The Recombobulation Area is a 21-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer.
It has been quite the year at The Recombobulation Area, covering the remarkable, fork-in-the-road 2026 election that has now resulted in a victory for David Crowley in the race for governor, and the first Democratic-controlled legislature in 16 years.
We kicked the year off hosting the first candidate forum in the Democratic primary, and have been with you for every twist and turn along the way — and there sure were a whole lot of those! — all the way through the remarkable Nov. 3 Election Night, where Democrats won a trifecta — control of the Senate, Assembly and governorship — for the first time in a generation. With feature stories and in-depth previews and commentary and podcasts and poll analysis and breaking news and interviews and so much more, this has been a standout year to be covering the ever-discombobulating politics in the great state of Wisconsin.
Here at The Recombobulation Area, we’ve had our own share of change in 2026, too. This publication returned to independent ownership in early July, and have seen tremendous growth in new subscribers, both free and paid, along with significant increases in readership, reach, influence and more.
But now, as the dust begins to settle — and our post-election “takeaways” column has been published — we’re doing some recombobulating of our own. That means taking stock of what we’ve been able to do these past few months, and planning ahead for covering the Democratic trifecta and this new era in state politics (that sure is fun to say!).
We want you to be part of this next chapter, too. So, we’re offering a special “TRIFECTA SALE” for 30% off.
Click the button above, or go to…
therecombobulationarea.com/TRIFECTA
… to subscribe at this special discount rate.
This sale will be active from today (Nov. 12) through Monday, Nov. 16. Any link to subscribe will take you directly to this 30% off subscription offer.
As Congressman Mark Pocan recently said on his podcast, The Recombobulation Area is “one of the very best places to find out what’s happening in Wisconsin politics.”
With all of the change to come after this year’s election, there is going to be a whole lot happening in Wisconsin politics in the coming months. Some of it might be pretty discombobulating. So, you’re going to want to stay in the know —and stay recombobulated — by becoming a paid subscriber.
The Recombobulation Area doesn’t rely on corporate chains or dark money or social media clickbait or any of that nonsense. Our equation is pretty simple. We are powered by reader subscriptions. The more of you who subscribe, the more we can do.
We want to be doing more into 2027 and beyond. But we can’t do that without your support.
Subscribe with this special offer today — and let’s keep recombobulating.
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.