Nearly 900 miles from the southwest corner of his district, U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden appeared at President Donald Trump’s Dallas convention Wednesday afternoon to argue that the healthcare policies he and Trump have enacted are benefiting rural Wisconsinites. 

Van Orden represents Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District and his campaign against Democrat Rebecca Cooke is set to be one of the most hotly contested races in the country as Democrats seek to win back majority control of the House. 

During his two terms, Van Orden has been a staunch Trump ally, often taking a bombastic, confrontational tone and drawing criticism from opponents for his treatment of constituents. 

But onstage on Wednesday, as Republicans held a rare midterm convention while Trump’s approval rating plummets to record lows and Democrats express confidence they’ll win competitive races across the country, Van Orden and his fellow Republicans sought to sell a softer version of their record. 

“Whether you choose to live in a city or a village like my beautiful wife Sarah Jane and I do, you deserve high quality, readily available, and actually affordable healthcare,” Van Orden said. “You know who else knows this? Our great president Donald J. Trump. He is fighting to make quality healthcare a reality for everyday Americans.”

Last year, Van Orden voted for the Trump-signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In his speech, he said the bill, and the tax cuts it enacted, brought millions of dollars in funding for rural hospitals in Wisconsin. 

“This massive investment would not have been possible without President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut Act,” Van Orden said. “And shamefully, shamefully, not one Democrat voted for it. So, from Washington to Wisconsin, Democrats spent months demonizing the tax cuts we delivered.” 

In fact, the bill made huge cuts to Medicaid, which for Wisconsin will result in losing $7 billion in federal healthcare funds over the next 10 years, an analysis by KFF found last year. In his speech, Van Orden also touted more than $200 million that will go to Wisconsin hospitals because of the law, but that is far less than those hospitals would have received without the Medicaid cuts. 

“I worked with President Trump and Republicans in Congress to level up our Medicaid assessments and bringing billions of dollars back to Wisconsin’s Badger Care program,” Van Orden said. “So these investments have made a real difference to real people all over rural America, including back home at Black River Falls Memorial Hospital. It’s where our awesome doctors can now spend less time worrying about the future of the hospital and more time taking care of their patients, who are their neighbors and that they love.”

An analysis conducted last year by the centrist think tank Third Way found that after the enactment of the Medicaid cuts, hospitals in Van Orden’s district are projected to lose more than $42 million in annual revenue. 

Van Orden has on several occasions gotten into arguments with constituents over the effect of the law and has falsely denied that Medicaid was cut. 

In a statement from her campaign, Cooke noted that Van Orden has never done a town hall in his district, but has time to join Trump in Texas.

“Derrick Van Orden still hasn’t done a single town hall with his constituents in West Central Wisconsin. And lies from Dallas can’t change his record: Derrick Van Orden watched rural hospitals in his district close,” Cooke said. “Then, he voted to cut $7 billion from Wisconsin’s health care so that those funds could go to tax breaks for data centers instead. Congressman Van Orden can continue to defend the Big Ugly Bill all he wants. Folks here in West Central Wisconsin see their health care costs going up and their doctors leaving town.”

Republican members of Congress who are attending the convention had to pay $25,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee to access a hotel room in the committee room block and tickets to the welcome reception. Paying up to $100,000 earned members additional perks, including breakfast with House leaders. Vulnerable members did not have to pay the five-figure fee, Axios reported. 

A spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin criticized Van Orden for attending a “lavish” Texas event rather than focusing on solving the problems of his constituents. 

“It should come as no surprise that D.C Derrick Van Orden decided to ditch his constituents to go bootlick an administration that is making life unbearably expensive for Wisconsinites,” the spokesperson, Haley King, said. “While Van Orden is out in another state trying to save his re-election campaign and promoting a delusional billionaire cosplaying as President, Wisconsin Democrats are meeting with voters and working to clean up the affordability crisis elected MAGA Republicans like Derrick Van Orden have created.”

A social media post from the Republican Party of Wisconsin showed that U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil and Glenn Grothman, and 7th Congressional District candidate Michael Alfonso, also traveled to Dallas for the convention. Only Van Orden, among Wisconsin Republicans, appeared on the program of speakers.

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation has canceled its gubernatorial candidate debate planned for this month. 

The organization first announced that it planned to host an October debate between the Republican and Democratic nominees in April. It has hosted debates in the Wisconsin gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races since 1990.

Both Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic candidate, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate, were invited to participate, but the debate has now been canceled since both candidates did not accept the invitation. Tiffany has said he was only agreeing to one debate because it is “sufficient” for the race.

“Based on legal precedent, for the foundation to air a debate, multiple candidates must participate. Two invitations were sent and both had to be accepted in order to have a debate,” WBA said in a statement. “That did not happen.”

Tiffany told conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell on Tuesday that he would likely only participate in one debate. 

“I had no time. There was lots of negotiations going on behind the scenes,” Tiffany said. “One debate is sufficient to be able to cover the issues that need to be covered.” 

According to WBAY, Crowley was planning to participate in the debate and said in a statement that he looked forward to “continuing the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s more than 30-year tradition of putting candidates directly before voters statewide.”

Both candidates have agreed to an Oct. 21 debate hosted by WISN-12. It will be moderated by WISN-12 reporters Matt Smith and Gerron Jordan and will cover topics including cost of living, taxes, immigration enforcement, data centers and election security.

Tiffany said that he watched how the reporters conducted the Democratic primary debate as well as others over his career in politics. 

“I think they are very fair and they set up for what appears to be a good [debate],” Tiffany said. “It’s only going to take one debate to get the information out there for the people of Wisconsin… I just always look for fairness in reporters.”

“We look forward to debating Congressman Tiffany on October 21 and speaking directly with Wisconsinites about why David Crowley is the right choice to deliver for working families and serve as a governor for all Wisconsinites,” the Crowley campaign said.

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Our newsroom’s investigation of “obscene” spending in state Supreme Court elections has won top honors at the 2026 Online Journalism Awards.

The awards, run by the Online News Association, have since 2000 honored excellence in digital journalism around the world. Judges awarded Wisconsin Watch first place for explanatory reporting in the small-newsroom division for its three-part series Supreme Costs.

The series — a mix of explanatory, accountability and solutions journalism — examined why Wisconsin set back-to-back national records for spending on state Supreme Court elections, culminating in a record $144 million in spending in 2025, and what can be done about it. 

Edited by State Bureau Chief Matthew DeFour, with reporting by freelancer Larry Sandler and Data Investigative Reporter Hongyu Liu, video by Trisha Young and illustrations by freelancer Elena Delzer, Supreme Costs explained how races meant to select impartial judges transformed into extraordinarily partisan, expensive national political battles.

@wisconsinwatch

Why are Wisconsin Supreme Court elections breaking national records? Earlier this month, Wisconsin Watch published Supreme Costs, a three-part series by freelancer Larry Sandler that examined why Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have become so expensive — and what might curb those costs. The project included graphics by data reporter Hongyu Liu, illustrating just how unprecedented the $144.5 million spent on the 2025 race was compared with past elections. In this interview, Sandler sits down with Wisconsin Watch video journalist Trisha Young to break down why Wisconsin is an outlier in Supreme Court spending and what’s next for the state. Read Larry Sandler’s full series at wisconsinwatch.org. #wispolitics #wisconsinsupremecourt #wisconsin #springelections

♬ original sound – Wisconsin Watch

“Judges were big fans of Supreme Costs — thorough, deep reporting paired with smart visualizations and mixed formats that made an otherwise impenetrable topic accessible, even enjoyable,” contest organizers noted. “They especially praised the comparative analysis and the architecture of the series, which anticipates readers’ questions and carries them through a complex story about campaign financing with remarkable clarity.”

Other finalists in the explanatory journalism category among small newsrooms included: 

• Public Health Watch, for its series Fumed.
• Spotlight PA, for its series Cost of Failing.
• The 74 Media, for its series Special education law under fire.
• Minnesota Reformer, for its series Operation Metro Surge.

We don’t do this work for awards; we do it because we want our journalism to make a difference in Wisconsin. But it is especially gratifying to receive this kind of recognition from peers we respect so much.

Wisconsin Watch wins national award for Supreme Costs investigation 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.

A legislative study committee on restoring floodplains across the state began its work Tuesday with an all-day meeting in which committee members heard from a number of scientists, state Department of Natural Resources staff and policy experts on the flood management landscape. 

Floodplains exist in flat areas along waterways marking where the water rises to during a flood event. Historically, waterways have been diverted, deepened or stifled to shrink these floodplains for development, navigability and agriculture — often making the effect of a flood more harmful and harming the health of the overall watershed. 

The committee is beginning its work to assess how floodplains can be restored to improve watershed health, restore wetland habitats and better control flooding as climate change has made floods more common and more severe. 

“Why are floodplains important? They promote habitat and biodiversity,” Tracy Hames of the Wisconsin Wetland Association said. “They’re really important for maintaining public health and safety.”

Among the benefits of floodplains, Hames said, are reducing erosion, improving water quality and filtering out nitrate pollution, stopping sediment from flowing downstream and protecting waterways against drought. 

To restore a floodplain, policymakers can remove dams and levees, let waterways return to their original meandering paths, reconnect waterways to nearby wetlands and promote the growth of native plants. But waterways across the country are governed by the Federal Emergency Management Program’s flood insurance program, limiting the tools available to the state.

The committee is made up of state  Sens. Romaine Quinn (R-Birchwood) and Jodi Habush-Sinykin (D-Whitefish Bay), state Reps. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) and Vincent Miresse (D-Stevens Point) and local government officials, non-profit staff and policy experts. 

The meeting Tuesday focused on presentations explaining what a floodplain is, what policy tools are available to restore them, the existing state and federal regulatory landscape and how proposed floodplain projects should be analysed for viability. 

Lawmakers have already been working on proposals for floodplain restoration. During the most recent legislative session, Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) began writing a bill that would allow the DNR and local governments to work together to approve and fund floodplain restoration projects. Under a preliminary draft of the Novak bill, local governments would have to approve projects before the DNR could authorize them.

In recent years, lawmakers of both parties have been supportive of wetland restoration projects. While floodplain restoration is subject to stricter regulations, there appears to be a path forward for future legislation. 

“Land use in floodplains is subject to extensive regulation under federal, state, and local laws. Broadly, these laws seek to mitigate risks to life and property and reduce costs associated with flood response,” the Wisconsin Legislative Council wrote in an introductory brief for the committee. “However, these laws may also pose burdens to floodplain restoration projects, which have garnered bipartisan interest in recent years due to their ability to improve flood storage and support other ecosystem services.”

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The family of a Milwaukee man falsely accused last year of threatening to kill President Donald Trump plans to sue the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for $5.5 million for emotional pain and suffering.

Ramón Morales Reyes, 56, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on May 22, 2025. Six days later, then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued a press release accusing him of sending a handwritten letter to ICE stating he would self-deport after using a hunting rifle to “shoot your precious president in his head.”

The letter was fake and didn’t come from Morales Reyes. Milwaukee resident Demetric Scott later admitted writing it to frame Morales Reyes to prevent him from testifying against Scott in an upcoming trial. Scott was convicted of identity theft and witness intimidation and sentenced in February to more than 16 years in prison.

At a press conference Friday in Milwaukee, attorneys representing Morales Reyes said DHS knew the threat was fake but still told the nation their client intended to assassinate Trump.

His children said the lie hurt their family and they just want things to go back to normal.

“Seeing my dad being framed for something he did not do was very heartbreaking,” said Ana Morales, the 25-year-old daughter of Morales Reyes. “He’s been going through depression, anxiety, he doesn’t like going out anymore because he feels like everyone knows him due to what he was framed as, and ever since it has taken a lot from us.”

Milwaukee immigration attorney Caine Oulahan, who represents Morales Reyes, said local law enforcement and the U.S. Secret Service had determined he didn’t write the letter days before issuing their release.

“And after they determined it was likely not him, it was still published,” Oulahan said.  

An affidavit from a Milwaukee Police Department officer who also works with the FBI states that they interviewed Morales Reyes on May 22, 2025. The officer said he didn’t believe Morales Reyes sent the threatening letter. A search warrant of Scott’s calls from jail also produced recordings in which Scott coordinated with someone to send packets to several law enforcement officials. Scott said his plan was to have Morales Reyes arrested so the criminal case against him would be dropped.

“And the judge will agree ’cause if he gets picked up by ICE, there won’t be a jury trial so they will probably dismiss it that day,” Scott said. “That’s my plan.”

That DHS press release is still online. A small disclaimer was added at the bottom stating Morales Reyes “is no longer under investigation for threats against the President” but he still faces deportation proceedings

The Morales Reyes family has notified DHS it intends to sue the agency for $5.5 million for emotional pain and suffering caused by the federal government’s false claim. According to the legal claim, DHS also posted that day on X thanking ICE officers for detaining Morales Reyes for threatening to assassinate Trump.

The White House Instagram account later posted Morales Reyes’ face alongside the letter used to frame him.

Antonio Morales, the 20-year-old son of Morales Reyes, said he was scared when he saw negative comments about his father online. He said he believes DHS knew the posts contained false information at the time. 

“It was hard seeing your dad all over social media posted as some sort of assassin almost, and that’s just not who my father is,” Antonio Morales said. “I really think that they knew what they were doing. They wanted to do this to more immigrants, and they really want to keep terrorizing the community going forward.” 

Attorney Mark Thomsen, who also sits on the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said the case is about more than compensation for the family. 

“They knew it was a lie, and they still haven’t taken it down,” Thomsen said. “They haven’t thought for a second about apologizing. This is the most powerful government in the world, and here they are out to crush us, each of us, like bugs, like gnats on a rhinoceros.”

Thomsen said it’s up to everyone in America to stop tolerating a federal government willing to lie in pursuit of the Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the family’s claim.

The deportation proceedings against Morales Reyes come amid reporting that ICE arrests and detentions in Wisconsin have hit new highs this summer, with 220 arrests in June — up from 119 in May, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis.

Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz said the most recent surge occurred mostly in Milwaukee from late June through the July 4 holiday weekend. She said immigration agents used excessive force in several alleged cases, and that the group’s statewide network of ICE observers must continue.

A version of this story was originally published by WPR.

Family of Milwaukee man falsely accused of threatening Trump plans to sue DHS 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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• To build or not to build, that’s the question Wisconsin voters have about state prisons as they choose between Republican Tom Tiffany and Democrat David Crowley.
• Tiffany said this week he supports building new prison capacity, while Crowley said he would prefer reducing prison time for nonviolent offenders.
• Gov. Tony Evers and a bipartisan group of lawmakers has crafted a plan to expand the state’s prison capacity by 530 beds, close Green Bay Correctional Institution and implement other changes to address overcrowding.
• Follow the growth of Wisconsin’s prison population using the Wisconsin Watch prison population tracker.

As Wisconsin’s prison population hits record highs, Republican gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said he is open to expanding and building prison capacity to address the rising number of people behind bars without releasing those in custody. 

An Aug. 28 state Department of Corrections report showed 23,854 people were incarcerated in Wisconsin’s adult institutions, exceeding the previous record in 2019 by 28. The population grew to 23,870 as of Sept. 4. That was just over 6,000 beyond the capacity of the state’s facilities, which include the aging Green Bay Correctional Institution. 

“I will work with lawmakers, corrections officials, and law enforcement to determine where we need to expand and build prison capacity so we can safely close Green Bay without releasing violent criminals back into our communities,” Tiffany said in a statement to Wisconsin Watch. “Every decision will be made with the safety of our communities and our corrections officers at the forefront.” 

It has been 25 years since Wisconsin opened any new prisons. The medium-security Redgranite Correctional Institution and the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, intended for probation and parole holds, both opened in 2001, according to DOC. 

Tiffany faces Democratic nominee and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the open race for governor this November. When asked about Tiffany’s comments on expanding prison capacity, Crowley said in a statement that “violent criminals must be held accountable for breaking the law, but we have to give nonviolent offenders a second chance.”

“That means expanding mental health services, offering substance use treatment support, and providing job training and career readiness courses so we can save taxpayer dollars by providing a real pathway to rehabilitation,” he said. 

Crowley pointed to Milwaukee County initiatives under his tenure as county executive that he said have “focused on prevention, intervention, healing, housing stability, behavioral health services, and pathways to opportunity for our young people.” 

The candidates’ responses show a stark divide in how the next administration might approach criminal justice issues. Tiffany and Crowley recently clashed over allegations that a Milwaukee County inmate used a county-provided tablet to intimidate witnesses. 

Wisconsin’s governor appoints the head of the Department of Corrections, the agency that oversees the state’s prisons. The governor also has the constitutional authority to grant pardons and commutations. Gov. Tony Evers has issued more than 2,000 pardons during his two terms in office and signed executive orders earlier this year to reinstate commutations. 

Tiffany and Crowley have also taken opposing views on commutations. Tiffany previously told Wisconsin Watch he would rescind those executive orders and said he would “not release violent criminals early.” Crowley said he would also not commute the sentences of those convicted of murder — a break from criteria Evers laid out that bars applications only from those previously convicted of several categories of sex crimes or child abuse. Crowley expressed support for using the governor’s executive clemency powers as a “tool to correct past wrongs” but said cases should be handled in a way that respects victims and communities. 

The state’s next governor is likely to face prison problems that have gone unresolved during years of political gridlock at the Capitol between Evers and the Republican-led Legislature. 

Evers in 2025 proposed a series of projects at a cost of $325 million that included closing Green Bay Correctional Institute and converting Lincoln Hills into an adult facility. Republican lawmakers objected to any plans that would reduce the capacity of the state’s facilities. 

Republicans in the 2025-27 state budget approved just $15 million for Evers’ proposal and suggested a 2029 closure date for GBCI, but Evers partially vetoed the 2029 closure deadline without a detailed plan from the Legislature to do so. The state building commission in October signed off on releasing the $15 million to start the planning process for Evers’ proposed projects. 

Rep. Benjamin Franklin, R-De Pere, told the Allouez Village Board on Sept. 1 that state agencies, the governor’s office and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have been working on draft legislation that would incorporate parts of Evers’ plan to revamp state facilities, close GBCI by 2031 and raise the statewide capacity by 530 beds to 18,503. The Legislature could act on the bill if Evers called a special session, Franklin said. 

The estimated total cost of the projects in the legislation would be about $628.7 million, Franklin told the board members, but a “more solid number” is expected from the Department of Administration in the next 30 to 45 days, Franklin said. 

“People have asked me as I’ve knocked doors and talked to people, attended the events, ‘Well, what about building a new mega facility somewhere?’” Franklin said at the meeting. “That would cost the state, by the estimates, anywhere between $1 billion to $1.3 billion. So, by adopting this plan again, that allows us to literally cut this approximately in half.”

Wisconsin Watch asked the Tiffany campaign whether the congressman supports the elements in the plan Franklin described. The campaign reiterated that Tiffany supports closing GBCI. 

“As governor, he will work with corrections officials, law enforcement, legislators, and local communities to determine the best path forward. Closing Green Bay will require additional prison capacity, whether through new construction, expansion, or other options,” the campaign said in a statement. “Tom will pursue the solution that best protects taxpayers and public safety while ensuring violent criminals remain behind bars and capacity is not reduced.” 

Republican Tom Tiffany backs expanding Wisconsin prisons as population hits record high 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.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) walked through the shelves of pasta, olive oil, tinned fish and frozen pizzas at Fraboni’s Italian deli in Monona on Thursday as part of her statewide tour assessing how President Donald Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran are affecting small businesses. 

In May, the owners of the third-generation family business said that tariffs and increased gas prices had caused the cost of fresh tomatoes to increase about 40%. That price hike included domestically grown tomatoes because tariffs that increased the cost of imported tomatoes pushed up  demand for domestic tomatoes, while higher gas prices made even nearby crops more expensive to ship.
Store co-owner Bennett Fraboni added that his deli had done its best to avoid passing the increased cost of products on to its customers. 

“We always hope that it’s going to be a temporary increase, and that we can swallow it ourselves and not have to pass it on,” Fraboni said.

The deli, which has operated in the Madison area since 1971, sells Italian grocery items and operates a popular sandwich counter. Fraboni said that as the economy has fluctuated over the past year, he’s seen the two sides of the business move independently. When money is tight, he said, people are less likely to go out to eat, so sandwich counter sales slow but the sales of grocery items increase as people look to cook at home more. 

Baldwin said that hearing these stories from businesses across the state is especially frustrating because U.S. economic struggles are “self-inflicted.” 

Traveling the state during the Senate recess, she has heard from small business owners about the challenges they are facing because of  tariffs, trade wars and Trump’s war of choice in Iran, she said. “In many ways, they describe a very chaotic environment — volatile — and recognize that a lot of these things that are causing challenges for our small businesses are choices that this administration has made.”

Democrats across the country are  pushing a message about “affordability” and highlighting voters’ worries about high prices. While Congress doesn’t usually have a simple policy solution for lowering the prices of household expenses, Baldwin said if Democrats take control they can immediately act to end Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war. 

“The type of policies that this president has engaged in are extremely harmful to the consumer and to our small businesses and to our farmers who are producing these products,” Baldwin said.

Days before Labor Day, and with just over two months before the November election, a coalition of labor unions announced Wednesday they were backing Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s campaign for governor. 

Leaders from American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, the Service Employees International Union Wisconsin, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1473 and the Wisconsin Education Association Council announced their organizations’ endorsements of Crowley — acknowledging that even if they don’t agree with the Democratic nominee on every issue, he’s preferable to Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany — who as a member of the Legislature voted for Act 10, the controversial law that stripped collective bargaining rights from most public employees. 

“For the future of labor, this election is incredibly important,” Jon Shelton, president of AFT-Wisconsin and a professor at UW-Green Bay, said. “We know that we just came out of a primary that was contentious, but we are showing the solidarity to work with your campaign to make sure that we don’t just win this election, but we win a trifecta, and we move the state of Wisconsin in the direction that every working person, every kid in our schools, every citizen in this state deserves.” 

At a virtual news conference to announce the endorsements, Crowley touted his family’s union membership and the work he’s done in the past to support Wisconsin labor. 

“Working people, we aren’t asking for a handout,” he said. “We’re asking for a seat at the table. We’re asking for a fair deal. That’s pro- worker, that’s pro-family, and that’s the Wisconsin that I absolutely believe in.”

Leadership from some of the unions touted the support Crowley has provided to them in previous fights. Pat Raes, president of SEIU Wisconsin Healthcare and a nurse at Madison’s Meriter Hospital, noted that Crowley joined her union’s fight when Meriter’s nurses went on strike last year and when Milwaukee commercial office workers were bargaining for a new contract in 2024.

Raes also pointed to Crowley’s support for raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage, overturning Act 10 and expanding access to child care and healthcare. 

But other unions throwing support behind Crowley are making some policy concessions. WEAC had endorsed state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) in the Democratic primary for governor — partially because of her plan for winding down the state’s private school voucher program. 

Private school vouchers

As Milwaukee County executive, Crowley represents the part of the state with the largest number of voucher school students and has said he doesn’t support ending the controversial program, though he has said he wants to increase oversight and transparency. 

On Wednesday, WEAC president Peggy Wirtz-Olsen said she’s “talked” with Crowley about the “damage caused by vouchers” and added “Wisconsin educators are convinced that David Crowley will be the best choice for governor.” 

“WEAC has met with David Crowley and engaged in extensive conversations about the issues that are affecting public school educators, my colleagues and I, students and families we serve, and public education in Wisconsin,” Wirtz-Olsen, who also teaches high school English and art in Marshfield, said. “We’ve talked honestly about the inadequate and unstable funding, the growing class sizes, educator shortages, mental health, special education, and all the damage caused by the vouchers. We’ve talked about affordability and about high costs and how that’s squeezing families, students, and our educators.”

Tiffany has supported voucher schools and cuts to public education funding as a member of the state Legislature and in Congress. If elected, he and his Republican allies are likely to further expand the state’s voucher programs, which draw from the same pool of resources as public schools. Wirtz-Olsen said that WEAC was supporting a candidate who won’t send more state money to private voucher schools. 

“When lawmakers send more taxpayer dollars into unaccountable private school voucher programs instead of fully funding public schools that serve every student, the direct result is fewer resources for students who need the support, larger class sizes, and continued delayed services,” she said. “It’s no wonder that about half of first-time teachers will leave the profession. These demands are unsustainable. That’s been a failure of state priorities. Wisconsin needs a governor who understands that public schools are not a chip for high-stake deals. Public schools are an investment in our children, our workforce, our communities, and our democracy.”

Data centers and trade unions

The early weeks of the general election campaign were dominated by the two candidates wrangling over the issue of data centers, which has become a hot button in elections across the country this year. 

Tiffany, who in ads has called Crowley “data center David,” has said he opposes data centers, along with wind and solar farms, on the grounds that they’re taking too much of Wisconsin’s prime farmland. Crowley has said he wants to enact additional regulations governing data center development, including requirements that they be powered by renewable energy and built with union labor. 

Wisconsin’s building trade unions have been more supportive of data center developments than the public at large. 

But once hyperscale data centers such as those currently under construction in Beaver Dam, Mount Pleasant and Port Washington are built, the artificial intelligence technology they support could potentially disrupt the jobs of thousands of Wisconsin workers, including the teachers, professor and nurses endorsing Crowley. 

At the Wednesday event, Crowley said he wanted to make sure Wisconsin is “being aggressive when it comes down to protecting our workforce, protecting our environment, making sure that not one single dime is being pushed off to ratepayers and taxpayers here.” He added that he believes AI should increase productivity rather than replacing it and noted that Tiffany was a deciding vote when the House of Representatives voted to ban states from regulating AI for a decade as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The provision was not in the version of the bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last year. 

“Artificial intelligence will never ever be able to compete with authentic intelligence, and that’s what people bring to the table,” Crowley said. “And so it is unfortunate that my opponent, Congressman Tom Tiffany, he actually was the deciding vote to actually put up a state ban on us being able to regulate artificial intelligence. But we have to do everything that we can to make sure that we’re protecting workers moving forward and make sure that workers have a seat at the table as it relates to how we use artificial intelligence in the field, no matter the industry.”

A televised debate between gubernatorial candidates David Crowley and Tom Tiffany has been set for Wednesday, Oct 21. The one-hour debate will be held on the Marquette University campus without a live audience at 7 p.m. two weeks ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3. 

The Democratic Milwaukee County executive and Republican congressman from the Northwoods are vying in the first open race since 2010 to become the state’s next governor. WISN-12 reporters Matt Smith and Gerron Jordan will moderate the debate, which will cover topics including cost of living, taxes, immigration enforcement, data centers and election security.

It will be streamed on the WISN website and streaming app and also be made available statewide on its partner stations in Green Bay (WBAY), Madison (WKOW), Wausau (WAOW), Eau Claire (WQOW) and La Crosse (WXOW). 

The candidates have been invited to two other debates including one hosted by WTMJ-TV on Oct. 8 and one hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Oct. 9. The candidates have not agreed to participate in those.

Dozens of southeastern Wisconsin residents, community organizers, local leaders and environmental activists voiced their opposition to a proposal from the electric utility We Energies to raise rates during a series of meetings in Milwaukee Tuesday. 

At a rally outside the We Energies offices Tuesday morning and at a public hearing on the rate increase held by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission on the Marquette University campus in the afternoon, opponents of the planned increase by as much as $22 per month by 2028 complained that the company was raising money that would go to building data center infrastructure and executive salaries on the backs of Milwaukee residents struggling to get by. Opponents also demanded that Wisconsin change direction as the state continues to fall behind its neighbors in renewable energy development. 

The proposed rate increase comes as public attention has focused on the structure of Wisconsin’s energy system and the sources of its power due to widespread opposition to the construction of hyperscale data centers — particularly in the communities of Port Washington and Mount Pleasant. The issue has become a major topic in the ongoing race for governor as both Democrat David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, and Republican Tom Tiffany, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, argue for their vision for the future of data centers and energy in the state. 

Crowley has said he wants to require that data center developers pay the cost of their own energy use while pushing them to construct renewable sources of energy such as utility-scale solar and wind. Tiffany, whose campaign  ads attack “data center David,” has argued that data centers, wind and solar farms are all taking too much of the state’s farmland. 

Voters across Wisconsin have expressed frustration recently with the lack of oversight or regulation of polluting industry. A group of activists in western Wisconsin recently successfully challenged the state Department of Natural Resources’ decision to grant a controversial Pierce County factory farm a permit to expand on the grounds that there weren’t enough protections for local groundwater. 

We Energies’ request to raise rates would increase monthly bills by $13.35 per month in 2027 and another $8.69 per month in 2028, adding up to about $22 more per month after two years, for a household that uses 660 kilowatt-hours per month. 

At the rally in Zeidler Union Square Park, directly in front of the We Energies headquarters, attendees complained that the PSC hearing was being held on the first day of school, when many of the working families who will be most affected by the rate increase are too busy to attend; that the utility has increased rates several times in recent years as the company’s profits have continued to go up; that, on a hot and muggy late summer day in Wisconsin, poor residents in the city would have to choose between cooling their homes and other necessities and that the state’s utility companies have continued to extend the lives of coal and natural gas power plants. 

“I didn’t come here to complain. Y’all know we do not complain. That’s not what we do. We have a reason to be angry, though,” Antonio Butts, executive director of the local non-profit Walnut Way Conservation Corps, said. “They’re asking for $480 million —  $480 million on top of hundreds of millions that they’ve asked for in previous years. We have a right to be angry. We literally have a right to be angry. But being angry has never reduced our energy bill. Not one time.” 

Most of the speakers complained that the utility has continued to reap massive profits and returns to shareholders — and paid its CEO $12 million in 2025 — while many Milwaukee families are struggling to make ends meet. 

“We have a runaway monopoly that are supposed to be stewards of a necessity, a necessity that we all need,” Rev. Steve Tipton, pastor of El Bethel Church of God in Christ on the city’s northwest side, said. “We need to be warm in the winter, and you know how Milwaukee is. Y’all know how Milwaukee is. And we need to be comfortable in the summer. You see how we are sweating right now. So imagine how homes and families and people that are working, people that are working with two and three jobs that are trying to take care of their children and still keep their household together, and still have to deal with a bill where they got to make a choice whether it’s going to be groceries, their medication, or the necessity of energy.” 

Throughout the rally, speakers explicitly tied the fight against the rate increase to the broader fight against climate change and pushing Wisconsin’s energy system to use more renewable energy. 

“Climate change is no longer some distant environmental problem, it is an issue of public health, infrastructure affordability, and ultimately human safety,” Yusuf Adama, a Beloit common council member and environmental justice advocate with Walnut Way, said. “And we continue to see another reason why we need to move from our dependence on volatile fossil fuels like methane gas when our energy systems depend on fuels whose prices can fluctuate because of markets and events far outside the control of other Wisconsinites.”

State Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) was at the rally and hearing Tuesday, arguing that government officials should listen to the demands of the activists in Milwaukee on Tuesday and Wisconsinites who are fighting against data centers across the state. With Democrats confident they’ll win control of state government in November, he said he wanted to push for protections against data center-caused increases in energy and water use, cap utility rate increases at 2%, bar utility companies from lobbying and forcing more renewable energy development. 

Larson made that argument as Tiffany’s campaign for governor argues explicitly against renewable energy and for the increasing Wisconsin’s use of fossil fuels. 

“Tom Tiffany is lying through his teeth, or maybe he’s too dumb to realize,” that he’s been deceived by fossil fuel “propaganda,” Larson told the Examiner. “The cheapest form of energy is solar.” 

Adama, of the Beloit common council and Walnut Way, told the Examiner that while Tuesday’s hearing was about the rate increase, it’s important to keep the focus on the “cohesive set of circumstances” that form the state’s energy policies and push for broader policies to fight climate change.

Milwaukee is tightening the leash around Flock automatic license plate reader cameras, with elected leaders calling for more oversight and restrictions as investigations into misuse by officers continue. 

Flock cameras utilize AI-powered technology to identify vehicles and license plates that pass within their view on roadways. The data is stored for several weeks or longer, allowing law enforcement officers from anywhere across the country to search for specific vehicles as long as their agency has a contract with Flock. 

An analysis by the Wisconsin Examiner found that at least 221 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies searched the Flock network during the first half of 2025, and that officers often used vague search terms to query the system. That same year, the multi-billion dollar Flock Safety company spent $102,000 lobbying the state government for grants to allow law enforcement agencies to acquire license plate reader cameras, though the Republican-backed bills were unsuccessful. 

On Tuesday, a directive went out from the office of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley to county departments and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office to limit Flock-related operations on county property, and to work towards adopting new transparency and accountability standards. 

“Public safety partners should have the right tools to keep Milwaukee County safe, but unchecked surveillance isn’t the answer,” said Crowley, who is running against Republican Tom Tiffany to become Wisconsin’s next governor, in a statement. “We have seen what can happen when this technology operates without clear rules, transparency and accountability. Protecting our residents’ privacy and maintaining the public’s trust is a responsibility I take seriously. That is why I am directing all County departments to limit the usage of all Flock camera systems and establish safeguards proactively, before a breach of public trust can occur.”

Crowley is calling on the Office of Corporation Counsel and the Information Management Services Division to evaluate current policies governing the use of any surveillance tech and to develop binding standards for its use. The standards will determine how surveillance technology can be used, how long data is kept, who can access that data and why, and limit when data is shared with an emphasis on prohibiting use for federal immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant, a county press release stated. These standards would also establish independent audits and enforceable consequences when surveillance technology is misused. 

Crowley is also calling on other local elected leaders to look closely at their own use of Flock cameras and adopt similar policies. Ultimately, these efforts could result in the adoption of a consistent standard across the county for Flock. 

In April Tiffany said he had never heard of Flock cameras, when he was asked about controversy around their use. “I’m going to sound ignorant on this, what are Flock cameras?” Tiffany said during a virtual question-and-answer session. 

More recently, Tiffany said that “government should not be building an AI surveillance network that tracks law-abiding Wisconsinites everywhere they drive.” Tiffany said that he would pause state funding for Flock and create a task force to establish stronger protections, penalties for misuse, limits on data sharing, and safeguards against foreign adversaries. Tiffany criticized Crowley for “repeatedly” seeking to install “more red-light cameras, speed cameras, and massive funding increases for automated license plate readers.” 

Police departments often acquire Flock cameras through non-competitive sole source contracts which bypass a public bidding process, keeping local councils and residents from even knowing that the technology has been acquired.

The changes in Milwaukee County come after the Milwaukee Police Department announced on Monday that it will be further restricting its Flock network. In a Monday press release the department said that it “supports the use of technology to assist in solving crimes that cause harm to our community,” and that new technology can help solve cases more quickly than traditional methods for investigations. 

“With that, we recognize that the use of such technology, like Flock technology, comes with great responsibility,” the department said in the press release. “These tools must always be used to prevent and reduce harm, not create more.” The department acknowledged the growing discontent and angst over Flock technology in the community, saying that “we do not dismiss these opinions.” The department went on to say that it “acknowledges the harm that former department members have caused that has damaged the trust we work so hard to build” and that it “acknowledges the human error that comes with the use of technology” and that the department is “working tirelessly to reduce error as much as we can.”

The Milwaukee police  announced that access to Flock has been restricted to supervisors only, and that the department will no longer share its Flock data with neighboring jurisdictions. Furthermore, the cameras may only be used for “Part I crimes” such as homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault including non-fatal shootings, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, human trafficking, as well as for critically missing people and investigating drug trafficking organizations. 

Earlier this year, the department began revamping its auditing procedures and limited the number of officers with access to Flock cameras to an “as needed basis,” risk manager James Lewis told the Examiner in June.

“MPD will continue to robustly audit its Flock systems,” the department’s Monday press release reads. “We are better together!”

The changes were followed on Tuesday by a statement from Mayor Cavalier Johnson that while technology can help law enforcement, “it is essential that we recognize the limitations and dangers associated with these tools.” Johnson added that “I recognize the benefits of the Flock cameras system.” He said that “on multiple occasions this tool has located critical missing persons and helped apprehend violent criminals in Milwaukee. The technology has also been misused in several notable instances, both locally and nationally, compromising the rights of individuals.” 

Several of those cases played out in Milwaukee and elsewhere in Wisconsin. Josue Ayala of Milwaukee, Cristian Morales of Menasha, and Frank McGrath of Kenosha County were all charged with either misdemeanor or felony misconduct in public office after using Flock to surveil their current or former romantic partners. Ayala was given a year of probation and avoided incarceration, whereas Morales was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of probation while avoiding prison time. McGrath’s case is still ongoing. 

In July, Tehrangi Chapman, a Milwaukee police internal affairs detective who was involved in investigating Ayala’s misuse of Flock, was also charged with using the cameras and car-mounted GPS devices to keep tabs on someone who he’d surveilled since 2019, before Flock even arrived in Milwaukee. Chapman has been charged with felonies, and his case is still ongoing. On Aug. 26, Chapman pled not guilty, and is expected back in court for a scheduling conference on Oct. 7, according to online court records. 

Each of the officers who’ve been found to have abused their access to Flock used terms like “suspicious” or “investigation” to search the Flock network, which were common terms found in the Examiner’s 2025 analysis. Other cases have also emerged, such as that of a man who is now suing the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department after a deputy searched him in Flock following a traffic stop, for which the man sought to file a complaint against the deputy. 

As misconduct cases have emerged, communities across the state have opted to drop their Flock cameras including Kaukauna, Sturgeon Bay, Verona, Appleton, Oshkosh, Dane County and Stoughton. 

In Oshkosh, the request to cancel the Flock contract actually came from the police chief, who told local elected officials that representatives of the multi-billion dollar Flock Safety company had misled him on whether the cameras were able to develop heatmaps depicting a vehicle’s movement patterns. 

Elsewhere, community members have packed public meetings to tell local officials that they don’t want to be placed under perpetual surveillance, expressing fears about how the cameras could be misused by both local and federal law enforcement. Police leaders have had mixed responses to the concerns from residents. The police chief in Green Bay has opted to keep the cameras, citing their usefulness in solving violent crime while also acknowledging that steps need to be taken to protect people’s privacy, while a chief in the small city of Chetek threatened to do background checks on residents who spoke against the cameras in a public meeting.

Exactly how to handle the cameras is still a question local and national leaders are trying to answer. In August,  President Donald Trump said that the cameras have “pros and cons” and that “it’s being studied right now, we’ll have an answer soon as to our views on it.” When asked whether he’d consider banning Flock cameras statewide, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said, “I don’t know what the solution is, but I think there’s people all across our country that’s talking about it.” Evers said he recently talked with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about Flock cameras. “Whether that [banning the cameras] is the answer, all’s I know is that we need to have an answer.”

The Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee approved the release of nearly $10 million in PFAS settlement funds to the Department of Natural Resources Tuesday, concluding a years-long process to offer help to residents of Marinette County whose drinking water was contaminated with PFAS chemicals

In June 2026, the Marinette County Circuit Court approved a settlement in the State of Wisconsin v. Tyco Fire Products LP. The agreement marked one of the first efforts to hold polluters accountable for PFAS “forever chemical” contamination in Marinette. 

Under the settlement, Tyco agreed to provide safe drinking water to households including by installing new deep wells, maintaining associated treatment of new and existing wells and providing bottled water or treatment to households without a deep well. 

Tyco also agreed to provide more than $9.9 million to the state’s PFAS fund, which was established in the state’s 2023-25 budget and holds funding for the mitigation of PFAS contamination. The settlement did not specify how the funds should be used, but a legislative committee had to sign off before the DNR could use them. 

The DNR held two listening sessions in Marinette to get input on how to use the settlement money and used the feedback to come up with a plan, which includes using the funds for activities that provide safe drinking water and health information to impacted residents.

Settlement money in the state of Wisconsin has to be approved for use by the Joint Finance Committee under state law. Gov. Tony Evers had urged the budget committee last month to release the funds so they could be put to use as soon as possible. 

“I’m glad that these critical investments will be getting out the door to get PFAS out of our water for good and ensure every Wisconsinite has access to clean, safe drinking water,” Evers said in a statement after the committee voted. “This is a big step in the right direction, and the DNR will continue to collaborate with local leaders and communities to ensure we get these funds out the door and to the impacted communities to address their most urgent needs in a timely fashion.”

The committee unanimously approved the release of the funds to the DNR’s general program operations appropriation in 2026-27 to provide PFAS-free drinking water and health information to residents of the City of Marinette and the Town of Peshtigo affected by PFAS contamination. 

The transfer of the funds to the general operations will allow for “expeditious allocation of the settlement funds to the impacted community in accordance with preferences expressed by local residents,” according to papers prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. 

Between $6 million and $9.2 million, or about 90% of the funds, will be used to provide safe drinking water to owners of private wells contaminated by PFAS. Up to $1 million will be used for private well testing, up to $7 million will be used for deep well installation and up to $1.2 million will be used for in-home PFAS treatment installation. Some of the funds will also be used for long-term operations and maintenance, though that cost is to be determined. 

Between $20,000 and $50,000 will be used to offer blood serum testing for PFAS to residents of the city of Marinette. 

Between $500,000 and $750,000 will be used to support a community liaison consultant to help residents access settlement funds. Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Gillett), who voted for the release of the funds, expressed concerns about the use of funds for that purpose. 

“We’re talking about 500 people, and we’re going to be paying upwards of that amount to essentially fill out your forms,” Wimberger said. “The bulk of what you’re doing is great. You got to deal with these immediate problems with the wells which it focuses on, but there are also long-term problems up there, which is keeping biosolids out of the environment to begin with.” 

Biosolids are the byproducts of municipal wastewater treatment utilities that are sold or given away to farms to be used as fertilizer. The DNR grants permits that allow for the spreading of them, but biosolids from places with PFAS contamination in the water are contaminated and could pollute the water near the field where they’re spread. 

As Evers and lawmakers, including Wimberger, have worked on PFAS issues, Wimberger expressed concerns about farmers being held responsible for spreading PFAS through contaminated biosolids. The issue created gridlock that held up funding to address PFAS contamination for years. 

“I hope that in the future, you at least focus a little bit on maybe some treatment plants located at the landfill site, so it doesn’t get into the municipal treatment facilities and onto our farms,” Wimberger added.

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ICE arrests in Wisconsin hit a new peak. Follow what happens next. 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.

We examine the potential fallout from proposed changes to the Head Start program, increased danger as students return to school, a tornado that devastated a Wisconsin bus contractor, and updates from NAPT and TSD Conference.

Parker Muirbrook, strategic sales director at EverDriven, discusses new research and real-world examples that show how alternative transportation assists both district financials and student needs by providing safe and consistent school transportation.

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The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday weighed how it should manage the response to election administration errors made by the cities of Milwaukee and Green Bay in recent months. 

During the August and April elections this year, Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys mistakenly sent duplicate absentee ballots to some voters after the labels were printed twice. 

In Milwaukee, during the August primary, election results were delayed after officials mistakenly downloaded the wrong file, then had to return to the city’s central count location to retrieve the actual results. 

The errors in the two cities, in addition to the city of Madison misplacing nearly 200 absentee ballots during the 2024 election, triggered scrutiny of election administration in Wisconsin’s three largest cities as Republicans in the state and across the country have spent the last six years casting doubt on the security of the state’s election systems. 

While Republicans have not uncovered large-scale fraud or an effort to sway the results of any elections, the errors have given election skeptics a foothold for further criticism. 

At Monday’s meeting, commissioner Bob Spindell, the most right-wing member of the body and a frequent election critic, said that the commission needs to take action against Milwaukee because Republicans are skeptical and accused the Democrats on the committee and city election officials of conducting a “cover up” of what happened while allowing problems to “fester.” He also said he would bet $100 that the city will have a problem counting ballots during the November election. 

“I believe we are taking our responsibility extremely seriously by looking into this and what has turned into a national concern by many, at least Republicans, which make up a large portion of Wisconsin and the U.S. population,” Spindell said. 

After the mistake was made, the commission put a discussion of the error on the agenda for Monday’s meeting and agency staff wrote a draft letter to send to the city requesting an explanation of what occurred. Before the commission met or sent the letter, the city responded. 

On Monday, the commission was specifically debating if it should still send a letter to the city, and if so what it should say — ultimately voting to draft a second letter that thanks the city for its initial response and reasserts a request for the audit logs of the voting equipment. 

Mark Thomsen, a Democrat, said that the reporting of results gets delayed in other communities across the state without any problems, so the commission shouldn’t impugn Milwaukee’s election officials over this issue. 

“If it wasn’t Milwaukee, and if it wasn’t for this ongoing, I think unfair, attack on the city and county of Milwaukee, nobody would have even paid attention to an hour delay,” Thomsen said. 

In Green Bay, the city sending duplicate absentee ballots in two elections has already resulted in the resignation of Jeffreys, the city clerk. WEC Attorney Angela Sharpe said during the meeting that some outstanding questions about the issue are “unknowable” because it’s impossible to track down each duplicate ballot once it has been put in the mail. But, she said the WEC investigation into the matter has satisfactorily determined what happened and why the mistake was made. 

In the meeting, the commission was voting to determine if the staff should continue investigating or begin drafting a final determination of whether any laws were broken. 

“I think we have a good understanding of the factors that led to the April incident and the June incident, but like I said, it does seem clear, and especially since Clerk Jeffreys is no longer in the role of city clerk, that there are going to be some actions that we just can’t know, and that the city of Green Bay can’t know,” Sharpe said. “But I do think, based on my assessment, that Green Bay has provided a lot of information. I think the city has responded at least to everything that the commission wanted to know, and then they also responded to the couple of questions that I had just based on their first response. So I think we know what we can about the situation.”

Commissioner Ann Jacobs said that her main concern was that the error was repeated, but that given that Jeffreys is no longer the clerk and the city has changed its procedures — including changing where ballot mailing labels are printed — there’s nothing to gain from endlessly investigating. 

“I think our investigation part of this has concluded. I agree with Attorney Sharpe that we learned what happened. They’ve put new processes in place, which I think was our concern about it happening the second time,” Jacobs said.

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court begins oral arguments in September under a new 5-2 liberal majority and faces a term that could feature politically charged cases, including those challenging the state’s congressional maps and seeking to restore collective bargaining rights for many public sector unions. 

The pending cases before the high court so far, and other legal issues that may arise over the course of the term, provide ample opportunity to observe how the justices operate under a new liberal supermajority, court watchers said. Will they accept more cases following a streak of fewer decisions in recent years than in prior terms? How will the justices respond in real time to election issues during the midterms? Will they change the long-standing approach the court uses to interpret state statutes?  

“Now that there is a clear majority, not just a one-vote majority, it’s entirely possible that the justices will start to differentiate themselves from one another more,” said Chad Oldfather, a professor at the Marquette University Law School. “Because there’s less of a pressure to act as a bloc.” 

The high court’s liberal majority grew to five after Chris Taylor’s dominant April victory in the 2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court race to replace conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley. Liberal justices have won five of the last six Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, shifting the court from a 5-2 conservative majority in 2018. 

The liberal wing includes Taylor, Chief Justice Jill Karofsky and justices Rebecca Dallet, Janet Protasiewicz and Susan Crawford. The conservatives include justices Annette Ziegler and Brian Hagedorn, who is often a swing vote.

“I’m guessing that it’s going to not seem like a 5-2 court this coming term,” said Alan Ball, a Marquette University professor who operates the SCOWstats blog that analyzes Wisconsin Supreme Court statistics. “Maybe like a 5-1-1: five liberals and then Ziegler is a conservative, and then Hagedorn, you know, who knows?” 

During the 2025 term, Hagedorn voted more often with the liberal wing of the court in split decisions than Crawford did in her first year as a justice, according to Ball’s review of the previous term. But Crawford aligned more with fellow liberals and Hagedorn with conservatives on more political issues, such as a case in the last term between Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Legislature over who controls settlement funds, Ball noted. 

Justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in 16 cases across seven days between Sept. 8 and Oct. 13. More cases could rise to the high court over the course of the new term. 

What decisions will justices make about the congressional map?

Justices will hear oral arguments related to two lawsuits challenging Wisconsin’s congressional map on Sept. 16, but any decisions are not expected to impact the 2026 midterm elections, in which primary elections have already set up the candidates in races this November. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court last November tapped two three-judge panels to hear the cases challenging the congressional maps as unconstitutional. One case, brought by a group of voters, argued the maps are a partisan gerrymander. The other case, brought by the Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy, argues the congressional maps are an anti-competitive gerrymander.

Both panels dismissed the challenges in separate rulings this spring, writing that only the high court could make decisions about the existing congressional maps. The voters and the business group appealed the decisions. 

The issues before the justices in September for the voter-brought case include whether Wisconsin’s constitution allows partisan gerrymandering and, for the Wisconsin Business Leaders case, whether the three-judge panel was wrong in considering “anti-competitive” and partisan gerrymandering as the same argument. 

Lucas Vebber, deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, who is representing multiple intervenors in both maps cases, said their position remains that the Wisconsin constitution does not allow the groups in these cases to bring their gerrymandering claims. 

“This is a primary function of the Legislature,” Vebber explained. “Courts have a role to play, but they should stay within that role and not go beyond.” 

Jeff Mandell, general counsel for Law Forward, a progressive law firm representing the Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy in its case, said attorneys have asked the justices to issue a decision by the end of this year ahead of jury trial dates in April in that case.  

“If we’re able to hold that trial in April, that should provide time for the trial court to do its work, and for there to be an appeal if need be,” Mandell said. “And for there to be new districts that are constitutional for the 2028 congressional elections.” 

There would be no need for a trial if the high court affirms the three-judge panel’s dismissal, which would leave the existing maps in place. 

Will emergency election issues rise to the high court? 

While the court considers issues in the congressional maps case, legal experts say the stakes of the 2026 midterm elections make it likely that the justices could face potential fast-moving cases on voting and election-related issues. 

“We’ve had these fights over ballot boxes and whether you need to have a witness see your vote if you’re disabled. There was a whole issue of what has to be available for a disabled voter,” said Janine Geske, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and professor at the Marquette University Law School. “Those kinds of things people can go right to the court and say ‘We’re going to bypass everybody. This is an emergency. We need the court to issue a ruling.’ I suspect, especially with all the talk of voting integrity or voting fraud … that we’re going to see that.” 

Recently, the high court ordered an expedited process for briefings in an appeal filed by the Democratic National Committee about a 2024 case that sought answers to whether a circuit court has the authority to extend hours at a polling location past 8 p.m.

The Waukesha-based 2nd District Court of Appeals this summer reversed a Walworth County judge’s order from the 2024 presidential election that allowed polling locations at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus to stay open until 10:30 p.m. on Election Day. The 2nd District in July reversed the decision, arguing it is up to the Legislature to determine polling hours. 

The court has yet to accept the DNC’s petition for review, but Ziegler questioned the majority’s motives in her lone dissent against speeding up the briefing process. The majority did not offer an explanation for expediting that timeline.

“We know not why this matter races to the front of the line. One would think further explanation would be forthcoming,” wrote Ziegler, who is not seeking reelection and is in her final year on the court. “One would think the majority would be more cautious to not appear to favor the political party that spent seemingly endless amounts of money to get them elected.” 

Will justices accept a case to restore pre-Act 10 collective bargaining rights? 

In late July, the 2nd District Court of Appeals reversed a 2024 Dane County Circuit Court ruling that restored collective bargaining rights for many public sector unions and employees. The unions in the case appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court less than three weeks later. 

The issues in this case stem from whether portions of Act 10 — the 2011 law signed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker that spurred massive protests at the Capitol — that separate public safety and general public employees violate equal protection guarantees in Wisconsin’s constitution.

Geske said she sees a stronger argument in this case than past legal challenges to Act 10. But the justices will have to determine whether the court is held to previous opinions it has made related to Act 10, she said.

“I think that most of the justices who felt that are gone or no longer in the majority,” Geske said. 

Mandell, who is among the attorneys representing the unions in the case, said he expects the high court to decide whether to take the case sometime this fall. 

“If the court takes the case in the fall, then there’s ample time for it to be briefed and argued this term,” Mandell said. “Which means that by around the Fourth of July, we should have a final answer in Wisconsin about Act 10.” 

If the petition is accepted, the case would move forward without Hagedorn, who in January 2025 said he would not participate in the case. Hagedorn was chief legal counsel for Walker when Act 10 was drafted. 

What should courts use to interpret state laws? 

In a seemingly minor case about whether a former salesperson for a window company was eligible for unemployment insurance, the high court is expected to determine if it should use a new framework to interpret state statutes. 

For years, the courts have relied on a 2004 case that placed limits on when to use outside evidence, such as legislative history, to understand state statutes. Justices and legal experts have described the case, Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, as the most cited in Wisconsin Supreme Court history. 

The question before the high court is whether justices should take “a broader, holistic approach” to interpret state laws than what the Kalal case allows. 

“It’s really about how much we trust judges, or in this case, judges trust themselves to adequately or accurately assess things that legislators say,” Oldfather said. “Because the fear, of course, is that legislators will say self-serving things about what they pass into law.” 

The case has not been scheduled for oral arguments, but is among pending cases before the justices. Oldfather said it’s likely the majority will take the approach that Dallet wrote about in a 2021 case about conditions in a pollution discharge permit issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

In 2021, Dallet wrote that the court’s approach to statutory interpretation should be “more comprehensive,” although she acknowledged that some sources may be more reliable than others.

“Such a holistic methodology would lead to more transparent analyses in which the court is upfront and honest about considering relevant extrinsic sources to interpret a statute’s meaning,” Dallet wrote in 2021. “That includes being transparent about those sources’ actual analytical value when they support more than one reasonable inference.”

Dallet brought up that approach again in a 2025 concurring opinion for a case that determined employees of University of Wisconsin hospitals and clinics did not have the ability to collectively bargain under Act 10. 

Bradley, who left the court in July, in the same 2025 decision criticized Dallet’s effort and said a “holistic” approach “would remove any remaining constraints on judicial overreach.” 

“It’s an open appeal for judges in this state to legislate from the bench,” Bradley wrote. “This court should stay the course and reject Justice Dallet’s invitation to unmoor the judiciary from the rule of law.”

Elections, Act 10 top list of hot-button issues facing Wisconsin Supreme Court’s new liberal supermajority 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.

Progressive activist Gaby Goldstein thinks her opponents are brilliant.

Despite her deeply held liberal politics, she admires the work of conservative groups that for decades have built influence in state governments across the country. 

“We on the left have left a huge amount of power on the table,” said Goldstein, the founder and president of State Futures, a nonprofit launched last year that coordinates hundreds of Democratic lawmakers across the states.

Few on the right have been as influential as the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Founded in 1973, ALEC touts over 2,000 lawmakers as members — nearly a quarter of the country’s total state lawmakers. Despite fierce criticism, the organization has made an indelible mark on state policy by pushing hundreds of pieces of model legislation that have reshaped public education, state labor laws and taxation. 

“One of the things the right has known for decades is that by moving state policy, you move national policy,” Goldstein said. 

State Futures is among a growing number of progressive groups looking to combat the influence of groups such as ALEC. Experts say the left has years of work ahead if it wants to match the prowess of the organized right, which coalesced more readily around a few core issues. But the second Trump administration has rallied Democrats across the states seeking to oppose federal policies. This year, State Futures has worked with lawmakers who proposed nearly 250 bills in state capitols seeking to place limits on federal immigration efforts. 

Attention on state policymaking has only heightened as Democrats see the potential to flip hundreds of state legislative seats this November and chip away at the GOP’s hold on American politics. 

But Goldstein and other organizers say the left needs to make significant investments in state politics and policy that outlast any individual election cycle. In working to build Democratic power across the states, she’s studied the ALEC playbook. Aside from its relentless focus on state capitols over the years, she compliments the organization’s work of nurturing relationships that connect conservative lawmakers coast to coast.

“These are real people who are real friends,” she said. “I admire ALEC very much. I admire a lot about the right.”

For its part, ALEC says it welcomes more attention on state policy — even from those on the other side of the aisle.

Jonathan Williams, the organization’s president and chief economist, says more people are concurring with ALEC’s belief that changing policy starts with the states.

“There’s lots of groups out there that have tried to replicate ALEC from the left,” he said. “And there is some irony … that a lot of the left wanted to take ALEC out there for many years, and now they want to join in and try to replicate it.”

Williams said new progressive groups have often sprouted up with massive war chests focused on specific areas of policy.

In contrast, ALEC has built a strong base of support from conservative and free-market lawmakers and consistent funders including businesses, nonprofits and trade associations.

“You just don’t see years and years of concentrated and growing support from a wide base of supporters,” he said of progressive groups. “Some of these groups come out of nowhere, it seems.”

California Democratic Assemblymember Sade Elhawary said state lawmakers increasingly recognize the power of working across state lines. Sometimes, that’s done through pushing similar pieces of legislation. But other times it means just showing support — such as January’s gathering of Democratic lawmakers from more than a dozen states in Minnesota following a large deployment of federal immigration officers there. 

“We are so much stronger together,” she said. “We shouldn’t be doing it on our own, because then we can get attacked on our own.”

Elhawary is among the 112 lawmakers from 35 states working on federal response issues with State Futures. She said the national Democratic Party is losing the messaging war as it struggles to mount an opposition to President Donald Trump. But she said state lawmakers have the ability to articulate a clearer vision for voters by working on  issues that most matter to their constituents.

“When we can organize beyond our state, I think we can organize folks on the ground,” she said. “This is not about just the legislators. This is about community.” 

Connecting state lawmakers

Liberal groups have sought to offset the growing influence of conservative movements for years.

A group with the acronym ALICE, the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange, in 2012 aimed to counter ALEC’s national influence.

Liberal activists started the group in Wisconsin in direct response to the hotly debated policies of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a former ALEC member. In 2011, Walker signed highly publicized legislation eliminating collective bargaining rights for most public employees, a policy championed by ALEC. 

ALICE in 2014 merged with the Progressive States Network and the Center for State Innovation, creating what is now known as the State Innovation Exchange, or SiX. The group, which says it includes about 1,800 state lawmakers across 50 states, helps legislators to strategize on legislation that can reshape policy across state lines. 

While the group does work to counter the organized right, Executive Director EJ Juárez said it employs different tactics than conservative groups like ALEC. He said lawmakers work with their communities to craft legislation that is responsive to current needs — not just a wish list from outside interests.

“It’s not just, ‘Pass this bill because we wrote it and we think it’s good,’” he said.

ALEC maintains that its model legislation is crafted and debated by member lawmakers. 

Last month, SiX unveiled a national push for legislation to hold federal immigration officers accountable by allowing residents to sue agents for constitutional violations.

Democratic lawmakers in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Utah and Washington said they would work to rewrite state laws to make it easier to sue federal agents. They cited recent laws passed by Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island in announcing their broader effort.

To date, the American Civil Liberties Union says no federal immigration agent has ever been convinced of criminal wrongdoing while on duty. 

“This is about using all the tools that are granted to the states to create the accountability and democracy that we deserve,” Juárez said. 

He said enthusiasm is rising among state Democrats looking to respond to Trump administration policies. But Juárez said the left still doesn’t have the sustained political infrastructure touted by the right at the state level.

“When you look at the organization of infrastructure on the left, it is completely different,” he said. “It is much more responsive, and it is much more reactive. And what that does is it robs many great efforts of the ability to scale to true nationwide-changing power.”

All eyes on elections

While national Democratic groups have spent months organizing in opposition to federal immigration policies, many are now turning their sights to November’s midterm elections. 

In July, Democratic lawmakers from 15 states met ahead of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ summit in Chicago to discuss not just politics, but how states should prepare for the potential of federal election interference.

Those lawmakers said they were more determined than ever to exert their inherent state authority as they look to oppose Trump. 

“None of us are in this alone,” said Pennsylvania Democratic state Rep. Leanne Krueger. “There are so many things coming at us that hearing best practices from other places is really helpful.”

That meeting was hosted by the States Project, which was founded in 2017 to elect Democrats and build power at the state level. Most state lawmakers are employed part-time, making it difficult to research policy matters and connect with lawmakers across the country, said Mandara Meyers, the executive director of the organization. 

But those needs have only accelerated during the second Trump term. 

“We’re just in an unprecedented moment, right?” she said. “I think states are dealing with a different kind of challenge and a different kind of federal interference than they ever have before.”

The States Project is one of the largest outside spenders on Democratic state legislative races. But that work is viewed as more crucial this cycle as Democrats have a path to flip several Republican-held legislative chambers and break GOP supermajorities in states across the country this November.

But Meyers acknowledged that groups on the left are still building out the organizations needed to win and sustain power in states. And despite a renewed appreciation for the power held by states, many still view state legislative races as the “kids’ table” of American politics. 

While Democrats are poised well in state races this fall, they still have a long way to go in building out the kind of institutional power the right has enjoyed in states, said Peverill Squire, a political science professor emeritus at the University of Missouri who has researched state legislatures for years. 

Even in this favorable midterm cycle, it’s unlikely that Democrats can capture the majority of legislative seats in states. GOP lawmakers currently hold nearly 55% of the nation’s 7,386 state legislative seats and Republicans have control of all chambers in 28 legislatures. 

With groups like ALEC, Squire said, Republicans and corporate interests have benefited from pushing a fairly straightforward agenda centered on deregulation and tax cuts. But he said the left has a wider range of policy interests that could make it difficult to push model legislation in states.

“My guess is that it would take considerable time and effort for them to coalesce on a common platform in the same way Republicans managed to do over the last two decades,” he said. 

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org. 

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The city of Sheboygan could be the latest Wisconsin community to cut ties with Flock Safety, the company behind a license plate reader camera system. 

Local officials in places like Oshkosh, Sturgeon Bay, Appleton, Verona and Dane County have already cut ties with the company. It comes as opponents of the technology have raised privacy concerns and worries about how the data can be accessed and shared. 

Sheboygan’s police chief and city administrator plan to ask the common council to terminate the police department’s contract with Flock Safety during an upcoming meeting, according to an Aug. 25 statement.

The statement said the police department has been using automated license plate reader technology for over 10 years, while 15 Flock Safety cameras have been used since 2024. 

“ALPR (automated license plate reader) technology and Flock-captured data have been successfully used to solve several serious criminal cases in the City,” the statement said.

The data from the license plate reader cameras can be accessed by other law enforcement agencies. And there has been a history of misuse of the technology by police officers in Wisconsin.

Last month, the police department “became aware of actions by Flock Safety believed to be inconsistent with the terms and expectations of the City’s contract and which undermine trust in the services provided,” according to the statement. 

“The Police Department confirmed the circumstances and will therefore ask the Common Council to terminate the contract,” the statement said. 

Sheboygan Police Chief Kurt Zempel said the use of technology “is an important part of our effectiveness in providing justice and safety for our community.”

“But as with any system that involves access to powerful technology or sensitive information, strong internal controls and community trust are vital,” Zempel said. “That trust must extend to the partners who provide those services.” 

The common council could vote to terminate the contract during a Sept. 8 meeting. Sheboygan Mayor Ryan Sorenson said public works staff have wrapped the cameras in plastic ahead of that meeting.

Sorenson said he supports the decision by the police chief and city administrator.

“Fundamentally, this is a bigger conversation that you’re seeing across the country,” Sorenson said. “And when you have powerful AI tools, we want to make sure that our community feels safe and trusted.”

Sorenson said the police chief has told him the technology has been used to help solve a few crimes. 

“The crux of the decision that we’re making on this primarily comes from an erosion of trust from Flock itself and how they were using our data,” Sorenson said.

Sheboygan Ald. Susie Boorse, the common council president, said she also has concerns around the data usage related to the technology. 

“I guess it boils down to the fact that we just can’t be too careful about how our data is being used,” Boorse said. “And in the end, while we obviously want public safety to be a priority, I think that we have to make those judgment calls about the way that we go about doing that, to the best of our capabilities.”

Flock cameras have been vandalized in more than 30 states, according to an NPR report. In Wisconsin, police in Waukesha recently reported a Flock camera there was damaged.

Meanwhile, Brookfield Ald. Catherine Kahler is asking the city to “review its use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology and participation in the Flock Safety network before our current agreement automatically renews in July 2027,” according to an Aug. 26 statement.

“I think we should understand how information collected through the system can be accessed and shared, what rights the vendor has regarding that information, how the technology and its capabilities are evolving, and whether our existing safeguards and oversight are sufficient,” Kahler said in the statement. “I also think it is appropriate to consider the implications of using public funds to participate in a privately operated system of this scale.” 

Letter from Milwaukee council members calls for further reforms

This week, members of the Milwaukee Common Council sent a letter to Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, or FPC, about the use of the camera system by the police department.

It comes after the department announced changes to department access to the system and changes to its audit process this year. Those changes were made after a former Milwaukee police officer was charged with using the system to check the location of the vehicle of the person he was dating and that person’s ex.  

The letter requested the commission look into more reforms related to the system and asked for a “complete history of all searches conducted by outside agencies using MPD camera data or conducted by MPD officers on behalf of outside agencies.” 

It also asked that a policy be adopted to suspend access to the Flock system, “when there is credible evidence of intentional personal or unauthorized use.” 

“This is an urgent moment, and a problem that will not correct itself,” the letter said. 

In response to that letter, a spokesperson for the department said MPD “respects and values the concerns and positions of our elected officials.”

“We will work with the FPC to address our Council members’ concerns and respond to the Council after we have carefully reviewed their request and can provide a factual and thoughtful response,” the statement said. “The exchange of information, positions and ideas between MPD and our elected officials is important as we both serve the same community. MPD is committed to transparency and engaging in important dialogue such as this.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Flock Safety cameras in Sheboygan covered up by city 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.

Wisconsin lawmakers who have sought to address child safety online told the Wisconsin Examiner on Thursday that a settlement worth up to $17.1 billion between the owner of Facebook and Instagram and most states in the U.S. is a win, but that it leaves a lot to be done to protect kids.

Wisconsin was one of 47 states involved in a lawsuit, filed in 2023 against Meta, that alleged that the social media giant purposely designed its platforms with addictive features, knew it was exposing children to serious mental harms and intentionally misled the public about the safety of those platforms. 

Wisconsin is set to receive between $219 million and $313 million from the settlement, depending on whether other social media companies agree to the terms. The company in its settlement did not admit to wrongdoing.

For years, concerns about the safety of children online and efforts to protect their mental and physical health have been bubbling up. Wisconsin has adopted laws to ban cellphones during class time and recently expanded its Wisconsin’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Rep. Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) and Rep. Renuka Mayadev (D-Madison) were part of a group of lawmakers tasked with studying ways the state could protect children online during the 2025-26 legislative session. The task force resulted in an array of proposed bills aimed at addressing the issue, though many — including barring addictive features online for young users, age verification requirements, prohibition against chatbots for children without safety features and mental health warning on social media — did not become law.

“It’s unfortunate that it got to the point that we’ve seen children lose their lives, go through mental health situations,” Brill said. “I believe these platforms understood what they were doing was damaging to children, so while it’s a win, it’s unfortunate that we had to reach a settlement to get this taken care of when this wasn’t addressed previously.”

Mayadev said Meta “capitulated” with the settlement and that “it’s about time” something was done.  

“Young people are feeling more than ever lonely, have had increased suicide ideation, have had more anxiety and eating disorders. We’ve just seen the tremendous detrimental effects of social media,” Mayadev said. 

Both lawmakers said that the settlement is just a start.

During a Wednesday press conference, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said the settlement is the largest Big Tech settlement in the history of the country and the largest state consumer protection settlement since the settlements with Big Tobacco in the 1990s. 

According to the New York Times, the Meta settlement’s base cost will be $12 billion, but an additional $5 billion will be paid by Meta if other social media companies also agree to pay in $5 billion. The company has also agreed to the two-hour limit on screen time for children, though it could be decreased to a one-hour limit if other companies agree to the same.

Kaul said the next step is to determine where the funding should go. 

“What I’m going to be doing is everything I can to put these funds toward keeping kids safe in Wisconsin,” Kaul said. The funds, he added, could go towards initiatives such as crisis intervention services, after-school programming and digital wellness use and mental health programming.

Brill noted that while the settlement seems like a lot of money, it is only a small portion of what the multi-trillion dollar company brings in each year.

“I don’t think we can put a worth on the number of children and the damage it’s caused, so while we should celebrate it, I think it’s a cautious celebration because there’s so much work to do and so much loss that came in the meantime,” Brill said. 

Brill and Mayadev said they’d both like lawmakers to be involved in conversations over where the funds are allocated.

Kaul said the most important piece of the settlement is the sweeping safety changes Meta has agreed to make to its platforms. 

“I hope they can set a new standard for the entire industry so that kids who are using social media can stay safe and remain healthy as they’re online,” Kaul said. 

Changes include stronger age verification of users between the ages of 13 and 17, mandatory pauses at 15 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes, limiting screen time for teenagers up to 17 for two hours a day, restrictions on access at night and an elimination of push notifications during school hours. 

“We’re gonna see stronger, more friendly, user-friendly parental controls in place as well, so parents are going to be able more easily to play a larger role in limiting their kids’ use of these platforms,” Kaul said. Beauty filters — which distort a user’s face in real time to change its shape or add makeup — will also be limited. 

Brill said she thinks a key part of the settlement is that the company appears to be keeping “parents in the driver’s seat .” She said she will be interested to see whether the other companies agree, however. Some of the work, she said, will be continuing to push for state-level laws that can address the issue, which she described as nonpartisan. Brill does not face a challenger in her bid for reelection this year. 

“I met some of the families who have had things happen with their children, and it’s absolutely devastating, and it doesn’t matter which way your house votes; it affects everybody,” Brill said. “We’re just seeing the mental health of our state and our children, being so affected by this, so my hope is we can make a smart decision with [the settlement funds], and that we can, as a Legislature, continue to move forward and introduce great legislation to a governor’s desk that’s willing to work with us on it.”

Mayadev said she doesn’t think  the settlement’s guardrails are sufficient.

“Why would we trust the company who has put our children in harm’s way to come up with the solution to protect them?” she said. “No parent — and I’m a parent — should feel like ‘OK, well now let me just hand over the phone and the social media apps because Meta and the other big tech CEOs are gonna care for my children.’”

Mayadev said that ideally regulations on companies would be put in place on a federal level. She said legislation would ensure it is the company’s obligation to make sure platforms are safe rather than burdening parents. She said that “children are bright” and can likely find ways around some of the changes that are being discussed. 

“At the federal level, we need our congressional folks to act because then we’d have uniform guardrails, guidelines for everybody in the United States to adhere to and to protect children,” Mayadev said. “If Congress continues not to act, we’re going to have to do it at the state level, and then what the problem with that is, it’s piecemeal. What we do is different than Minnesota, which is different than Michigan or Ohio.” 

The state of Wisconsin collected $23.13 billion in taxes in the 2025-25 fiscal year, a 3.4% increase from the prior year, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Department of Revenue.

The amount collected was $450.8 million above the $22.6 billion that the DOR projected the state would collect earlier this year, a 2% gain. 

The state brought in $231.3 million more than expected in income taxes as well as $79.9 million more than expected in the general sales and use tax and $83.9 million more than expected in the corporate income tax. 

The higher than projected revenue could grow the state’s budget surplus to over $3 billion in a critical election year and ahead of the next state budget process. Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated in January that the state would finish the 2025-27 biennium with a nearly $2.5 billion surplus. 

State Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), who co-chairs the Joint Finance Committee, said in a statement that he is “not surprised” by the latest numbers. 

“I have been watching the revenue numbers each month and they were indicating we would have a larger surplus than originally thought,” he said, adding that he is disappointed lawmakers could not pass a bipartisan agreement negotiated by Gov. Tony Evers and Republican lawmakers earlier this year. 

Following the initial projection, Evers and GOP lawmakers negotiated a $1.8 billion school funding and tax cut deal that would have provided additional special education funding to schools, property tax relief through the school tax credit, $600 rebate checks and the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime. The deal failed in the state Senate in May.

“Our families and taxpayers could use the relief now,” Marklein said.

Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said in a statement that he would be open to returning to session to do something with the surplus soon.

“If  we can reach an agreement that delivers meaningful tax relief for Wisconsin families and can pass both houses, I’m ready to get it done,” he said. 

Without further action, the surplus will be dealt with by the next governor and state Legislature. Control of both are up for grabs in November. 

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, said in a post on social media that the growth in the state’s budget surplus is a sign that Wisconsin residents are being overtaxed. He claimed that his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, would keep the surplus in Madison and “make government bigger.” 

“I’ll send every dollar of the surplus back to you and deliver permanent tax relief for working families,” Tiffany said. Tiffany lobbied Republicans in the state Senate to vote against the earlier deal, which contributed to its defeat.

Crowley said in a statement about the surplus that he would “consider the long-term investments we can make and work with the legislature to bring costs down for all Wisconsinites.” 

“What I won’t do is defund our schools, our healthcare system, or the basic services working families rely on like Congressman Tom Tiffany has done his entire political career,” he said.