The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
On Election Day regular folks voted against Republicans nationwide, a GOP debacle. The economy, Iran War and revulsion against Trump’s corrupt, cruel presidency mattered. There will now be a Democratic-led House with a gain of over 40 seats, including 2 in Wisconsin, and a Democratic-led Senate with a gain of perhaps 9 seats. No Democratic member of Congress lost. Moreover, GOP-led state legislative chambers fell like dominoes, including in Wisconsin. And, Democrats netted perhaps 6 governors, while keeping Wisconsin’s governorship, electing David Crowley.
Crowley, speaking like a statesman, said: “I ran to be the governor for All of us. …My fellow Wisconsinites, we are not a red state or blue state; we are not defined by rural and urban. We are one people, one Wisconsin, and tonight, we chose to move forward, together.”
Similarly, 3rd Congressional District Democratic Representative-elect Rebecca Cooke struck a common sense note: “We have to show that when people vote for Democrats, they can feel it in their bones and feel it in their pocketbooks that things have changed. Accountability for this administration can come later. We have to focus on delivering for the American people right away.”
Key to the Democratic sweep was lack of healthcare affordability and coverage. The nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund released a survey shortly before Election Day: “Health insurance coverage in the United States is at an inflection point. After a decade and a half of expanding coverage for Americans, coverage and access to care are now in decline … Between 2010 – 2025, the U.S. uninsured rate fell by half from nearly 16 percent to 8 percent, largely as a result of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage expansions and expanded (insurance) premium subsidies (tax credits) … . But in 2025, policy changes advanced by the Trump administration and (GOP-led) Congress led to the biggest cuts to Medicaid and ACA (insurance) marketplaces since the law’s passage.” Millions, including 45,000 Wisconsinites, have lost coverage. Many more will follow.
However, a Democratic-led Congress, Democratic Governor-elect Crowley and a Democratic-led state Legislature can stop this “engineered suffering” (National Catholic Reporter). Wisconsin Catholic bishops and the Wisconsin Medical Society are on record to end this inhumanity. Likely House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries said: “During the first 100 days, House Democrats must act to reverse the Medicaid cuts, restore SNAP (food assistance) funding, extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, eradicate the Trump tariffs and stop the reckless war of choice in Iran.” Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin will lead for similar action in the Senate.
Crowley and the new Democratic-led state legislature will soon expand Medicaid, joining 40 other states that have already expanded Medicaid. Wisconsin Republican legislators, lacking empathy and math skills, irresponsibly left billions in federal funding on the table for other states and prevented coverage for tens of thousands of Wisconsinites. That heartless era is over.
America, including Wisconsin, is in a new ballgame. Wisconsin will show how to move forward with humanity and speed to expand Medicaid with 90 percent federal funding.
Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.