Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Two weeks after a stunning election defeat, Wisconsin Democrats won an equally surprising legal victory Monday as a federal court struck down legislative maps drawn by Republicans in 2011. A panel of federal judges ruled 2-1 that the redistricting maps were "intended to burden the representational rights of Democratic voters throughout the [10-year] period by impeding their ability to translate their votes into legislative seats."
Federal judges struck down Wisconsin's Republican-drawn legislative districts as unconstitutional on Monday, marking a victory for minority Democrats that could force the Legislature to redraw the maps. The three-judge panel didn't order any immediate changes to district boundaries, instead saying they would give state attorneys and the voters who challenged the old maps 45 days to offer suggestions.
With the 2016 election, Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Wisconsin in nearly 30 years and Republicans took control of nearly two-thirds of the Legislature, including their largest majority in the Assembly since 1957, despite a roughly even split of votes between Democrats and Republicans in statewide races. On Monday, a federal court overturned Wisconsin's Republican-drawn legislative maps as an "unconstitutional gerrymander" that likely played a major factor in the party's disproportionate electoral success.
The unprecedented Trump victory led to a GOP wave in Wisconsin, with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson winning his re-election bid by even wider margins than Trump and state Republicans poised to expand their majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature. In a victory speech that was more mellow than his usual stump speech rhetoric, Trump struck a conciliatory tone as he told supporters that Democrat Hillary Clinton called him to concede.
A long campaign season that began more than a year ago is finally coming to a head in Wisconsin as voters prepare to make their choices for president, U.S. Senate and which party will control the Legislature. The biggest contest by far is the presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Wisconsin's U.S. Senate candidates debated for the first time Friday night in Green Bay. Incumbent Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Russ Feingold answered questions from a media panel in a one hour debate sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.
First Trump-Ryan appearance derailed by Trump tape Already tricky, Ryan relationship wth Trump just became even more fraught Check out this story on pressconnects.com: http://on.jsonl.in/2eb6RWY Donald Trump is under fire after a video from 2005 surfaced in which he can be heard making lewd comments about women. If the politics of sharing a stage with Donald Trump weren't complicated enough, they became untenable Friday for Wisconsin's top three GOP politicians, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.
About 1 in 3 absentee ballots cast in Wisconsin so far have come from the state's largest and most heavily Democratic counties, giving Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign a reason to be optimistic about its chances here, even as polls show a tight race with Republican Donald Trump. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, in a conference call with reporters on Thursday, singled out Dane and Milwaukee counties as places around the country where early voting turnout was strong.
Gov. Scott Walker has asked a federal agency to assess damage to roads and bridges caused by recent floods and mudslides in western Wisconsin. Walker's office said Friday the governor requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency conduct a preliminary damage assessment of public infrastructure in 12 counties.
Republican vice presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks during the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Annual Family Fall Banquet, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon shows the effects of a long day of deliberations as members of the Wisconsin state Senate debate proposed right-to-work legislation at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis.
A victory in the Badger State would dramatically reshape the daunting electoral map Trump faces and potentially indicate strength in other Rust Belt states where the GOP nominee has long argued his populist pitch will resonate. A Marquette University poll - considered the gold standard in Wisconsin politics - found Trump moving to within 3 points of Clinton after trailing by 15 points in the previous survey from early August.
Hollywood star Robert Redford made a plea Monday for donations even lower than the average movie ticket price to defeat Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, while a super PAC supporting the incumbent said it planned to launch a new half-million dollar attack ad portraying Democrat Russ Feingold as weak on national security. Democratic Senate candidate Russ Feingold defends his plan for fighting terrorism ahead of a new attack ad expected to be launched by a group supporting his opponent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson on Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, in Madison, Wis.
The Environmental Protection Agency says it's finalizing a plan to supply water to some residents of Kewaunee County of northeastern Wisconsin, where manure from large dairy farms is being blamed for contaminated wells. Robert Kaplan, acting regional administrator for the EPA, told residents at a meeting organized by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin this past week that his agency will announce a plan within the next month to supply residents who have tainted wells.
The hotly contested Senate rematch between Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and Democrat Russ Feingold tops the list of races to watch in Wisconsin, along with an open congressional seat in the Green Bay area. It may be too soon to know whether Wisconsin will be a top-tier battleground state in the presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Author and controversialist Ann Coulter stumped for House Speaker Paul Ryan's Republican primary opponent, Paul Nehlen. Appearing with Nehlen at a rally in Ryan's hometown, Coulter told listeners "You are so lucky to be living in this district because it's like we're standing in the Amtrak train station looking up and there's only two trains leaving."
In 1980, Democratic pollster Peter Hart warned Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin's champion vote-getter as governor and senator, that he was going to lose. Hart saw a Republican wave coming.
House Speaker Paul Ryan "appreciates the gesture" from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump for endorsing Ryan in Green Bay on Friday night, a spokesman told Breitbart News. "He appreciates the gesture and is going to continue to focus on earning the endorsement of the voters in Southern Wisconsin," a Ryan aide told Breitbart News in response to Trump's endorsement.
In this June 14, 2016 file photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks s at the Republican National Committee headquarter on Capitol Hill in Washington.