Thursday, May 14: ‘Blockbuster’ deal crashes into a brick wall, gerrymandering fight moves to state courts, DOJ says it needs sensitive voter data to fight racial discrimination in voting, FBI agents seek to question Milwaukee official about 2020 election
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This proposal is a turducken. A turkey that was put together by a bunch of lame ducks, by a Republican Legislature that is too chicken to confront the structural affordability and education issues facing this state.”
– Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay), during Assembly debate on the deal Evers and GOP leaders negotiated to fund schools and cut taxes
Assembly Republicans, with their most vulnerable members up front, hold a press conference to tout their deal with Gov. Tony Evers to provide property tax relief and education funding. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
The property tax and school funding package negotiated between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), all of whom are retiring this year, died Wednesday night as three state Senate Republicans and all the Democrats voted against it, moments after the Assembly advanced the measure on a bipartisan vote following an amendment. Henry Redman spent the day and most of the evening in the Capitol to cover the debate and the outcome.
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s late April decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, much of the legal fight over gerrymandering is moving to state courts. Many states have constitutional or statutory provisions that curb gerrymandering and limit last-minute changes to elections — providing gerrymandering opponents with grounds to challenge new district boundaries. Democracy reporter Jonathan Shorman has the story.
Shorman also has the latest on a motion by the U.S. Department of Justice, which on Wednesday suggested to a federal appeals court that upholding a lower court decision blocking the Trump administration’s access to sensitive voter data would weaken its ability to investigate racial discrimination in voting.
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More from Washington:
ICYMI
Commentary: Gov. Evers’ ‘blockbuster’ gift to Republicans | Ruth Conniff
Demonstrators rallied outside the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, as judges weigh challenges to a GOP-supported congressional map. The number 305,968 references the number of signatures of voters seeking to force a statewide referendum vote on the lines (Photo by Jonathan Shorman/States Newsroom)
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