u/DriftlessDairy

Former gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong is embarking on a statewide tour that an aide said is intended to keep the progressive movement she created engaged while urging supporters to vote for a Dem trifecta this fall.

Hong, a Dem lawmaker from Madison, touted the tour on social media Monday. It was her first post on X since Aug. 12, when she thanked supporters in her narrow loss to David Crowley and expressed her support for the Milwaukee County executive in taking on U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in the governor’s race.

The tour comes as some have questioned whether Hong would actively campaign for Crowley since appearing at a Dem unity breakfast the day after the Aug. 11 primary.

Becky Cooper, who served as Hong’s campaign manager and is now director for We Make Better Possible, said the lawmaker will make an explicit pitch to her supporters to turn out for Dems to help win control of both houses while keeping the governor’s office.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany pledged in a speech to the Wisconsin Counties Association that he would reduce state regulations by 25% while expressing support for renewing the stewardship program.

Meanwhile, Dem rival David Crowley promised fellow county officials in the Wisconsin Dells that they would have a seat at the table in his administration.

The two separately addressed the WCA during its meeting yesterday in the Wisconsin Dells, along with Dem AG Josh Kaul and his GOP opponent, Fond du Lac County DA Eric Toney.

Tiffany’s pledge for a “red tape reset” is similar to past efforts by GOP lawmakers, who announced a similarly themed package in spring 2025. GOP lawmakers launched a “Right the Rules” effort that was rebranded the “Red Tape Review” at the start of the 2017-18 session when Tiffany was still in the Senate.

A Racine Unified school board member — and candidate for the state assembly — is facing a formal complaint after attacking his opponent and other women online using a derogatory and profane slur.

Kelly Gallaher, chair of the Democratic Party of Racine County, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Racine Unified School District, requesting immediate censure proceedings against Mike Bellagio.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Bellagio, acting online under the name Mike Vincent, referred to Gallaher, State Rep. Angelina Cruz, D-Racine and local reporters Denise Lockwood and Heather Asiyanbi using a slang phrase with an acronym that spells out a profane slur for women.

He called Gallaher the “ring leader” of the most vile women in the county, referring to her as a “vile lady” who “should be imprisoned for her tactics.”

Out of the 98 state legislative bodies across the U.S., the Wisconsin Senate has been deemed the “most flippable” by Wisconsin Democrats. Still, Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) told the Wisconsin Examiner that he sees a definite path for Republicans to maintain their majority.

“We have our chessboard fully laid out. I don’t think there’s any question that, you know, this cycle, it seems as though our backs are against the wall,” Testin said.

Testin is leading the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate (CERS), which is the campaign arm of the Senate Republican caucus, as Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) decided to retire this year.

Senate Republicans currently have an 18-seat majority, meaning that they only have room to lose one seat this year. Four seats have been identified by Democrats and Republicans as essential to determining control:

• Senate District 5: covering Wauwatosa and other parts of Milwaukee County. State Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) and Republican Mike Roberts are vying for the seat that is currently represented by Sen. Rob Hutton, who opted not to run for reelection. 
• Senate District 17: A southwest district covering Iowa, Lafayette, Green, Crawford and Grant counties as well as parts of Dane County. Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) faces a challenge from Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon). 
• Senate District 21: Incumbent Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) is retiring this year, leaving open the southeast district that includes part of Racine and Milwaukee Counties. Democrat Trevor Jung, the former Racine transit and mobility director, is running against Republican businessman Jim Croft.
• Senate District 31: Sen Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) is seeking another term in office and faces a challenge from Republican Michele Magadance Skinner, an Eau Claire County board member. The district covers Eau Claire County and parts of Dunn, Trempealeau and Chippewa counties.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) expressed confidence in her party’s effort to take over the chamber during a press conference after the August primary, saying that Senate Democrats flipped four seats in 2024 and her caucus expects to do the same this year. “I think we’re going to be able to do it with David Crowley leading the way,” she said. 

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According to July reports, the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate has raised nearly $5 million this year and had $5.3 million on hand. The bulk of that fundraising came from billionaires Diane Hendricks and Elizabeth Uihlein, who each gave $2 million.

A GOP senator was hammered by critics on Thursday after he complained about the size of the national debt.

This week, the national debt surpassed the $40 trillion mark, which stunned some political analysts. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) shared a post on X of a chart from Fox News comparing the debt level from the George W. Bush administration through both Trump administrations. His commentary sparked sharp criticism from several analysts.

"We are mortgaging our children’s future," Johnson posted. "It is immoral; it has to stop."

The senator's comments didn't land well on social media. "Two weeks ago, Johnson put out a budget resolution that forecast average deficits of $1.5 trillion a year for 10 years," journalist Jamie Dupree posted on X. "Dudes been in office for 15 years. Back when the debt was just 15 trillion. Now it's 40 trillion. You are the problem. Resign," Zack Nelson, who runs the popular YouTube channel "JerryRigEverything," posted on X.

Three Wisconsin legal organizations are advising the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s office to take steps to avoid intimidating voters after the sheriff posted it was dispatching deputies to polling locations on primary Election Day last week.

The issue arose against a backdrop of increasing worries over potential election interference in a key swing state during President Donald Trump’s second term including voter intimidation and threats to election workers.

Just seven minutes after polls opened in Wisconsin last week, the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook that it planned to send deputies to polling locations “periodically throughout the day to meet with the public, provide a visible law enforcement presence, and help ensure a safe, secure and orderly election.”

The office presented it as an opportunity for members of the community to connect with officers.

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Connect with officers. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Median Strategies, the company that released polls showing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) and former Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong ahead with wide margins in their respective races, announced Monday it has closed.

A message on the company's website reads that it has "concluded its polling project and will not publish additional polls."

"All previously published polling releases have been withdrawn and should not be cited or treated as genuine polling data," the message read. "Median Strategies was created as a short-term social experiment examining how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification."

The company first released a poll showing Bass with a 12-point lead over Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, who will face off against Bass in the November election. The poll in question cited the responses of 560 Angelenos, with a 4.1 percent margin of error. The next poll showed Hong with a 20-point lead in her race, which she lost last week.

Wisconsin Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman has argued that Congress “should do a little more” to help wealthy Americans.

The six-term congressman, 71, a Donald Trump loyalist, spoke up for neglected U.S. elites Thursday during a panel discussion on the economy in Troy, Michigan, with that state’s GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. John James, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other officials.

As the conversation pivoted to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July 2025, Grothman insisted the mammoth tax and sending initiative was intended to benefit “the average guy.”

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Spoiler: The wealthy got the lion's share of the BBB tax breaks, and their tax cuts are premanent while the rest of us got a temporary cut.

Temporary Tax Cuts (Expiring 2028)

• No Tax on Tips: A limited income-capped deduction for qualified tipped wages.
• No Tax on Overtime: Premium pay deductions for overtime hours, capped up to $12,500 per person.
• Senior Tax Boost: An additional temporary deduction/write-off framework aimed at older Americans.
• Structure Expensing: Specific temporary accelerated depreciation rules for certain factory and building structures. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Permanent Provisions (For Comparison)

• Income Tax Brackets: The individual income tax brackets (10% to 37%) from the 2017 law were made permanent.
• Standard Deduction: Retained at higher levels and indexed continuously for inflation.
• Estate Tax Exemptions: Permanently elevated high thresholds (rising to $15 million per person by 2026). [1, 2, 3]

Alfonso is only 26 years old and was endorsed by President Trump. He’s also a family member of a Trump cabinet member.

The Trump-endorsed son-in-law of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will be the Republican candidate in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District.

Michael Alfonso will represent the GOP on the November ballot. He hopes to take over the seat his father-in-law held before he left Congress in 2020.  The mostly rural northern Wisconsin district heavily favors Republicans.

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Yes, he's registered to vote in Florida. He apparently has no job, no experience, but is said to be willing to do anything Trump wants, including diaper changing.

Yee Leng Xiong, a Marathon County school board treasurer and county board member, will face Republican State Treasurer John Leiber in November in the only race for a statewide office held by a member of the Republican party.

With 90% of ballots counted, Xiong had 57% of the votes cast in the Democratic primary for the office Tuesday. Dylan Ray Helmenstein, of Black Earth in western Dane County, had just under 43%. The Associated Press called the race for Xiong at 9:18 p.m.

Xiong is the treasurer of the DC Everest School District board in Marathon County and a member of the Marathon County Board. He is the former executive director of the Hmong American Center.

Xiong was endorsed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin and several other Wisconsin Democrats, including former Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton and state Reps. Christine Sinicki, Jodi Emerson, Lori Palmeri, Andrew Hysell, Tara Johnson and Brienne Brown.