The Recombobulation Area

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area.

Find all of these episodes on The Recombobulation Area’s podcast feed (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, here on Substack).

There is so much happening in the Wisconsin political universe, and your friends at the “Wisconsin Politics Group Chat” podcast are here to break it all down.

For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

* 00:00 – Welcome Back, Kristen — Post-op recovery banter, road-trip time with kids, and Chris Taylor’s Supreme Court investiture in Madison.

* 04:44 – A Liberal Supreme Court Majority — Justice Karofsky’s plan to bring the court to communities, and the 5-2 liberal majority.

* 06:03 – Primary Post-Mortem: Who Turned Out — Why primary electorates skew fringe, the WisGOP-endorsed candidates fall flat

* 12:26 – Kristen’s Takes on Primary Night — Reliving election night chaos, the Crowley/Godlewski/Hong governor’s race, and the tight three-way 8th CD primary.

* 16:46 – Down-Ballot Races & Media Blind Spots — The 6th CD (Grothman vs. Brad Smith), vote-splitting independents, and frustration that local races get ignored by the press.

* 19:07 – Mapping the Crowley-Hong Results — Regional breakdown of the primary, with Waukesha and the WOW counties standing out as a Crowley stronghold.

* 23:00 – From Waukesha to Wausau — How do downballot races look now that we know who is on the top of the ticket?

* 25:24 – The Michelle Magadance Skinner Scandal — Dual-residency and cross-state voting controversy in the Chippewa Valley Senate race.

* 31:22 – The Fake Poll Mystery — The fake polling “experiment” revealed in the days after the Wisconsin governor’s primary.

* 36:37 – How Reliable Were the Polls? — State Navigate vs. Marquette, late-breaking undecided voters, and shifting midterm turnout dynamics.

* 45:14 – Data Centers as a Campaign Issue — Affordability vs. data centers as top voter concerns, and how the issue is being weaponized heading into the general.

* 52:49 – Comparing the Gubernatorial Interviews — Tiffany dodging the 2020 election question vs. Crowley’s interview style.

* 55:37 – Wrap-Up: Distractions Ahead — A call to stay civically engaged, a Jon Ossoff “lock in” shoutout, and sign-off.

After a discombobulating primary election night, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is now the Democratic nominee for governor.

And while we knew this was coming — she was uncontested in her run, after all — Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski is now the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor.

Godlewski is off on the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s “Unity Tour,” which started with a breakfast-turned-brunch in Madison on Wednesday. She joined us from the road, just before the tour’s Thursday morning event in Oshkosh, and shared a few stories of that breakfast, and, in particular, an exchange with State Rep. Francesca Hong.

“When I got to the “Unity Brunch,” the first person that I saw was Fran,” said Godlewski. “And I gave her the biggest bear hug because I was just…I’m so proud of her. I mean, she came from an underdog position — nobody thought she would ever get this far; they were writing her off before she even started — and she just put her head down and went to work. She wasn’t lobbing any ugly statements at people, she just put her head down and talked about what she was going to do for the people of Wisconsin — and it’s why she built a coalition of 7,000 (volunteers). That’s more than what we’ve seen in a presidential primary. It was incredible.”

Godlewski also talked about being on the ticket with David Crowley, reacted to the chaos of the last few weeks, talked about what her role on the campaign is going to be, the efforts to elect Democrats up and down the ballot, and much more.

For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

* 00:00 – Introduction: primary election recap, David Crowley wins Democratic nod for governor, Godlewski’s unopposed run for lieutenant governor nomination

* 02:49 – Wednesday morning: confirming Crowley, first call, and “who’d play him in a movie” joke

* 05:02 – The Unity Brunch and genuine unity among former rivals

* 05:32 – Reconnecting with Francesca Hong: her underdog campaign and their friendship

* 08:20 – Bringing Hong’s coalition and supporters into the fold

* 09:46 – What resonated in Hong’s campaign that Crowley could adopt

* 11:36 – Godlewski’s role on the campaign for the next ~83 days, including reproductive freedom

* 13:33 – Reaching Western Wisconsin swing voters (the key issue: healthcare)

* 16:00 – Tom Tiffany’s week: Trump alignment and the “MAGA extremism” pamphlet

* 18:25 – Godlewski’s role as Wisconsin Dem Party vice chair

* 20:04 – Building unity across the party, flipping legislative seats, the path to a Democratic trifecta

* 21:43 – Closing thoughts: the Unity Tour ice cream tradition and sign-off

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area.

The Aug. 11 partisan primary is now in our rear view mirror, David Crowley won by a less than 1% margin over Francesca Hong, and your friends at the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat are here to make sense of all of the results and much more.

This week’s episode featured Pat Kreitlow of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area.

Dr. Kristin Lyerly was unable to join this week, but you can hear many of her thoughts on the results from our extended, unhinged Election Night livestream that stretched into the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

This episode aired live on Pat Kreitlow’s UpNorth YouTube Channel on Thursday, Aug. 13, at 9 a.m.

For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

* 00:00:00: Intro, housekeeping, old Up North News Newsletter & Question of the Week

* 00:04:32: Kate Duffy joins from the Iowa State Fair

* 00:05:43: Show Kickoff — “I’m Getting Too Old For This S**t”

* 00:06:18: Recapping the Epic Election-Night Livestream and David Crowley’s remarkable victory

* 00:07:00: Post-Primary & the Unity Breakfast-Turned-Brunch

* 00:20:43: Crediting Tony Evers’ all-in Endorsement of Crowley

* 00:23:13: John Johnson’s Milwaukee County vote map & the “Yard Sign” Theory

* 00:26:08: Crowley’s Challenge Beyond Milwaukee — Northwestern Wisconsin

* 00:27:09: Deep Dive: Act 12 & the Shared Revenue Overhaul, and messaging to counter Tiffany’s attacks

* 00:31:39: Selling Crowley’s record without losing “Normies”

* 00:32:21: Data Centers — Local Control vs. Governor’s Role

* 00:33:27: Crowley’s Personal Story: Growing Up in Poverty

* 00:35:03: Door-Knocking Tales — “Communist” accusations in rural communities

* 00:37:10: Winning over Hong Supporters on data centers and “establishment” politics

* 00:38:35: The Voucher Schools Debate

* 00:43:10: Crowley the “consensus builder” vs. Evers’ legislative style

* 00:44:30: Tom Tiffany’s Trump dodge — “The Orange Elephant in the Room” —and his weak healthcare “transparency” messaging

* 00:47:53: 7th District: Michael Alfonso, the Sean Duffy son-in-law

* 00:51:12 3rd District: Van Orden vs. Rebecca Cooke II

* 00:52:14: Will supporters of candidates who lost in the primary stay home in November?

* 00:54:57: The Giannis Analogy — “No Failure, Only Steps to Success”

* 00:56:43: Tammy Baldwin’s “Never Mistake Progress for Victory”

* 00:58:46: Closing Roundup: Van Orden’s AI Slop, Election Denialism, No Break Ahead

* 01:00:56: Kreitlow’s Music History Segment, sign-off and show plugs

We are just days away from Election Day for Wisconsin’s wild Democratic gubernatorial primary.

To offer a bigger picture perspective on the state of the race — and much more in Wisconsin’s discombobulating politics — Dan Shafer joined Aaron Rupar of Public Notice to recombobulate on this chaotic primary season. We also talked about Ron Johnson, Derrick Van Orden, Sean Duffy, Tom Tiffany, and all the Wisconsin Republicans who end up in Rupar’s frequent viral cable news clips.

For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

* (00:00:00) — Intro, guest welcome, and what “The Recombobulation Area” means

* (00:02:40) — Tony Romo, the Tavern League of Wisconsin & drunk driving

* (00:04:15) — Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race goes national (DSA vs. establishment battle)

* (00:04:38) — Francesca Hong’s rise

* (00:05:24) — Hong’s CNN moment: the “cancel Thanksgiving” tweet controversy

* (00:06:41) — New polling: Hong’s commanding lead after Barnes drops out

* (00:07:37) — Why Hong is surging: national attention, ground game, service-industry background

* (00:10:55) — Hong’s dominance with young voters; the data center moratorium issue

* (00:12:34) — How the establishment lane imploded (Rodriguez campaign finance scandal)

* (00:14:42) — Crowley re-enters the race with Evers’ endorsement

* (00:16:53) — Looking ahead: Hong vs. Tom Tiffany in November

* (00:17:02) — Tiffany’s far-right record (2020 election objector, birthright citizenship, Juneteenth vote)

* (00:24:82) — Voter question: will moderates balk at Hong’s DSA ties?

* (00:25:15) — Comparing to Ron Johnson’s 2022 win despite similar election-denial baggage

* (00:26:32) — Ron Johnson’s conspiracy theories and Uline family backing

* (00:31:51) — Mandela Barnes’ 2022 loss, 2026 dropout

* (00:38:00) — Down-ballot: Derrick Van Orden’s competitive 3rd District race vs. Rebecca Cooke (or Emily Berge)

* (00:40:20) — 7th District GOP primary: Sean Duffy’s 26-year-old son-in-law, Michael Alfonso

* (00:47:41) — Sean Duffy’s fading Wisconsin presence & the still-unaired “road trip” show

* (00:44:21) — Closing thoughts

With just days to go before the Aug. 11 primary, we have reached the silly season of the Democratic gubernatorial campaign. So, Angela Lang joined the podcast to ask: Have we lost the plot?

We pondered that questioned, Angela had a few things to say about David Crowley’s recent comments on “the establishment” as a “slur,” what the term “the establishment” even means anymore, Tony Evers’ involvement in the primary, what was the real turning point in the race, and more.

Plus: As fellow Milwaukeeans, we wondered: Who is going to win Milwaukee County? As folks will often reference, Bernie Sanders won 71 of 72 counties in the 2016 presidential primary in Wisconsin. The one county to go for Hilary Clinton? Milwaukee County. Could results next week show a similar map? Could Crowley carry Milwaukee? Or, could the emergence of Democratic Socialists in the city bring stronger results for Hong?

Much to discuss, folks.

For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

00:01: Intro, and catching up — last time they podcasted together (May 28th)

01:52: Plug for Dan’s article on down-ballot primary races (Assembly, Senate, congressional)

02:32: “Losing the plot” — old Thanksgiving tweets dominating coverage of Francesca Hong

07:19: Whether Hong should keep doing national media (CNN interview) as the race nationalizes

09:39: What they’d rather be discussing: Trump’s endorsement of Tom Tiffany, policing, ICE and local response

11:44: David Crowley calling “establishment” a slur — the clip and the reaction

15:10: What does “establishment” even mean anymore? — buzzword fatigue and the DSA-vs-establishment framing

21:46: Sara Rodriguez’s campaign finance scandal and exit as the real turning point

23:14: The legislative bill that split Democrats over the summer, and Tony Evers’ involvement in the primary

27:24: Milwaukee’s role in the race — 2016 Bernie Sanders comparison, union endorsements, yard-sign spotting

33:17: The generational divide — Marquette poll numbers among younger voters

35:11: “Blue no matter who” — does it cut both ways for moderates if Hong wins?

37:22: Wisconsin’s ideological extremes — comparison to Sens. Baldwin and Johnson

39:05: Marquette polling: Hong essentially tied with Tiffany in head-to-head matchups

41:35: Roots of polarization — the Scott Walker recall and a decade of gerrymandering

42:28: The independent streak in the Fox Valley and western Wisconsin

43:47: The “attention economy” and Trump-era campaign tactics (wedge issues like Thanksgiving)

46:47: Candidate forums and how much the Democratic field actually agrees on policy

48:20: Sign-off — closing thoughts on primary-season Facebook posts

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area.

There is now less than a week to go before Wisconsin’s Aug. 11 partisan primary, and your friends at the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast are here to break it all down.

The chat reacts to results from the U.S. Senate primary in Michigan, Francesca Hong’s recent national media appearances (including That Thanksgiving Answer on CNN), discusses primaries happening up and down the ballot, and much more.

This episode aired live on Pat Kreitlow’s UpNorth YouTube Channel on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 9 a.m.

For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

* 02:52: Michigan Senate primary results: El-Sayed vs. Stevens

* 06:52: What Michigan means for Wisconsin (and what it doesn’t)

* 10:24: The frenzied final week of the governor’s race: ads, mailers, and the Crowley–Evers roadshow

* 13:35: Can we trust the polls? Late polling and growing skepticism

* 16:39: David Crowley, endorsements, and his Milwaukee County record

* 20:24: Francesca Hong, consistency, values, and working in a GOP-controlled legislature

* 23:42: Hong’s old tweets, the “canceling Thanksgiving” controversy, and campaign strategy

* 32:48: Kelda’s poll: how to spot a questionable poll

* 36:14: Dark money: Republican spending in the Democratic primary

* 42:27: Abortion is back on the ballot — and Tom Tiffany’s record

* 44:17: The Attorney General’s race: Josh Kaul vs. Eric Toney

* 47:43: Down-ballot rundown: congressional, treasurer, and legislative primaries

* 52:48: Make your voting plan (no early voting Monday!)

You can find every episode of the Wisconsin Politics Group Chat on The Recombobulation Area’s podcast feed, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Substack.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has had a rather unique campaign in his run for governor, to say the least. He dropped out of the race in early July and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez a day later, not realizing she had misled him about an unraveling campaign finance crisis in her campaign.

Ten days later, he’d officially re-launch his campaign, and do so with the backing of Gov. Tony Evers. Since, he’s picked up a number of labor union endorsements, and has been hitting the road in an effort to get his message across the state, in this last-minute sprint before the Aug. 11 primary.

The campaign in this primary — perhaps the most discombobulating primary in American politics — changed again last week, after former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes dropped out of the race, days after the one and only debate, and after polls from State Navigate and Marquette University showed State Rep. Francesca Hong with a commanding lead.

So, just 16 days after Crowley re-entered the race, and just eight days before Election Day, I sat down with Crowley at Dandy, a vintage furniture store and event venue on West Vliet Street in Milwaukee.

We talked about what he considers his top accomplishments in his six years at the helm in Milwaukee County, what he’d want to do as governor if Democrats were to win a trifecta, his thoughts on eight years of divided government in Wisconsin, how he is seeking to reach voters outside of southeastern Wisconsin, his relationship with Democratic Socialists in county government in Milwaukee, whether the Democratic Party has a problem with “elitism,” Francesca Hong’s recent rally with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Hasan Piker, what it means to build the “broadest coalition possible,” why union support matters to him, and much more.

Ben Wikler, the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, is out on tour, promoting his terrific new book, “This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy.”

I joined Wikler to host the event in Eau Claire for a live conversation to talk about the book, Wisconsin’s especially discombobulating campaign season, and much more, on topics from gerrymandering to the filibuster to “the establishment” to state legislative races to the news of the day on Ken Martin and the DNC. He even explained why he agrees with Sen. Ron Johnson on something (yes, really!).

And in case you missed it — which, hey, you might have; there’s a lot going on these days! — we have full audio of the event here.

The event was introduced by Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, who is also running to be Wisconsin’s next Lieutenant Governor. Wikler and I joined next, at the wonderful Pablo Center at the Confluence, and talked for about 30 minutes, before we answered a few questions.

Event audio recorded by Jonathan Klett, mixed by Jennie Brand.