Submit columns for consideration to wisopinion@wispolitics.com

Dave Cieslewicz: Where’s the moderate in Dem primary?
The field for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor is set and it’s lacking a key ingredient. There is no one looking to occupy the moderate lane.

Scott Walker: Unaffordability spikes in Wisconsin
Milwaukee suburb property taxes are one more barrier for residents.

Dan Shafer: 2025 was a menacingly miserable year
We can get bogged down in the details in certain year-end retrospectives. The big picture? This was a remarkably bad year. Was this the worst year for American politics this century?

Charlene Gaebler-Uhing and Gail Sklodowska: Abortion bill is government meddling public doesn’t support
Public opinion is clear on this: the vast majority say women should be the deciders, along with their doctors, without government interference.

David J Decker: Moves to protect renters actually make housing cost more
Restricting evictions during certain months or certain households often creates a perverse incentive for nonpayment — and shifts the financial burden onto housing providers.

Jerry Hanson: We need a return to moral leadership in 2026
Helping others does not make us suckers and losers; it just makes us good Americans again.

LaKeshia N. Myers: When war games become real
Trump’s strikes signal dangerous new era.

Paul Soglin: No takers for Trump’s Venezuelan oil scheme
In the 10 days prior to the extraction of Meduro, Trump and his representatives met with U.S. oil interests to find an operator of the Venezuelan oil industry, with little success.

Melissa Agard: Promises made, promises kept in Dane County in 2025
As we look ahead to 2026, it’s worth asking a simple question: Did we do what we said we would do? The people of Dane County deserve results.

Rolf Lindgren: The return of Pints & Politics
The RPDC is re-energizing a longtime tradition

Thomas M. Nelson and Jerald Podair: Book excerpt: ‘Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy’
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of: “Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy,” by Thomas M. Nelson and Jerald Podair. Published by Michigan State University Press.

Bill Kaplan: Wisconsin political leaders to watch 2026
Wisconsin will need capable, wise political leaders in 2026 to navigate these treacherous shoals.

Tim Hansen: Concept of humanity is central to Dugan case
If appellate courts overturn Dugan’s conviction, they will keep open a small, vital space where the law can still be forced, by both judges and movements, to acknowledge a humanity it did not create and has no legitimate authority to erase.

Mark Belling: Dugan should have pleaded insanity
When Trump was being prosecuted on all manner of bogus charges between 2020 and 2024, lefties pompously proclaimed “nobody is above the law.” That includes Hannah Dugan.

Fayzaan Virk: Hannah Dugan conviction another nail in coffin of democracy
The conviction of a sitting judge for managing her own courtroom marks a dangerous inflection point for the separation of powers and the integrity of the American immigration system.

Priscilla A. Prado: Why Wisconsin’s dairy farms depend on migrant workers
The declining rural population, the increasing size of dairies, and the dangers of physical labor has left farm owners statewide struggling to find native-born workers. This labor gap is reinforced by outdated immigration laws.

Brent Jacobson: No, socialism will not solve your property tax headaches
Wisconsinites deserve an honest explanation for their rising property taxes. Instead, Wisconsin Democrats are offering them even more taxes.

Richard Moore: Delist the gray wolf. Then Delist the administrative state
Tom Tiffany and Lauren Boebert introduced a bill to delist the gray wolf from the endangered species list, and utilized a little-used power preventing judicial review of the act.

John Nichols: Hong and Mamdani’s shared vision
Hong shares Mamdani’s enthusiasm for renewing government as a vehicle for serving the great mass of working-class people — as opposed to the self-dealing oligarchs who for so long have the used the levers of power to plunder the commonwealth.

Mike Pochowski: As WI ages, we need transparency in care facility referrals
Under Assembly Bill 255/Senate Bill 262, referral agencies would be required to disclose their relationships with assisted living providers — so families know whether a recommendation comes with a financial tie.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ discuss budget negotiations between Evers, GOP leaders
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss the recent meetings between Gov. Tony Evers and GOP legislators as lawmakers craft Wisconsin’s biennial budget amid looming federal cuts. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for May 9
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s 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.