Democratic Senators called attention to cuts to two veterans programs taking effect in October due to funding being left out of the state budget by Republican lawmakers. The Wisconsin Senate passing the 2025-27 budget bill in July. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

State lawmakers have failed to find a solution to stop cuts taking effect in October to two Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs programs that help veterans struggling with homelessness and mental health issues. 

The Veterans Housing and Recovery Program (VHRP) is closing two of its locations, one in Chippewa Falls and the other in Green Bay, and the Veterans Outreach and Recovery Program (VORP), which serves veterans dealing with mental health and substance use issues and aims to reduce the suicide rate among veterans, is set to lose seven positions.

The VHRP has been the center of back and forth between Democrats and Republicans for months since the announcement of the closures in July. 

A Republican bill to fund the program received a hearing in September, but it was too late to stop the closures. 

VORP launched in 2015 with the help of a federal mental health grant. It is now state funded and Evers used American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2023 to expand the reach of the program, but those funds have run out. 

Gov. Tony Evers had requested seven positions and more than $1.1 million to help support the program, but Republican lawmakers stripped that proposal from the state budget. Those seven positions were set to expire in October without the additional funds, though the cuts have already taken effect with the state Department of Veterans Affairs reducing the number of regions under the program from 16 back to 11.

The additional employees had helped the agency reach more veterans, provide support in a more timely manner and give veterans more individual attention, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. In 2023-24, the program provided services to 2,222 people — a nearly 70% increase compared to the prior year.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Sen. Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay) called attention to the cuts during a press call on Tuesday, blaming Republicans for the failure to provide the needed funding. 

“I’m frustrated, and I’m devastated at the same time,” Hesselbein said. “As of today, these facilities are closed and the veterans they once housed have been relocated.” 

Hoey said at the hearing on the bill from Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) that the earliest the Chippewa Falls facility would be able to reopen is sometime after Oct. 1, 2026. The Green Bay location, he said, could be reopened relatively quickly if there was funding and depending on whether the federal government would approve a request for a change to its scope. 

Hesselbein noted that Evers and Democratic lawmakers have provided several opportunities for Republicans to keep the VHRP sites open and provide funding to VORP. 

Democratic lawmakers, led by Hesselbein and Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa), introduced a bill to provide funding for the VORP positions, but it hasn’t received a hearing in the Republican-led Legislature. No Republican lawmakers have signed on to it, nor have they introduced their own version that would provide the funding.

A separate bill, authored by Wall, Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) and Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Clare), would provide the necessary funding for the VHRP sites. It previously would have provided $1.9 million, but an amendment to the legislation increases that to $2.6 million, which, Wall said, would be necessary to restart the programs. 

“My disappointment is with the leadership of legislative Republicans that has not made this program, has not made that bill, has not made homeless veterans a priority over the last few months,” Wall said. “They’ve run out the clock until here we are on Sept. 30, with the funding going away now. It’s possible to revive these programs… but it’s going to take a little bit more money and a lot more time. In the best case, we’re looking at next fall before we can stand up these programs again.” 

Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) blamed Evers for the closures, again, in a statement on Tuesday, claiming that there is money available to fund the programs.

“The Legislature appropriated enough funding to support the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program,” Wimberger said. “Evers simply refused to spend it. The closing of veterans’ homeless shelters is his decision alone, and he quite literally is refusing to use available funding in the exact same manner as he did last year to run those facilities.”

Evers has previously rejected Wimberger’s claim, noting that a paper from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau to the Joint Finance Committee warned lawmakers that additional funds were needed for the program. 

A letter from Republican lawmakers also noted that there has been a balance that the Department of Veterans Affairs  returns to the state treasury at the end of the year, though Hoey has noted that the agency is “only allowed to spend the money [the Legislature] tell[s] us to spend.”

Wall made a similar point during the press conference, saying that “we don’t just write a blank check to the Department of Veterans Affairs or any other part of the state budget. What we do is say that there’s so much money in this budget line for this program and so much money in that budget line for this other program, and so the fact that the Department of Veterans Affairs had surplus money and other budget lines doesn’t mean that they could just willy-nilly take that and spend that any way they wanted to for the benefit of this program.”

Hesselbein said this is a continuation of Republicans’ “strange finger pointing.” 

Hesselbein used the deadline for the closures and cuts as an opportunity to talk about what Democrats would do if they were in the majority. Democrats are seeking to flip the Senate in 2026 and need to win two additional seats to do it.

“Republicans chose to do nothing,” Hesselbein said. “Rest assured in a couple of years, when I’m the majority leader, these kinds of antics won’t be tolerated in a Democratic majority, but unfortunately, while that day is on the horizon, it’s not here yet.”

Jung launched his campaign on Tuesday from the waterfront in Racine, and was joined by some current lawmakers, including Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee). (Photo courtesy of State Senate Democratic Committee)

City of Racine transit and mobility director Trevor Jung is running as a Democrat for southeast Wisconsin state Senate District 21 — the final of three districts that Democrats aim to flip in 2026 to help them capture the Senate majority. 

“I owe everything to my hometown,” Jung, who was born in Russia and raised in Racine, told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview. “This is a special place with a lot of warmth and compassion… The state really has turned its back on places like the neighborhood that I grew up in, and whether you’re in Racine or Franklin or Greendale, the state has really neglected us.”  

Jung launched his campaign on Tuesday from the waterfront in Racine, and was joined by some current lawmakers, including Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee). 

“For me, this is about giving back to the place that gave me everything, and focusing on affordability, good paying jobs and making sure that we avoid what everybody is really sick of, which is the nastiness, the politics that too often turn people,” Jung said. 

Democrats, who haven’t held a majority in either legislative chamber in over 15 years, need to flip two seats and hold their current seats in order to win the Senate majority in 2026.  

Along with SD 21, Wisconsin Democrats are aiming to flip are Senate District 17, currently represented by Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), and Senate District 5, currently represented by Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield).

The 21st district’s incumbent, Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), has served in the Senate for the last decade. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010, but lost a recall election in 2012.  Wanggaard was unchallenged during his most recent general election in 2022. In his 2018 reelection bid, he beat the Democratic candidate with nearly 60% of the vote.

But this year the district has changed considerably under new maps adopted in 2024.The current district encompasses part of Racine County, including the northern part of the city, and part of Milwaukee County, including Franklin, Hales Corner, Greendale and Greenfield. 

According to an analysis by John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University, the area encompassed by the new district lines leaned Democratic by 1 percentage point in the 2024 presidential election and by 2.2 percentage points in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. 

“You’re going to have to earn every vote,” Jung said of the district. “We’re going to be out there. We’re going to be listening to people. We’re going to be having conversations about what priorities residents of the district have, and we’re going to make sure that folks know that this is not about left or right. This is about building relationships and solving problems and having honest conversations about how the state can work together with the private sector and local government to make the quality of life better for people who live in southeast Wisconsin.”

Shortly after Jung’s campaign announcement, Wanggaard criticized the Democratic candidate in a statement.

“While Trevor is a nice, friendly, soft spoken young man, he uses that to hide his crazy liberal ideas that are more at home in San Francisco than in Milwaukee and Racine counties,” Wanggaard said. “Do not be mistaken — he is every bit an extreme Madison/California liberal as there is. He will vote in lockstep with everything the Democrats stand for — from raising taxes to allowing boys in girls’ locker rooms.” 

Wanggaard said in a statement that he plans to make a decision about whether to run near the end of this year. In his most recent campaign finance report, he reported raising only $0.80 this year.

“My timeline for making a decision whether or not to run for another term remains the same,” Wanggaard said. “As I stated last November, last January, and in July, I will continue to discuss another term with my family and friends.”

Wanggaard said that he has been receiving support and encouragement to run. 

“The priorities for the next term will remain the same, and what I’ve heard throughout the district — grow the economy, improve public safety, eliminate fraud and abuse, and protect the vulnerable,” Wanggaard said. 

Jung said he will run a positive campaign focused on the issues that matter to people in the district.  

“While my opponent is going to try to make whatever the national narrative is that’s focused on politics and name calling, we’re going to be focused on having a vision for making people’s lives better in Wisconsin,” Jung said, adding that it is still unclear who his opponent ultimately will be.

Jung said his campaign is about responding to people’s needs. 

“We’ve got dramatic cuts in shared revenue to make sure that we’ve got proper public services and public safety,” Jung said. “You have the state of Wisconsin ranking 27th in spending per pupil in our public schools, when just a generation ago, we were one of the best states in the nation in terms of making sure our students have what they need to succeed.”

Jung said the 2023 changes to shared revenue were a “Band-Aid” for local communities such as his and that he wants to ensure public schools have adequate funding. 

“We’re funding two education systems, and that’s not efficient,” Jung said, referring to the expansion of taxpayer-funded private schools — though he fell short of saying he’d want to see an end to the state’s school voucher system. 

Jung said in his current position in Racine city government, he and others have worked to expand transit service to the Social Security office as a way to ensure that elderly and disabled residents are able to access their benefits. He said they have also worked to prioritize savings, by helping bring down the cost of public transit, service, by ensuring people get the most out of public transit and sustainability, through environmentally conscious decisions. 

In his current role, which he plans to continue as he runs for state Senate, Jung said that he has seen the state of Wisconsin fail to be an adequate partner. 

“Instead of being an ally in that work to save local government money and to deliver better service, in large part, they’ve been an adversary,” Jung said. “They too often focused on national politics rather than getting stuff done for people at the local level.” 

This isn’t Jung’s first time running for public office. He previously served as the youngest member of the Racine Common Council, elected at age 23. He ran for the office after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in urban studies and a focus on urban planning. 

His position on the common council, Jung said, “gave me a really good insight into, because of levy limits and revenue constraints and shared revenue, cuts that we had to make — really difficult decisions that we shouldn’t have had to make because of the state turning its back.”

Jung said that he has several priorities that he would want to work on in the state Senate that boil down to what he calls the “five Ts”: talent, training, transportation, technology and tourism. 

“If we get those right, Wisconsin can be one of the fastest growing states in the union,” he said. 

“What do we do to keep young people here and attract the next generation of talent in order to be a competitive place?” Jung asked rhetorically. “We need to work with organized labor and create a pipeline for the skilled trades so that people have access to family-supporting jobs.” 

Jung said that the state also needs to support public transportation, “whether that’s a robust public transportation system that gets people to work, doctor’s appointments, school or investing in alternatives to the personal vehicle, like transit and rail.” 

“We’ve got this new revolution in robotics and green energy and advanced manufacturing,” he added. “What can we do to make sure that Wisconsin is a place that is a leader in these new sectors?”

“This is the most beautiful state in the country,” Jung said, laying out his argument that tourism can do more for the economy. “Southeastern Wisconsin has an incredible architecture on the shores of Lake Michigan. We have a beautiful opportunity to make sure that visitors coming here can sustain the quality of life for residents who live here.” 

Jung said the state needs new energy and leadership that rejects “austerity” in favor of “investment.” 

“We need a positive vision for the future,” Jung said. “I’m excited about the youthful energy that we can bring to this campaign, but also looking forward to collaborating with people of all different walks of life to make sure that this is a well rounded and informed effort.”