Battleground Wisconsin

We interview State Representative Sara Rodriguez, Citizen Action’s endorsed candidate for Lt. Governor in the fast approaching August 9th primary election. Sara tells us about her background in healthcare as a nurse and administrator and why she is the best running mate for Tony Evers. We also welcome new Citizen Action Movement Politics Director, Priscilla Bort, who shares her vision for electing...

We discuss the implications of a new Billionaires Report Citizen Action released this week with Americans for Tax Fairness. The report shows how the nation’s billionaires are pumping tens of millions of dollars into the 2022 midterm elections, mostly backing Republican candidates for Congress who will cut taxes for the ultra-rich and the corporations they own. The panel talks about the unelected F...

We discuss the corrosive election coverage by corporate media giant Gannett and its paper the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which punishes candidates for being honest and authentic about controversial issues, such as the role of structural racism in American history. Will the endless media thirst for click bait, and the shameless racial division fomented by GOP candidates and campaign operatives, ha...

We discuss a post Roe America and its connection to the insurrection. Governor Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul go on the offensive and file lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's 1849 law banning abortions, calling it unenforceable. We review the historic and eye-popping details of Tuesday’s January 6th hearing testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a key staffer to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meado...

We debrief Citizen Action’s Brew Fest featuring Mandela Barnes and great beverages. Thanks to everyone who attended, if you couldn’t we would love your donation in support. We review the significant news that Sen. Ron Johnson tried to transmit Wisconsin’s fake electoral votes to Vice President Mike Pence on January 6th and his pathetic response when confronted by the Capitol media which is garneri...

We have a special interview this week with Eau Claire City Council member Andrew Wethmann about a California water company’s failed scheme to get access to city water. It was a victory for community organizing and local democracy and a cautionary note about the threat of big water companies cutting secret days to steal our water resources. Speaking of conspiracies against democracy, we reflect on...

We welcome Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, Citizen Action’s newly endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, to discuss his historic campaign and why Citizen Action endorsed in the hotly contested primary to take on Mega MAGA Senator Ron Johnson. We debrief our 3rd Congressional District Candidate Forum, which featured the 4 Democratic candidates running to replace Ron Kind in one of the nation’s most impor...

We welcome guest panelist Isiah Holmes, an award-winning journalist from the Wisconsin Examiner, for an extended conversation focused on recent revelations on police accountability and mounting book censorship. We discuss the news that no charges will be filed against Police Officer Joseph Mensah in the fatal shooting of Jay Anderson. This came despite a botched investigation that led Judge Yamahi...

Special Report - Eau Claire city council member Kate Beaton discusses a California company’s effort to grab access to Eau Claire City water. Has the looting of Wisconsin’s water resources begun, or can an engaged public push back?

We welcome State Representative Supreme Moore Omokunde as a guest panelist for a serious discussion of the proliferation of guns and lack of political courage to do anything real about it. With our government ground to a standstill on everything that matters to voters, can democracy survive? We break some news, as Rep. Moore Omokunde gives us a preview of a a game changing Climate and Jobs package...

What is the potential impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law after 6 months? Can it, as Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich proposed on a media call hosted by Citizen Action this week, fund an expansion of Amtrak to the City of Champions? What do this week's Pennsylvania primaries portend for WI? Are the insurrectionists and the progressive populists on the rise? We talk about the latest COVID spike...

We take stock on this week's horrific milestone of 1 million U.S. COVID deaths, so far. What does it say about the country and what does it portend for the future? Primary elections have started across the country and we look at the role of Donald Trump in the elections. What does it mean for the prospects for American democracy? Robert discusses lessons for Wisconsin learned from Lt. Governor Joh...

We discuss the latest shock to American democracy, the SCOTUS leak of a draft majority opinion overturning Roe V Wade, with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin’s Courtney Hayward. We explore the politics andthe implications for Wisconsin. Are there ways we can fight back effectively? Yet another judge orders Assembly Republicans to prevent the destruction of records in ex Supreme Court Justi...

We have a fantastic conversation with Justice is Global’s Tobita Chow to discuss an American Prospect article denying that anti-China ads tap into anti-Asian sentiments in the American public. Are there Democratic arguments that can inadvertently spread hate and aid the Republicans?

We have a fantastic conversation with Justice is Global’s Tobita Chow to discuss an American Prospect article denying that anti-China ads tap into anti-Asian sentiments in the American public. Are there Democratic party arguments that can inadvertently spread hate and aid the Republicans? We discuss the new Marquette Law poll. Is there any shakeup in Wisconsin politics in this critical election ye...

We assess the damage of the State Supreme Court redistricting bombshell, imposing a radical gerrymander for WI Assembly and Senate districts for at least 2022, and perhaps until 2032. What are the implications for democracy, racial equity, and the progressive movement? Robert educates us on Governor Evers’ newly unveiled clean energy plan, the first serious move on climate in Wisconsin history. A...

We say goodbye to panelist Claire Zautke who is leaving Citizen Action to join Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s new administration in a senior policy position. The panel discusses the GOP effort to stop Governor Evers Administration from using the state’s energy efficiency program to lower carbon emissions, showing yet again how dangerous conservative ideology is for the future of humanity. The...

We debrief the Spring Election, including the right wing’s effort to take over local schools boards on shameful culture war conspiracies and the watershed election of Milwaukee's first Black mayor. The panel takes stock in the historic U.S. Senate vote confirming the first Black woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court. Disgraced former judge Michael Gableman shamefully speaks at T...

We have an exclusive interview with Eau Claire school board president Tim Nordin about the right wing attacks on school board members, and the death threat against him that is making national and international news. And make sure to vote April 5th!

Speaker Vos is found in contempt of court for failing to turn over records related to his sham 2020 election “investigation.” Will the political boss of the State Assembly comply with the court order to comply with Wisconsin’s open records laws? We have an exclusive interview with Eau Claire school board president Tim Nordin about the right wing attacks on school board members, and the death threa...

We discuss this historic week where the U.S. Supreme Court surprisingly reversed Wisconsin’s redistricting maps in its scandalous shadow docket. What is going on and where do we go from here? Next, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared before the U.S. Senate for ground-breaking confirmation hearing and faces shameful tactics from the Trump wing of the GOP. Will she survive the awful politics of the...

Our panel discusses Speaker Robin Vos’ meeting with conservative conspiracy theorists who are urging illegal decertification of the 2020 presidential election. Will Trump be returned to power via midterm coup? The Wisconsin Election Commission does not pursue charges against Wisconsin's fake electors. What does it mean? We review the implications of Gannett closing its West Milwaukee printing plan...

From the conservative leaning WI Supreme Court making up the new “least changes” redistricting criterion to the Republican attempt to funnel public dollars to private schools, it seems the Sith Lords of the WI GOP are embarrassing the dark side…again! We delve into the new political maps for Wisconsin and give some political insider perspective of the new districts pros and cons. Our eye-rolling w...

Public option, what? A sweeping BadgerCare Public Option Bill was announced this week in the Legislature, which does more than any bill introduced in over a decade to make health care more affordable and accessible in Wisconsin. We hit on the top details of the BadgerCare Public Option Bill and why it’s so important that legislation like this gets a fair hearing. In the weird and dangerous news of...

We open the show with immediate reactions to the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, and the odd split on the conflict in the Trump-era GOP. Is the backing of Putin by Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump himself, and others the new normal in Republican foreign policy? We welcome new WEAC president Peggy Wirtz-Olsen for her first interview on Battleground Wisconsin to dig into what is behind...