The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer.
The Nov. 3 election is coming up soon, and while the race for governor has drawn most of the campaign headlines here in Wisconsin — with good reason, in many cases — the race for control of the Wisconsin State Legislature is also an incredibly big deal, and will determine so much about the future of our great state. This is the first election in the state legislature where the gerrymandered maps are completely gone, with both the Senate and Assembly having all of their elections on new, fairer maps.
As we always do at The Recombobulation Area, we are previewing every last race on the ballot in the Wisconsin State Legislature — the 17 races happening in the State Senate, and the 99 happening in the State Assembly, along with the balance of power overall.
If you missed that when we published last week, you can find it all here.
I’m also adding something a little different this time. I’m making a few endorsements, and we are featuring each of these Recombobulation Area-endorsed candidates with a special podcast conversation.
In recent years, I have not typically endorsed specific candidates in specific races, but I’m making a few exceptions for people who I’ve gotten to know a bit over the years, and who I think very highly of — in their work and as people.
One of those people is State Rep. Robyn Vining. Vining was the first Democrat to flip a seat under gerrymandered maps when she won an extremely close race in 2018, and she’s now won re-election three more times since then, and is now running to be the next state senator to represent District 5, located in Milwaukee’s western suburbs.
Vining is a terrific candidate and wonderful person, and has been a fighter on issues like health care, public education and small business in her time in the Assembly. With a win on Nov. 3, she could help flip the Senate for Democrats for the first time in 16 years. Robyn Vining would be a outstanding state senator and has our endorsement.
In our conversation, we talked about Robyn’s path to politics, reflected on her eight years in the Assembly, discussed some of the more outlandish campaign tactics she’s seeing in this year’s race (including a mailer that put her personal cell phone number on it), and looked ahead to the election in November and the potential for a Democratic trifecta in 2027.
Find out more about Robyn’s campaign for State Senate here.
You can watch this conversation on The Recombobulation Area’s YouTube Channel here:
For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:
01:35 Meet Robyn Vining, the first Democrat to flip a seat under the gerrymander
02:40 Robyn’s background and path into politics
03:43 A mom of two, protesting in Act 10the Scott Walker era
04:28 The “Love Wins” sign and rejecting divide-and-conquer politics
05:10 Running in 2018 and cracking the gerrymander
06:32 From small business photographer to the state Capitol
08:45 Community support and the power of good candidates
10:12 Eight years in the Assembly under divided government
11:35 Unexpected attention, obstruction, and “fraternizing with the enemy”
12:59 The gerrymander is gone: fighting off a supermajority and winning fairer maps
13:47 Wisconsin as the 49th state to pass postpartum Medicaid expansion, and sharing credit with advocates
15:09 Preventable maternal deaths and the pressure that moved Republicans
15:50 Bipartisan wins: perimenopause and menopause education bill
16:50 Mental health care, UW building funding, and child care
18:12 Shifting the conversation on child care and school funding
18:58 Referendums, property taxes, and strangled local governments
20:18 How the Joint Finance Committee guts the budget
22:20 What could change with a chance at unified government
23:01 A tough campaign: MAGA tactics and a mailer with her personal cell number
24:22 Legislation to protect future candidates from harassment
25:07 Why door-knocking matters: asking voters what they’re feeling
26:30 Building a “We, the People” budget from what voters say
27:12 Voters’ top concerns: child care, food, gas, and housing costs
28:36 Young people’s worries: housing, AI, data centers, and surveillance
30:04 Senate District 5: the communities and how the area has changed
31:25 Understanding the suburbs in the Trump era
32:49 Final thoughts: get involved just weeks to go
33:32 Sharing credit with volunteers and door-knockers
34:13 “Marching orders for January” and sign-off
Dan Shafer is an independent journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He worked with Civic Media from 2024 to 2026. He’s written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 24 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer, at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social, and on Threads at @danshafer.
