The Recombobulation Area

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly , Pat Kreitlow ( The View from UpNorth ) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. The Aug. 11 partisan primary is now in our rear view mirror, David Crowley won by a less than 1% margin over Francesca Hong, and your friends at the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat are here to mak...

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.therecombobulationarea.com/subscribe

We are just days away from Election Day for Wisconsin’s wild Democratic gubernatorial primary. To offer a bigger picture perspective on the state of the race — and much more in Wisconsin’s discombobulating politics — Dan Shafer joined Aaron Rupar of Public Notice to recombobulate on this chaotic primary season. We also talked about Ron Johnson, Derrick Van Orden, Sean Duffy, Tom Tiffany, and all t...

With just days to go before the Aug. 11 primary, we have reached the silly season of the Democratic gubernatorial campaign. So, Angela Lang joined the podcast to ask: Have we lost the plot? We pondered that questioned, Angela had a few things to say about David Crowley’s recent comments on “the establishment” as a “slur,” what the term “the establishment” even means anymore, Tony Evers’ involvemen...

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. There is now less than a week to go before Wisconsin’s Aug. 11 partisan primary, and your friends at the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast are here to break it all down. The chat reacts to results from the U.S. Senate...

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has had a rather unique campaign in his run for governor, to say the least. He dropped out of the race in early July and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez a day later , not realizing she had misled him about an unraveling campaign finance crisis in her campaign. Ten days later, he’d officially re-launch his campaign , and do so with the backing of Gov. Tony...

Ben Wikler, the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, is out on tour, promoting his terrific new book, “ This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy .” I joined Wikler to host the event in Eau Claire for a live conversation to talk about the book, Wisconsin’s especially discombobulating campaign season, and much more, on topics from gerrymandering to the filibus...

It’s been another busy week in Wisconsin politics, with the one and only debate happening Tuesday at Marquette University, two new polls showing Francesca Hong opening up a sizable lead over the rest of the field, and a news cycle unfolding at breakneck pace as we get closer and closer to the Aug. 11 partisan primary. Your friends here at the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast are here to break...

A new poll of the Democratic primary in the race for governor in Wisconsin was released today by State Navigate , with support from UpNorthNews and Main Street Action. Here are the headline results, showing State Rep. Francesca Hong of Madison with a huge lead. UpNorthNews first reported on the results of the poll, and you can find Pat Kreitlow’s full story here . You can find State Navigate ’s br...

Over the past two weeks, the Democratic primary in the race for governor has turned into absolute chaos. Candidates are out, candidates are in, politicians are making endorsements, people are freaking out about the establishment, and this is all very discombobulating. Nobody knows anything, but the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat — Dr. Kristin Lyerly , Patrick Kreitlow of UpNorth News, Kate Duffy of...

The last two weeks of campaign politics in Wisconsin have been extremely discombobulating, to say the least. Since Tuesday, July 7, the following has happened: * Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley ended his campaign * Crowley endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez * Rodriguez announced she was firing her campaign manager over a major campaign finance crisis * Campaigns filed their finance reports...

Today is is a rather discombobulating day for a variety of reasons. For one, here in the city of Milwaukee, we are experiencing the worst wildfire smoke here that I think we’ve ever experienced here in the city. The air quality is atrocious and everything smells like a campfire — and not in a good way. It’s really, really bad. Secondly, scrolling social media to see Giannis Antetokounmpo being int...

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat of Dr. Kristin Lyerly , Patrick Kreitlow and Dan Shafer (we missed Kate Duffy this time!) got together once again to talk about all the latest happenings in Wisconsin politics, diving deep into the emerging scandal for a candidate that seemed ascendant just a few days ago. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez fired her campaign manager over mismanagement and inaccuracies in ca...

State Sen. Kelda Roys is making the case that she’s the candidate in the Democratic primary for governor who can get things done for Wisconsin, and as the person in this race who is the biggest threat to Republicans in a general election. “I think the Republicans looking at this race do see me as the biggest threat to Tom Tiffany because I will eviscerate him,” she said. “I will hold him accountab...

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat of Kate Duffy , Dr. Kristin Lyerly , Patrick Kreitlow and Dan Shafer got together once again to talk about all the latest happenings, from socialism scaremongering to data center moratoriums to the Democratic primary in the race for governor (controversies, microprimaries, etc.) and beyond. We also talked about the end of Child Care Counts (on June 30) and the beg...

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat got together once again to talk about all the latest in the news of the week. The show streamed live on Patrick Kreitlow ’s Facebook page and YouTube channel , and now, you can watch the full show here. Among topics discussed: The Democratic primary in the race for governor, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s place in the race, the fourth anniversary of th...

The Blake Matthew Mindful Memorial Foundation was founded in 2021 following the loss of Blake Matthew Fenwick, a beloved son, brother, friend, and young Wisconsin man whose life ended far too soon after a struggle with mental health challenges. What began with a father’s desire to honor his son has grown into a statewide movement focused on making mental health support more accessible, personal, a...

J oel Brennan is one of now six candidates running to be the Democratic nominee for governor. He was the secretary of the Department of Administration for much of Tony Evers’ first term as governor, and before that, was the president and CEO of Discovery World for more than a decade in Milwaukee. It was around that time that I met Brennan, when I was a reporter at the Milwaukee Business Journal, a...

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin held its annual convention over the weekend in Madison. And as you might expect, the Democratic primary in the race for governor was the big topic at this year’s event, with candidates hosting hospitality suites and delivering speeches and jockeying for position to be The Nominee. Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, Pat Kreitlow of UpNorth News and Dr. Kristin Lyer...

The future of the Stadium Freeway is something we’ve covered a whole lot here at The Recombobulation Area. Almost exactly five years ago, I wrote a piece as part of our multi-part “ Expanding the Divide ” series on why we should tear down the Stadium Freeway and convert it to a boulevard, opening up opportunities for housing and development and better connection between neighborhoods. Here’s that...

In light of the Callais decision, the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is firing up its demand for an Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) that empowers citizens — not political parties. For the past year, they have been building public support for a draft proposal that aims to be transformative in how Wisconsin draws its maps. On Thursday, June 4, they are holding coordinated statewide rallies...

Angela Lang and I always have a lot to talk about when we get together, so for these podcast episodes, we each bring three headlines or topics to discuss. This time, my headlines were: * WPR: Failed surplus deal would have sent Wisconsin budget into the red, analysis finds * NPR: Transportation Secretary Duffy filmed a reality show, funded by firms he regulates * Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Schlit...

Emily Mills recently won a Milwaukee Press Club GOLD award for their column, “How AI is harming Wisconsin’s path to renewable energy.” So, they joined the podcast to talk about that prescient piece, how the politics of AI and data centers has taken off as a major issue over the past year, and how this is an issue that does not cut along traditional political lines. We talked about that piece, alon...

Thanks so much to everyone who came out for our LIVE PODCAST event at Anodyne Coffee’s Walker’s Point Roastery in Milwaukee! It might not have been April 14, but we still showed up for the 4-1-4! Turns out you can celebrate Milwaukee Day on May 7, after all. Our guests for the podcast included Angela Lang and Kristin Brey, and we were also joined by Milwaukee Day founder Andy Silverman and 414 Day...