The 2025 federal government shutdown has extended into a second week with more failed votes in the U.S. Senate to pass a temporary budget measure —. Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said her constituents want her to continue fighting to keep the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits in place. The Wisconsin Elections Commission was directed by a Waukesha County judge to verify whether people registered to vote in the state are U.S. citizens, and commissioner Don Millis said implementing any such policy before Feb. 2026 primary will be a challenge. Here & Now political panelists Bill McCoshen, a Republican, and Scot Ross, a Democrat, weighed in on candidates from both parties who have entered the state’s 2026 gubernatorial race. Chelsea Chandler of Clean Wisconsin spoke to the development of large renewable energy projects in the state as demand for electricity grows.
 

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin
D-Wisconsin

• As of Oct. 10, the Democratic minority in the U.S. Senate had voted seven times to reject passing a Republican resolution to provide short-term funding for the federal government that doesn’t include extending enhanced subsidies for people who have Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. A week after Here & Now spoke with Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson as the shutdown was starting, Baldwin explained why she and other Democrats aren’t voting for that resolution and then negotiate over ACA policies afterwards.
• Baldwin: “There is no promise for a conversation, a sort of a wink and a nod that, ‘Oh, we’ll bring that up later.” That isn’t going to help our Wisconsinites who are going to get these letters in a couple of weeks. We need to create certainty and replace Trump’s chaos in the health care arena and other arenas with a vote to extend those tax credits now. Listen, we are seeing people get their premium notices right now across the country. We have about five million Americans who are estimated to not be able to afford the premiums next year if we do not act. We must act on behalf of tens of thousands of Wisconsinites and millions of Americans.”

Don Millis
Commissioner, Wisconsin Elections Commission

• There could be a scramble ahead of 2026 elections in Wisconsin after a Waukesha County Circuit Court ruling that directs the Wisconsin Elections Commission to verify whether people registered to vote are U.S. Citizens. The judge’s ruling would require election officials to verify citizenship by matching voter registrations to state Department of Transportation files. Republican-appointed Commissioner Don Millis said with the spring primary on Feb. 17, that timeline will be a challenge. After the state appealed this ruling, the judge put on hold his order that local clerks stop registering new voters without proof of citizenship.
• Millis: ” I didn’t have a huge problem with much of the decision. That was one aspect of the discussion. I don’t think it’s a good look to tell people you can’t register, especially if we have an opportunity to later verify. I think that it is a challenge because some of our identifications that are provided to citizens are also provided to non-citizens. So, that is a challenge. I think it is more incumbent on the authorities — the Department of Transportation, the Elections Commission — working with local clerks to try to identify people who might not be citizens or are in fact not citizens and take remedial action.”

Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross
Republican and Democratic political panelists

• Surprisingly, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced he will not run for governor in 2026, but instead will seek reelection to his current seat. Had Kaul, a Democrat, entered the race for governor he would have been the presumptive front-runner in a crowded primary field running for the open seat. One potential candidate who has yet to throw his hat in the ring is former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. Ross considered what is still a theoretical Barnes candidacy.
• Ross: “His supporters tell me that he would be the most experienced, best campaigner to get in the race if he got in the race, and that he spent — since he left office, working to restore democracy, protect democracy, and lift the lives of others. I think that all of the candidates in this race have some claim to that, whether it’s David Crowley or Sarah Rodriguez or Kelda Roys. They all have that claim that they have stood up for democratic values. Again, the question for me is who is going to tell like it is and step up to this threat that America faces.”
  For his part, McCoshen considered the prospects of a Barnes candidacy.
  McCoshen: “You’ve got to remember 2022 was one of the best midterms for Democrats since Bill Clinton was in the White House in 1998, and Mandela Barnes lost. This was the first election, statewide election, post-Dobbs. He’s one of a few statewide Democrats to lose that night. So, we’re not afraid of Mandela Barns being their candidate. And if you think Tom Tiffany’s too conservative, is he more conservative than Ron Johnson who beat Mandela Barnes? I don’t think so.”

Chelsea Chandler
Climate, Energy & Air Program Director, Clean Wisconsin

• Wisconsin is in line for more big renewable energy projects, including a large-scale wind farm that is the first to be approved by the state in nearly a decade-and-a-half. As demand for electricity increases due to a boom in data centers and growing use of electric vehicles, Chandler spoke to economic incentives for solar and wind farm development.
• Chandler: “Solar and wind are the cheapest forms of electricity. So, it’s a really great win for people’s pocketbooks, for our electricity bills. These also really represent huge opportunities for rural communities in terms of the economics and the money that is flowing into the host communities — from the farmers who sign leases to host these, where they get this long-term, stable high-income, which is helping them kind of weather these ups and downs with tariff wars. and everything like that, and commodity crops right now. It’s a big one for communities too, who get annual payments for hosting these projects, and so they can use that money to do things like fix roads, or lower taxes, or just whatever the local leaders deem is the highest and best use.”

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