(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul will run for reelection rather than joining the race to become the state’s next governer, Kaul announced Tuesday.
Kaul made news Monday by appealing a Waukesha County ruling that would require the Wisconsin Election Commission to check its voter rolls with available information from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
“This is a pivotal time for our nation,” Kaul said in a statement announcing his decision to seek reelection. “Some of our most basic rights are under threat. Severe cuts have been made to programs that provide opportunities and have helped communities move forward. It’s critical that we continue to have an AG who will stand up for our freedoms and the rule of law.”
Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker applauded the decision, saying that Kaul is standing up to President Donald Trump.
“Josh Kaul has been a champion for Wisconsin and a bulwark against the MAGA extremist politicians and the Trump administration who have been trying to subvert our democracy, attacking our personal freedoms, and stealing from everyday working people.”
A recent poll showed that Republican Tom Tiffany has a huge lead in the Republican race and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who has not yet announced he is running, is leading amongst Democrats.
Tiffany’s campaign announced Monday that he had raised $1 million, less than two weeks after officially entering the race.
“Wisconsinites are fired up to save our state and restore commonsense leadership,” Tiffany said in a statement. “While Democrats are propped up by Hollywood millionaires and coastal elites, we are building a grassroots movement right here at home that will deliver a Republican victory for Wisconsin.”Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. head Missy Hughes, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, state Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and former Democrat State Rep. Brett Hulsey have entered the race.
Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann has joined Tiffany on the Republican side.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Elections Commission must check the state’s voter rolls against information from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, a Waukesha County judge ruled.
The state’s election authority must check voter registration information with state identification information to ensure the voter rolls are accurate.
“WEC is failing in the most basic task of ensuring that only lawful voters make it to the voter roll from where lawful votes are cast,” Circuit Court Judge Michael P. Maxwell wrote.
Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment that requires only citizens can vote in elections last November.
Election officials claimed that they could not check the voter rolls against WisDOT information previously.
But groups such as the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty have been pushing the state to do exactly that.
“Shockingly, the agency that Wisconsin’s citizens rely upon to ensure the integrity of our electoral process claims Wisconsin statutes ‘do not require the Commission to prevent non-U.S.citizens from appearing on the list or to remove non-U.S. citizens from the list,’” Maxwell wrote. “WEC is wrong. Wisconsin statutes are replete with requirements that only lawful voters are allowed to cast a vote.”
WILL recently wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice asking the department to find out why WEC said that it uses a different process to match voter registrations with DMV information for online and mail-in or in-person registrations.

(The Center Square) – A Democratic committee member has been removed from the Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs after a dispute over a bill on blocking state funds from being used toward health care for those in the country illegally.
Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, said that he was removed after speaking out on Senate Bill 341, which he says contradicts the teaching of Jesus.
The Wisconsin Assembly passed the bill 51-44 on Sept. 11 and Carpenter’s objections came during a public hearing on Sept. 18.
Bill sponsors say it is aimed at preventing the state from adding undocumented immigrants to BadgerCare like occurred in recent years in Minnesota and Illinois, with Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, saying it would prevent the state from being the next “test dummy.”
But the bill goes further than those programs, as evidenced by fiscal notes from state departments including the Department of Corrections, which believes it could be unconstitutional to deny state-paid care to inmates who are undocumented.
Carpenter commented during the hearing that people are being detained under the guise of immigration officials going after violent criminals.
“That is a small percentage compared to innocent people, on technicalities, that are being sent out to El Salvador, maybe some Middle East country,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter added during the public hearing that the intent of the bill was “wrong” and “immoral” before committee chair Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, hit his gavel and said “you can not negatively talk about him.”
“If you’re going to speak out of line, I’m not going to allow it,” Kapenga added.
Kapenga then hit his gavel again while Carpenter spoke about immigration policy from the 1950s and Carpenter reach to grab the gavel, which was sitting on the table.
Carpenter cited his Catholic faith and responsibility to acknowledge right and wrong.
“I was wrongly accused of insulting the authors’ character when I was referring to the policy before us, which can be seen in the record,” Carpenter said in a statement. “I should not have been gaveled down for debating the morality of the bill.
“I was gaveled down again when I dared to speak about one of the saddest chapters in American history when over one million people of Mexican descent were deported, including thousands of U.S. Citizens. I have a right and responsibility to raise legitimate concerns about legislation that scapegoats people across Wisconsin.”
Kapenga said in the meeting that Carpenter could ask questions about the bill in the public hearing but not continue to make statements outside of the bill.
“Public hearings are an opportunity to question and debate the legislation brought forward, not to act out and attempt to rip the gavel out of the Chairman’s hands,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement to The Center Square. “Actions have consequences and due to Sen. Carpenter’s outburst and lack of decorum I have removed him from the Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs.”
Carpenter noted during the public hearing that, while Republicans are trying to pass the bill, he believes that Gov. Tony Evers will veto it.
The Center Square was unable to obtain additional comment from Kapenga or Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein.

(The Center Square) – It’s really early, but a new poll for next year’s race for governor has two early leaders.
Platform Communications is out with a new poll that gives Republican Tom Tiffany a huge lead in the race, while it shows Mandela Barnes out in front for the Democrats.
“Barnes opens as a potential candidate with the highest marks among poll respondents, with 16% saying they would support him in a primary,
while declared candidate Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez is in second at 8%,”
pollsters wrote. “Nearly 38% of Democrats remain undecided in the race.
Barnes has not yet launched a campaign, but he’s expected to. His last campaign was in 2022, when he ran and lost the election for U.S. Senate.
Plattform’s poll gives Tiffany 30% of the Republican vote.
“The nearest prospective candidate, Eric Hovde, garnered 14% from voters, while 34% of the Republican electorate remained undecided,”
pollsters noted. “The poll also included candidate and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, and prospective candidates Tim Michels and Mary Felzkowski.”
Hovde, Michels and Felzkowski have not jumped into the campaign yet.
The poll comes nearly 11 months before voters in Wisconsin will pick the next candidates for governor.
Gov. Tony Evers decided against running for a third term in July that set-off the first open primary for governor in Wisconsin since 2010.
Beyond the horse race, Platform’s poll offers some insight into where voters are this early in the race.
“Head-to-head, Republicans open with a narrow lead on a “generic” ballot. Forty-three percent of voters say that if the election for governor were held today, they would support a Republican candidate, while 40 percent would support the Democrat,” the pollsters added.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill on Friday that will make using artificial intelligence to create pornography of a person a misdemeanor and using an AI-generated nude or sexual image of a person to intimidate, coerce or harass them a felony.
Wisconsin Act 34 was authored by Rep. Brent Jacobson, R-Mosinee, and Sen. Andre Jacque, New Franken.
The law, which goes into effect on Saturday, came after D.C. Everest Junior High student Bradyn Bohn died by suicide after he was the victim of sextortion.
“Recent events like the tragic death of DC Everest student Bradyn Bohn demonstrate how vulnerable we can be to online coercion and intimidation,” Jacobson said in a statement. “I am proud that my colleagues in the Legislature and Governor Evers could come together to proactively update our laws and keep Wisconsinites safe!”
The law is an expansion of prior crimes related to the depiction of nudity.
Jacque cited a study from Deeptrace which showed that 96% of “deep fake” material is non-consensual pornography, and “exclusively targets and harms women.”
Jacque cited another case in Milwaukee where an artificial image was created by a former police officer who then used the image to harass an ex-girlfriend.
“As the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) become more and more advanced, bad actors are increasingly using artificially generated sexually explicit images to harass and intimidate innocent people online,” Jacque said in a statement. “Act 34 will protect citizens against a new and disturbing form of cyber-abuse and ensure that all Wisconsinites can feel comfortable sharing regular images of themselves online without fearing that those images will be manipulated or corrupted into pornography.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, sees an E-Verify bill that he has co-authored as a step toward requiring E-Verify for all employers in the state, like 10 other states require.
For now, however, Assembly Bill 281 would require state government employees and state contractors with contracts more than $50,000 to use E-Verify for employees.
“This is a commonsense measure that promotes transparency and accountability in public contracting and state employment,” said Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk, R-Hubertus.
Hubertus told the Assembly Committee on Commerce that, had Iowa used this requirement, it would have avoided the situation where Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts was arrested after it was found that he had weapons charges and was in the country illegally.
“This bill would make sure this does not happen here in Wisconsin,” Piwowarczyk said.
Wimberger said that he knows and has experienced how difficult it can be to find employees.
“The fact that we struggle to find labor does not justify doing something that is destructive to our society,” Wimberger said.
He compared it to before the Civil War when cotton farmers said that they wouldn’t have anyone to pick cotton if they could not have slaves.
“The answer is that we’re going to figure it out,” Wimberger said. “… Advance as a society and not be luddites.”
Christine Neumann-Ortiz of Voces de la Frontera registered against the bill, saying it would make some undocumented workers go the extra steps of buying a Social Security number from someone else in order to work and then it would raise the charges that could be brought against the worker if they are found to have used false information.
“We need to make sure that, here in Wisconsin, people are made to feel welcome and their contributions are welcomed,” Neumann-Ortiz said.”… In the absence of immigration reform, it is what people are coerced to do.”
David Ortiz Whittingham, of Worker Justice Wisconsin, said that the requirement will lead more contractors to heavily use subcontractors who do not have the E-Verify requirement to do the actual contracted work and shield “brazenly illegal practices.”
“The prime contractor on the project will only employ a small fraction of the workers on the project,” he explained.
Wimberger said that the use of illegal immigrant labor undercuts the value of an hour of labor for those in the country illegally, citing Cesar Chavez.
He called the employment of workers in the country illegally “corrosive.”

(The Center Square) – The pushback to a housing cooperative plan at the Wisconsin Capitol is not just because of what’s in the bill.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, asked “what the hell is going on” after four Republicans joined Wisconsin Socialist Caucus member Ryan Clancy in voting for the plan.
“In what world would a majority Republican committee agree to spend up to $10 million for the renovations of, legal costs and startup costs for COMMUNES?,” Nass said.
The legislation says the idea is to have the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority start a “condominium conversion grant program for the purpose of awarding grants to owners of multifamily housing for the costs associated with converting multifamily housing to condominiums,” the bill states.
There’s no specific mention of what Nass calls communes.
Clancy, D-Milwaukee, said the idea is to find ways to provide more affordable housing across the state.
“Housing co-ops are an important alternative for households in our communities that lack the means to individually purchase and maintain stable housing. They provide the assurance of predictable costs, create the potential for innovative forms of cost sharing and cost reduction, and help strengthen the communities that embrace this well-proven model,” Clancy said in a statement. “There is nothing inherently conservative, liberal, or socialist about housing co-ops as an alternative to traditional, for-profit single-family housing and renting. It’s simply a means to housing security, affordability and equity for people who face spiraling rent costs and profound barriers to home ownership, profound problems in my district and statewide.”

(The Center Square) – A bill that would require Wisconsin school districts to confirm they have filed their required financial paperwork to the state before going to referendum was the subject of a public hearing in the Assembly Committee on Education on Thursday.
The bill was aimed at districts such as Milwaukee that fail to fulfill their financial reporting obligations and then ask district residents for more funds through a referendum, according to sponsor Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, who referred to Assembly Bill 457 as “my MPS bill.”
Milwaukee passed a $252 million referendum in April 2024 and it was later revealed that Milwaukee Public Schools had not filed the paperwork with the Department of Public Instruction. The district missed the deadlines by eight months and had $42 million withheld.
“I don’t think that asking districts to comply to basic requirements already required of them is any kind of punishment,” Nedweski said.
Discussion of the topic got heated as it diverted to discussion of the state’s funding formula and Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, referred to the state “underfunding” schools and forcing them to referendum.
The state saw more than half of the 241 referendums across the state in the past year succeed.
Nedweski cited a Legislative Fiscal Report showing that, due to how the state funding formula works, the passing of the $252 million Milwaukee referendum cost Madison, Waukesha and Racine $2 million a year in state funding while Appleton and West Bend would lose more than $1 million each year.
Nedweski said that she believes, if the public knew at the time that Milwaukee Public Schools had not fulfilled its financial reporting obligations before the referendum, it would not have passed and the other districts would have had more funding.
She added “trust is important” and the lack of transparency led to “consequences well beyond Milwaukee.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin is the “gold standard of open enrollment reporting in the nation,” according to the author of a new report on how state’s compare in open enrollment policy.
Wisconsin ranked 10th overall in Reason Foundation’s open enrollment rankings and Reason Senior Policy Analyst Jude Schwalbach praised the state’s cross-district enrollment policy that 60,000 students used in 2023-24 where students are not charged tuition.
“DPI annually publishes this open enrollment report dating back to the 1990s, so we have 25 years worth of data and you can see how the program in Wisconsin increased incrementally,” Schwalbach said, noting there were 2,000 students when it was launched.
“It slowly scaled up, which should be encouraging for other states,” he added.
Wisconsin’s high level of detailed transparency on the program also led to the conclusion that Wisconsin saw 20% of its rejected open enrollment denials were due to lack of space in special education programs.
“Wisconsin’s data continued trends from previous years, showing that school districts deny students with disabilities at higher rates than their non-disabled peers,” the report noted. “This level of data wasn’t available for other states.”
While the state has a high level of statewide transparency, the same level of reporting is not done on a district-by-district level.
“I think that districts should be posting their open enrollment policies, procedures and deadline on their websites so families can, if they want to transfer, quickly learn when, where and how to apply for one and what they have to do.
“And they should also be posting their available capacity.”
Wisconsin has an open enrollment period from February through April each year when families can submit applications but also has an alternative open enrollment for specific reasons including bullying, military orders, if the student is or was homeless, within 30 days of entering the state, if residence changed due to a custody order or if both districts agree on the move.

(The Center Square) – Less than a day into the federal government shutdown, Dane Count’sy executive says she has no choice but to freeze hiring.
County Executive Melissa Agard announced she will freeze hiring for “all non-essential vacancies.”
“The Trump Shutdown will harm families, workers, and communities across the country, and Dane County is not immune,” Agard said in a statement. “The political chaos in Washington has thrown a cloud of uncertainty over our local budget. We cannot ignore the risk of disrupted federal funding and the ripple effects that will be felt in our community.”
But the hiring freeze, and Dane County’s budget troubles, cannot be entirely laid at the feet of the Trump administration or the federal government.
Agard admitted that Dane County was looking at a dire financial situation before the federal government shutdown.
“Dane County entered the 2026 budget process facing a $31 million structural deficit due to rising costs and stagnant revenues,” Agard said in the statement.
“Even before this shutdown, we were staring down difficult fiscal realities. Costs for services and infrastructure continue to climb, while revenues remain flat. Now, with federal dysfunction creating additional uncertainty, it would be reckless to continue with business as usual,” she added.
Agard introduced a new, smaller county budget Wednesday afternoon. She is now looking to spend $825 million, about 3% less than last year.
The drop in spending ends a six-year streak of county budget increases. In all, the total Dane County budget jumped 47% between 2019 and 2025.
In addition to the hiring freeze, Agard is offering an early retirement incentive. She’s also offering voluntary, unpaid time off. Though there are no layoffs planned.
The new Dane County budget would lower property taxes. Her proposal would likely lead to a 3% tax decrease. Dane County supervisors will now look at Agard’s plan, and vote on it in the coming weeks.

(The Center Square) – Democratic attorneys general from 21 jurisdictions sued the Trump administration Wednesday for denying federal funds to help victims of violent crimes who are illegal immigrants.
The suit challenged the U.S. Department of Justice’s new requirement prohibiting recipients of grants from using the money to provide legal services to any “removable alien or any alien otherwise unlawfully present in the United States,” with some exceptions. The new rule takes effect Oct. 31 and applies to both future and previous grants.
The grants are funded by the Victims of Crime Act, Byrne Justice Assistance Grants and Violence Against Women Act.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other federal officials are listed as defendants.
The plaintiffs are attorneys general from California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Illinois, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
“I’m proud to file this suit in support or survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and other violent crimes,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Wednesday.
In addition to illegal immigrants, Mayes’ office said the DOJ order applies to others who can’t prove their immigration status.
The grants pay for legal representation in family court, relocation and housing assistance, medical bills, funeral costs and other civil legal services, according to the attorneys general. The legal services help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, human trafficking, and elder abuse. The Byrne JAG grants also provide help to state and local governments for criminal justice initiatives.
The lawsuit stresses the services have been available for victims regardless of their immigration status.
The Center Square Wednesday reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment, but did not get an immediate response. The DOJ website noted it may be slower in responding to inquiries because of the federal government shutdown, which started at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time Wednesday.
“We continue to make it clear that we will hold the Trump administration to account for actions that are unjust,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters during a virtual news conference Wednesday, which also featured CEOs of two nonprofits that help victims of domestic violence. Bonta noted the suit was California’s 41st lawsuit against the Trump administration in 36 weeks.
Bonta called the Department of Justice’s new rule “unlawful” and “reckless.” He said the federal government is undermining the mission of victim services to “rebuild lives and bring offenders to justice.”
The DOJ order puts at risk $94 million in California, he said, but noted, “It isn’t just about fighting for funds. It’s fighting for fairness.”
In a written statement Wednesday, Bonta noted, “I wish President [Donald] Trump would stop creating problems where there are none — and focus his energy on policies that actually reduce crime and protect public safety.”
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of violating the U.S. Constitution’s Spending Clause. The suit said the violation comes in two ways: a retroactive condition that states couldn’t anticipate and vagueness over which legal services are restricted, which subset of immigrants can’t get federally funded services and how states can define that subset.
The suit goes on to claim the DOJ’s new rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act by being “arbitrary and capricious,” with no explanation for the prohibition against illegal immigrants. It also says the Trump administration is violating the procedures act by being in direct conflict with governmental regulations that say eligibility for legal services isn’t dependent on immigration status.
Tying legal services to immigration status will empower those who abuse victims, warned Pat Bell, CEO of House of Ruth, a California nonprofit that serves victims of domestic violence.
“We don’t ask immigration status,” Bell said. “Violence does not discriminate.”
She spoke during Bonta’s news conference, along with Mark Lee, CEO of Radiant Future, another California nonprofit aiding domestic violence victims.
Denying legal services to illegal immigrants sends a message to abusers that they can cause more harm because there’s nothing victims can do, Lee said. “The cycle of violence will continue.”
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said Trump’s decision to turn legal service providers into an extension of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is illegal and against the will of Congress.
Restricting grants will make communities less safe, said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
“Sexual assault and domestic violence survivors turn to our courts for safety and protection,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. “They should never be turned away because of who they are or where they come from.”

(The Center Square) – An expansion of data center sales tax exemptions in Wisconsin is meant to “treat all businesses the same,” according to Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls.
Assembly Bill 245 would expand the server computers eligible for the tax exemption from networked computers that are linked together to include individual standalone computers at a site.
Right now, Ark Data Centers in the Village of Harrison near Appleton is pushing for the bill but Zimmerman said “we will see a number of these in the months to come.”
Ark Chief Executive Officer John Kehoe, the lead lobbyist for the bill, said that he thought the original data center sales tax exemptions, enacted in the 2023-25 budget, would apply to Ark. Bill sponsors said the same.
Kehoe said that Ark’s data center location is currently empty as companies show interest in the state but then do not continue to take out a 5- to 10-year lease to share space at Ark’s facility because they want the sales tax breaks.
Kehoe said that most companies would be spending between $10-$50 million, meaning a sales tax exemption between $600,000 and $3 million from Wisconsin.
Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos did not immediately respond to questions from The Center Square regarding the benefits of the sales tax exemption and other tax breaks for data centers.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-7th Congressional, is now running for Wisconsin governor and said that he is concerned with Wisconsin’s energy supply with so many data centers coming online.
“I’ll never forget, 30 years ago you would see those rankings where Wisconsin was among the lowest cost electricity producers in the Midwest,” Tiffany said. “We were like No. 2. Now we’re the second highest here in the Midwest.”
The current exemption has led to $70 million in forgone sales tax in its first two years, exceeding Department of Revenue estimates.
The sales tax exemptions are good for equipment, construction materials, electricity and more at qualified data centers in the state.
Many of the usually benefits of a business entering the state – property taxes, sales tax and employment – have already been conceded by the state while questions remain about the impact of energy and water use at the facilities.
Wholesale electricity costs have increased as much as 267% from five years ago in areas near significant data centers, according to an analysis from Bloomberg.