The Recombobulation Area

The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.

In less than a week in Wisconsin, voters will head to the polls for the August partisan primary.

Statewide, voters will decide on a pair of proposed amendments to the state constitution. If you want to learn more about those, head over here and check out the latest from Marquette University professor Phil Rocco.

But that’s not the only thing voters will be deciding on next week. With new state legislative maps, there are more contested primaries happening in Senate and Assembly districts than there have been in more than a decade. There are also a number of primaries happening in congressional races. 

Perhaps the most interesting of those primaries is the one happening in the 3rd Congressional District, where Democrats are looking to win back a seat now represented by Republican Derrick Van Orden.  

The three candidates running are Rebecca Cooke, Katrina Shankland, and Eric Wilson. Cooke and Shankland are the top two contenders in this primary, and the race has gotten a little spicy as we get close to primary election day. 

Joining us to talk about this race is Anthony Chergosky, political science professor at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse.

We discussed the big picture of the campaign, the geographic divide in the race, some bad blood surfacing in the final weeks before the primary, and more.

One last thing: Be sure to VOTE on Aug. 13! Take a moment to check out what’s going to be on your ballot here.

The Recombobulation Area is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 18 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

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Dan Shafer, founder of The Recombobulation Area, was joined by award-winning contributors Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC), and Philip Rocco, political science professor at Marquette University to discuss the Republican National Convention as it is about to descend upon Milwaukee and answer questions from the audience live during the show. 

The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.

We had a great night at Anodyne Coffee’s Walker’s Point Roastery for “Recombobulation LIVE!”

Dan Shafer, founder of The Recombobulation Area, was joined by award-winning contributors Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC), and Philip Rocco, political science professor at Marquette University to discuss the Republican National Convention as it is about to descend upon Milwaukee and answer questions from the audience live during the show. 

We were also joined by Stephanie Roades, organizer from The Great Milwaukee Block Party, a wonderful grassroots effort for counter-programming and protest and celebration of this wonderful city while the RNC is in town.

Learn more about this effort on their Facebook page here and Instagram here and Linktree here and be sure to check out some of the events happening all over Milwaukee at places you probably love.

The full podcast is available for paid subscribers only. You can also get a free trial to listen, but now would be a great time to upgrade to paid to support our work hosting events like this, and covering the RNC in Milwaukee next week.

There was some news shared in the podcast, too. So, be sure to listen.

This podcast was recorded, engineered and produced by Sahan Jayasuriya, for The Recombobulation Area.

This live podcast event was sponsored by gener8tor. 

Revisit more of our coverage of the RNC in Milwaukee here.

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 18 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

Subscribe to The Recombobulation newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @therecombobulationarea.

Already subscribe? Get a gift subscription for a friend.

Part of a group who might want to subscribe together? Get a group subscription for 30% off!

Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.

If you missed it earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit down for a 35-minute one-on-one interview with Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

You can watch the video here.

Or, you can watch it on YouTube.

You can also read the column I wrote about the experience here.

Interviews like this are made possible because of the support of subscribers like you. Upgrade to paid today and help fund more recombobulation!

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 18 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

Subscribe to The Recombobulation newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @therecombobulationarea.

Already subscribe? Get a gift subscription for a friend.

Part of a group who might want to subscribe together? Get a group subscription for 30% off!

Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

If you missed it earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit down for a 35-minute one-on-one interview with Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

You can also read the column I wrote about the experience here.

The Recombobulation Area is a ten-time THIRTEEN-TIME Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication written, edited and published by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.

On Tuesday evening, I filled in as the guest host of WTMJ At Night (formerly WTMJ Nights) on 620 WTMJ. You can listen to the show here as a commercial-free podcast.

I was joined by several terrific guests.

Dr. Ben Weston, chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County, joined to discuss the County's new reckless driving dashboard (which you can see here).

Jeramey Jannene, president of Urban Milwaukee, joined to discuss upcoming local elections in Milwaukee, and President Biden’s visit to the city (and the announcement set to happen when he arrives).

Rob Henken, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, joined to talk about their new report on Milwaukee Public Schools and the upcoming referendum (see that report here).

Thanks for listening!

The Recombobulation Area is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 17 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

Subscribe to The Recombobulation newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @therecombobulationarea.

Already subscribe? Get a gift subscription for a friend!

Part of a group who might want to subscribe together? Get a group subscription for 30% off!

Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

The director of the gold standard poll in this tipping point state is going to be podcasting with The Recombobulation Area after every new poll in 2024.

After each new poll in 2024, we’re going to be sitting down with Charles Franklin, executive director of the (top ranked!) Marquette University Law School Poll, to discuss the results.

For this podcast, Franklin and I sat down to discuss the results from the new poll (available in full here!), the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in this incredibly important battleground state, state-level polling on the governor, legislature and state Supreme Court, and much more.

The Recombobulation Area is a ten-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication written, edited and published by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.

The Marquette University Law School Poll is the gold standard of measuring public opinion in Wisconsin, so here at The Recombobulation Area, we take a close look at each new poll. See all of our previous breakdowns here.

NEW THIS YEAR: After each new poll in 2024, we’re going to be sitting down with Charles Franklin, executive director of the (top ranked!) Marquette University Law School Poll, to discuss the results.

For this podcast, Franklin and I sat down to discuss the results from the new poll (available in full here!), the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in this incredibly important battleground state, state-level polling on the governor, legislature and state Supreme Court, and much more.

Be sure to also check out our in-depth breakdown of the new poll here.

Thank you for reading The Recombobulation Area. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 17 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

Subscribe to The Recombobulation newsletter here and follow us on Facebook and Instagramat @therecombobulationarea.

Already subscribe? Get a gift subscription for a friend!

Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

Omar Shaikh —restauranteur, developer, community leader and chairman of the Home Crew Coalition— joined us at 3rd Street Market Hall for a sit-down interview on the “Beer District” and more.

A couple months ago, Omar Shaikh and I got in a bit of a disagreement on Twitter. So, this week, we got together at 3rd Street Market Hall for a one-on-one interview to talk about the “Beer District” concept.

Listen to our conversation, and read more about it here.

Omar Shaikh —restauranteur, developer, community leader and chairman of the Home Crew Coalition— joined us at 3rd Street Market Hall for a sit-down interview on the "Beer District" and more.

A couple months ago, Omar Shaikh and I got in a bit of a disagreement on Twitter. So, this week, we got together at 3rd Street Market Hall for a one-on-one interview to talk about the “Beer District” concept.

Listen to our conversation, and read more about it here.