The Democratic Voice Podcast

For 37 years, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program has helped protect Wisconsin’s land and water. A program that’s been renewed every two years as part of the state budget — until now.  Republicans in the state Legislature are letting it expire. They stripped it from the last budget to pass as a standalone bill and then never passed it out of the Senate. We dive into what the program does, how it got started under GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson and how all the Democratic governor candidates are hoping it can be renewed next year with control of the government.

Yee Leng Xiong joins to tells us why he’s running for Wisconsin state treasurer, helps us understand the role of that office, plus he shares the incredible story of how his family made it to Wisconsin after Vietnam.

We break down the endless angles to a failed bipartisan deal to spend $1.8 billion in budget surplus property tax relief, rebate checks, education funding and no tax on tip/overtime. The deal was negotiated behind closed doors by three retiring politicians — Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican leaders of the Legislature (Robin Vos and Devin Lemahieu. It was rolled out on a Monday and a vote was taken three days later. It easily passed on both side of the Assembly. But no Democrats and three Republicans killed it in the state Senate. And all but one candidate for Wisconsin governor supported it. 

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez stopped in La Crosse to discuss why she's running for governor of Wisconsin and some of the issues happening in the state and beyond. We got to know some of Rodriguez's backstory in the healthcare field and discussed some of the things she's both seeing with healthcare and wants to do about it. We also discussed matters dealing with childcare and her plans to help in that industry. Sticking with children, Rodriguez talked about her plans for big tech and protecting kids from the harms of social media and holding those companies responsible. Later, we talked about the recent deal by Gov. Tony Evers and the two retiring Republicans leading the state Legislature to spend $1.8 billion of the budget surplus and Rodriguez's thoughts after it failed to pass. 

Donald Trump's gerrymandering war intensified last week and the fake outrage by Republicans is deafening. Democrats keep fighting back against the GOP rigging the 2026 election and Republicans don't know how to take it. In a recent special election, Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment to enact new US House maps that could lead to a 10-1 Democratic majority — shifting from the current 6-5 split. We discuss the irony of Republicans complaining about the move in a war that began when Trump told Texas Republicans to redraw their maps — with no vote by its citizens. NOTE: Since this episode was recorded, Florida's GOP-led Legislature approved a new map from Gov. Ron DeSantis, also without a vote from citizens — shifting their 20-8 GOP advantage to 24-4. The move effectively bypasses Florida’s own voter-approved constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering by unilaterally declaring those protections unconstitutional. We dive into the legislative response from Democrats with bills in both the House and Senate designed to ban mid-decade redistricting and partisan gerrymandering once and for all — bills that have of course been stalled by Republicans in leadership. We also talk about the ripple effects this has and the high stakes for Wisconsin with Gov. Tony Evers' push for a nonpartisan commission before the 2030 census likely drops the state to just seven House seats — a special session that has been all but ignored by the GOP-controlled Legislature. Closer to home, we take a look at a "civically illiterate" graphic from the La Crosse County Republican Party that fundamentally misses how elections actually work. And, we break down Wisconsin's political landscape and how statewide candidates for governor will affect the rest of the ballot. An unpopular candidate — like, perhaps U.S. House Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is the GOP candidate for governor — won't do any good for someone like Derrick Van Orden in the 3rd District, or vice versa. Meanwhile, Democrats have a field of candidates for governor with much more fanfare that could bolster those U.S. House and state legislature races on their side of the aisle.

Joel Brennan joined to talk about why he's running to be the next governor of Wisconsin. We get to know a little about where he came from, how he got into politics, his time in government and beyond, and then policy. We hit on things like the budget surplus and how to spend it, as well as big policy dilemmas like healthcare, childcare, housing and education. Brennan is one of nine Democratic candidates for governor, though that number could shrink some as the signatures deadline looms. 

We dissect why Republicans in Wisconsin's 7th US House District of aren't happy about the White House picking their candidate. Donald Trump has endorsed 26-year-old Michael Alfonso, who is Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's son in law. Duffy, a former US House member, is also funneling $1 million of his campaign money to Alfonso. Meanwhile, half the other GOP candidates in the race just moved to the district to run.

Wyatt Molling, the new La Crosse County Democratic Party chair, stops in to tell us about himself, how he got into politics and what he'd like to do with his new position. We also get into a recent complaint the party filed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission over illegal campaign finance use by the La Crosse Republican Party in this upcoming spring election. Along with that, we discuss some of the complaints that have been asked of the Democrats in the same election.

It was the longest-ever State of the State address and it may have had — if not the most lies ever, perhaps the least "truths." We break down some of the biggest and most ridiculous lies President Donald Trump gave during his State of the State address. Also, this was recorded on Friday afternoon, hours before Trump sent us into war with Iran.

Wisconsin candidate for governor, David Crowley, joins. The Milwaukee County Executive discusses his motivations for running, his vision for the state and the importance of addressing key issues like affordable housing, education, and healthcare. We ask Crowley how he can bridge the rural-urban divide and he talks of uniting Wisconsin around shared values and goals. Crowley also shares his personal journey, highlighting the challenges he faced growing up and the lessons learned along the way, ultimately calling for collective action to create a better future for all residents of Wisconsin.

A bit of a precarious position Republicans have put Democrats in with the ICE killing of Alex Pretti — a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA and a lawful gun owner from Green Bay. To defend Pretti's death, the GOP has abandoned the one thing they claimed to be most loyal to — the 2nd Amendment and the idea that it exists specifically to prevent the government from treading on U.S. citizens. So now it's Democrats who have to oddly defend the standards that Republicans have upheld — though it's more about ICE killing a US citizen and there being no transparency, let alone repercussions for those actions. 

They fly under the radar until they end up on the ballot. The 2026 midterm elections will see three more Wisconsin Republican constitutional amendments for voters, trying to rile up their base with culture war nonsense. We discuss the absurdity of each amendment, the word salad written by the GOP to manipulate voters into confusion, and how this is just another reason why Democrats need to take control of the Legislature. In 2023 and 2024, the Wisconsin GOP put seven constitutional amendments on the ballot. The rest of the midwest — Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota — had a total of six. 

Following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis mother by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, the federal harassment of Minnesota residents has only intensified. We discuss the ongoing military-style occupation of Minneapolis, the administration’s racially-profiled focus on the Somali community, and the growing dangers to both citizens and refugees, as President Donald Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act.

We talk with public education advocate Kristina Reser-Jaynes, who pulls back the curtain on Wisconsin’s private school voucher system. While Republicans frame the recent property tax spikes as "the Evers 400-year tax hike," this conversation digs into a much more complex reality — a systematic shift of public funds into private hands that is leaving local taxpayers to pick up the tab. We talk the "hidden" costs of vouchers that many Wisconsin residents may not see on their bills — from rural districts writing checks to Milwaukee-based online academies to the $200,000 the La Crosse School District spends just to bus private school students. Reser-Jaynes argues that while public schools are held to strict standards of transparency and must serve every child, voucher schools are operating with a "free pass" — legally allowed to discriminate. From the "double-dipping" of extracurricular activities to the lack of teacher certification requirements in private systems, this episode is a wake-up call for anyone who values the local school as the heart of their community. 

Viroqua native Missy Hughes joined the Democratic Voice podcast, with La Crosse County Democratic Party chair William Garcia and WIZM’s Rick Solem, to discuss why she’s running for governor of Wisconsin.  The Democrat discusses what sets her apart from the dozen candidates running on both sides, plus her top priorities for the state if she were governor.  That list includes education, childcare, healthcare and more. Hughes has been a lawyer, worked for Organic Valley and was CEO of the state’s economic development organization, WEDC. Garcia is also the chair of the 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party. New episodes come out each week. To find them, just search The Democratic Voice wherever you download podcasts or find all the episodes on WIZM here.

Wisconsin state Sen. Kelda Roys was recently in La Crosse and took some time with us to discuss her bid to be the next governor. We deep dive with Roys on funding education, helping with childcare and buying into the state's healthcare and pension plans. We also discuss how control of the Legislature and governor is on the line and how some Republican legislation is changing, including on IVF, which Roys explains is hypocritical — a bill Democrats have had for years. 

While the Wisconsin state Legislature works just 17 more days before taking off until 2027, it did vote on around 50 bills in one day. We discuss some of the Republican bills are simply passed for culture war purposes to be used during the campaign season with the governor’s seat up for grabs in November. Those bills include defunding public education, redefining abortion, using undocumented immigrants as pawns in healthcare, and creating added bureaucracy to create more hoops for those who apply for welfare.  We also discussed a bill to create a candy and soda database at the tune of $6 million to make sure people on food stamps can’t spend it on such things, and another bill on human trafficking that would put children at risk of unnecessary punishment. 

We discuss how a Wisconsin bill to help pregnant mothers get healthcare is related to the fight over releasing the Epstein Files. The bill would allow pregnant mothers to get postpartum Medicaid coverage for 12 months. Wisconsin is one of only two states not to do this.  How it’s related to the Epstein Files is the way Democrats tried to push the bill to a vote, bypassing Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has — like House Speaker Mike Johnson — blocked the bill being voted on. The Wisconsin bill passed 32-1 in the state Senate. Vos has not brought it for a vote in the GOP-controlled Assembly, despite the fact that it will easily pass. We talk about how Democrats tried to force a vote and the tricks Vos played to even block that. So, unlike the Epstein files, the bill has still not passed and the Legislature only works 17 more days before taking off until 2027.

We discuss some of the ongoing controversies surrounding President Donald Trump that aren’t related to the Epstein files. That includes Trump pretending he’s going to just give people money — from $2,000 tariff checks to “Trumpcare” cash, the healthcare plan that still doesn’t exist. We also discuss the lunacy of 50-year mortgages to solve the housing crisis and the controversial pardons Trump is doling out, as long as your money and gifts are good.  We did everything but dive into the Epstein files too deep, because news on that seems to be changing by the minute. We began, though discussing the Democrats giving in on the shutdown and reasons behind it — and to be infuriated by it. 

Democrats are riding high after last Tuesday's elections, with wins at multiple levels of government across the country — from the New York City mayor's race to Prop 50 in California to US House and governor wins in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. Is it a sign of things to come, despite being an off-off year election? Do Republicans need to change course or was this a blip on the radar? This conversation was recorded Friday, as the US Senate now is currently voting to end the government shutdown.

We discuss Republicans’ unwillingness to lower healthcare costs and reopen the government. The fight right now over the shutdown is healthcare subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. We breakdown the thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, more in healthcare costs families will have to pay if Republicans get their way in reopening the government with the continuing resolution. Along those same lines, Republicans are using the end of SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 as a way to get Democrats to give in and vote on reopening the government. But, there too, we discuss how there’s already a SNAP emergency fund the Trump administration is refusing to tap into, putting those who rely on food stamps at risk, on top of raising their healthcare costs. 

We recap the No Kings Rally that happened in La Crosse, across Wisconsin and the U.S. and relate that to what Republican priorities are right now — like Donald Trump getting his ballroom. At least 1,700 showed up for La Crosse's No Kings rally. We talk about some of the reasons behind having these protests and why it's important to keep showing up, despite the GOP rhetoric trying to denounce them. On top of that, we point out some of the extraordinary things the Trump administration is doing, like the DOJ looking to pay Trump for past lawsuits with $230 million in taxpayer money, using federal agencies to punish enemies, blowing up suspected drug boats and on and on. 

While the Donald Trump looks to bail out Argentina with $20 billion in taxpayer money, we look at how the administration’s tariff policy is affecting Wisconsin farmers. China has retaliated against tariffs by not buying any U.S. soybeans — instead buying from the aforementioned Argentina. This podcast was also recorded before Trump announced quadrupling Argentine beef imports while US ranchers fume.

We break down how Democrats are trying to hold the line negotiating during the government shutdown to keep health insurance costs down, while Republicans continue to lie. The GOP, in charge of the entire government, is somehow trying to blame Democrats for the shutdown. We get into those lies and what Democrats are trying to hold the line on when it comes to Affordable Care Act subsidies and how those keep all health insurance costs down.

From over 700 social media posts in a matter of days to an unconstitutional bill proposed in the US House, Derrick Van Orden's behavior has been unhinged — even more so than usual. We discuss the Republican's double-standard when it comes to political violence, the unhealthy amount of social media he is posting and the bill he proposed to block federal funding for those that employ people who "condone and celebrate political violence." 

We start things off recapping JD Vance's visit to La Crosse, avoiding protesters by veering the wrong way down a one way street, plus Derrick Van Orden's involvement in the event.  Vance was in La Crosse touting the Big Beautiful Bill. After that, we get into this giant stretch of political visits to the area. That includes Wisconsin governor candidate, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez heading to La Crosse for a meet-and-greet at the Concordia Ballroom on Sept. 8. Before that, Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Chris Taylor is at the Democratic Party headquarters Saturday (Aug. 30). Before those visits, we recap the visit by US Sen. Bernie Sanders to Viroqua, and the Brad Pfaff corn roast, which saw multiple candidates, including David Crowly, Sarah Godlewski, Kelda Roys, Rebecca Cooke, Emily Berge, among others. 

We discuss Donald Trump ordering a military takeover in Washington, D.C., how Congress is absent in curbing any of this power grab and what it could mean down the line for other Democratic cities.

We try and highlight some of Donald Trump's biggest controversies eight months into this presidency. But, with Trump's "flood the zone" strategy, we did not discuss his latest authoritarian move to send the military after US citizens in D.C. What we did hit on included: The $200 million White House ballroom Giving Trump a $1.4 billion jet after he leaves office ICE arresting regular workers instead of criminals Trump firing labor secretary because “numbers bad” Demanding new census and how to count people to rig elections Destroying $750 million climate satellites in orbig Secret Service raising an Ohio river’s level for JD Vance kayak trip Tariffs on every country — retaliation just going to make everything more expensive

Republicans in Texas are trying to help steal the 2026 mid-terms by rigging their US House maps more than they already are — and redrawing the maps five years before they're supposed to be redrawn. We break down the plan and how states like California and Illinois would have trouble combatting this on the Democratic side. We then tie that all into Wisconsin's gerrymandered maps, where there is another lawsuit to redraw them. This podcast was recorded before Democrats left the state to break quorum, which has actually started an entirely new set of radical GOP tactics that we didn't get into.

He beat Scott Walker, then Republicans — in the month before Tony Evers took power — changed all the rules. It wasn't a great way for the GOP to begin a relationship with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. As he announced he won't seek re-election for a third term, we look back on Evers' legacy, how he managed to work with and around Republicans, how Democrats have dominated dominated statewide elections since and what comes next for Democrats in the governor race.

With the passage of Republican's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, US House Rep. Derrick Van Orden has some explaining to do. The problem, however, is he doesn't answer anyone's questions directly. When someone asks him about Trump's bill, he sends out an FAQ with answers aren't exactly truthful. So, we breakdown what's true and what's BS — which is most of it.

The US House recently passed The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or TOBBA. We break down how the 1,100-page document, passed in the middle of the night, will disproportionally harm working class people while being a wealth transfer to the rich. It cuts Medicaid and SNAP, sends billions more to the military, cuts taxes for the rich, raises taxes on the poor and has little provisions within it like tax breaks for gun silencers and tanning beds.

The Wisconsin state budget is due at the end of next month. Wisconsin Republicans stripped over 600 of Gov. Tony Evers’ provisions from it.  Things like legalizing recreational marijuana, continuing the child care subsidy, creating a tax bracket for those making over $1 million or funding for water quality — from removing lead or fighting PFAS.  Since this podcast, Evers did meet in person twice with the top two Republicans in the Legislature. What came of those meetings, we’ll see.

Just recently, Donald Trump endorsed Derrick Van Orden for the 2026 US House election in Wisconsin's 3rd District here, which comes at a peculiar time. Trump, if you haven't noticed, isn't all that popular right now — as compared to the past 80 years of presidents. We talk about why that is, how Van Orden has pretended to do town halls and positioned himself on upcoming votes to cut benefits for things like Medicaid.  We began the episode with a note about a recent incident Van Orden shared, saying a letter he received was a "credible threat" to his family and is being handled by the proper authorities. This podcast was recorded before that news and we do not condone violence. 

Democratic Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Francesca Hong joins to talk about her bill Health School Meals for All, hoping there’s a way to work it into the budget. The bill would provide breakfast and lunch to all students in all schools — public or private. We discuss the benefits of the bill but also how Republicans will likely withhold it from even getting a public hearing.  While a bill to advance postpartum Medicaid coverage in the state passed the Senate 32-1 in back-to-back sessions now, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos won’t even let that bill get a vote — let alone let one to feed children sniff a committee hearing. Hong, though, tells us that it’s not because Republicans are afraid to speak out against the bill. Minnesota just passed a free-school-meals bill last year and the federal government did this for a time during COVID but let it expire.  In La Crosse, 52% of students are on free or reduced school meals. But, what this bill would do, is end the red tape that parents have to jump through to get enrolled. Instead, with Hong’s bill, if parents didn’t want to partake in the free school meals, they could simply opt out.

We recap the spring elections that saw incredible turnout that saw Democratic wins for Susan Crawford on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Jill Underly to lead, again, the Department of Public Instruction.  We hit on how Elon Musk's money couldn't buy the Supreme Court seat and how Donald Trump still needs to be linked to all of this. We also talked about some of the potential cases that the new state Supreme Court would take up, including Act 10, the 175-year-old abortion ban and one to potentially redraw the US House district lines in Wisconsin. That comes as Republicans claim that with Crawford's win, those lines will be gerrymandered toward Democrats, which is hilariously untrue — not to mention they've been rigged to benefit Republicans since 2011.  We also discussed the local races out of La Crosse and the Republican constitutional amendment that did pass. 

Legislation was recently introduced by Democratic Wisconsin state Senators Brad Pfaff and Sarah Keyteskiu to help improve housing affordability. One of the highlights from the bill is prohibiting hedge funds from buying single-family homes. Those hedge funds suck up all a majority of housing stock in a particular area, which skyrockets prices.

We don't know if Elon Musk has ever stepped foot in Wisconsin, but he's spent more money here these past few weeks than most of us will ever make in our lifetime. We discuss the many ways Musk is entrenched in Wisconsin politics from trying to fund Brad Schimel in the race or bash Susan Crawford over the airwaves. We also discuss the potential lawsuit that would affect Tesla sales in the state, depending on how this race goes, plus many other ways Musk involved in things he shouldn't be. 

The townhall that wasn't by US House Rep. Derrick Van Orden, and the smug video to troll constituents in La Crosse trying to make it look like he showed up. Van Orden has been scheduling and cancelling town halls in Wisconsin's 3rd District, including in La Crosse and Eau Claire. William Garcia talks about having a ticket to go to the La Crosse event, before it being rescheduled and moved to a secret location. Hours later, Van Orden attempts to troll the La Crosse County Democratic Party on Twitter but this comes after he can't show up to a scheduled event. 

We break down the $4.5 trillion tax cut for the rich that just passed the Republican-controlled US House budget committee along party lines. We discuss how the GOP plans to pay for that off the backs of working class people, calling for “mandatory” cuts for Medicare, Medicaid and food benefits known as SNAP. 

If you read any stories about Donald Trump and Elon Musk freezing what's called USAID (United States Agency for International Development), you'll understand the impact that it has on people in other countries. We discuss some of those impacts, but also look into the impacts of pulling the U.S. out of foreign relations in this way. 

We break down some of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers' budget proposals when it comes to education, healthcare, prices and gun reform, as compared to what Republicans in the state are doing to help the working class. We talk about Evers on education funding, free school lunch, background checks, mental health initiatives and medical costs. All things Wisconsin Republicans have called dead on arrival, as they again make it a point to say they are going to throw out Evers' budget and create their own. We also discussed how Republicans in Minnesota tried to grab all the power with a temporary two-week window where they held a one-seat majority.

William Garcia, chair of the La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party, in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk discussing Donald Trump “saving” TikTok and the inauguration, plus the priorities of Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin state government. We also took a couple of calls, including one from a listener accusing him of disrespecting President Trump and another on alleged Democratic corruption. In reference to Trump, Garcia addressed the controversial TikTok “ban,” the metaphor of moving the inauguration indoors, and the president’s new cryptocurrency venture, which Garcia warned could lead to corruption. In the second half of the show, Garcia discussed the contrasting priorities between Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state legislature and the Democrats. He highlighted the GOP’s push for a Voter ID amendment, while Democrats focus on bills for free school meals, as well as initiatives to lower taxes and healthcare costs. The show wrapped up reading listener text messages, that were clearly meant to flatter Garcia and offer praise for his insights.

Wisconsin's state Legislature has been at work for a week and Republicans in control have already done some outrageous things to both grab power and spark outrage where it doesn't exist. With a Wisconsin Supreme Court race on the April ballot and control of that court between "conservatives" and "progressives" up for grabs, we start the conversation in North Carolina. There, the GOP-led Supreme Court has refused to certify the Democratic candidate who won the latest election, setting the stage for more ways Republicans can ignore voters.

It's already started, and Donald Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet as president, but Republican chaos is brewing and it's only going to get worse. We talk about how this isn't normal, even though this has been the norm for the past decade — and for those who turned 18 and began voting in 2015, that's all they've lived with. Part of the conversation hovers around two feuding factions in Donald Trump's orbit — all the billionaires that he has running the show and Trump's voting base. Those two groups aren't seeing eye to eye with what the vision is the next four years with Trump as president.

President-elect Donald Trump made grand promises about grocery promises and is now re-negotiating that deal. In his Time Person of the Year interview, Trump flip flops on bringing prices down. “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up,” Trump said in his Time Magazine “Person of the Year” interview published Thursday, referring to grocery prices. “You know, it’s very hard … But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down.” We discuss how Democrats knew that was an impossible campaign promise and all the factors that surround prices going up, plus how Trump's policies on tariffs and deporting immigrants will actually raise prices.

Two weeks later, the dissection of the 2024 election continues. La Crosse County and 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party chair William Garcia breaks down how Wisconsin fit into the mix, both nationally and locally, in the past election. We break down how Donald Trump’s gains across the nation match up to what we saw in Wisconsin. We also look at the Derrick Van Orden-Rebecca Cooke race in the 3rd US House District and the Tammy Baldwin-Eric Hovde US Senate race, plus how Democrats did in the state Legislature , including a clean sweep in the La Crosse area. 

Republicans in Wisconsin, again, are putting a confusing question on your fall ballot that could take away your voting rights. Multiple organizations, nonprofits and the Democratic Party are saying vote no on this question:  Voters must be prepared to answer this question on the November 5 ballot ⬇️ ❌ Question: “Eligibility to vote. Shall section 1 of article III of the constitution, which deals with suffrage, be amended to provide that only a United States citizen age 18 or older who resides in an election district may vote in an election for national, state, or local office or at a statewide or local referendum?" We get into the reason why this question is not only confusing, but dangerous for voting rights of everyone in the state -- "every" being the key word.

We take a look at the wild flyers from the Republican Party of Wisconsin on behalf of candidate Ryan Huebsch that are ending up in potential voters' homes attacking Democratic Assembly Rep. Steve Doyle. We also discuss how no debates are happening in Assembly races, as Republicans cite "scheduling conflicts."   See the flyers here.

Tom Vilsack, former Democratic governor of Iowa, joined to talk about how Democrats can win back more of the rural vote. And he might know the secret formula, because, back in 1998, Vilsack was the first Democrat to be elected as governor in Iowa in over 30 years — plus he won a second term. Before Vilsack joined (10:20), we opened the pod basically game planning what to talk about with him. And, afterward (21:35), we do a bit of a wrap up.