Our comprehensive list and schedule of all upcoming political fundraisers. | |
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In this update:
- Election Updates
- Administration Updates
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State Assembly and Senate | |
Drake wins 4th SD special election | |
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State Rep. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) won 96.6% of the votes in the special election for the 4th SD seat, where she was the only candidate on the ballot. Rep. Dora Drake won the primary with 65.8% of the vote on July 3rd against fellow state Rep. LeKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee). The 4th SD was left vacant after former state Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) resigned in January after her appointment to the Milwaukee Circuit Court.
Sen. Drake will serve out the remainder of the current term and will have another primary with Rep. Myers on August 13th to serve a full term beginning January 2025. Whoever wins the primary will run unopposed in the November general election.
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Groups contribute to legislative races | |
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Stronger Wisconsin Fund and Wisconsin Workers United have begun allocating funding towards digital ads, mailers, door hangers and canvassing-related expenses in key legislative primary races.
Below is a summary of the groups’ reported pre-primary spending:
Stronger Wisconsin Fund
- 1st AD (Kitchens/Swagel) - Spent $4,827 on mailers supporting Joel Kitchens.
- 4th AD (D. Behnke/Steffen) - Spent $9,959 on mail opposing Darwin Behnke (R) and spent $9,082 on mailers supporting Steffen.
- 6th AD (E. Behnke/Schmidt) - Spent $9,982 on mail opposing Elijah Behnke and spent $4,827 on mail supporting Rep. Peter Schmidt.
- 24th AD (Knodl/Brandtjen) - Spent $13,991 on mail to supporting Sen. Dan Knodl.
- 27th AD (Hilbelink/Brill) -Spent $5,598 on mail to support Brian Hilbelink (R).
- 35th AD (Callahan/Mayr)- Spending $4,843 on mail supporting Rep. Calvin Callahan.
- 55th AD (Gustafson/Schraa)- Spent $10,364 on mail opposing Rep. Nate Gustafson.
- 57th AD (Petersen/Wilson)- Spent $10,398 on mail against Duane Wilson (R) and $9,541 on mail supporting Rep. Kevin Petersen.
- 67th AD (Armstrong/Swenson)- Spent $3,855 on mail supporting Rep. David Armstrong.
- 68th AD (Summerfield/Taylor) - Spent $4,716 on mail supporting Rep. Rob Summerfield.
- 69th AD (Hurd/Voss) - Spent $8,564 on mail opposing Lori Voss (R) and $7,800 on mail supporting Rep. Karen Hurd.
- 74th AD (Green/Harbridge)- Spent $4,507 supporting Rep. Chanz Green.
- 87th AD (Sillars/Jacobson)- Spent $10,640 on mail against Cory Sillars (R) and spent $9,350 for mail supporting Brent Jacobson (R).
- 88th AD (Collins/Franklin)- Spent $4,585 on mail opposing Phil Collins (R) and spent $4,108 on mail supporting Ben Franklin (R).
- 98th AD (Piwowarczyk/Pridemore)- Spent $7,211 on mailers for Jim Piwowarczyk (R).
- 20th SD (Feyen/Ramthun) - Spent $32,914 on mail against former Rep. Tim Ramthun (R).
Wisconsin Workers United
- 16th SD (Anderson/Baldeh/Ratcliff)- Spent $32,694 on mailers and consulting fees for Rep. Melissa Ratcliff (D).
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Second Gentleman Emhoff speaks in Wausau | |
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff visited the Wausau Hmong Festival last weekend to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. Second Gentleman Emhoff said in his remarks in Wausau that VP Harris would ensure justice and freedom for all, and the Hmong community has “more power than you realize” and the “community could really dictate the results of this election.” After the event in Wausau, he went on to speak to volunteers in Stevens Point. | |
Fox News and Bloomberg/Morning Consult release new presidential polls | |
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Fox News and Bloomberg/Morning Consult released new presidential polls finding different results in the matchup between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. In the head-to-head Fox News poll, 50% of registered Wisconsin voters support Trump, and 49% favor VP Harris. In the April Fox News poll, Trump and President Joe Biden were tied at 48%. When including third parties, Trump and VP Harris were tied at 46%, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 5%, and Jill Steil and Cornel West at 1% each. Fox News hired Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research who polled 1,046 registered voters from July 22-24 by live interviewers over landlines and cell phones with some contacted via text and then completing the survey online. The margin of error was +/- 3 percentage points. FiveThirtyEight rates Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research 2.8 stars out of three.
Bloomberg/Morning Consult differed from Fox News’ poll, finding VP Harris ahead of Trump among registered Wisconsin voters 49-47 in a head-to-head race. In a multi-candidate race, Trump was ahead 45%, VP Harris 44%, and RFK Jr. at 6%. The results also found VP Harris had a favorability of 47% while 50% found her unfavorable. President Joe Biden had 38% favorability and 61% unfavorable. Trump’s split was 44-55. Bloomberg/Morning Consult polled 700 registered voters from July 24-28 and was conducted online. The margin of error was +/- 4 percentage points. FiveThirtyEight rates Morning Consult 1.8 stars out of three.
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Former President Donald Trump is launching his first large buy of the presidential race. The ad centers around the southern border, claiming Vice President Kamala Harris is “failed, weak, dangerously liberal.” The narrator goes on to say she’s “America’s border czar” with the 10 million illegally here, Americans dying from fentanyl, and “ISIS [is] now here.”
Watch the ad here.
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Harris releases first ad of presidential campaign | |
Vice President Kamala Harris launched her first TV ad of her presidential bid. The ad will air on local and national broadcast TV, cable, streaming, and social channels. The ad highlights VP Harris’ experience as a prosecutor, California’s Attorney General, and Vice President. The ad ends with “Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. To give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act. But we are not going back.”
Watch the ad here.
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Republican Voters Against Trump announce ad campaign | |
Republican Voters Against Trump launched a new ad campaign featuring Republicans who will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. The ad campaign in Wisconsin will consist of 17 billboards in southern Wisconsin as well as a digital ad airing in Madison and Milwaukee. The digital ad will be on YouTube and streaming platforms and features people who previously voted for former President Donald Trump saying they will not support him again. “He’s going to seek retribution against his enemies,” one person says. The billboards have Wisconsin voter Lars saying, “I’m a former Trump voter. I’m a conservative. I’m voting for Harris.”
Watch the digital ad here.
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Priorities USA Action launch new ad | |
Priorities USA Action launched a new YouTube digital ad. It focuses on abortion access after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The ad contrasts former President Donald Trump’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ stances on abortion. The ad will run in other swing states.
Watch the ad here.
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U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin was on WISN’s ‘Upfront’ last weekend. She discussed President Joe Biden dropping from the Presidential race. When asked her thoughts on the narrative that top donors pushed President Biden to drop out, she responded, "Every rally I went to, the 4th of July parades that I attended in northern Wisconsin, just average people were coming up, and they so respect the work that Joe Biden has done. But they were conveying to me and asking me to convey to the president that they appreciate his work, and they asked him to step aside."
Below are other topics covered in the interview:
- The call for Pres. Biden to resign
- Immigration
- The economy
- Her re-election bid
Watch the full interview here.
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Fox News releases senate poll | |
A new Fox News poll found U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) ahead of GOP candidate Eric Hovde 54-43. The poll also showed 83% of former President Donald Trump supporters backed Hovde, and 96% of Vice President Kamala Harris supporters favored Sen. Baldwin. Fox News hired Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research who polled 1,046 registered voters from July 22-24 by live interviewers over landlines and cell phones with some contacted via text and then completing the survey online. The margin of error was +/- 3 percentage points. FiveThirtyEight rates Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research 2.8 stars out of three. | |
U.S. House of Representatives | |
Cooke launches new radio ad | |
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3rd CD candidate Rebecca Cooke (D-Eau Claire) released a new radio ad. In the ad, she recites the 4-H pledge and goes on to claim that U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) is more focused on culture wars than the dairy industry. “Corporate dairy has driven so many of us out of business, and what’s Washington done? Nothing,” Cooke says. “Politicians like Derrick Van Orden focus more on culture wars than the war to save our way of life. He wants to ban all abortions—I want to keep the government out of our private decisions. Van Orden actually brags about sexually harassing military women—I honor women that served our country.”
Listen to the ad here.
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Jacque launches first TV ad | |
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State Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) released his first TV ad of his 8th CD bid, calling himself the “undisputed conservative champion.” State Sen. Jacque will face former state Sen. Roger Roth (R-Appleton) and Trump-endorsed businessman Tony Wied (R-Suamico) in the Republican primary on August 13th to determine who will go head-to-head with Dr. Kristin Lyerly (D-Allouez) in November. The ad features state Sen. Jacque as a boxer and says he’s “the big man known for winning the big battles with a powerful right hook that crushes establishment RINOs like Robin Vos.”
Watch the ad here.
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Gov.’s Task Force on Broadband Access releases annual report | |
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The Governor’s Task Force on Broadband Access released their fourth annual report in which they emphasized the need for more state funding for broadband expansion in Wisconsin. The annual report included an update for ongoing state efforts to improve internet access, and also outlined the spending plan for more than $1 billion from the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, or BEAD. The report provides recommendations for the BEAD grant program process and calls for additional state funding because “federal funds alone won’t solve internet access issues.”
The task force also suggested focusing on “areas where experienced speeds differ from advertised service due to aging and less-reliable technology, and where prior federal funding awards default and are left incomplete.” The report also calls for updating grant criteria under the State Broadband Expansion program to include cost of service or affordability for low-income households.
Governor Tony Evers (D) released a press release with the report, emphasizing federal lawmakers’ failure to expend the Affordable Connectivity Program. The Governor’s release also highlights his allocation of more than $345 million in state and federal funds to expand high-speed internet, supporting internet service for more than 410,000 homes and businesses. “I'll be calling on the Legislature to make real, meaningful investments in broadband in our next budget so we can continue building the 21st-century infrastructure Wisconsinites need and deserve,” Gov. Evers said.
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Gov.’s Task Force on Workforce and AI releases final action plan | |
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After releasing a draft in May, the Governor’s Task Force on Workforce and Artificial Intelligence (AI) released their final action plan. The AI action plan suggests how more workers can utilize AI, boost the competitive advantage of Wisconsin employers, and increase economic opportunity. It has specific focuses on policies related to education, government, workforce development, and economic development.
“We know that AI technologies are already changing the world as we know it—including the way folks work. And its why Wisconsin is working to lead the way on AI implementation and ethical utilization as we continue our work to build an economy that works for everyone,” said Gov. Evers.
Read the final action plan.
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Youth Risk Behavior Survey Summary Report | |
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Summary Report (YRBS), featuring data on the unprecedented mental health challenges Wisconsin students are facing. The report found 59% of high school student have experienced a mental health challenge over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, students reported increased social media and screen usage while also decreasing sleep at night. The data showed one in five students get five or less hours of sleep at night.
DPI State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly said, “We need to do better as Wisconsinites of being supportive adults to our kids. We need to listen to them about their thoughts, their feelings, their concerns, and let them know they can trust you and that they and their mental health are a priority. It’s not just that we can do better. It’s that we must do better. And we have the knowledge and resources to do just that.”
The press release from DPI specifies that “YRBS includes data on mental and physical health, suicide, online behavior, sexual and dating violence, drug and alcohol use, nutrition, and protective factors, among other topics. The 2023 state sample for the YRBS includes responses from 1,882 Wisconsin students in 42 public, charter and alternative high schools. The survey was administered in spring 2023.”
Read the full report here: View the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Surbey Summary Report (YRBS)
Read DPI’s information sheets on findings here: View DPI’s information sheets on YRBS findings
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Michael Best Strategies will be pausing our “Capitol Chats” series and will move forward as “Coffee with the Candidate” at the same time on Fridays after the primaries in August. | |
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If you would like any additional information about the above topic, or if you would like to find time to discuss the above matter in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact your Michael Best Strategies contact.
Have a great day,
Wisconsin GR Team
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One South Pickney Street, Suite 700
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-257-3501
Fax: 608-283-2275
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