop-up ad, which led to continuous telephone calls with multiple people who compelled her into trips to her bank, a Shell gas station and a Home Depot. Within four hours she lost $20,000 after depositing the cash into a crypto ATM.

Her scammer, claiming to be an employee from her credit union, told her a $20,000 purchase was about to go through on a Chinese porn site, telling her she needed to go to the credit union and withdraw $20,000, which he would then help get back into her account, Sewall said in her testimony. 

He rushed Sewall through the process, convincing her to quickly withdraw the $20,000 cash from her credit union.

The scammer then led her to a specific Coinhub kiosk located at the Shell station on Wisconsin Avenue in Appleton, where she inserted all $20,000. 

“There are no words to express my feelings when I figured out that it was a scam,” Sewall said in her testimony. “I thought about killing myself,” she added. 

Wisconsin, other states pass restrictions on crypto ATMs

Americans lost $333 million in scams involving crypto ATMs in 2025, up from $246.7 million in 2024 and $110 million in 2023.

In response, 36 states have passed legislation aimed at restricting crypto ATMs, including an outright ban of crypto ATMs in Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota. 

Wisconsin opted not to ban crypto ATMS, though early in the bill’s development lawmakers considered that possibility, bill co-author Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, said. 

When Wisconsin’s bill was initially drafted in November 2025, the daily transaction limit was set at $500, which would have been the strictest daily transaction limit in the country. 

Snyder said pro-crypto industry lobbyists pushed hard for a $10,500 first-time daily transaction limit. Snyder said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos pushed back on an outright ban.

“The speaker’s office said, ‘Yeah, we don’t want them to suddenly end as an industry in Wisconsin. Let’s make a compromise,’” Snyder said.

“We got a victory, but it could have been a little tougher,” Snyder added. “But I still think a $1,000 daily transaction limit is a lot better than what they were able to do before.”

Vos’ office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The state’s restrictive legislation appears to be functioning as intended.

“We can confirm that the bill has, at least from the reports we’ve received of illicit activity involving these kiosks, had a marked effect,” DFI assistant chief legal counsel Michael Gavigan said. “I can definitely confirm that we’ve had fewer reports on our end.”

The state’s daily transaction limit paired with consumer ID mandates now makes scamming difficult for fraudsters, according to Greenfield Police Department Detective Scott Simons, a cryptocurrency investigator who has been recognized nationally for recovering crypto losses. 

Because customers are required to input their ID to make a purchase, scammers can no longer use their own accounts on multiple people.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s $1,000 daily transaction limit keeps scammers from leading a victim from one kiosk to another in an attempt to bypass the daily limit. 

“The scammers are not wasting their time trying to get $1,000 from a victim in Wisconsin,” Simons said.

“I’m not saying Wisconsin hasn’t seen any, but it has been a drastic drop,” Simons said. “When it’s $1,000 now, compared to, maybe they would have lost $20,000, a year ago, that’s a huge difference. Now they can get that refund too. So it’s effective.”

An October 2025 CNN report found that operators profit considerably off scam victimizations, even when the transaction turns out to be fraudulent. Operators have also been notoriously slow to release refunds, even when victims prove they have been defrauded. 

Karin Schmeling, a 71-year-old scam victim from Greenfield, compared the situation to emotional manipulation. She lost $4,400 as part of a crypto ATM scam in September 2023. 

“The company who owned the kiosk refused to refund even a portion of my money, despite my scrambling to file stacks of paperwork, much of which had to be notarized, within their declared timeline,” she wrote for her testimony for the Senate hearing on Feb. 25. “Despite my meeting their stated requirements, they concluded that I didn’t meet their criteria for even a partial refund and that they were under no obligation to explain why.”

As part of Wisconsin’s Act 226, crypto operators are now required to offer full refunds of money lost in scam cases if the victim contacts the operator and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Department of Financial Institutions or a law enforcement agency within 30 days of the scam. 

Troubling industry offers challenges for victims, law enforcement

In May Bitcoin Depot filed for bankruptcy, citing increasing restrictive legislation throughout the country making crypto ATMs unviable as a business model.

“States have imposed increasingly stringent compliance obligations, including new transaction limits, and in some jurisdictions, outright restrictions or bans on BTM operations; and operators have faced increasing litigation and regulatory enforcement,” Bitcoin Depot CEO Alex Holmes said in a statement. “These developments have materially affected Bitcoin Depot’s business and financial position. Under these circumstances, the Company’s current business model is unsustainable.”

Operators such as Coinhub, Bitcoin Depot and Coinflip say their machines are valuable for their simplicity in offering users an option to purchase crypto currency using cash. Operators market their machines as options for those who have trouble opening a bank account to participate in crypto transactions. Further, operators tout their machines for offering a higher level of privacy than traditional exchanges by not requiring users to input personal information.

However, a 2023 investigation by the Iowa attorney general found that more than 98% of money sent through Bitcoin Depot and almost 95% of the money sent through CoinFlip resulted in scam transactions. 

In September 2025, the Washington, D.C., attorney general alleged in a lawsuit against Athena Bitcoin that fraud was involved in 93% of deposits made through Athena Bitcoin during the first five months of operation.

“We were one of the biggest players, and we were one of the first movers,” said Marc Grens, co-founder and president of DigitalMint, a Chicago cybersecurity firm that started as a crypto ATM operator in 2014 before pulling out of the industry. “The players, executive founders, just we’re kind of in on it on how dirty the industry is, allowing scam victimization.” 

Grens disputed the argument that crypto ATMs offer opportunities for individuals who don’t have access to bank accounts. 

“We found out all these customers were first going to their bank account, going to their bank, or an ATM, taking out cash, and then using that cash for proceeds,” Grens said. “So you can’t say that (customer is) underbanked. You literally go to a bank account, take money out.”

When Grens started DigitalMint, his company was one of the first crypto ATM operators in the U.S. He said DigitalMint eventually operated 1,400 locations across 35 states. He began to discover the company was being used as an outlet for vast amounts of fraud around 2018 and halted operations in 2024. 

Based on an internal investigation, Grens determined that nearly all DigitalMint customers who made transactions of around $1,000 or more were fraud victims.

“I thought they were all idiots,” Grens said of his counterparts in the crypto ATM industry. “They didn’t provide any value. They just got in at an early time knowing that regulators and law enforcement (are) so laggard to do anything about it, you can get away with the greatest heist that we’ve seen in a while.”

Michael Litman, Concordia University Wisconsin’s computer science director and crypto expert, said crypto ATM operators are taking money from people who are “kind of being gullible about this crypto thing.”

“So, we could maybe call the ATM management people likely questionably unethical, but probably not criminal,” Litman said. “But what they’ve now enabled is for that gullible customer to now step into a world where a lot of corruption and malicious stuff does happen.”

The Wood County Sheriff’s Office found a creative way to help victims get their money back. In March 2023, the county started getting court permission to search and eventually seize money at crypto ATMs where the victim was reportedly defrauded. 

The protocol eventually spread to several law enforcement agencies throughout Wisconsin.

Then in June 2024, Coinhub sued Wood County, accusing the county of wrongful seizure of cash from its kiosks. Coinhub argued the county skipped necessary steps in legally deciding what to do with the seized money. 

“We didn’t even get a chance to say, hey, let’s adjudicate whose money this is. They just delivered it back to (the victim),” said Will Conley, who represented Coinhub in the lawsuit.

Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker said the department gave the money back to the victim because prosecuting an individual who lived out of the country “would be really almost locally impossible to do.”

Coinhub’s petition for return of property was denied, and the motion was dismissed. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in February 2025.

Crypto ATM scams have wreaked havoc in Wisconsin. A new law is helping change that, but did it go far enough? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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The upcoming Wisconsin midterms could shift the balance of power in the state Legislature, and the August primaries will determine which candidates voters want to see on the November general election ballot. 

Democrats are aiming to flip both the Assembly and Senate in hopes of securing a trifecta in the state government. The party must flip two of the four competitive Senate seats to win a majority. The Assembly is a larger challenge as Democrats must flip five seats to claim a majority for the first time in 16 years.

The 2024 election was the first election under new legislative maps, which ended a Republican gerrymander that had been in place since 2011. Democrats flipped 14 legislative seats. 

Those results provide some insight for the upcoming elections. Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center, said Democrats have an advantage in the 2026 Senate races, which are the first contested since the new maps took effect. Senate terms are for four years, and the even-numbered Senate districts on the ballot in 2024 were more favorable to Republicans, yet Democrats still flipped four seats. 

“This year is different because Trump is not on the ballot, the national environment is helping their party more and the odd-numbered districts — which are up this year — are just gonna be tougher for Republicans,” Burden said.

Winning the Assembly will likely be more difficult for Democrats. Burden said the Assembly has a lot of Republican incumbents and not many competitive districts. However, he pointed to the nine Republican retirements in this election cycle, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, none of whom are running for another office. 

“It looks like some Republican officeholders have realized this is going to be a tough year for them and they would prefer not to go through a difficult campaign and potentially lose their own seat and maybe lose the majority in the Assembly,” Burden said. 

Three Assembly Democrats are also not seeking reelection, though all are running for higher office. 

While Burden said the Assembly is “genuinely up for grabs,” he concluded Republicans still hold a slight advantage. 

He also said most of the primaries themselves “are not especially consequential” because most incumbents are not facing primary challengers and contested primaries tend to be in districts that heavily favor a specific party with no chance of flipping. Still, he said these elections remain important because they often determine the eventual winner in these safe Democratic or Republican districts. 

Here are some primaries that we’re watching:

Senate District 1

Four Republicans face off to replace Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, after his two terms in the Senate. 

The candidates all campaign on similar issues: affordability, defending constitutional freedoms and supporting agriculture and veterans. But there are some differences.

Current Jacque staffer Nic Cravillion puts protecting the state’s outdoor spaces as a priority. His campaign emphasizes Wisconsin’s hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities, and he says he will support public access and conservation efforts. 

Katie Baney, a director at Delta Defense, prides herself as the only mother in the race. She also highlights her support for school choice and the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement, popularized by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

Barbara Bittner, a farmer from Stockbridge, chairs the Republican Party of Calumet County. She emphasizes what she describes as traditional family values and defending the sanctity of life. But she also supports the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, largely seen as a more Democratic issue after the Republican-controlled Legislature removed funding for the land conservation program from the 2025-27 state budget and it expired last month. 

While each candidate campaigns on veteran support, Jacob VandenPlas, a Sturgeon Bay farmer, marks veteran mental health as one of his key campaign issues. As a veteran who experienced brain trauma and PTSD himself, he founded a program to aid veterans’ recovery and suicide prevention, using farming as a form of therapy.

Cravillion leads in fundraising for this race having collected more than $75,000 since January. Baney raised about $47,000, Bittner raised about $17,000, and VandenPlas raised $1,900.

The winner of the Republican primary will face independent Mark Becker, the former chair of the Republican Party of Brown County. 

What we’re watching: What will this primary tell us about how Republican voters feel about the future of state land conservation efforts?

Senate District 17

Three Democrats are looking to unseat three-term Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, a co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee. 

Rep. Jenna Jacobson, D-Oregon, who has served in the Assembly since 2022, has received the State Senate Democratic Committee’s endorsement. She serves on the Assembly’s agriculture committee and has authored numerous bills on farming, one of her top campaign issues. She had about $200,000 on hand as of June 30, compared to Marklein’s $1 million.

Corrine Hendrickson, a child care consultant and former New Glarus School Board member, is advocating for increased public school funding and affordable child care. Hendrickson had about $12,000 on hand.

Lisa White, a small business owner, holds similar policy stances as both Jacobson and Hendrickson. Her campaign emphasizes changing the public school funding system, particularly how heavy funding relies on property taxes. She also says she is a strong advocate for rural health care, conservation and small businesses. White was down to about $800 on hand as of June 30.

What we’re watching: Will the preferred Democratic candidate win the primary as Democrats look to flip a district that Kamala Harris won in 2024?

Senate District 25

Former state Reps. Erik Severson and Angie Sapik will face off in the Republican primary to determine who will replace Sen. Romaine Quinn, who is running in the redrawn 23rd Senate District. The winner faces Democratic Bayfield County Board member Charly Ray in the November election. Democrats are targeting this district to flip the Senate.

Severson, a family medical doctor, served in the Assembly from 2011 to 2015. He describes himself as a strong pro-life, pro-family advocate, and his campaign emphasizes using his medical background to help improve health care in Wisconsin. He is endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Family Action PAC, an advocacy group for conservative family values.

Sapik serves on the Douglas County Board and served in the Assembly from 2023 to 2025. She supports the Second Amendment and says less government involvement will give Wisconsinites “more autonomy.” She also wants to lower taxes and repeal a provision Gov. Tony Evers created in state law that increases funding limits for public schools every year for the next 400 years. Sapik has been endorsed by 10 current Republican state representatives, Sen. Cory Tomczyk and a handful of former state representatives.

Burden pointed to this district as an interesting primary to keep an eye on. 

“You’ve got a Republican primary with two candidates who are duking it out to be the nominee there, but also a very credible Democratic candidate who has no primary opposition,” Burden said. “It’s possible the Republicans will sort of go at one another during the primary, and the Democrat will continue to raise money and build his campaign to get ready for whoever he faces.”

Ray has raised about $119,000. Sapik trails close behind having raised about $117,000. Severson raised about $39,000 in the first half of the year.

Burden pointed to how the area, which is in U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s 7th Congressional District, has gotten more Republican under President Donald Trump. However, he said it’s likely to be a competitive race in November. He added that if Democrats win this district, it could indicate that they’re doing well at “the top of the ticket” and the success has “trickled down” the ballot. 

What we’re watching: How much will the Republican candidates spend to get nominated and where will that leave the nominee in comparison to the Democratic candidate?

Assembly District 21

David Liners, former state director of WISDOM, and Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz are running in the Democratic primary to replace Joint Finance Committee member Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, who won in 2024 by 3 percentage points and is not seeking reelection. 

Liners is more progressive than Bukiewicz and is endorsed by multiple Democratic Socialist lawmakers, including gubernatorial candidate Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, and Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, as well as the Wisconsin Electoral Socialists. He has advocated for data center moratoriums and allowing immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. He also says he wants to change how public schools are funded by initially freezing property taxes and using Wisconsin’s surplus budget instead.

Bukiewicz has been the Oak Creek mayor since 2017 and is endorsed by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, as well as state lawmakers including Sen. Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, and Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee. He has said he would advocate for a $20 state minimum wage, public school funding and lowering the cost of living. 

Bukiewicz leads the fundraising effort with about $62,000 cash on hand as of June 30 while Liners trails with about $12,000 in the bank.

The winner of the primary will face Republican Carroll University student Dylan Pfaffenbach, who has about $7,400 on hand, in November. 

What we’re watching: In a clash between establishment Democrats and Democratic Socialists, who wins?

Assembly District 26

Three Republicans will compete in the primary to determine who will face Rep. Joe Sheehan, D-Sheboygan, in the general election. Sheehan, an Assembly freshman who has raised more than $32,000 this year for his campaign, flipped the 26th District in 2024 when he unseated former state Rep. Amy Binsfield by 3 percentage points. Binsfeld had a falling out with the Sheboygan County Republican Party when she clashed on some core GOP issues.

Tyler Schneekloth, a self-employed 25-year-old from Wilson who has raised $756, said he wants to eliminate the state income tax for families making under $125,000 a year, give interest-free mortgages to families and first-time buyers and put a moratorium on data centers. 

Former Sheboygan Ald. John Belanger prioritizes affordability, growth of small businesses and government transparency in his campaign. In April he lost the city council race as an incumbent. He said he will be an independent voice for Sheboygan. He has raised $1,250.

James Brotz of Sheboygan says he wants to end Evers’ 400-year veto, end emissions testing and implement a tick eradication program. He also campaigns for election security and reduced government. He has raised no money for his campaign. 

What we’re watching: Which Republican will emerge to try and retake this Sheboygan-focused seat?

Assembly District 61

Brian Bock, Ben Brist and Lawanda Chambers will face off in the Democratic primary to determine who will challenge Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, in the general election. Donovan won in 2024 by 3 percentage points. Democrats are targeting this race to flip control of the Assembly. 

Bock, a pharmacist, was elected to the Greendale School Board in 2024 and serves as its treasurer. He said he’s running to “deliver practical, results-driven leadership” and is largely focused on improving access to affordable health care through lowering the price of prescription drugs and expanding Medicaid. He is backed by 3.14 Action, a national group dedicated to electing Democrats with STEM backgrounds to public offices. The group also supported Evers, a former science teacher, in his gubernatorial reelection campaigns. 

Brist, an Army veteran who served as a paratrooper and infantry officer, said he’s running as a candidate who understands the strain of rising prices while wages “struggle to keep up.” He is campaigning to lower property taxes by fixing the state’s funding formula for public schools, aiming to have more funds go to schools to allow them to rely less on property taxes for funding. 

Chambers is the founder and CEO of LIFE Wellness & Counseling, which provides mental health services to individuals in need. She said she will be “focused on solutions, not political drama.” Her campaign emphasizes public safety, and she plans to give first responders and law enforcement more resources to feel supported and be properly trained to do their jobs. She is endorsed by Democratic representatives Darrin Madison, Supreme Moore Omokunde and Margaret Arney. 

Brist has raised nearly $24,000. Chambers has raised more than $21,000. Donovan raised $20,000 this year, but has $70,000 cash on hand. Bock has raised $3,800.

What we’re watching: What kind of candidate will Democrats nominate in a key race for control of the Assembly? 

Assembly District 76

Five Democrats are competing in a primary to replace Rep. Francesca Hong, who ran unopposed in 2024 and is running for governor. The winner will face Republican Nina Chat in this solidly Democratic district.

Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford was elected to the Madison City Council in 2023, making her the first openly transgender woman to be on the council. She highlights her time being paid $2.33 as a food service worker, her experience with homelessness and her lack of health care for much of her life. Her campaign focuses on raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour and lowering property taxes. She has been endorsed by nearly 70 current and former elected officials, more than 60 community leaders and about a dozen political organizations. She has raised the most money in this race at $56,000.

Juliana Bennett, a swim instructor and bartender, is a member of the Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America and was previously elected to the Madison City Council. Some of her priorities include raising the minimum wage to $23 an hour, legalizing rent control and passing a tenant bill of rights. With nearly $35,000 raised for her campaign, she has been endorsed by the national Democratic Socialists of America and current Democratic Reps. Angelito Tenorio, Maureen McCarville and Margaret Arney.

Isaia Ben-Ami has been a policy director for Rep. Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee. He was also the chief of staff and research assistant for Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison. He prioritizes affordable housing, saying the state needs to relieve property taxes, pass a tenant bill of rights and build more housing. Ben-Ami has raised $32,000 and has been endorsed by Democratic representatives, including Haywood, Renuka Mayadev, Maureen McCarville and Priscilla Prado.

Zoe Sullivan, an audio producer and writer, said she wants to create legislation to roll back the private school voucher program to help with public school and university system funding. She has raised $13,200 for her campaign. She also said she wants to work to close prisons to decrease the population of incarcerated individuals to free up funding for the university system. 

Tony Castañeda, an artist and musician, is prioritizing keeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of Wisconsin and providing more funding to teachers and the public school system. He has raised $6,600.

What we’re watching: In a safe Democratic district, will voters elect another Democratic Socialist or will experience or endorsements drive the result?

As Democrats aim to retake the Wisconsin Legislature, here are the races we’re watching in the Aug. 11 primary is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.