Subscribers: Please give us feedback on our budget coverage and get free entry into a WisPolitics event of your choice through June 30. Take the short survey here.
Quotes of the Week
Unfortunately, he sends us an executive budget that is just piled full of stuff that doesn’t make sense and spends too much, spends recklessly and raises taxes and has way too much policy.
– Joint Finance Committee Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, on the committee’s vote to strip 612 items from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget.
People are struggling, and it’s a challenging world, and the one thing that we should not be doing, the one thing that nobody votes for their legislator to do is make their life harder, and yet that’s all we see out of the Republican Party.
– Rep. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha, on the vote.
More than 70 million Americans depend on Medicaid. But House Republicans are pushing a budget plan that doesn’t add up without slashing it. Why? To make room for a $5.5 trillion tax break for billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
– U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, on Congress’ budget negotiations.
Once again, no one is taking away Medicaid from those who are in need. Republicans simply want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the program. Expecting able-bodied adults to work or ensuring aliens are not collecting benefits should not be controversial.
– U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, on the budget.
Political Stock Report
-A collection of insider opinion-
(May 3-9, 2025)
Rising
White House lawsuits: Dem Gov. Tony Evers and AG Josh Kaul get the state involved in their 14th, 15th and now 16th lawsuits against the Trump administration. Some of those may eventually fail. Still, insiders say it’s sometimes about being willing to take on the fight. So far, Wisconsin has joined challenges to everything from the president’s move to require proof of citizenship on voter registration forms to his dismantling of AmeriCorps. This week brings a multi-state suit accusing Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “dismantling” the Department of Health and Human Services. Filed by 19 states, it seeks an order forcing Kennedy to halt further cuts of staff and resources to HHS. Kaul argued in a release the cuts are ripping necessary health resources from Wisconsinites. That’s followed by another multistate action seeking to compel the Trump administration to release more than $60 million Wisconsin was slated to receive for electric vehicle infrastructure. Trump in January mandated federal agencies to halt disbursement of all funds appropriated under the infrastructure act signed by Joe Biden. That includes $5 billion through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and the guv’s office says the move is holding up work on 15 projects in Wisconsin. This afternoon, Kaul announces he’s joined 14 other attorneys general in suing to halt the president’s executive order declaring a national energy emergency to fast-track energy projects. The suit argues the move unlawfully bypasses environmental reviews and weakens protections under the Clean Water Act. A common thread in the suits has been the argument that Trump has exceeded his authority in using executive orders to nix spending that has already been approved by Congress, and the only way to rescind it is to have the legislative branch do the cutting. Republicans have been dismissive of the suits. None have been filed in Wisconsin, with Evers and Kaul piggybacking on actions filed elsewhere. The state GOP, meanwhile, calls them political, and because Wisconsin backed Trump in November, “Attacks on the Administration are an attack on the voters of Wisconsin.” Insiders see a political benefit for Evers and Kaul, though. The Dem brand is hurting with the public these days. Part of that, insiders note, is that the base has been unimpressed with the response to the blizzard of actions Trump has taken since getting back in the White House. They want to see someone — anyone — put the guardrails on the administration. And anything Dem electeds can do to show they’re trying to hold the line could help pull the base out of its post-November malaise.
Mixed
Susan Crawford: The Dane County judge spent a significant portion of her campaign for state Supreme Court insisting she’d made no promises about redrawing the state’s congressional boundaries if elected. A month after she cruised to a 10-point win, two lawsuits land on the court’s doorstep asking the justices to throw out the state’s congressional map and put new lines in place for 2026. But legal observers see some hurdles for the suits to succeed and change the current 6-2 GOP advantage in the House delegation. Meanwhile, Republicans say they have to take the threat of new lines seriously — particularly for GOP U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden. Dems have already tried this once before, only to be turned away by a unanimous Supreme Court. The lines now in place are based on maps that Republicans passed into law in 2011. Then, the GOP had full control of the Legislature and the guv’s office and was free to pass any map it pleased. A decade later, with Dem Tony Evers now in the East Wing, the issue went to the state Supreme Courts, where the former conservative majority told both sides to take a “least change” approach to the 2011 maps as they submitted new proposals. Ultimately, the courts chose the legislative maps drawn by Republicans and the congressional lines submitted by Evers. A year later, however, the new liberal majority threw out those legislative maps, finding they were unconstitutional because districts included municipal islands and the “least change” standard used in 2021 wasn’t good law. That prompted Dem super attorney Marc Elias and his firm to file a lawsuit in early 2024 arguing with “least change” no longer a solid standard, the House map should be thrown out, too. But the court said no dice, turning away the request. The issue surfaced again in Crawford’s race against conservative Brad Schimel after news broke that she sat in on a fundraising call that organizers pitched as an opportunity to get involved in a race that could ultimately flip two GOP-held House seats. Despite Crawford’s many denials that she’d promised anything, it became a rallying cry for Wisconsin Republicans to get national GOP donors involved in the race; that plan worked to a “T’’ with a record $109 million dropped on this year’s campaign. Once Crawford wrapped up a 10-point victory over Schimel, insiders figured it was a matter of time before someone took another run at the congressional maps, even as they had doubts that there was a realistic path to success. Now that they’ve seen the filings, some still have their doubts. The suits — one by Dem voters represented by Elias’ firm, and one by Dem voters represented by the Campaign Legal Center — essentially raise three issues. One is the “least change” argument that the court already rejected last year. The second, raised by the Campaign Legal Center, is that the districts are malapportioned. To have identical populations, the suit argues, there would be six districts with 736,715 people and two with 736,714. But some districts when drawn had 736,716 people. Throwing out a map because there’s a population difference of two people rather than one seems like a stretch to some legal types and politicos. Then there’s the claim in the Elias suit the map violates provisions in the Wisconsin Constitution guaranteeing equal protection, as well as free speech and association, by packing Dem voters in the 2nd and 4th districts — the only two now represented by Dems — while diluting their share of the electorate in several other seats in a way that makes it impossible to elect a representative of their choice. Interesting pitch, some say, if you can prove the claim in the suit that the 2011 process of drawing new House lines was “the quintessential partisan gerrymander.” Especially since there’s evidence from a prior challenge to those lines that suggests it was anything but. The Elias suit references Andrew Speth, who was chief of staff to then-U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, back in 2011 and took the lead on drawing a new map. It says in meetings he had with GOP members of Wisconsin’s delegation, “the congressmen expressed their desire to draw districts that would maximize the chances for Republicans to be elected.” Critics note that glosses over a lot of what Speth said, including his suggestion that wasn’t a main driver of the map that was produced. For example, Speth said in his deposition that Ryan told him “we need to be fair and we need to try and be bipartisan and we obviously have to be legal, and so those were the three things that drove the conversations we had with all of the members.” Then-GOP U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy did express a desire to shore up politically his northern Wisconsin seat that had been in Dem hands for four decades before his win. Otherwise, Speth testified, the main concern of then-U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac, was the size of her district to make it easier to commute to all parts of the seat to meet with constituents. Then-GOP U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble wanted to pick up Calumet County if his 8th CD had to grow because he owned property there. And then-U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, wanted to ensure the Mississippi River corridor remained part of his district; Speth testified one map he had considered proposed moving the Madison-based 2nd District west to the state line. That hardly screams, “partisan gerrymander,” some say. Others counter it’s the result, regardless of intent, and there’s no way a 50-50 state should have a congressional delegation where Republicans have a 6-2 majority. For now, legal observers will be watching how the court approaches the two petitions for original action asking them to take the cases directly without first going through the lower courts. The court could ask anyone who wants to weigh in to file a brief on whether they think the justices should hear the case. Oral arguments for the term, though, are already over. But would the court decide before Crawford takes the bench Aug. 1 whether to take it? Some note the court will sometimes require a case to go through the lower courts first if facts are in dispute — such as the claim the 2011 congressional map was the product of a partisan gerrymander. If it agrees to hear the suit with its current composition, what will Crawford say once she comes on board? Would she even hear such a suit after the central role the map played in her race, or would she recuse, leaving a 3-3 tie among the remaining liberals and conservatives? Voters tend to forget things over a justice’s 10-year term. But it’d certainly raise eyebrows if Crawford were to agree to hear a challenge to the congressional map. Republicans, meanwhile, say they will take nothing for granted, and they will prepare to fight such a suit tooth-and-nail, especially with the narrow GOP majority in the House right now. That includes taking it to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, another legal development that would make it difficult — at best — to have new lines in place for 2026, even if the Wisconsin justices agreed to hear the case.
Josh Schoemann: Nice guy. Good, solid conservative from deep red Washington County. A vet. But in assessing his bid for guv following his formal launch, insiders question if he can raise the money to give him a real shot at winning a general election, and they wonder if he can raise his name ID enough to be a threat to win the GOP primary. In launching his campaign, Schoemann slams Dem Gov. Tony Evers and the status quo, telling supporters in Washington County that both are failing Wisconsin. The 43-year-old, who served in Iraq as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, proclaimed, “We have a state government built for 1975 and 1995, not 2025 and certainly not 2045.” His age and his experience could be an interesting contrast with the 73-year-old Evers, some suggest. But he’s got a long way to go before earning that chance. He’ll get a shot to start wooing the grassroots at next week’s GOP state convention in Wausau, where he’s got a hospitality suite, according to the state GOP. So does the Never Out of the Fight PAC, the group created by southeastern Wisconsin businessman Bill Berrien to advance conservative causes and help GOP candidates that many see as a campaign in waiting for his own guv bid. Schoemann’s formal entry into the race seems awfully early to some. But others see it as a necessity to start connecting with donors and voters. A record of success in Washington County, like finding a unique solution to pay for roads or helping local clerks extend early vote hours, is nice, some say. But it rarely translates to anyone outside of Washington County knowing how you are. Schoemann touts his humble upbringing in his formal kickoff. While a nice way to connect with voters, it’s also a reminder that he isn’t expected to have personal resources to get his campaign off the ground. Republicans have tended toward wealthy nominees lately, like Tim Michels for guv in 2022 and Eric Hovde for the U.S. Senate in 2024. Rebecca Kleefisch was their last serious contender for statewide office who didn’t have personal wealth to invest in a race, and she managed to raise more than $8.3 million over 2021 and 2022 in her unsuccessful bid for guv as she lost the GOP primary to Michels. She was able to pull in that kind of cash after spending eight years as lieutenant governor under Scott Walker and then taking the two years after they lost reelection in 2018 to build chits with fellow Republicans. Few believe Schoemann can pull in that kind of cash, which makes competing with a Berrien — or Hovde if he decides to get in — a challenge. And none of them would have the name ID and pull with the MAGA base that U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany has. The Minocqua Republican doesn’t have a strong record as a fundraiser. But some believe he could push other contenders out if he decides to get into the race with the perception he’d have the inside track to an endorsement from Donald Trump. If he doesn’t, some say, the field might grow beyond the most often named contenders that include state Sens. Mary Felzkowski, of Tomahawk, and Pat Testin, of Stevens Point. Still, the more crowded the field, the more it could help someone like Schoemann who may not have the profile of other contenders, but could find his lane with the GOP base. The flip side to a crowded primary field, some argue, is it often means there’s no obvious candidate for the base and donors to rally behind, which can erode confidence among Republicans about next fall’s race.
Tom Homan: The Trump administration is obviously trying to send a message that there are consequences for those who stand in the way of its mass deportation plans. But many in Wisconsin see the border czar’s war of words with Dem Gov. Tony Evers as more hyperbole than substance. Because if Homan is really contemplating having the 73-year-old chief executive arrested, some suggest, Republicans might as well forget the 2026 Wisconsin guv’s race because that would turn Evers into a martyr and unleash a fundraising pitch unlike anything any candidate in Wisconsin has ever had at their disposal. Which is why a lot of insiders take the back-and-forth with a grain of salt. It all started when a reporter for the conservative outlet Gateway Pundit asked Homan about the Evers administration’s directive to state employees to contact an attorney before answering questions from federal immigration officials. The reporter described the order as directing employees not to comply with ICE and to stop deportation efforts, a suggestion that Evers has rejected. Homan’s line – “Wait until you see what’s coming” – was met with a video the guv posted declaring: “I’m not afraid. I’ve never once been discouraged from doing the right thing, and I will not start today.” The exchange spills into a second week, with Homan insisting during an appearance on Fox News that there was “no threat,” but again saying if anyone impedes law enforcement efforts, it would be considered a felony and “we will seek prosecution.” Evers shrugged off that by dismissively telling reporters, “do something else, Tom.” Some conservative commentators saw the Evers video last week and suggested he was trying to backtrack and was worried about the Trump administration coming after him. Others countered that talking tough isn’t exactly Evers’ forte. He’s not worried. He’s just not good at playing a heavy. Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, arrested on federal charges for allegedly interfering with federal immigration officials trying to arrest an undocumented immigrant, faces real legal trouble, some say. Evers does not.
Falling
Medicaid expansion: For now, the state is projected to finish the current budget that ends June 30 with a $4.3 billion surplus with another $1.85 billion in revenue growth over the next two-year cycle. But budget watchers quietly note the state doesn’t have as much money to throw around in 2025-27 as some think, and Medicaid is a big reason why. The GOP-run Joint Finance Committee gets to work on the Legislature’s version of the state budget by nixing 612 provisions that Dem Gov. Tony Evers proposed in the document he sent lawmakers in February, including his desire to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. That’s no surprise to insiders. Evers has proposed the same move in all four of the budgets he’s sent the Legislature only for GOP lawmakers to reject it as an expansion of welfare. Now, the state-federal program covers those at 100% of the federal poverty level in Wisconsin. Those between 100% and 133% are covered by the health care exchange under the Affordable Care Act, and Evers has long wanted to move them to Medicaid. Part of that is the financial component. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the move would save $1.9 billion in general purpose revenue over the two-year budget while pulling in more than $2.5 billion more in federal aid to cover health care costs. But that has been a red line for Republicans since then-Gov. Scott Walker rejected the move more than a decade ago, and the GOP is holding firm. The challenge, then, is the alternative. Forgoing the expansion would require the state to pony up $1.6 billion more in GPR to take care of the costs to continue Medicaid as is. Considering the state’s projected surplus, it would seem like there’s plenty to cover that hit and still take care of other priorities. Still, budget watchers note the Legislative Fiscal Bureau will release updated revenue estimates later this month. Those figures are expected to eat into that projected surplus and the revenue growth over the next biennium. Also, that $4.3 billion is one-time money. And when you use it for ongoing expenses — be it a tax cut or state programs — you start driving up the state’s structural deficit, creating a hole to climb out of in future budgets. Joint Finance Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, acknowledges this week the rapidly growing cost to continue Medicaid is “terribly concerning,” though the solution is “probably better leadership from the federal government on the federal program.” Don’t hold your breath for that one, some say, with DC Republicans struggling to figure out a way to find what they call cost savings — cuts to others — in the program to thread the needle and pass a reconciliation package that pairs together spending reductions with tax cuts. Things like new work requirements or increasing the frequency of eligibility checks for those on the program could affect enrollment and thus the cost. But that’s all up in the air. Meanwhile, for all the stuff they took out, Republicans left in Evers’ call to triple an assessment on hospitals that would net them hundreds of millions more in money sent back as part of the arrangement. Under federal law, states can receive reimbursement for assessments that go up to 6% of net patient revenue, and many plow a good chunk of that money back into hospital payments. The state’s assessment — put in place 16 years ago — is currently at 1.8%, while Evers wants to take that to 5.7%. In 2024-25, hospitals were scheduled to pay in $414.5 million, but receive $672 million for a net gain of $257 million. Under Evers’ budget, that assessment would jump to more than $1.3 billion. Hospitals would net $808.9 million under his plan. That could help boost hospitals even without the additional federal money an expansion would generate. But there are still plenty of financial questions to address with the budget. Even if the new LFB revenue projections are off just a touch, it could impact discussions on a tax cut. Some news developed on that front this week as Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, told a panel discussion hosted by the Wisconsin Bankers Association that Republicans had a pending request for a second meeting with Evers on a tax cut package after they first got together in person March 26. LeMahieu told WisPolitics in a follow-up statement that Republicans needed that meeting by the end of next week to keep budget discussions on schedule. Evers’ office, though, says staff for the guv and legislative leaders met this week and so far Republicans hadn’t yet provided a broad agreement on their preferred approach to a tax package. LeMahieu, though, insists the guv and his staff “have had the details of the legislature’s proposal since our first and only meeting on March 26th.” Some are trying to decipher what that means since Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in mid-April his caucus still preferred focusing on retirement income, while “Senate Republicans have what they prefer.” It all might be a little pre-deal posturing. Whatever it is, insiders note, the key players might want to find a path to a deal if they want a budget at all. That’s especially true with a new missive from GOP state Sen. Steve Nass, who today rips Republican leaders “for spending time on bended knee seeking a bad budget deal with Governor Evers and Democrat votes for ROFR.” Nass argues GOP lawmakers should use the power of the purse strings to “starve the liberal beasts of the taxpayers’ money, by either passing no biennial budget or passing a very small mini-budget” while demanding Republicans “fight and give the voters a clear reason for keeping us; or stay on the current path of business-as-usual and the Republican majority will die.” Nass often finds budgets spend too much for his liking, so it’d be no surprise if he’d be a no vote on the 2025-27 proposal. Still, with just an 18-15 majority in the Senate this session, losing Nass would leave Republicans no more margin for error. It also underscores to some the most likely path to getting a budget done is to strike a deal between GOP leaders and the guv that could pull in some Dem votes in the Senate to pave the way for passage.
Boys’ mental health: A new survey of high schoolers finds more Wisconsin boys felt anxious, depressed or suicidal in recent years. What’s more, the Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health notes young men have the lowest levels of social support when compared to other ages and genders. The most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey found 36.4% of male Wisconsin high school students reported feeling anxious in 2023, while 24.9% said they felt depressed. Overall, boys are four times as likely to die by suicide than Wisconsin girls. Meanwhile, the state notes a national study found a growing problem of sextortion, with 15 million reports between 2020 and 2023. Ninety percent of the victims were teen boys between the ages of 14 and 17.
Turning Point filing in Supreme Court race provides little detail on turnout efforts for Schimel
Turning Point Action President Charlie Kirk proclaimed “We did a lot in Wisconsin” during the state’s Supreme Court race.
You wouldn’t know it from the group’s independent expenditure report.
Wisconsin law requires groups such as Turning Point that expressly advocate for a candidate to detail those efforts in filings with the state that include information such as who was paid.
But Turning Point, which posted a stream of pictures on social media showing out-of-state employees chasing ballots in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, reported spending just $44,780 helping conservative Brad Schimel. None of it was for staff expenses.
And it certainly didn’t include expenses for a “war room” that one Turning Point staffer tweeted about on April 1 before the vote showed liberal Susan Crawford had bested conservative Brad Schimel by 10 points.
Campaign finance experts and operatives told WisPolitics the group’s filing raised questions over whether it had failed to adequately report its efforts, inflated what it did during the campaign or had found some loophole to shield from public view what it did.
Numerous efforts to reach the group seeking more details on its efforts in Wisconsin were unsuccessful.
Asked about the Turning Point disclosure, a state Dem spokesperson said the party has “always had the stronger ground game, and we proved it once again this cycle.”
Turning Point has been on the ground in Wisconsin since at least last year, launching GOTV efforts to support Donald Trump here and in other states. But as the race turned to the fall, it joined forces with Elon Musk’s America PAC. The billionaire’s group took over leadership of the effort, as well as many of Turning Point’s expenses in Wisconsin.
America PAC was again active in Wisconsin this spring, dropping $12.7 million to boost Schimel. That includes detailing $6 million in expenses for “canvassing/field operations.” Those payments all went to The Synapse Group, which is based in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity reported $884,641 in canvassing expenses as it put more than $3.3 million into its effort backing Schimel. Those expenses were typically reported as payments to Americans for Prosperity.
Turning Point’s filings were a fraction of that.
Kirk founded Turning Point Action in 2019 as a social advocacy group. In Wisconsin, two affiliates have filed reports over the past year.
Turning Point PAC Wisconsin in 2024 registered with the state and spent $148,035 in 2024, according to its filings. Almost all the group’s expenditures were donations to county parties around the state.
Turning Point PAC Inc.’s first filing in the Supreme Court race from mid-March listed only an $896 expense for printing brochures. The second filing, which listed expenses for March 25-April 1, detailed $43,884 for text services and printing brochures.
At least on social media, Turning Point painted its effort as significantly more robust than that.
On election day alone, Turning Point Action Ohio field rep PJ Reilly posted on X that he was “crisscrossing Wisconsin to CURE EVERY BALLOT and secure victory for Brad Schimel!” Amy Wood, Turning Point’s western regional field manager whose LinkedIn page says she’s based in Las Vegas, posted on X about making voter contacts in Wisconsin. Noah Formica, a senior field representative for Turning Point Action based in Pennsylvania, posted pictures on X of him doing doors in Wisconsin on election day with conservative activist Scott Presler.
And Brett Galaszewski, Turning Point Action’s national enterprise director, posted a picture of a roomful of people on phones proclaiming Turning Point’s “WAR ROOM IS JUMPING.”
Turning Point PAC Inc. didn’t list an email address on its filings with the state Ethics Commission. Turning Point PAC Wisconsin didn’t respond to emails or calls to the contact information listed on its filings. And Turning Point USA didn’t respond to two inquiries WisPolitics sent through its website.
Galaszewski, who also serves as vice-chair of the Milwaukee County GOP, didn’t respond to a direct message over X. Brandon Maly, Turning Point’s Midwest field manager and the Dane County GOP chair, didn’t respond to multiple calls. And Dixon Wolfe, a senior field rep for the group and a Brown County supervisor, told a WisPolitics reporter to reach out to headquarters. When asked for a contact there, Dixon said, “Have a nice day,” and hung up.
Schimming: Supreme Court race was disappointing, but Trump still president
Chair Brian Schimming says the state GOP did things in the April election it normally doesn’t, from transferring $9.5 million to Brad Schimel’s state Supreme Court campaign to keeping staffers on from the fall election to hit the ground running for the spring race.
It wasn’t nearly enough, as Dane County Judge Susan Crawford beat Schimel by 10 points, identical to the same winning margin for the liberal candidate in the 2023 state Supreme Court race.
“But as I always tell people, as frustrating as that was to me too, Donald Trump’s president this year, and, oh, by the way, he will be next year, the year after that, and the year after that,” Schimming told WisPolitics.
The state GOP heads into its annual convention next weekend coming off a disappointing spring election, particularly after Trump won the state last fall. It was the latest in a string of off-year losses for the party since Trump first won the presidency in 2016; the Republican or conservative candidate has lost 15 of the last 19 contested statewide races.
This Supreme Court race was unlike other recent spring contests for the party, though. The state GOP transferred $9.5 million to Schimel’s campaign, a significant uptick over recent races.
Former Justice Daniel Kelly declined to take direct transfers from the party, though the Wisconsin GOP did $857,299 in in-kind contributions for his 2023 campaign and $327,000 in his unsuccessful 2020 bid to retain his seat on the court, according to the state’s campaign finance database.
By comparison, the state Dem Party transferred $11.4 million to Crawford’s campaign this spring and pitched in $10 million to help Janet Protasiewicz in 2023 as she flipped control of the court in liberals’ favor for the first time in 15 years. The party also helped liberal Jill Karofsky with nearly $1.4 million as she beat Kelly in 2020.
The GOP last month ordered a postmortem of the spring race, with Treasurer John Leiber leading the effort. Schimming said he’s got an idea of some challenges Schimel faced in the April election, including a shift in the spring electorate in recent years that has given liberals an edge in spring races.
But he wants to “make absolutely sure we know what happened, and not go on the latest theory.”
“The reason I wanted to put this commission together is not just to assume what everybody’s been saying, but really to get the handle on what happened here,” Schimming said, adding he hopes to have the report wrapped up in the next six to eight weeks. “If that takes us a few weeks to do, I’m fine. It’s worth the time of going through the numbers, questioning assumptions, you know, on any side of it.”
The party today announced the members who will serve on the commission Leiber is leading. They are: Terry Dittrich, the Waukesha County GOP chair and a member of the RNC; former state Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, of Clinton; Chris Goebel, chair of the Walworth County GOP; former state Rep. Angie Sapik, of Lake Nebagamon; Lindsay Clark, a member of the Neenah School Board; Katie Verzal, the 1st CD GOP vice chair; and Landis Holdorf, an aide to U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and a member of the Merrill Common Council.
Schimming, who was first elected chair in 2022 and was reelected to another two-year term in December, says he’s also taking a look at the party’s fundraising.
The Dem Party has regularly bested the Wisconsin GOP for dollars raised since Ben Wikler took over as chair in 2019. WisDems says the party has pulled in $206 million through its state and federal accounts under his watch.
The state Dem Party raised more than $32 million through its state account alone in 2024, compared to the $9.8 million the state GOP pulled in.
But over the first three months of 2025, the state GOP pulled in $12.4 million — bolstered by $3 million in donations from billionaire Elon Musk — while WisDems reported $12.1 million in receipts.
At the same time, the state GOP’s pre-primary report listed just 14 individual donations of $125 or less. The state Dem Party had more than 500 such contributions, a sign of its superior small-dollar operation.
Schimming said when he became chair, the party was still running a fundraising call center out of its headquarters. He nixed that and contracted out the work to save money and try to be more efficient. He’s also looking at what the party’s finance staff should look like and acknowledged Republicans are at a disadvantage for small-dollar donors. Still, he argued that wasn’t unique to the state GOP, saying Kamala Harris outspent Donald Trump last fall, as did U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, in her race with GOP businessman Eric Hovde.
“So this isn’t just a state party issue. There’s an atmospheric issue,” he said.
As Republicans meet in Wausau next weekend, some are watching to see if activists air any grievances they have over a new code of conduct the party announced. Among other things, it allows the removal of local party officials, members of the executive committee or staff for actions such as sexually, verbally or physically harassing fellow Republicans.
The new bylaws laying out the process to remove offenders states that while the party supports the right of members to choose local leaders, those heading county and congressional district organizations “should be working in coordination to achieve the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s goals and mission.”
Schimming downplayed any chance of friction over the new standards at the convention, saying the only blowback he’s seen on the rules is on social media.
“I have had almost no county chairs, and I see them all the time come up to me, but ‘Oh, my God, you got to get that thing changed,’” Schimming said. “I hear it in the echo chamber, but I don’t hear it on the road.”
Listen to the interview.
Capitol Chats: WAICU’s Fulcomer says college financial aid threatened by federal cuts
The entire financial aid system is threatened by President Donald Trump’s budget-cutting process, says Eric Fulcomer, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
“But through this budget reconciliation process, there are significant threats to federal financial aid,” Fulcomer told WisPolitics’ “Capitol Chats” podcast. “We don’t know what might happen to the Pell program.” The Pell grant is a federal grant that helps low-income students pay for college.
Fulcomer also said he’s concerned about proposed changes to federal loan programs, including one that waives interest for students in need and another that provides unsubsidized graduate loans. He said 50% of the undergraduate students in independent colleges and universities borrow money from the federal government, and “almost all, probably 80 to 90%” of graduate students have a federal loan.
The private colleges association in Wisconsin is also asking for a significant raise in its state budget allocations for state grants. The association is proposing the Legislature double funding for the Wisconsin Grant, a grant for undergraduate students attending a nonprofit college, raising it from $57 million to $114 million.
Fulcomer said about 20% of students receive this grant, and it goes to the students “who need it most.” Fulcomer argued the maximum award of $4,400 for this grant in Wisconsin is too low compared to other states. Fulcomer said doubling this grant amount would make Wisconsin colleges more competitive and draw in more students.
“And what that would allow us to do is to keep more of our students here who have need, because we want them…to go to school here, and then to stay here and work,” Fulcomer said.
Fulcomer said increasing the state grant could help alleviate some of the federal-level concerns by supporting students in need of grants.
“We’re just trying to level the playing field so that everybody can have the opportunity to go to college if they desire to do so,” Fulcomer said.
Fulcomer said the state should invest in WAICU institutions, because they are a great contributor to the Wisconsin economy through attracting people to work in the state.
“I think it’s a reasonable request,” Fulcomer said. “We know that it’ll make a significant contribution to Wisconsin’s workforce in the future.”
Political TV
(Check local listings for times in your area)
“UpFront” is a statewide commercial TV news magazine show airing Sundays around the state. This week’s show, hosted by GERRON JORDAN and MATT SMITH, features Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Sen. HOWARD MARKLEIN, R-Spring Green, and Rep. MARK BORN, R-Beaver Dam, JFC Ranking Member and Sen. LATONYA JOHNSON, D-Milwaukee, Father ANDREW MATIJEVIC of Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, and retired U.S. District Judge NANCY GERTNER.
*See more about the program here.
*Also see a recap of the show online each Monday at WisPolitics.
“Rewind,” a weekly show from WisconsinEye and WisPolitics, airs at 8 p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m. on Sundays in addition to being available online. On this week’s episode, WisPolitics’ JR ROSS and CBS 58’s EMILEE FANNON discuss lawsuits from Dem voters challenging Wisconsin’s congressional lines, controversy over the Evers administration’s guidance for how state employees should respond to visits from federal immigration officials, the Joint Finance Committee removing 612 items from Gov. TONY EVERS’ budget and more.
*Watch the show here.
This week’s episode of WisPolitics’ “Capitol Chats” features Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities President ERIC FULCOMER on his concerns about federal funding cuts for college grants.
*Listen to the podcast here.
“The Insiders” is a weekly WisOpinion.com web show featuring former Democratic Senate Majority Leader CHUCK CHVALA and former Republican Assembly Speaker SCOTT JENSEN. This week, Chvala and Jensen talk about the role ELON MUSK played in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
*Watch the video or listen to the show here.
“In Focus: Wisconsin” airs Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on Spectrum News 1 on channel 1. This week’s program with host RYAN BURK focuses on scam prevention, featuring U.S. Rep. BRYAN STEIL, R-Janesville, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Administrator MICHELLE REINEN, and detectives MICHELLE VINEY and GWEN RUPPERT from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office.
PBS Wisconsin’s “Here and Now” airs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays. On this week’s program with anchor FREDERICA FREYBERG, Attorney General JOSH KAUL talks about joining a multi-state lawsuit over withheld Department of Transportation funding and reporter ERICA AYISI discusses the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people and a taskforce trying to address the problem.
“For the Record” airs Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on Madison’s WISC-TV with host WILL KENNEALLY. Guests include LFB Director BOB LANG on the state budget process, JOE ZEPECKI about his run for state Dem Party chair and WISC reporter MADDIE HEIMSCH on charges against the father of last year’s Madison school shooter.
Week Ahead
Tuesday: The Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reforms, State and Federal Affairs holds a public hearing on a bill to require county sheriffs to comply with ICE.
– 10 a.m., 411 South, state Capitol
Tuesday: The Assembly holds a floor session to debate several bills related to health care and tax districts.
– 1 p.m., Assembly chambers, state Capitol
Thursday: The Senate is in session, calendar TBA.
– TBD, Senate chambers, state Capitol
Friday, Saturday: The state GOP holds its annual state convention.
– Rothschild, Central Wisconsin Convention and Expo Center
Names in the News
Join WisPolitics/State Affairs on Wednesday for a DC breakfast with CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent and “Inside Politics Sunday” host MANU RAJU. Raju is a UW-Madison alumnus who wrote for The Badger Herald student newspaper. Register for the Washington, D.C., event here.
Register for a May 20 WisPolitics luncheon at the Madison Club for a panel discussion on Wisconsin’s long-term transportation needs and how to pay for them. Panelists will include: Sen. CORY TOMCZYK, R-Mosinee, chair of the Senate Transportation and Local Government Committee; Rep. KALAN HAYWOOD, D-Milwaukee, Assembly assistant minority leader and a member of the Assembly Transportation Committee; Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association Executive Director STEVE BAAS; and Wisconsin Policy Forum President JASON STEIN. Register here.
Attend a June 24 WisPolitics luncheon with Attorney General JOSH KAUL at The Madison Club. Kaul, first elected in 2018, has joined Dem colleagues in other states in filing suits against Trump administration actions. Register here.
Former GOP Gov. SCOTT WALKER has joined the National Taxpayers Union’s board of directors. National Taxpayers Union President PETE SEPP praised Walker as “a bold visionary on issues of fiscal responsibility.” Walker is currently president of Young America’s Foundation.
ANGELA JAMES has started a new role as water policy advisor for the Public Service Commission. James is a lawyer and former deputy secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection who most recently worked at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced SANDY CHALMERS as executive director of the Farm Service Agency in Wisconsin. Chalmers previously worked for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection as assistant deputy secretary and administrator of the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection.
Lobbyist Watch
Thirty-two changes were made to the lobbying registry in the past 10 days.
Follow this link for the complete list.
