Submit columns for consideration to wisopinion@wispolitics.com

Gabriel Shapiro and David Skrovanek: Technology can help Wisconsin address energy affordability
By deploying sensors to measure ambient conditions along transmission corridors, utilities can dynamically adjust their line ratings to unlock previously untapped capacity. These dynamic line rating technologies have been piloted for several decades around the world and are starting to make a difference.

Book Excerpt: Thomas Nelson, ‘The Green and Gold Standard: A People’s History of the Green Bay Packers’
The following is an excerpt from “The Green and Gold Standard: A People’s History of the Green Bay Packers” by Thomas Nelson and published by Triumph Books. The book is due out Sept. 1 and is available for preorder here.

Gregory Humphrey: Independent voters make Wisconsin’s governor primary into a late-night caffeinated nail‑biter
Independent voters reminded everyone Tuesday that persuasion still matters. That campaigns must earn trust rather than assume it. On a very tense but exciting election night in the Badger State, it was the independent voters who ensured the race was not called the way many polls had strongly predicted.

Dave Cieslewicz: Thanksgiving
When it was revealed last week that Francesca Hong had Tweeted about her desire to cancel Thanksgiving because it is a “colonizer” holiday, I thought that was the least of the troubles ahead for the presumptive Democratic nominee. Instead, it may have been the thing that took her down.

Charlie Sykes: It turns out that we are not the crazy ones after all
Wisconsin Democrats stared into the electoral abyss and decided, on second thought, they would rather actually win elections than take a chance on what David Axelrod memorably called “zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica.”

David Blaska: There will be no Democrat kumbaya in Wisconsin
We cannot see Hong making nice with Crowley any more than many of Crowley’s supporters would have broken a sweat for Hong.

James E. Causey: Milwaukee PBS ‘Black Nouveau’ producer Marshburn dies at 78
Everett Marshburn was a driving force behind ‘Black Nouveau’ on Milwaukee PBS who mentored countless young journalists. I will miss my friend.

Bill Berry: A burning planet and lunatic leaders, this is the new normal
Get used to annually choking on smoke from wildfires, which have raged across North America, parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world. This isn’t about to change anytime soon, especially now that chicken Democrats have abandoned climate change at its mitigation as an issue.

Mark Belling: Trump could become LBJ 2.0
Trump needs to let the Iran war go. If he doesn’t, he, like Johnson, will be remembered for a war and not the herculean accomplishments of an otherwise monumental second term.

Bill Barth: Tariff lie exposed by refund process
Truth is usually the first casualty. The proof is clear on the international trade war kicked off with heavy tariffs on imported goods by the Trump administration.

Steven Walters: Questions for Wisconsin’s next governor
From a $2.36 billion surplus to child care, here are issues the nominees must answer for voters.

Charlie Sykes: Wisconsin Dems stare into the electoral abyss
And it may be a symptom of a much larger problem

John Nichols: Data centers take center stage in 2026 election
One of Wisconsin’s highest profile congressional candidates closed her primary campaign with a pivot toward the general election, focusing on an issue that barely existed at the start of the 2026 campaign season, but which could define the results this fall.

Kathy Bernier: Wisconsin is reaching back to 1849 to unsettle voters
Wisconsinites went to the polls this week under a warning from the state’s Elections Commission: place a trade on an election through a prediction market like Kalshi, then vote in that same race, and you could forfeit your ballot and commit a felony. It’s been 175 years since this law was written, and now it’s being weaponized against an industry that didn’t even exist a decade ago.

Mike McCabe: The room where it never happens
There are more than 2,000 political consulting firms operating across the country.

Patrick McIlheran: Why shut down schools that put kids more than a year ahead?
New study finds school choice is ‘like skipping a grade’ for working-class kids, yet critics would slam the door.

Natalie Eilbert: The next officer-involved shooting shouldn’t be inevitable
It’s time to go upstream and invest in transforming procedural justice, de-escalation trainings and early interventions. The families these officer-involved deaths have wrenched apart deserve better than resolved lawsuits. They deserve to see real change.

Gregg Hoffmann: Low water levels are concern
Low water levels in lakes and rivers in northern Wisconsin are creating concerns and adjustments in several areas.

Gregory Humphrey: A law gutted in broad daylight, Endangered Species Act under attack from Trump administration
The Act should be a shield used for protection, but the Trump Administration is operating in the opposite direction.

John Nichols: Wisconsin primary results could be shaped by wasted votes
Hughes, Rodriguez and Barnes will each register votes — and, in Barnes’ case, the total could be substantial.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ take a last look at Wisconsin’s Dem primary for governor ahead of Tuesday’s vote
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, take a final look at the candidates vying to win the primary for Wisconsin governor on August 11. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center for Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for August 7
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya van Wagtendonk discuss the latest in the governor’s race, key legislative primaries, and fundraising numbers going into Tuesday’s election.