Wisconsin

Tammy Baldwin looks to maintain edge over top of the ticket in battleground Wisconsin | CNN Politics

Published

2 years ago

July 28, 2024

Tammy Baldwin looks to maintain edge over top of the ticket in battleground Wisconsin | CNN Politics

CNN
—

When Kamala Harris held her first campaign rally as the presumptive Democratic nominee last week, one of the most vulnerable senators in the country was on hand to welcome her.

Tammy Baldwin, the two-term Wisconsin Democrat, didn’t attend President Joe Biden’s post-debate rally in the state earlier this month. But her appearance with Harris signaled the new excitement Democrats are feeling from their base.

That enthusiasm will be key to helping the party defend one of the so-called blue wall states, where Biden won by half a point in 2020 and where Baldwin needs to win if Democrats are to have any shot at retaining their narrow Senate majority.

But a reshaped presidential contest won’t change the calculus for Democrats in the most competitive Senate races – many of them in states former President Donald Trump won or narrowly lost in 2020. Baldwin isn’t nearly as endangered as her Democratic colleagues in Montana and Ohio, states Trump twice won big. But she will likely need to rely on some percentage of ticket-splitters to win, which even she has acknowledged may be harder than during her 2018 reelection race given the polarization of today’s politics.

“We are the battleground state,” Baldwin told the friendly crowd in Milwaukee on Tuesday before Harris took the stage.

Baldwin had spent the two days before Biden ended his reelection bid meeting with older Democrats in southwest Wisconsin, recording the “Pod Save America” podcast in Madison and shaking hands with voters at a fish festival in a conservative suburban county north of Milwaukee – a reflection of her need to both harness the base and reach beyond it.

Like many Democratic incumbents this year, Baldwin was already polling better than Biden. Even if Harris improves the overall landscape for Democrats at the top of the ticket – which it is too early to say – Baldwin’s challenge will be to keep up her advantage as her Republican opponent, Eric Hovde, becomes better known. The senator and her allies have painted Hovde as a wealthy bank CEO and frequently knock him for his ties to California.

“We have a Green County. We have a Brown County. We do not have an Orange County, Wisconsin,” she says on the stump, citing Hovde previously being named one of the most influential people in the Southern California county. But Hovde, who Republicans believe is a more formidable challenger than Baldwin’s 2018 opponent, has millions of his own money to spend.

Brandon Scholz, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, doesn’t see Baldwin’s numbers changing much just because Harris is running.

“I think Republicans have underestimated Baldwin over the years,” he said Friday when asked about her ability to overperform the top of the ticket. “She has a very liberal voting record in Washington, no question about it. But she also spends time in Wisconsin and has some Wisconsin-centric legislation that she has pushed.”

But he cautioned that it’s still early in the campaign; voters aren’t tuned in yet; and Baldwin has been running much longer than Hovde, who entered the race in February.

“It’s gonna take him time to close that gap,” he said. “And he’s got 100 days to do it.”

Spectators at last weekend’s Port Fish Days parade in Port Washington along Lake Michigan sprawled over the curb to watch the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies; a trampoline act; and a stream of shiny Corvettes and firetrucks. Whether they wanted to be or not, voters who said “Tammy sucks” were sandwiched next to those who wanted to see her run for president.

“Is Hovde that guy who’s from California?” asked 59-year-old Cheryl, who didn’t want to give her full name.

“He’s from Wisconsin,” yelled another woman sitting a few chairs away.

Baldwin’s strategy has relied on defining Hovde before he defines himself. Besides going after his California connections (he’s the CEO of Sunwest Bank and owns a home in Laguna Beach), her campaign is also attacking him on the air for a string of controversial comments – including saying that most nursing home patients aren’t in a condition to vote.

Hovde, who’s also CEO of a prominent Madison-based development company bearing his name, has so far poured $13 million of his money into his Senate campaign – his second after an unsuccessful bid in 2012. He’s responded to Baldwin’s ads with his own spots laying out his Wisconsin roots.

But like many GOP challengers this year trying to catch up to Trump’s poll numbers, Hovde is also trying to nationalize the race. After running an ad pressuring Baldwin to say where she stood on Biden after his disastrous debate performance (she never publicly called for the president to bow out of the race), he has pivoted to trying to tie her to the administration, specifically Harris, on inflation and the border. “We deserve better than leaders who bob along while America crumbles,” the narrator in one Hovde ad says over footage of the vice president laughing, with a Baldwin bobblehead featuring throughout the spot.

It remains to be seen how that will play out. The Hovde campaign did not make him available to reporters in the state last weekend and did not respond to CNN’s subsequent inquiries about the race.

At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this month, the chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm said Hovde had closed the gap in his race more than any of their other Senate recruits, specifically touting his ability to get on TV early because of self-funding. Still, a Fox News poll released Friday showed Baldwin leading Hovde 54% to 43% among registered Wisconsin voters, while there was no clear leader in the presidential race.

At least several attendees at the parade in Port Washington – which falls in one of the three GOP-leaning “WOW” counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington) in the Milwaukee area – said they were voting for Trump because they were Republicans, but hadn’t made up their minds about the Senate race yet.

That kind of indecision creates an imperative for Hovde to consolidate the GOP base – and an opportunity for Baldwin to peel off some of those voters.

Working her way down the refreshment line at the Port Fish Days festival after the parade, Baldwin didn’t skip a beat when she got to Patrick Barnett, who was wearing a Trump polo shirt. He got a handshake and friendly conversation.

“I like her, and she has done a lot of good things,” said Barnett, 65, of nearby Mequon. “But her party has done too much to outweigh that.”

Reached by phone on Friday, Barnett said that the process by which Harris ascended to the top of the ticket only confirmed his distaste for the Democratic Party.

He recalled voting for Baldwin at least once before and praised her for helping pass bipartisan legislation. “And honestly not voting for her after that wasn’t really on her – it was more, like I say, to do with the party,” he added.

But this year, he’s taken issue with the tone of some of Baldwin’s ads going after Hovde’s past statements – including one that features a farmer saying, “Eric Hovde, what the hell is wrong with this guy?”

Some 170 miles west of Port Washington, close to the Iowa border, the chatter at the Grant County Democratic picnic gave way to chants of “Tammy, Tammy, Tammy” as soon as the senator walked into the room on July 19, two days before Biden dropped out of the race.

Baldwin’s supporters in Platteville – a city that backed Biden but lies in a county that pivoted from Barack Obama to Trump – were fired up, even if there was hesitation about whether Biden could win Wisconsin.

“I give him a 50-50 shot,” said 72-year-old Tom Caywood, who didn’t want Biden to step aside. (“Don’t the voters have some say in this?” he asked.) But reached by phone a week later, Caywood said Biden did the right thing — even if he doesn’t like the pressure he thinks the party put on him.

And he likes Harris. “She’s very familiar with the role, strong woman, and she’s got a legal background,” he said of the former California attorney general. He likes what she could mean for Baldwin and other down-ballot Democrats too: “Chances are, if they’re going to vote for her for president, they’ll probably just vote straight ticket.”

Tracey Roberts said she wanted Biden to make his own decision, but that the presidential race was too close for comfort. “I’m very pleased,” the 66-year-old Platteville resident said by phone a week later, after Biden’s exit from the race. “I think it’ll really change the enthusiasm level – among the people I know, it’s so much higher.”

Local parties are feeling it, too.

“The amount of enthusiasm I have seen is unprecedented,” said William Garcia, the Democratic Party chair for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Grant County and is one of just two US House seats seen as competitive in the state. “I’ve had dozens of people contacting us to volunteer. I’ve had people donating money to the local party without us even asking.”

Garcia, who also chairs the La Crosse County Democratic Party, said he sees that excitement flowing both ways on the Democratic ballot.

“Baldwin does not need presidential coattails to win here in Wisconsin,” he said Friday.

“But I think that a lot of people who were going to support Baldwin – those kind of undecided swing voters who were definitely going to support Baldwin but weren’t yet decided about the top of the ticket – I think they’re far more likely to go for Harris now.”

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin DNR reminding ATV and UTV drivers that more wardens will be out this weekend

Published

35 minutes ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin DNR reminding ATV and UTV drivers that more wardens will be out this weekend

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The Wisconsin DNR is reminding ATV and UTV drivers that more conservation wardens and county recreation deputies will be out this weekend.

The increase comes after new laws and regulations were put in place earlier this week.

Wardens and safety patrols will be monitoring risky behaviors, including speeding and operating while intoxicated.

Wisconsin has already seen 15 ATV related deaths this year.

Click here to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app.

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Wisconsin

Racing Sausages, Wienermobile, ancient canoes all call this place home

Published

11 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Racing Sausages, Wienermobile, ancient canoes all call this place home

Just east of the Capital City Trail crossing at the Yahara River, a nondescript warehouse rises on Madison’s west side. Its blank exterior offers no hint of what’s inside, and even the interior is not set up for glass cases and museum spotlights.

But its more than 180,000-square-feet of climate-controlled space contains the largest collection of North American history outside of the Library of Congress.

In all, the Wisconsin Historical Society holds 3.8 million print publications, 25,000 maps, 3 million images, 125,000 cubic feet of archival material and 750,000 historic and archaeological objects. Most are stored in the State Archive Preservation Facility, including the original Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages, one of the country’s first weather maps, traditional Ho‑Chunk baskets and comedian Chris Farley’s football jersey from Edgewood High School.

It’s a largely unknown, certainly underappreciated, Wisconsin treasure.

The archives are managed by the Wisconsin Department of Administration and operate in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Typically, history is presented in a carefully curated way – edited in a textbook, displayed behind a rope, maybe protected under glass. But the archives are an uncurated mix, and in many ways a more accurate reflection of the jumble that is human life than the single storyline we try to make it out to be.

Here, history feels human and unfinished. Every box, aisle and rack holds items that come to life when someone pulls them out and shares their story.

“Without the stories, the passion behind them, the experiences of individuals, it’s just a desk or a chair, but it’s the stories that are there,” said Nick Hoffman, chief creative officer with the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Preserving film history at 40°F

As the heavy doors to the “cold room” on the second floor swing open, chilled air spills out. The room’s temperature holds at 40 degrees Fahrenheit with 35% relative humidity – the ideal balance to protect film and videotape.

More than 44,000 film cans sit packed inside, and despite Madison’s distance from entertainment hubs like Los Angeles and New York, this is one of the world’s leading collections of film and television history.

More than 300 manuscript collections include materials from figures such as Michael and Kirk Douglas, Agnes Moorehead, Rod Serling and Edith Head. The shelves hold Mary Tyler Moore’s full archive, materials from early talk show host Faye Emerson, and footage of the McCarthy hearings later used in a documentary by Emile de Antonio.

The oldest film in the archives − “The Lumberjack,” a 16-minute silent film shot in Wausau − dates back to 1914.

Many donors have no ties to Wisconsin. What binds the archive isn’t geography so much as the pull to preserve a legacy.

“It’s often about an individual,” said Jill Sterrett, chief collections officer.

History written in ink on paper

One of the country’s oldest newspaper collections resides on the third floor, including a July 10, 1776, edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette, with one of the earliest printings of the Declaration of Independence, as well as Frederick Douglass’ 1850s newspaper, and the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper published in a Native language.

The archives has the ability to bring people down to the individual level, then zoom out to show how an individual connects to a huge moment in U.S. history, Hoffman said. “That’s the scale that we have here,” he said.

In the early 1960s, for example, the Historical Society began collecting material from civil rights groups and activists, becoming a leading center for studying the American civil rights movement. Today, the archives hold hundreds of thousands of documents and recordings from the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. Highlander trained activists like Rosa Parks to organize and educate people, especially on voting rights.

That training partly shaped Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, which sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, said senior archivist Lee Grady.

One of the earliest weather maps by Milwaukee scientist Increase Lapham is also in the collections. Lapham made the map in 1868, reconstructing a storm from a decade earlier to show how weather patterns could be tracked. The map served as a proof-of-concept, Grady said, which helped prompt Congress to establish the National Weather Service in 1870.

The archives also have an ongoing, little-known interaction with the public. Grady said the Historical Society fields about 16,000 questions a year, mostly by email, on topics like land records, divorce filings, even whether a house is haunted. Family history requests are the most common, he said.

Racing Sausages, Freedom Desks, tribal baskets share space

About 100,000 objects share space in a cavernous room on the fourth floor.

The original, 7-foot-tall Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages tower around the first corner. Made with foam and rubber cement, they are being restored by the Historical Society before they go on display in the new Wisconsin History Center, which is scheduled to open in 2028.

Directly above the Racing Sausages sit “Freedom Day” school desks from Milwaukee. During Milwaukee’s 1964 “Freedom Day” boycotts, thousands of students left segregated public schools to attend alternative Freedom Schools in local churches.

Also on display are materials from the March on Milwaukee – the 200 consecutive nights of marching to protest segregated housing, led by the NAACP Youth Council and advised by the Rev. James Groppi.

Wedged in the middle of a nearby clothing rack is a bowling shirt from Earlene Fuller, a legendary Milwaukee bowler who became known for designing custom shirts, many featuring kente cloth and other African-inspired patterns. She broke down racial barriers in the sport, and was the first Black woman to bowl a perfect 300 game.

There’s also Rosie the Riveter coveralls made in Beloit and Jane Kaczmarek’s “Lucky Aide” smock from Malcolm in the Middle.

“These are telling the stories of everyday efforts to win World War II, to the stories that make us laugh,” said Leo Landis, director of curatorial services.

More aisles open up at the push of a button. Each aisle is arranged by when its contents were donated, a densely packed uncurated cross-section of memorabilia.

One aisle holds West Allis–born speed skater Dan Jansen’s Levi’s velour Olympic warm-up jacket from 1984.

A couple of aisles down are Ho-Chunk baskets, some that date back to the 1800s, weaving together more than a century of tradition.

Ancient canoes sit alongside the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

Downstairs, in one of the unassuming basement rooms, it’s hard to know where to look first.

The tightly packed space holds the original Oscar Mayer Wienermobile as well as a Culver’s sign from one of the first franchises, made from a repurposed Ford dealership sign.

There’s also a Packers helmet-shaped ice shanty built by Bill Casper of Sturgeon for Tomorrow, a nonprofit that promotes sturgeon conservation and celebrates Lake Winnebago’s ice-fishing culture.

But one of the most striking displays underscores how history is still being written.

Two dugout canoes raised from Lake Mendota sit soaking in a chemical bath. Discovered in 2018 and 2022, they have been dated to roughly 1,200 and 3,000 years old.

For the past year and a half, the canoes have been treated with polyethylene glycol, a resin that slowly fills the cells of the waterlogged wood. In about six months, Sterrett said, the canoes will be shipped to Texas A&M to be freeze-dried in a giant chamber, drawing out the water while letting the resin holding its shape.

Sterrett said the canoes, along with others found in Wisconsin lakes, are reshaping what people know about the region’s past climate and how people lived on and with the water.

Authority, access, audience engagement

The Historical Society is no longer just collecting items. It is rethinking ownership, renegotiating who defines history, and in some cases returning pieces and material.

That shift is visible in the “repatriation room,” where desks and shelves made from Menominee Forest wood help ground the consultations between the Historical Society and tribal nations on returning cultural items. Repatriation has expanded in recent decades, moving beyond compliance toward collaboration.

More broadly, archivists are rethinking access and engaging different audiences.

The state archives already operates an inter-archival loan system across University of Wisconsin schools. The Historical Society now is working to move records, such as family and land documents, closer to the communities they are tied to.

Anyone can access materials at the Wisconsin Historical Society headquarters on Library Mall on the UW-Madison campus. But the State Archive Preservation Facility is generally closed to the public, with tours offered just twice a year and some items coming out only for special events. When the Wisconsin History Center opens in early 2028, many items from the archives will be on rotating display.

As the leaders of this repository look to the future, they are convinced interest in history hasn’t waned. The key is letting people know what Wisconsin has, and making it available in a way that makes the most of it.

And as always, sharing all those great stories behind the archives.

As Sterrett said, “The risks of not sharing are far greater.”

New history center will increase access to archives

The new history center, slated to open in early 2028, will provide unprecedented access to the objects, entertainment and print products housed within the archives.

The Wisconsin Historical Society broke ground on its new $160.5 million center in 2025. The five-story, 100,000-square-foot building on Capitol Square in Madison will more than double the exhibition space of the previous history center.

When it opens, the center is expected to welcome 260,000 visitors each year. It will feature three core galleries, a rotating community gallery, rooftop terrace, café as well as educational spaces.

Caitlin Looby covers the Great Lakes and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: clooby@gannett.com. Follow her on social media @caitlooby.

Caitlin is an Outrider Fellow whose reporting also receives support from the Brico Fund, Fund for Lake Michigan, Barbara K. Frank, and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.

This fundraising effort is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, a verified 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax ID #36-4427750) and EnMotive Company, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.

The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for June 2, 2026

Published

21 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for June 2, 2026

The Wisconsin Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at June 2, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from June 2 drawing

15-26-43-48-60, Mega Ball: 12

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from June 2 drawing

Midday: 0-7-8

Evening: 8-5-8

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 2 drawing

Midday: 7-9-8-3

Evening: 4-4-7-5

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning All or Nothing numbers from June 2 drawing

Midday: 01-02-03-05-06-10-11-13-16-21-22

Evening: 02-05-06-09-10-14-16-18-19-20-21

Check All or Nothing payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Badger 5 numbers from June 2 drawing

06-13-26-28-30

Check Badger 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning SuperCash numbers from June 2 drawing

10-14-15-18-34-38, Doubler: N

Check SuperCash payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Prizes up to $599: Can be claimed at any Wisconsin Lottery retailer.
Prizes from $600 to $199,999: Can be claimed in person at a Lottery Office. By mail, send the signed ticket and a completed claim form available on the Wisconsin Lottery claim page to: Prizes, PO Box 777 Madison, WI 53774.
Prizes of $200,000 or more: Must be claimed in person at the Madison Lottery office. Call the Lottery office prior to your visit: 608-261-4916.

Can Wisconsin lottery winners remain anonymous?

No, according to the Wisconsin Lottery. Due to the state’s open records laws, the lottery must, upon request, release the name and city of the winner. Other information about the winner is released only with the winner’s consent.

When are the Wisconsin Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Super Cash: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 3 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 3 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 4 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 4 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
All or Nothing (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
All or Nothing (Evening): 9 p.m. CT daily.
Megabucks: 9:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Badger 5: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.

That lucky feeling: Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

Feeling lucky? WI man wins $768 million Powerball jackpot **

WI Lottery history: Top 10 Powerball and Mega Million jackpots

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Wisconsin editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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