It’s always difficult to plan ahead for the newsletter because you never know what crazy sh*t is going to happen on any given day. So, although I want to focus on the looming federal budget deadline and what we need to pressure our Democratic representatives to do, I have to start with the continuing assault on our immigrant communities and all of our constitutional rights.

PUSHBACK MATTERS. For the last week or so, we’ve been preparing to launch solidarity protests if/when Trump fulfills his promise to send federalized National Guard troops from red states into Chicago. Personally, I always thought that he was highly likely to TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) when faced with the very strong pushback from Governor Pritzker, and he appears to have done so. Unfortunately, Trump is still visiting grave harm on Chicago through massive increases in ICE enforcement (Operation Midway Blitz). While this is terrible, and we need to develop strategies to address ICE abuses, it also proves that bullies back down when you push back! Stopping the wildly unconstitutional imposition of federalized troops into our cities against the wishes of the governor and mayor at least slows down this part of authoritarian consolidation.

Another small victory - On Monday an immigration judge halted the removal proceedings against a DACA recipient (here legally) and activist, Xochitl Santiago, who was illegally arrested at El Paso Airport on August 3, although she remains in detention. On Tuesday a U.S. District judge granted a temporary restraining order stating that the government may not remove or deport her from the US, or transfer her to any facility outside of the Western District of Texas. The order runs through September 23, when she has a scheduled hearing in El Paso. (There was a candlelight vigil in Milwaukee for Xochitl on August 27.)

What you can do: Like and share this Facebook post. Voces de la Frontera is doing great work in this area, including training people to verify and document ICE sitings in Milwaukee. Go to https://vdlf.org/ for more information.

NO DOLLARS FOR DICTATORS, NO FUNDING FOR FASCISM. September 30 is the deadline to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government. This may be the only time when the Democratic minority has any leverage. Since budget bills can be filibustered, Republicans will need 60 votes to pass the funding bill – meaning that they need at least 7 Democratic votes (if no Republicans defect) for it to pass. Chuck Schumer caved last time. We can’t let that happen again. DEMAND THAT OUR DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVES REFUSE TO VOTE FOR THE CONTINUING BUDGET RESOLUTION.  Ezra Klein and Rick Wilson have passionately argued that the Democrats must refuse to fund the federal government because Trump has thoroughly corrupted it, turning it into a tool of an authoritarian state. The Dems need to stop pretending that any of this is normal. Funding this government sustains the fascist regime. Our representatives must not aid and abet the hostile takeover of our government. Tell them - don’t finance a war against Americans! Don’t be complicit in abducting our neighbors, taking food away from hungry children, gutting public health, taking health care away from millions of our fellow Americans and so much more. Democrats need to start acting like an opposition party, and no opposition party should enable this regime by writing a check.

What you must do: Call Senator Tammy Baldwin, your Democratic US Representative, and Senator Chuck Schumer. There are two essential questions: what should the Dems demand in exchange for their votes, and how to insure that whatever deal is struck to restore funds won’t be ignored, like all of Trump and Vought’s other illegal rescissions. If they can't get agreement, they should not be afraid of shutting it down. The very real damage of a shutdown pales in comparison to the damage being done every day to our very system of government.

Here are some ideas for what to demand of our representatives in exchange for their vote: fully restore Medicaid funding, permanently extend the ACA tax premium credits, rescind all of the new tax breaks for the 1% - and for people who sell silencers, drastically reduce ICE funding, extend DACA protections to all who turned 18 since it was first enacted by Obama, and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Choose your own adventure.

The other essential requirement that you should demand is passage of The Congressional Power of the Purse Act so that Trump and Russell Vought can’t just ignore Congressional appropriations. The bill updates the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the Antideficiency Act to reaffirm that Congress — not the President — holds the power of the purse. It ensures that funding already approved by Congress, including investments in health care, infrastructure, and national security are delivered to the American people. This legislation follows the Trump administration’s announcement of an illegal “pocket rescission” of lawfully appropriated funds. The bill does not yet have a number.

Use 5 Calls for our Wisconsin representatives. Chuck Schumer’s number is (202) 224-6542.

THREATS TO OUR ELECTIONS. Several commentators and many folks worry that there won’t be elections in 2026. That’s not going to happen. Rather, many experts agree that we are quickly moving from a democracy to a system of competitive authoritarianism, where we still have elections, but they are no longer free and fair. We are not there yet – but the myriad threats to free and fair elections are real – including attacks on voting by mail, threats of emergency presidential powers to take control of elections, strict voter ID laws, mid-cycle gerrymandering, and the general erosion of trust in our elections. Trump has started threatening Executive Orders banning mail-in ballots and imposing national voter ID requirements. Should he try, I am confident that it will be fought in the courts. The good news is that our elections are run by states, and highly decentralized even within states. These threats are real, and we need to fight them ferociously. But we can’t give up, and we can’t undermine trust in our elections. Indeed, we need to turn the 2026 elections into an act of defiance against the regime.

GERRYMANDERING. Speaking of mid-cycle gerrymandering, I thought it was time to talk a bit about the wisdom of independent, nonpartisan redistricting commissions. The GOP is attacking fair elections through blatant and unapologetic partisan gerrymandering in red states in a desperate attempt to prevent Democrats from taking back the House of Representatives in light of Trump’s wildly unpopular policies. As you hopefully are aware, the Fair Maps Coalition has been working tirelessly to first, craft a proposal for legislation to create an independent redistricting commission (IRC) in Wisconsin (it can’t be truly independent of the legislature until we change the Wisconsin Constitution which vests the power to redistrict in the legislature), and then, to pass a constitutional amendment (which takes a minimum of two years). As a member of the League of Women Voters’ statewide ad hoc redistricting committee that has been meeting every week for many months to craft the proposal, Trump’s pressuring red states to redistrict mid-cycle infuriates me. And initially I was not a fan of Gavin Newsom’s moves to “fight fire with fire” and gerrymander California’s Congressional districts in response. California’s commission is the gold standard, and much of our work borrowed from California, as well as Michigan. I fervently believe that IRCs are essential to our democracy. Obviously, the solution is a national requirement that all states have an IRC. Unfortunately, that won’t happen any time soon. I worry that the GOP’s current anti-democratic gambit of mid-cycle gerrymandering will lead Wisconsinites to oppose our efforts to establish an IRC in Wisconsin, seeing it as “unilateral disarmament”. I have a two-part response to this dilemma.

With respect to California, I have reluctantly concluded that the Democrats have no choice but to engage in counter-gerrymandering to save our democracy. I am pleased that Governor Newsom has crafted his strategy thoughtfully and carefully. First, it will go to the voters for approval. Second, it is contingent on Texas re-gerrymandering their maps (which has not happened). Third, it is temporary. The new maps would stay in effect until the next redistricting cycle in 2030, and then the IRC will again be in charge of drawing fair maps.

With respect to an IRC for Wisconsin, as you know, Wisconsin is truly a purple state. I think our best argument to legislators for supporting the proposal (and to fair maps skeptics)  is that neither party should be sanguine that they will be in a position to gerrymander in their favor. After all, in 2009 the Democrats had a trifecta (majorities in both houses of the legislature and the governor). A proposal for an IRC was put forward in the legislature in 2009, and the Dems chose not to act because they thought they were going to keep their majority and would be the ones to gerrymander. We all know how that turned out. Walker and the Republicans swept into power in 2010 and the GOP’s national “operation red map” led to us having one of the worst gerrymanders in the country. In 10 years only 3 seats flipped from one party to another. (Our own Deb Andraca was one of the few who pulled this off.) Our legislators would be foolish to assume that either party will have a trifecta in 2030, which is needed to enact partisanly gerrymandered maps into law.

Gerrymandering is a bipartisan disease. It is human nature to want to craft maps that preserve your position and your party’s power – they just can’t resist. That’s why putting this into our constitution is essential. Gerrymandering insulates politicians from the will of the voters. Although a wide array of issues have strong majority support across parties in Wisconsin, including common sense gun regulations, Medicaid expansion, and adequate public education funding among others, these issues have been willfully ignored by our legislature. As technology becomes more powerful and sophisticated, the ability to gerrymander one party to permanent super-majority status has become a reality. It is truly a threat to democracy itself. Although we have fair legislative maps right now as a result of litigation (our Congressional maps are still gerrymandered), unless we take action before 2030 we could be back to square one. We need a permanent solution.

We are currently travelling across the state to educate the public on our proposal for an IRC and to take public input. There will be a public hearing in Madison on September 25 (to which all legislators have been invited), and in Milwaukee on September 26 (Turner Hall). You can register for either event or others in the state at https://www.fairmapswi.com/communityhearings.

EVENTS

Wednesday, September 10

Thursday, September 11

Friday, September 12

Save the Date

Saturday, Oct 18 - No Kings 2! Cathedral Square