wisconsin

Voters in swing state force MAGA candidate to flee Trump's record

The Milwaukee journal Sentinel says Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany is having a hard time squaring his MAGA policies in a state that is steadily growing more blue with each unpopular policy President Donald Trump unloads.

“Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany sent mixed messages in recent days about whether he supports mail-in voting,” said the Sentinel. “In a March 12 interview with a conservative news outlet based in northwest Wisconsin, Tiffany said he doesn't believe ‘we should be doing mail-in voting’ when asked for his thoughts on the practice.”

"Many states have encouraged it and we've seen the results where you get these questions around elections. So I think it would be better if we did not have it," Tiffany told DrydenWire founder Ben Dryden in the interview.

Tiffany is the only major candidate running in the Wisconsin Republican primary for governor. The Sentinel points out that he has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who has demanded the end of mail-in voting.

But the Sentinel added that Tiffany himself has voted absentee in a dozen elections over the past 10 years. And his state’s voters highly approve of mail-in voting while increasingly disapproving of the president who wants to end it.

When asked to clarify Tiffany’s statement that “it would be better if we did not have” mail-in voting, Tiffany spokeswoman Caroline Briscoe said the candidate “supports” the current mail in-system in Wisconsin.

"He does not believe universal mail-in voting should exist. He supports Wisconsin’s requested absentee voting system with safeguards to prevent abuse," she said.

But the Sentinel explains that the term "mail-in voting" is often used to describe the style of Wisconsin's system of absentee voting, which mails absentee ballots to voters who request them.

However, Briscoe preferred to split hairs over the differences between absentee voting systems and vote-by-mail systems — which appear to differ only in whether voters request their ballots beforehand.

But state voters are sensitive about keeping mail-in voting intact. The Sentinel reports that Madison, Wis. election officials are already being sued by voters whose absentee ballots were not counted during the 2024 election.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Discouraged Republicans surrender a once hotly-contested political battleground: report

Once a fiercely-contested state supreme court that embroiled the whole state of Wisconsin, Republicans appear to have given up on the possibility of reclaiming the court majority and influencing Wisconsin policy.

Now with Democrats holding the court majority and striking down Republican gerrymandered state maps, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler will not seek a third term in 2027, she announced Monday.

“After three decades on the bench, now is the right time for me to step away to spend more time with my husband, kids and grandkids," Ziegler said in a statement.

In 2007, Ziegler beat attorney Linda Clifford for her seat on the Supreme Court in a race that cost about $6 million. The Sentinel reports that, at the time, that was the funding record for a court race.

But last year, billionaire Elon Musk flooded the Wisconsin supreme court election with money, even going so far as to hand out two million-dollar checks to petition signers just days before voters went to the polls. During a Fox News interview, Musk predicted that if the liberal candidate won against his conservative champion, it would be a precursor to Democrats taking back the U.S. House of Representatives and having "nonstop impeachment hearings and subpoenas."

But Musk came up empty after Dane County Judge Susan Crawford defeated conservative Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel in April 2025 — in perhaps one of the first backlash votes against President Donald Trump last year.

The Sentinel reports that three days after securing their fledgling majority, the court's four liberal justices voted to limit Ziegler's power as chief justice – a move she called at the time "an attempt to gut" her constitutional authority by "rogue justices."

Last year, Ziegler — now in the court’s minority — argued that the use of a more balanced election map would violate the U.S. Constitution. She cited a 2022 Supreme Court decision, Moore v. Harper, for the proposition that state courts’ role in congressional redistricting is “exceedingly limited.”

But Slate writer Mark Stern walloped that argument, reporting that “Moore said no such thing. That quotation appears nowhere in the ruling. To the contrary, Moore held the opposite, concluding that state courts can play a legitimate, meaningful role in congressional redistricting.”

Stern added that the Badger state’s electorate is split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Yet in 2024, it elected six Republicans and just two Democrats to the House of Representatives thanks to the heavily Republican-favored gerrymandered map it was using at the time.

The increasingly anti-Trump environment in Wisconsin may be coupling with the exorbitant costs of court elections and deterring conservative candidates, even incumbents like Ziegler.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Conservative judge caught inserting 'make-believe' Supreme Court quote in dissent

Elections have consequences, and on Tuesday, Slate reports the liberal majority Wisconsin Supreme Court took a major step in striking down the state’s Republican gerrymandered map that disenfranchises Democratic voters.

The majority appointed a pair of three-judge panels to decide whether the map violates the state constitution and if the judiciary must impose a fairer substitute,” reports Slate's Mark Joseph Stern. But their decision drew dissent from the court’s conservative members, who used to hold a majority before frustrated Wisconsin voters installed a new liberal justice in a special election earlier this year.

Conservative Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler — now in the minority — argued that the use of a more balanced map would violate the U.S. Constitution. She cited a 2022 Supreme Court decision, Moore v. Harper, for the proposition that state courts’ role in congressional redistricting is “exceedingly limited.”

“There is just one problem,” said Stern. “Moore said no such thing. That quotation appears nowhere in the ruling. To the contrary, Moore held the opposite, concluding that state courts can play a legitimate, meaningful role in congressional redistricting.”

Wisconsin’s congressional map has long been in the crosshairs of voting rights advocates, who pushed a grassroots campaign against billionaire Elon Musk’s attempt to buy a conservative majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court special election earlier this year.

Musk landed a ‘blowout’ loss, however, and Democrats took the court majority by a 4-3 lead with the win of liberal judicial candidate Susan Crawford.

“The state’s electorate is split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Yet in 2024, it elected six Republicans and just two Democrats to the House of Representatives,” said Stern. “This 6–2 split is a product of a notorious gerrymander that Republicans drew after the 2010 census.”

Wisconsin’s new hard-fought, 4–3 liberal majority in the high court has already struck down the state’s legislative map, which was an egregious Republican gerrymander. Now two groups of plaintiffs are targeting the equally Republican-biased congressional map.

“If their lawsuit prevails, Democrats could gain up to three seats in the House of Representatives,” said Stern.

“It is not clear how Ziegler’s misquotation wound up in the published opinion of a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. By Wednesday morning, the court had withdrawn the opinion from its website and replaced it with a partial correction — without publicly acknowledging the mistake,” said Stern. “Yet this new version doubles down on the first draft’s underlying error: It continues to assert that SCOTUS severely restricted state courts’ oversight of congressional redistricting, offering a patently inaccurate summary of Moore’s holding. To justify her hostility toward judicial redistricting, Ziegler resorted to a make-believe version of the law.”

“Mistakes happen,” Stern continued. “But when they do, judges are supposed to fix them, not recast them into a doctrine that doesn’t exist.”

Read the Slate report at this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Wisconsin Republican resigns due to 'dysfunctional' GOP leadership

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Republican discord has driven the state’s GOP treasurer to resign.

Months away from President Donald Trump taking Wisconsin in the last election, chaos has hounded the Republican party of that state.

“The party’s treasurer and longtime executive committee member, Kelly Ruh, resigned from her post Oct. 19 over what she described as “dysfunctional leadership” and a lack of direction for the party that she said has led Republicans in the state to “repeat the same mistakes time and again,’” reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Ruh went on to say “The absence of a strategic plan, defined objectives, and measurable outcomes, as well as budgetary issues have created an environment in which progress is difficult to assess and nearly impossible to achieve.”

Despite Trump winning the state last year, Ruh said more recent elections with Democrats sweeping seats indicates the state party “will play no role in deciding our nation’s future” if it does not “drastically change its approach to everything,” which she said includes leadership, fundraising, messaging, organizing, among other goals.

Wisconsin Republican chairman Brian Schimming has also been under fire from members of his own party, reports the Sentinel, with one member asking for him to step down.

The Sentinel reports more MAGA-oriented Republican forces like Turning Point USA are working to overtake the state party’s agenda and its executive committee. The paper reports Ruh represents the party’s old guard.

In her letter, Ruh said she felt she can “no longer meaningfully contribute to our Party’s executive leadership team under the current circumstances,” adding that “it is unclear what we are working toward or what our capacity is to achieve our objective.”

Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report at this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Trump backer who pledged to 'fight against child trafficking' arrested on similar charges

A passionate supporter of President Donald Trump, who is married to a prominent Republican operative in Wisconsin and publicly stated in 2024 that he was casting his vote to combat child trafficking, is now facing ten counts of possessing images of exploited children.

Scott Soucek, from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was arrested last week, according to a report by The Daily Beast. He is accused of downloading hundreds of illicit images via a file‑sharing network.

Back in October, Scott posted on Facebook a list of roughly two dozen reasons why he intended to vote for Trump.

“I’m voting to fight against human/child trafficking,” he wrote, adding that he was voting “for my children and my grandchildren.”

More than fifteen years prior to that post, in 2009, Door County investigators examined his laptop after he admitted to downloading illegal images involving children, but for reasons that remain unexplained, the case was never sent to the district attorney’s office.

According to the report, the newly filed 12‑page criminal complaint describes graphic content that was allegedly downloaded in March of this year. It linked to an IP address believed to be associated with Soucek.

Soucek's wife, Stephanie Soucek, serves as chair of the Door County Republican Party and was a delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention, per the report.

Throughout the 2024 campaign, both he and his wife were vocal MAGA supporters. In October 2024, Stephanie appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast and spoke with future FBI director Kash Patel about her voter mobilization efforts in Wisconsin.

Following his arrest, Soucek was released on a $10,000 cash bond, posted by Stephanie, and his next court appearance was scheduled for August 29, 2025, according to the report.

If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Critical': GOP rep asks Dem gov to act 'without delay' to save hospitals from Trump bill

One Republican member of the House of Representatives who is voting in favor of President Donald Trump's massive budget bill is now asking his state's Democratic governor to take swift action to protect his state's hospitals.

On Wednesday, WISN 12 News Milwaukee political director Matt Smith tweeted a letter that Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) sent to Governor Tony Evers (D) urging him to move quickly to sign the state's budget ahead of Trump signing H.R. 1 ("The One Big Beautiful Bill Act") into law, should it pass the House. According to Van Orden, Evers' signature is necessary to save the Badger State's hospitals from a potentially massive financial blow.

"I cannot emphasize the importance of signing the proposed state budget into law without delay," Van Orden wrote in the letter. "As you are aware, timely enactment is especially critical this year due to the proposed increase in the state provider tax, which must be effectuated before the anticipated signing of the One, Big Beautiful Bill on or around July 4, 2025."

The Senate's version of H.R. 1 — which Trump has asked the House to pass without making any additional changes in order to get it to his desk by a self-imposed July 4 deadline – would put a cap on the amount of money individual states can request through "assessment rates," or fees that allow hospitals to recoup matching Medicaid funds from the federal government. According to Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), that cap could cost Wisconsin hospitals alone roughly $1.5 billion.

"Currently, Wisconsin’s assessment rate is at 1.8 percent. This budget proposal being debated on Wednesday would raise that to the federal maximum of 6 percent," wrote WPR's Anya Van Wagtendonk. "If the federal budget act is signed before Wisconsin lawmakers approve the state’s budget, Wisconsin would be unable to raise its hospital assessment fee."

The $111 biennial Wisconsin budget has not yet reached Gov. Evers' desk. Lawmakers are currently debating the 421-page document. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) said the legislature is "working really fast to get it done," acknowledging the tight deadline of Trump potentially signing H.R. 1 into law on Friday.

Aside from the extra money for hospitals, many rural hospitals are at risk of closure if the Republican budget bill is signed into law. According to the University of North Carolina's Sheps Center for Health Services Research, more than 300 rural hospitals across the country could close, including three in Wisconsin.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'One of the worst': Kristi Noem slammed for 'false accusation' against man who was framed

Authorities have acknowledged an error in their initial assessment of a Wisconsin man who was arrested last month under suspicion of threatening President Donald Trump, CNN reported Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secretary Kristi Noem had previously labeled Ramón Morales Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, as a potential threat based on threatening letters allegedly written by him. However, a subsequent investigation revealed that Morales Reyes, who cannot read or write in English, was framed by Demetric Deshawn Scott, a 52-year-old man from Milwaukee.

Scott is now facing multiple felony charges for forging the letters in an attempt to prevent Morales Reyes from testifying in Scott's upcoming trial for armed robbery and aggravated battery.

Noem's social media post announcing Morales Reyes' arrest is still up on her account.

Social media users reacted to the development and raised concerns about the accuracy and fairness of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement practices.

Immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote on the social platform X: "This is one of the worst scandals of the current administration; they are literally doing the work of a guy accused of robbery who sent fake letters FROM JAIL with the goal of having his victim deported — and haven't even apologized the the false accusation."

"DHS lies," wrote Cato Institute analyst Alex Nowrasteh.

"It’s all a reality TV series for them. Alina Habbas now being sued by the NJ mayor she ordered to be arrested; and then she indicted of course she knew she had to eventually drop the charges, but today she’s sued for it. Kristi knew what she was doing bc it’s all a performance," wrote a user.

"Here’s a noncitizen who has been targeted by DHS for jail, detention, and eventual deportation on the basis of a false accusation. He was targeted because of his race. Democrats @MarkWarner, @RepSuhas, and @RepVindman all endorsed this behavior by voting for the Laken Riley Act," tweeted another user.

"Remember when [people] on the right used to say 'the demand for racist stories outstrips the supply'? Now it's the demand for anti-immigrant stories, and instead of the lamestream media buying into fake hate crimes, it's Kristi Noem credulously sharing fake assassination threats," another user said in a post on X.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Trampling of 1st Amendment rights': GOP lawmaker calls police on man over anti-Trump hat

One Republican state legislator in Wisconsin recently interrupted a committee hearing in order to remove a man from the room over an article of clothing.

The National News Desk (TNND) reported Thursday that Wisconsin State Assembly member Ron Tusler (R) called a hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee into recess after one witness who was in line to testify on legislation was seen wearing a hat that read "F--- Trump Viva Mexico." Democratic Assembly member Ryan Clancy confirmed in a social media post that Tusler asked Wisconsin Capitol Police to remove the man from the hearing.

“In response to wearing a hat that he found ‘offensive,’ Rep. Ron Tusler just called the police to have a someone removed rather than hearing his testimony,” Clancy wrote. “Rep Tusler called a recess and left, and so did the Capitol Police when they showed up. The next item, appropriately, also deals with the trampling of first amendment rights.”

Even police officers were hesitant to act on Tusler's request given that the man Tusler wanted escorted out was sitting quietly at the witness table, with one reportedly saying: "Can anyone tell me why we were called?"

Assemblywoman Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, who is the ranking member of the committee, accused Tusler of creating even more of a disturbance than the man who was wearing the controversial hat.

"The only disruption I have seen is you coming here when we could have continued with the testimony of this gentleman, it would have been less disruptive," Ortiz-Velez said.

Ortiz-Velez later told TNND that she "also believe[s] that the hat is protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution." And Article 1, Section 3 of the Wisconsin state constitution reads: "The right of the people peaceably to assemble, to consult for the common good, and to petition the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged."

Click here to read TNND's full report.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Looks horrible': Former Trump FBI chief says Kash Patel may have fumbled judge’s arrest

One former top FBI official in President Donald Trump's first administration is now saying current FBI Director Kash Patel could have committed a major error pertaining to the arrest of a judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Patel announced the FBI's arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday morning on social media, posting to his official X account that the bureau had "evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week." The tweet was deleted, and later reposted.

"We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest," Patel tweeted. "Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public."

In a Friday segment on CNN, Andrew McCabe — who was briefly the director of the FBI between James Comey and Christopher Wray — said that Patel briefly deleting the tweet could have been the result of an intervention with cooler heads in proximity to the bureau's director. CNN host Kasie Hunt asked McCabe if the deletion of the tweet suggests something may have happened "behind the scenes" that caused alarm within the higher echelon of the nation's top law enforcement agency.

"FBI directors traditionally do not speak about arrests in this way. They certainly don't gloat or pound their chests over them in the way that he did, here today," McCabe said. "I hope that he pulled the message down because somewhere on the seventh floor, he actually has an advisor with some common sense who he listens to. And that person said to him: 'You know what? You should take that down. It looks horrible.' And it further inserts the FBI into kind of first place on what will be a very volatile and political issue. and that is the last place they need to be."

McCabe went on to say that the federal indictment of Judge Dugan was "strong on its face," and acknowledged that the two felony counts of obstructing a federal proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent arrest were backed up by "numerous witnesses" and "a lot of facts that will support this prosecution." However, he added that the decision to arrest and charge the judge was moreso about "messaging."

"The message here is treating this judge like she just committed some sort of a violent crime — which she didn't — and publicly humiliating her. That is the message to the rest of local judges, local sheriffs, local officials who may feel uncomfortable now being on the on the pointy edge of the government's immigration efforts," McCabe said. "This is a this is an effort at intimidation. There's a clear message being sent by the administration here today. I'm not so sure that it's a good one."

Watch the video of McCabe's comments below, or by clicking this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Very chilling': Retired judge blasts Trump’s 'excessive' arrest of Wisconsin judge

On Friday, FBI agents arrested Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was charged with two federal felonies. One former judge is now calling the arrest an "escalation" of President Donald Trump's war on the judiciary.

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Dugan's arrest was first announced by FBI Director Kash Patel on social media before he deleted the post. The Trump administration is accusing the judge of "harboring" undocumented immigrant Eduardo Flores Ruiz, who was facing deportation, and for obstructing federal immigration enforcement. Ruiz was eventually arrested by federal agents after they chased him through an alley.

In a segment with CNN host Boris Sanchez, retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Diane Kiesel opined that the administration's decision to arrest Dugan was heavy-handed and that there were "other methods" they could have pursued.

"20 years ago in New York, a judge interfered with an arrest, and she got removed from the bench. The Justice Department could have complained to the Wisconsin State Commission on Judicial Conduct and said this woman overstepped her bounds," Kiesel said. "Arrest? That feels very chilling. And it and very concerning."

Kiesel said that even if assuming the Trump administration's allegations are true, the burden of proof on the government would be very high to succeed in a trial. She observed that the administration would have to prove in court that Dugan "intended to interfere with the arrest and that she was able to do so, that she was aware of what was going to happen outside the hallway when he left the courtroom and that she deliberately decided that she did not want that to happen."

"That feels like excessive to me," Kiesel said. "Overcharging is the word I would probably use."

"It is yet another example of the one entity that has been standing up to the administration, which is the judiciary. as we've seen in multiple cases around the country, the one entity standing up to the Trump administration may now be the target," she continued. "I can't tell you how strongly I feel that judges are sworn to uphold the law. If this happened, i don't necessarily condone it. However, going after judges by arresting them just feels like it's escalating this battle, if you will, between the administration and the judiciary. And it's a bad road to be going down."

Watch Kiesel's segment below, or by clicking this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Very concerned': MAGA senator openly doubts Trump’s strategy behind key policy

This week, President Donald Trump rolled out double-digit tariffs on every country, with additional tariffs on other trade partners affecting virtually all imported goods. And even though financial markets are currently reeling, Trump said he's not worried.

“I think it’s going very well,” the president said of the stock market Thursday before leaving the White House for his Florida golf resort. “We have an operation, like when a patient gets operated on and it’s a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is.”

But now, one of Trump's biggest supporters in the U.S. Senate is expressing hesitancy about the president's casual attitude toward the dip in financial markets in response to his tariff announcement. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told CBS News' Caitlin Huey-Burns on Thursday that he was "concerned" about the blowback from the new trade duties, and that the stock market was likewise "very concerned."

"I don’t have the president’s strongly held belief this is something that absolutely has to be done," Johnson said. "But he's president, I'm not, he ran on this, and, you know, I hope he's absolutely right."

Huey-Burns then asked Johnson about the possibility of Trump not being absolutely right, to which Johnson would only say her question was "hypothetical." His remarks criticizing Trump are notable, as he has consistently been one of Trump's loudest defenders — even in the wake of the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol building.

Johnson made headlines in 2022 (when he was last up for reelection) for allegedly taking part in the "fake elector" scheme following Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election. Politico reported that Johnson tried to hand a slate of fake electors from Wisconsin to Vice President Mike Pence, as part of the gambit to have dueling slates of electors presented during Congress' certification of Electoral College votes. The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack uncovered Johnson's alleged role in the plot, as members of the committee examined the scope of the scheme in other swing states like Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, among other states.

The Badger State's junior U.S. senator may be sensitive to electoral pressure as a result of how Trump's tariffs financially impact Wisconsinites, should he decide to run for another six-year term in 2028. Even though Trump won his state in 2024, Democrat-backed Dane County Judge Susan Crawford recently won a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating Republican-backed Brad Schimel by a double-digit margin.

Watch the video of Johnson's comments below, or by clicking this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Contact Advertise with AlterNet Privacy Policy Writer Guidelines Press Information About AlterNet Meet the AlterNet Staff Debug Logs