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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Crowley proposes protecting abortion rights, Republicans’ school funding shell game, Tiffany’s radical tax ideas

Plus: Downballot races, voting shenanigans, much more. Featuring Pat Kreitlow, Kristin Lyerly, Dan Shafer and special guest Dr. Christopher Ford.

The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area.

This week’s episode features Dr. Christopher Ford, a board-certified emergency medicine physician based in Milwaukee, and host of the Pulse Check Wisconsin podcast, where he connects healthcare, community and policy. He recently hosted David Crowley to talk about his health care plan, and you can find that episode here.

Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good is off this week, but you can find her latest on Instagram.

There is so much happening in the Wisconsin political universe, and your friends at the “Wisconsin Politics Group Chat” podcast are here to break it all down.

This episode aired live on the Dr. Kristin Lyerly YouTube Channel on Friday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m. You can find us every Friday at that time to tune in live.


For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out our topics and timestamps below:

  • 00:00 Welcome, and Dr. Chris Ford joins the chat

  • 00:24 Tangent: why male contraception is still a decade away

  • 01:35 Crowley proposes a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights

  • 04:17 Why the amendment draws a clear line against Tiffany

  • 06:06 Why Wisconsin has no ballot initiative, and Ron Johnson’s “let voters decide” ploy

  • 08:31 Show-and-tell: uterus stress balls and OB-GYN conference swag

  • 10:10 Tiffany and eliminating the state income tax: who pays for it?

  • 16:56 School referendums: 71 districts, 77 questions

  • 20:43 Why Democrats struggle to connect the dots for voters

  • 22:26 Nobody wants to be the “tax-and-spend” candidate

  • 24:39 Making it personal: Tiffany, Van Orden, and lockstep with Trump

  • 26:49 Down-ballot outlook: anti-Trump mood vs. megadonor money

  • 33:23 Assembly races to watch: Franklin vs. Tollefson (88th), Novak (51st), Donovan vs. Brist (61st)

  • 36:51 Zimmerman vs. Knoke in River Falls and the open Oak Creek seat

  • 40:03 State Senate spotlight: Marklein vs. Jacobson in the 17th

  • 41:42 Election interference: ICE, ballot seizures, and deepfakes

  • 46:32 Absentee returns are down: fear of the mail, or fading pandemic habits?

  • 50:35 Wisconsin elections are secure: make your voting plan

  • 52:33 Up North News live event with Crowley and Josh Kaul, Oct. 14 at the Overture Center

  • 54:09 Coming up next week: Tiffany skips another event

  • 54:44 Obama endorses David Crowley

  • 56:56 Chris’s week: Gee’s Clippers event, Gov. Wes Moore, and Pulse Check Wisconsin

  • 57:49 Preview: the Nov. 6 post-election episode and 2028 speculation

  • 58:25 Becky Nichols plug (AD 53), Brewers talk, and sign-off


Watch this and every episode of the “Wisconsin Politics Group Chat” on The Recombobulation Area’s YouTube Channel:


You can find every episode of the “Wisconsin Politics Group Chat” on The Recombobulation Area’s podcast feed, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and right here on Substack.


Missed the previous episode of the Group Chat? Find it here:


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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer, at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social, and on Threads at @danshafer.

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