The Capitol Report, produced by WisPolitics.com — a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics — provides a weekly analysis of issues being debated in Wisconsin state government. It is underwritten by the WNA and produced exclusively for its members. WisPolitics.com President Jeff Mayers is a former editor and reporter for the Associated Press and a former political writer for the Wisconsin State Journal.
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Signs abound: campaign 2024 in Wisconsin has already begun.
Note these recent WisPolitics.com news items:
— – Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is launching a new TV ad in Wisconsin that proclaims he’s “getting results that matter.”‘
The spot is part of a 16-week, $25 million advertising campaign that was previously announced. The new ad will run in Wisconsin on broadcast TV in Milwaukee, as well as on digital across the state.
–First lady Jill Biden recently told more than 500 educators and union members at a Verona elementary school that there is no divide between teachers and parents because they have a shared love.
Addressing a National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers event in Dane County, the Northern Virginia Community College professor argued teachers do their jobs in spite of challenges because they love what they do and who they teach.
“And I think that that message matters more than ever,” she added. “Because lately when I turn on the TV I see pundits attacking our public schools and saying that parents and educators are at odds, but
that’s not what I see.”
After the education event, the first lady told a nearby fundraiser Republicans want to “drag us back to a past that we thought was long over.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and Gov. Tony Evers joined Biden for the fundraiser, which benefited the newly created Biden Baldwin Victory Fund.
Evers warned Republicans are “looking for the most extreme candidate to challenge” Baldwin, who has yet to draw an opponent for her 2024 reelection bid.
Biden talked about Wisconsin’s 1849 law that has effectively banned abortions being performed in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Wisconsin Republicans, like their national counterparts, want to drag us back to a past that we thought was long over. But we won’t let them,” Biden said.
— And the state Democratic Party announced a $4 million campaign to target GOP lawmakers over threats to impeach liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, with state Chair Ben Wikler saying the effort will ask Republicans if they’re “willing to sign a death warrant for democracy in our state.”
Wikler said the party will put $1 million toward the effort, with its allies accounting for the rest. He declined to name the other groups involved, leaving it to them to announce their plans. Dubbed “Defend Justice,” Wikler said the party’s efforts will involve outreach to voters through doors, text messages and public events. He added other groups involved will put up a multi-million dollar ad campaign.
“The anti-democratic, unconstitutional threat to impeach Janet Protasiewicz would constitute a political disaster for the Republican Party and for our system of government at large,” Wikler said on a conference call to announce the effort.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has said Republicans would consider impeaching Protasiewicz if she hears two redistricting suits now pending before the court. During the campaign, she said the current lines drawn by GOP legislative leaders are “rigged” in favor of Republicans. She also received nearly $10 million from the state Democratic Party as she won election by 11 percentage points in April, and private attorneys for GOP lawmakers have cited those donations in a motion seeking her recusal from the cases.
The three items are all about campaign 2024 in purple Wisconsin. Biden and Baldwin both will be running for reelection next year. And the national Republican Party convention will be held in Wisconsin next year.
So Wisconsin is seen by both parties as a pathway to the presidency and control of Congress.
It’s also a national battleground on the subject of legislative lines, or gerrymandering.
Republicans are trying mightily to at least delay any state Supreme Court decision on a redrawing of state legislators’ districts until after the 2024 elections. They are saying the new liberal justice should recuse herself from the remap cases, and some are even threatening impeachment. Republicans have been in full control of the Legislature since 2011, with strong majorities in the Assembly and the Senate.
Protasiewicz has released a May 31 letter from the Wisconsin Judicial Commission informing her that it had dismissed several complaints related to comments she made during the campaign. She sent it to
parties in the redistricting suits giving them until Sept. 18 to weigh in on whether the commission’s decision impacted their arguments over whether she should recuse from the cases.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, shared with WisPolitics the letter he received from the commission on May 31 dismissing the complaint he filed against Protasiewicz. Commission Executive Director Jeremiah Van Heck wrote there was “no evidence of misconduct.”
Vos, though, said in a statement the commission’s memo “only muddies the waters” because it dealt with what she said on the campaign trail. He said it didn’t address whether she can sit on the case after
receiving nearly $10 million from the state Democratic Party.
Expect a lot more on the Biden record, education, abortion and redistricting in the months ahead.
For more go to www.wispolitics.com
The Capitol Report is written by editorial staff at WisPolitics.com, a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics, and is distributed for publication by members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
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