Debate-a-palooza

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The Uihleins wanted to take over a city. Tom Tiffany gave them their law change. A decade later the Uihleins give his campaign $35 million. The dam man wouldn’t have a damn campaign without the Uihleins’ millions.”

– Democratic analyst Scot Ross, on Tiffany leading a 2015 legislative effort to let his billionaire donors reshape a Manitowish Waters shoreline

New

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced Friday afternoon that she won’t be running for a third term next year, citing harassment and threats she and her family have received since the police killing of Corey Ruiz this summer. Baylor Spears reports on Rhodes-Conway’s decision.

Elections

In the 1st Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil is in an unexpectedly close race against Mitchell Berman, a nurse who has worked at a Veterans Affairs Hospital. Erik Gunn profiles the race, in which Democrats are hoping a Democratic wave and added scrutiny of Steil’s record can help sweep Berman into office.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is running for reelection in a rematch of the 2022 race with Republican Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney. Henry Redman covers the race in which Kaul has argued he will protect Wisconsin from harmful Trump administration actions while Toney has said Kaul is too distracted by fighting the White House.

Last weekend on Saturday, another No Kings Day took place across the country, with about 1,500 people gathering to march in downtown Madison against the Trump administration and urge people to vote early, Ruth Conniff reports.

In-person early voting opened this week on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a bus tour carrying healthcare and small business advocates crossed Wisconsin holding rallies to call on the federal government to reverse policies they said were thwarting healthcare access and support Democrats running for Congress and other offices in the Nov. 3 election, Gunn reports.

With less than two weeks before Election Day, the candidates for governor as well as Wisconsin’s 1st, 3rd and 8th Congressional Districts met for debates this week.

In the gubernatorial debate, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany pitched his plan to cut taxes while still increasing funding for education, healthcare and transportation while Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley argued that Tiffany’s plans don’t add up and he can’t be trusted to put the needs of the state over the wishes of his billionaire donors and President Trump, Redman reports.

In the 1st CD, Berman and Steil met at a Janesville radio station where Berman raised ethical concerns about Steil and criticized his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Steil argued he’s working to “clean up Washington” and defended the 2025 law, which cut billions in federal spending, Gunn reports.

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden and his Democratic opponent Rebecca Cooke met at Chippewa Valley Technical College on Tuesday for the first debate Van Orden has participated in since he first ran for the seat. In their debate, Van Orden defended the Trump administration actions that he’s supported while Cooke worked to boost her moderate bonafides, Redman reports.

Two years ago, Democrats sunk time and resources into winning the open seat for the 8th Congressional District. Republican Tony Wied won the seat by 15 points. Now running for reelection for the first time, Wied and his Democratic opponent Rick Crosson, seen as a longshot to win, met Thursday for a debate in which Wied argued he’s focused on helping northeastern Wisconsinites and Crosson accused Wied of ducking accountability and going along with the “erratic whims” of Trump, Redman reports.

In a commentary, Michael Pointer Mace argues that Tom Tiffany’s history of endorsing, supporting and winking at election conspiracy theories means it’s “not irrational” to think he might seek to overturn the results of Wisconsin’s elections if he loses Nov. 3.

In a column, Conniff writes about Tiffany’s long history of using the levers of government to benefit Richard and Liz Uihlein, two of the three billionaires that have bankrolled his seven figure campaign for governor.

PLUS:

Republican candidate Michael Alfonso supports voucher style system for healthcare

Ethics complaint filed over Van Orden’s use of AI

Clinic union certified, but Rogers Behavioral declines to say it will start bargaining

Wisconsin DNR to assess data center environmental impacts as part of settlement agreement

More from Washington:

Dems in Congress say they’re wary Trump won’t accept results of election

Trump’s DOJ sues over Alaska Senate race, expanding preelection legal fights

Why the new progressive Democrats in Congress might unite with the old Dems, for now