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Across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Critello, powered by Up North News.
Now, from our Lake Wissota studio, here's the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Critello.
Hey, good morning.
Nice to have you back here up north at 8.06 on a Tuesday morning, December 2nd.
Parker Olson producing things down in Madison Studio A2.
Dan Schaefer from the Reconpopulation area will be joining us in our next half hour.
And we will be talking about today's big story in Wisconsin politics.
And that would be this morning's official announcement by former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes that he is in the race for governor.
So the former Lieutenant Governor.
announcing this morning that he's going to be joining a field that makes him now the sixth Democrat to get into that race.
Let's see if I still have the full roll call here.
I want the list in front because I don't want to forget anybody here.
We of course have not just now the former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.
But the current Lieutenant Governor, Sara Rodriguez, there's also Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, their state Senator Kelder Roy's, their state representative Francesca Hong, and the former chair of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Secretary Missy Hughes.
Mandela Barnes put out an announcement video early this morning explaining, you know, why he's decided to run.
The video opens up with him and holding his dad's jacket a member of UAW local 1866 and talking about jobs that
Used to enable you to afford a home and support a family and save for retirement Then you see his dad at the end of the the spot as well and talking about how people are working hard But you know, it's the billionaires that are getting all the help nowadays and working folks are just seeing higher prices and they're seeing all kinds of you know chaos and distractions from President Donald Trump and all those who support him so
You're going to need somebody that can stand up to Donald Trump and somebody who can fight to make things more affordable for the middle class.
And that's where we pick up Mandela Barnes making his campaign announcement.
Families doing everything right are still falling behind.
So here's the reality check.
The only way for our state to move forward is to reject the Washington way and get things done the Wisconsin way.
It isn't about left or right.
It's not about who can yell the loudest.
It's about whether people can afford to live in the state they call home.
A state where you can afford your health care.
Where your kids can learn a skill and stay close to home.
Where a good day's work earns a good day's pay.
And where families can not only get by, but thrive.
I'm Mandela Barnes.
I've served Wisconsin in our legislature and as your lieutenant governor.
I know how to bring people together.
And I know how to get things done.
Wisconsin, let's get to work.
see the crowd behind him applauding in the announcement video that again went out today and so Mandela Barnes is in the race and of course you know for it's not just a it's not just a tough call now for all the other Democratic candidates who now have to jockey against one another from now until next August but for the voters as well for people who are looking to vote in that Democratic primary in August of next year
because it is quite possible that some of those voters have one singular favorite right now.
But it is also quite possible that they do not and that they see the benefits in a couple of different candidates.
And maybe there's one they haven't even heard about yet and want to learn more about.
They certainly have enough time to do that.
And then, of course, you've got the whole notion of Mandela Barnes running but coming up short in 2022 against Ron Johnson.
Now, let's be clear.
Ron Johnson would not have won that race were it not for the unlimited money that some billionaires put into that race.
And also keep in mind that in 2022, not only did Ron Johnson win the reelection, so did every incumbent Republican US senator.
For the first time in a long time, there were no incumbent senators that were knocked off in that cycle.
It was just not an easy cycle.
And so there are plenty of people that say, Well, let's let's get Mandela Barnes over the finish line.
He's clearly popular.
He ran the closest
Senate race in Wisconsin history, so he has strong statewide credentials.
Others of course say, nope, he's had his chance, it's time to try somebody else.
We see that as well in the third congressional district race where you have people saying, well, this is Rebecca Cook's third time running for Congress.
She nearly beat Derek Van Orden last time.
Let's get her the rest of the way there.
Other people are backing Emily Berge and saying, nope, Becca couldn't get it done last time.
We need somebody new.
I'm looking forward to talking to Chad Holmes later in the week about this and getting his thoughts.
Tony notes on YouTube.
I hope that Chad is extra spicy next time we talk to him.
I heard him talking to Nancy Stensel yesterday, chair of the Marathon County Democrats, asking, why is it that Barnes is labeled a loser but Rebecca Cook isn't?
Interesting thought.
And it's a very key point here is that, you know, some people will
see Barnes and Cook as, you know, the presumptive favorites.
Others will say it's time for another direction.
It all underscores this point.
The primary for Democrats and Republicans is August 11th of next year.
Plenty of time.
But primaries often get overlooked.
I really think this may be the highest vote total we ever see.
in a Wisconsin primary where there's not, say, a U.S.
Senate race on the line.
Instead, it's governor.
It's races for Congress.
There are already multiple races for legislature with multiple Democrats there.
On the Republican side, Tom Tiffany, the congressman from up north, and Josh Shulman, the Washington County executive.
If they both stay in the race until next August, and there's no reason to think that they won't, there you'll have voters statewide saying, well,
Do you go with Tom Tiffany because he's a member of Congress and a lot of people know him up north or people go, well, nobody knows him in southeast Wisconsin and Josh Shulman being from the Milwaukee metropolitan area is much better known and would do a better job in November.
These are the kinds of things that voters have to weigh.
There's also the factor of do they play nice in the primary?
Some people want to see sharp elbows.
They want to see that you're a fighter, that you're willing to point out, you know, why you're the better candidate than your fellow Democrat or your fellow Republican.
But then there are others who are turned off by that, quite frankly, and say, well, I thought I liked this person, but if this is, you know, how they're going to treat fellow Democrats, then, you know, or fellow Republicans, then I'm not going to support them.
And these are all considerations that
have to be taken into effect.
I don't envy any of the people who work on this.
When this was all happening eight years ago, when again there was a race for governor to see who could take on Scott Walker, who was then running for a third term, and Tony Evers hadn't gotten into the race yet.
There were also more than a half a dozen Democrats who were all vying to be the party nominee.
And I was working with my good friend Dana walks, you know, Claire, the former legislator and trial attorney.
I saw all kinds of people say that Dana would have been a fantastic candidate.
Same would be said for all the other folks that were in that race.
And then Tony Evers got into the race and, you know, people immediately looked at him and said, this is probably the guy that has the best chance to unseat Scott Walker.
And it turned out that they were right.
The key though was that after the primary people coalesced around that nominee and That is not a given.
I have definitely seen that in primaries where after a particularly difficult primary It's not that people didn't vote for them.
Sure.
They did they they eventually came around in November and you know pulled the lever or filled in the dot for that person But it was what happened between the primary in the general which was
Not much.
They didn't volunteer.
Not that it's required, but they didn't talk about that other person because they saw them as the opponent.
And as a result, that person was kind of damaged goods heading into November.
It's so important for people in either party at the end of a primary to say, okay,
It didn't go my way.
My candidate didn't win.
But this is still a really good person compared to, say, a Derrick Van Orden or whoever running on the Republican side for governor.
And it means you get involved early, not just on election day.
If that doesn't happen for Democrats in a couple of these key races after these big primaries, well...
Donald Trump can be underwater in the polling as much as anybody in history, and yet Democrats could still lose the race.
Again, all I do is point to Ron Johnson, who has never been anything but underwater in the polls.
His unfavorable ratings have always been higher than his favorable ratings.
and yet he always manages to pull it out on election day in part because enough people who vote Democratic or progressive either don't show up or frankly just don't show much enthusiasm for you know whoever turns out to be the Democratic nominee.
So that's that's the end of the lecture here and it is just coming with a final note to vote in August.
We'll weigh all the candidates
Vote in August, whichever party you're in.
And then if your party doesn't get in, you better fight like hell.
Anyway, if you really don't want the person from that other party to win that race come November.
Normally, we talked to Cam Stevenson this time.
He is a busy fellow on Capitol Hill.
And so I'll simply tell you that you can look for his newsletter below the Beltway through couriernewsroom.com.
What we were going to talk about was presidential pardons.
I have a really, really hard time listening to any kind of justification for blowing up fishing boats that may or may not have been running drugs when you have a drug trafficker who also happens to be the former president of Honduras who has now walked out of federal prison.
The news this morning is that a lawyer for one Orlando, or one Orlando Hernandez
the former president of Honduras, who was convicted after a fair trial in the U.S.
on drug trafficking charges.
That lawyer said today that his client has been released from federal prison in West Virginia after getting a full pardon from President Donald Trump.
Trump's announcement of the pardon last week came as a shock to Hondurans and U.S.
officials who built a major case against Hernandez for flooding the United States.
with cocaine.
Some 500 tons worth has been attributed to his actions in allowing criminals to operate a culture of bribery that existed there.
This man is responsible for so much crime and so many deaths in the United States.
But Donald Trump just gave him a full pardon said, Well, the case against him was was flimsy.
The case was brought up.
during Trump's first administration They always assume that you know Americans have enough amnesia that you know, nobody's gonna mention those things.
Yeah, we're gonna mention those things because it is absolutely Unbelievable That this is what we've done This is what this country has done is elected a convicted criminal
as president who is now busy releasing convicted criminals from prison and then weaponizing the Justice Department to pursue political enemies.
This is not the shining city on the hill that Ronald Reagan used to describe, neither the United States nor the Republican Party of the United States.
This is truly the lowest the Republican Party has sunk yet.
And we still got a lot of time to go if this is just a preview of coming attractions for the second Trump administration.
We'll get back to talking about Wisconsin politics with Dan Schaeffer from the Reconpopulation Area in just 15 minutes.
First, a reminder that over at Up North News, you can sign up for our newsletters, plural.
Head over to upnorthnewswi.com, click subscribe in the top banner, and get our weekday and Sunday morning newsletters, and check out all of our other coverage at the website, upnorthnewswi.com.
I'm Pat Critello.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
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Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Welcome back.
It is just about 823 on a Tuesday morning.
It's December 2nd.
Our question of the day, kind of ironic here.
How unpredictable is your work schedule?
I'm hoping Cam calls in at some point from DC and says, pick me, pick me.
Because the work schedule on Capitol Hill can be a little unpredictable sometimes.
That's what they
tell me, yes.
Yeah.
I know always that's something going on there.
So we'd love to hear from you eight five five seven five civic eight five five seven five two four eight four two I feel very fortunate in that I've had really
you know hard schedules but they did not change they did not have a lot of volatility the closest I had for that was a you know job as a as a high school student as a teenager working at the old valley fair amusement park and you know those those shifts would be all over the place sometimes they could be a little odd but you know by and large um
you know, they've been just kind of the brutal things like us getting up at a really weird early hour right now for this gig or working till almost midnight, you know, when doing the 10 o'clock news or something like that.
Other other folks, it's different.
And I just can't even fathom not knowing where where your work day is going to be next week.
No, being on call sounds terrifying to me.
I cannot
imagine suddenly
needing to appear.
But even if it's on call, I mean, if you know that that's part of your job, that those are usually scheduled out as well, like this person is going to be on call here.
And it's brutal.
I mean, from whether you're talking doctors or plumbers or anything else.
But at least they know.
And usually, when you're on call for something, you also get like a little extra pay bump, you know, for for that, you know, work.
But the whole notion of at
And I still remember when I first really heard about this being an issue, you know, a couple of years back and thinking, gosh, I'd never even thought of that before because I haven't had to endure this.
And then you see, like in the case of the Starbucks case out of New York City that was just settled.
I mean, you're talking, what did I say in the story here?
Something like 15,000 workers who, you know, at any given point here have had their hours, you know,
jerked around.
And yeah, 15,000 hourly workers who are going to get restitution payments under this agreement.
And people be like, Well, you know, those are fast food jobs.
They're all over the place.
They don't have to be.
It just sometimes it feels wouldn't be simpler.
just to set up a regular work schedule, you know?
I can't even imagine like, I'm here six to nine a.m.
It's not, hey, Pat, you're gonna be here six to eight, and then somebody else is gonna come in, and then you're gonna do the four p.m., you know, and then, by the way, we're starting over nights.
You're gonna do that the day after that, you know?
And yet that's people's work life right now.
I cannot, I don't understand.
It makes it so much easier to just have a dedicated time, not only for that person, but also for the people that they have to deal with.
Yeah.
It's just, there's no logic to me in not having a actual set thing.
I am a very regimented person,
very
scheduled person like that.
A creature of habit, if you will.
Yes.
And well, most people would like that kind of predictability, 85575 Civic.
If you'd like to share your story of unpredictable hours, either now or in the past, 8557524842.
We have managed to go two hours and 26 minutes without having to talk about the Milwaukee Bucks.
But alas, here we are.
Hang on.
We could go further.
I feel like at some point we've got to note that the Bucks lost to the lowly Washington Wizards in DC last night, 129 to 126.
And the Bucks have now lost eight of their last nine.
I say this because Dan Schaefer is going to be up next.
And Dan Schaefer is one of the biggest Milwaukee Bucks fans out there.
This cannot be an easy time for him.
No.
I was asleep for most of the evening last night, so I did not get to check.
But I would love to give Dan Shafer's Twitter a good scroll.
Ooh!
Because I had
imagined
that he has been a little...
Unhappy with the box,
you know, and I haven't looked at his but I know that other people when they are on social media during a sports event and I I get that in the moment You want to put something down?
But
then the rest of us look at it afterwards and all the all the all the the tweet says is
What the heck was that?
I don't know.
What?
What was it?
What's great, though, is when you can tell what it was, even though it was four hours after the fact and you see it because it was just that horrible of a thing that happened.
Yeah.
Oh, jeesh.
Now, I'm looking at Dan Schaffer's feed now, which does not does not have much for for buck stuff, except that he passed along a note from a.
Parity account I quickly note that this is a parody account.
Oh, but they it looks very real
Sure.
Instead of being called NBA Central, it's called NBA Central.
Oh, yes.
It's misspelled.
This is very famous, yes.
Oh, well, it must be because on there, it says, and again, this is a parody, breaking the Milwaukee Bucks have fired dock rivers.
And Dan Schaefer cites this parody account and says, ooh, dock just got sentel'd.
So apparently that's a thing in the NBA that.
Yeah.
And again, I've just, I've never.
Warmed up to dock rivers and I only say that based on what I'm hearing from the post game sound bites on the radio where it always seems like it's anybody else's fault
Yeah, yeah, he's never seemed like the most accountable guy I did also didn't really seem like somebody that people were excited about frankly when he
got
hired so
Well because you're you fired a coach who they were actually having a half decent season.
They were having a good season
There
was
a good season.
I
know.
So I don't know.
Maybe Dan's got some answers on that.
But the first thing that Dan is going to talk about with us is, of course, the news that Mandela Barnes has gotten into the governor's race.
And what does that do?
How does that shake things up?
And also, I would add, is it too early to start talking about the 2028 Senate race?
Because part of my speculation was that, well, if Mandela
Barnes doesn't run for governor.
It's because he wants another one for U.S.
Senate in 2028.
Because that's what we do in this business.
We can project years in advance as well as tell you about what's happening in the here and now.
And we'll stick to the here and now with Dan Schaefer coming up right after this.
I'm Pat Critello from Up North News.
Follow us at UpNorthNewsWI.com.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
In about 10 minutes here, we're going to kick off 12 days of community kindness.
This is Giving Tuesday and it's a big deal.
It's a chance for you during the holiday season to help out a worthy organization.
But we figured, well, there's more than one out there.
So why don't we take the 12 days of Christmas theme, make it 12 days of community kindness, and highlight some of the organizations doing good work right in our hometowns.
And we'll do that coming up just 10 minutes from now.
But first, let's bring in Dan Schaeffer from the Reconbobulation Area.
You, of course, can sign up for Dan Schaeffer's newsletter at thereconbobulationarea.news and along with Mandela Barnes getting into the race.
There will be the requisite, you know, wailing to Nation of Teeth and Rending of Garments over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Dan Schaefer, how you doing,
buddy?
I'm hanging in there, Mr. Crichtlow.
As you and Parker were talking about before the break there, that was a rough loss last night from the Milwaukee Bucks.
And I know you were scrolling my Twitter looking for a meltdown.
I tried to keep it a little bit in check, which I guess is not exactly on brand for me.
But
what a dumb loss.
What are they doing?
There
you go.
That was
a tough one.
No, that says it perfectly.
And, you know, when I, of course, I wasn't aware about this parody account, fortunately.
It is clearly marked as parody, but for you to retweet it does say, you know, something about there might be some sentiment out there after a loss like this.
Well, there is a thing with that NBA Centel account where they will tweet something.
Uh, and then months later, it will be reality.
Uh, so that is, uh, you know, Doc's on the clock now.
He's been Centel.
So
you don't know what's going to happen next for them.
Well, this, this better be the bottom one.
That's, that's all we can say there.
Uh, let's hope so.
All right.
Well, let's, let's turn our attention to the governor's race.
Of course, the big news that former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes is in, uh, made the announcement early this morning, released a video, which is the way they, they do things now.
I'm so old.
I'm, I'm back.
the day when you announced on the courthouse steps.
I literally went to the courthouse steps in Chippewa Falls and announced I was running.
Now you got to put together some kind of a video and so let's let's
Let's say now they
and now you've got to be on the move when you're in the
video now.
Oh, yeah.
No,
this is the input.
This is the new trend with all of the videos.
I think Zoran Mamdani Zoran Mamdani really has, you know, vaulted this into the stratosphere, the real Aaron Sorkin walk and talk that has to be in every single one of these videos.
You got to be on the move.
There's got to be a lot of quick cuts.
And that's what we're seeing from from the Barnes video.
Am I right?
Yes, we are.
And look, I will I will say.
this much.
Um, and I've, I've credited plenty of other, um, candidates as well.
But Lieutenant governor, Sarah Rodriguez, uh, was the first one in the race and had a very, very good walk and talk video.
Um, she was
on the move too.
All these, you gotta
be on the move.
Francesca Hong, she was on the move.
All the
candidates, they gotta be walking.
They
can't be standing still.
Can't be behind a desk.
Can't
be standing there on the courthouse step.
You
gotta be on
the move somewhere.
Yep.
Yep.
Uh, it's, it's what does Tony say?
Yeah.
You know, having.
just talking heads sitting there.
It's tough to make videos out of them.
Said the guy who makes videos out of me as a talking head on the radio every single day.
Maybe I should
maybe I should pull out my phone and start walking around my neighborhood
when we
do these radio spots
so
Tony Tony's videos can be a little better.
I'll tell you this much.
The the folks at our parent company for Up North News Courier Newsroom, they love those.
They love the walk and talk videos.
And so you might have to see me doing more of that.
So now having gotten the production value out of the way.
No, I'm going to
it there for a moment because he clearly had a message in his announcement video starting with his dad being a union worker and that should pay for a good job and then you know Trump chaos and everything else but what did you take away from from all of the walking and talking did he establish himself you know as as a candidate who is going to be you know emphasizing a particular area strong in a particular area or was it more you know middle of the pack kind of messaging what was your impression
Yeah, I think it seemed to me like it's one of those moments that allow me to reintroduce myself.
We all saw him in so many ads in the 2022 election cycle.
So I think that is certainly what's in people's minds when they think about Mandela Barnes, when they think about what a statewide campaign of his might look like.
So it's refreshing from that, but also kind of reintroducing and
at what some of the big issues are and talking about how the Wisconsin way is different from the Washington way, not about being left or right, all of these different things.
And I think it is kind of a message that would have the aim of bringing people together and not carving out saying, oh, I'm the progressive in this race.
Vote for me.
I'm this lane.
Vote for me.
I think it does kind of speak to trying
to bring people together under the big tent that is the Democratic Party.
Dan Schaffer's here from the Reconpopulation Area and Civic Media's political editor.
And yeah, I wanted to seize on those lines from the Mandela Barnes announcement video.
There's the one line that says the only way to move for our state to move forward is to reject the Washington way and get things done the Wisconsin way.
That's that's kind of a gimme, especially when you the president and Congress or from the other party are looking to say, you know, we do things better here at home.
But then there's the it isn't about left or right.
It's not
about who can yell the loudest.
And then he gets on into other important issues.
But you and I both know that when he said it isn't about left or right, there are people on the progressive side of the ledger who puckered up at that and said, Oh, stop, you know, stop, you know, avoiding what we as progressives or liberals or Democrats stand for.
There are people that really want to see more of a, you know, of a, I guess, fighter would be the word that they'd use.
Yeah.
And I think
For one, I would say the Wisconsin way versus Washington way thing is something that we've been hearing from Wisconsin Democrats a lot this year.
I feel like, you know, I was at the the Wisdom's convention this summer in Wisconsin Dells.
And I think at the time there was some frustration with Democrats nationally.
And I think many of the people there, including now chair Devin Remacher, we're talking about, you know, hey, national Democrats might not have their stuff together, but we in Wisconsin
And this group of Democrats have figured it out.
We've got things going the right way.
And I think that it seems to have some echoes of that in a certain sense in Mandela Barnes' messaging here too.
But that not left or right, I mean, to me, that doesn't speak to trying to purity test the true progressive in the race or whatever it might be.
To me, it kind of calls to the Barack Obama of it all, right?
You know the not a nation of red states or blue states, but United States that famous speech that he delivered So I think it to me it speaks more to those types of ideals than you know trying to say like hey when I'm not the you know I'm not I'm not going to run as the true progressive in the race or whatever that might be
well And so when he then goes on to say it's about whether people can afford to live in the state They call home a state where you can afford your health care where your kids can learn a skill and stay close to home where a
good day's work earns a good day's pay than where families can not only get by but thrive.
Again, these are aspirational, but what he's not doing is he is immediately saying, you know, a specific policy, you know, $20 an hour minimum wage or whatever the case may be.
And while on the one hand, that gives you freedom and flexibility to take a position, you know, it also enables, you know, the Republican side to essentially sandbag him with anything and say, this is what this guy
for and let's pick like on the $20 minimum wage they can just say that now because he hasn't taken a position
that's a good point you know I do think we need more Democratic candidates to be out there saying saying it with their chest right saying it was saying and believing it and fighting for it and what they believe in and what they want for this next generation of Wisconsin to look like and you know it's
And I think there's another thing with his, so I will say that if you want to know more of my thoughts on Mandela Barnes and his entry into this race, I will say that you should revisit a column I wrote about a little over a month ago at the Reconbibulation Era, revisiting Mandela Barnes' 2022 campaign for Senate.
Why that race was somehow both overrated and underrated as a campaign at the same time and I think big picture here
If Barnes is going to run a race similar to the one he ran in 2022, I don't think it's going to work out well for him.
I think he has to approach this differently.
So that's what I'm looking for in this announcement, in the kind of the rollout of this campaign.
What is going to be different for the Barnes 2026 campaign?
What is going to be different from 2022?
We're going to continue this conversation with Dan Schaefer.
You can learn more at therecombobulationarea.news in just a few minutes here.
But at 8.45, let's take a couple of minutes just to talk about Giving Tuesday and kicking off our 12 Days of Community Kindness, where we wanted to highlight various groups around Wisconsin that are doing great things for people.
And we're going to start things off today with Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin.
And Cameron Wingin is joining us now to talk more about that.
Cameron, good morning.
How are you?
Good morning, Pat.
Thanks for having me.
It's a pleasure to have you here.
And so tell us a bit more about what Feeding America is and what it does in Eastern Wisconsin.
Sure.
So we are the largest hunger relief organization in the state.
We cover 35 counties in Eastern Wisconsin.
And essentially what we do is we leverage our relationships with Wisconsin growers
uh and then our retail partners and manufacturers and we procure food and then distribute that food out to all of our pantry partners within those 35 counties in eastern wisconsin so a big task uh food insecurity is at some of its highest levels right now so we've been quite busy supporting our pantry partners
But giving Tuesday, what a great time to come on and talk to you and just promote what we do for the community and for our neighbors facing hunger.
Well, and don't doubt that giving Tuesday's got to be one of your busiest days of the year, which is why I think it also needs a reminder that you guys need help and support all year long.
Definitely.
Yeah.
So we are always asked, what if I want to go in my pantry and just grab a couple of non-perishable items and donate to you or send them over to a food pantry?
And we say, absolutely.
However,
giving tuesday is a great example of how far your your dollar can stretch so we can take a dollar donation and we can turn it into four meals with the relationships and partnerships that we have we purchase food in bulk and then we get that food out to our food pantry partners uh so giving tuesday is a great way to
just give some money to us, make us stretch that money as far as we can stretch it to go and get that food out to our pantries.
We're talking to Cameron Wengen from Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin.
Learn more at feedingamericawi.org.
Can you tell us a little bit from the other side of the equation?
Because there are always people who find themselves in dire straits and suddenly facing food insecurity.
And what are the best things they can do to get help
quickly and effectively.
I think the most important thing is don't be afraid to ask for help.
Reach out, look for information.
If you go to our website, we have a pantry locator.
You can type in your zip code and within five miles find any food pantry in your area that you can visit and get food from.
There's a stigma with food pantries that there's a lot of red tape.
And hoops that you have to jump through that's not necessarily the case with most food pantries Most will invite you in no questions asked allow you to shop or allow you to bring home items Without any type of registration any monetary Compens or donation at all you can go in get the food that you need and go home to your family and so we kind of want to eliminate that stigma where
You're not invited or you're not necessarily welcome at a food pantry.
Anyone is welcome.
Everyone should be able to have a warm meal, especially during the holiday season.
So please go seek that help out if you need it.
And you can help out Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin by going to feedingamericawi.org Cameron Wenjin, thank you for helping us kick off 12 Days of Community Kindness.
I hope this Giving Tuesday is especially generous to you and all the people you serve.
Thank you for all you do, sir.
Thanks, Pat.
All right, Cameron.
Have a great day.
When we come back, we're going to continue our conversation with Dan Schaefer from the Reconpopulation Area.
Not just about Mandela Barnes getting into the race for governor, but other things going on as well.
And then on Thursday, we're going to talk to Congressman Mark Pocan to give us an update on things from Washington, D.C.
as we get close to the end of the calendar year.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Stick around, coming up at the top of the hour, Matt Nair on air, Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach coming up on the program at 10.35.
They'll be joined by Terry Barr with a slice of Wisconsin.
Tomorrow on this program, we will talk to pediatrician Dr. Kelly Snooks, part of our Up North News Raising Wisconsin video series, and we'll be joined by Civic Media's Earl Ingram to talk about the what's going on podcast.
Melissa Baldoff will have our climate check and Up North News newsletter editor, Ellie Bordeaux, will tell us what she's working on for our newsletter.
You can sign up for it at UpNorthNewsWI.com.
Final couple of minutes here with Dan Schaefer from the Reconpopulation area, which you can get that
newsletter at the recombobulationarea.news, which if I recall correctly, I believe there was even a Black Friday special on that thing for supporting your work over there.
We're doing a whole Thanksgiving week sale.
So there's all of these different things happening.
Small business Saturday and Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
And we're just doing the whole week.
We got the sale going for the whole week.
So you can go subscribe for 40% off right now at the Reconvibulation area.
That's $20 off, a full year subscription.
So go do that.
The more people subscribe, the more that we can do.
Simple as that.
Yeah, exactly.
Because there is so much more that we do than, you know, just the one story that we've talked about so far.
But we, you know, we are focusing on the governor's race at the moment here.
And I know one other name that has come up has been Joel Brennan, former secretary of the Department of Administration for Governor Evers.
I haven't heard anything new that so that that's still at the speculation phase I gather.
Yeah, he hasn't made any formal announcements just yet, but he had been making some noise in some recent interviews in the Milwaukee area.
He is currently the president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.
I'm probably, I think I'm saying that wrong.
But he was the former CEO of Discovery World and has a lot of experience in executive leadership and all of that.
And I do wonder what his entry to this kind of a race might mean.
It's becoming a more and more crowded primary.
Lots of people jumping into this.
We got a lot of big names already in, obviously with Barnes announcement today that adds another element to it.
If Joel Brennan were to run, that could add an
another piece too so it's shaping up to be a really interesting race and I think the the big picture
over the top of all of this is that 2026 is such a mammoth opportunity for Democrats in Wisconsin.
There is the first real opportunity to flip the state legislature in a generation.
There is an opportunity to elect new leadership to the governor's office.
And then you've got things like the spring election with the state Supreme Court race and all of the other races that are happening down ballot there.
I think if we're seeing some of the election results from Virginia
New Jersey, even New York City over the past few weeks and months, I think there is going to be some Democratic enthusiasm going into next year.
Who is able to harness it?
Who is able to capitalize it?
And if that going to bring the big blue trifecta to Wisconsin next year, we shall see.
And for folks who missed it, the first part of the hour, when I went on at length about all of these Democratic primaries, because there is, as you say, a lot of opportunity.
which also means there is a lot of opportunity to blow it and So to to enter your Democrats have never gone that
direction.
Have they
they've never they've never
blown an opportunity
We never use the word circular firing squad never never have we done that Dan Schaeffer is with us and let me let me close by just saying yesterday We had on Craig Gilbert who's written for many many years for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
And it was kind of stating the obvious, you know, the Marquette national poll showing the headwinds that Republicans are facing.
And they bring it up only again to make that same point is that everything we're saying now is still nine months before the primary and 11 months before the general election.
And yeah, there's headwinds there.
But, you know, that that really means nothing when you look at what could happen down the road here.
We all have several lifetimes to live between now and that August primary next year.
But at the same time, I think the big picture of what happens with an unpopular president facing a midterm is that the history suggests that the party not in control, the party not in the White House, is going to do a little bit better.
And so I think that to me is one of the aspects of comparing
Mandela Barnes is running 22 versus 26 too.
You know, he was running against a two term incumbent in a hostile environment with an unpopular Democratic president in the White House.
The ingredients are very different for a 2026 run.
So it's going to, but I think the details really matter.
And I think being a governor's race instead of a race for Senate means you need to talk about Wisconsin issues and not just about Trump, not just about what's happening now.
There can be these types of national headwinds, but I think.
a governor's race is different, and especially a Wisconsin governor's race, you got to speak to the issues, the real issues that people here are facing, because as we all know, Pat, people here are really clued into politics, and it's often because, well, we have to be.
Yeah, we do.
We're that close.
The races are that important.
I've got less than a minute to talk about congressional redistricting, so we won't get into all the particulars of the case.
Other than to say the state Supreme Court has named a couple of three judge panels to hear the latest
challenge to the congressional maps.
This is a very tight timetable, but would you say would you say the odds are 0% that the congressional district lines will change in Wisconsin for next November?
I wouldn't say there's zero.
I don't really know how to make the odds on this one.
I will say, I think the case being advanced by law forward and Wisconsin business leaders for democracy, there are a number of challenges that have worked their way through on congressional redistricting.
Some have been tossed out.
I think that in particular is the one to watch.
All right.
Dan Schaefer, you can read more about it at the recombobulationarea.news.
Sign up for the newsletter there.
Dan, thank you as always.
Hope you have a great day.
Thanks, Pat.
Be well.
All right.
Thank you so much.
Again, my thanks to today's guest, Dan Schaefer.
We had Brian Lemke from Defend the Vote, Hans Brighton Moser, Sheila Everhart from the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, Jean Bonn from a wedding barn venue owner talking about what's happening or not happening in the legislature there.
James Kelly and more.
So thanks again for being part of all of this.
I'm Pat Crichtlow, founding editor of Up North News.
Up North News is part of Courier Newsroom, a
Crow Democracy News Network, building any more informed, engaged, and representative America, follow us over at UpNorthNewsWI.com.
Again, have a great day.
We'll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early 6 a.m.
here up North.
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