Wisconsin’s secretary of state has no role in elections, but that could change if Republicans are able to flip the seat this year and pass a law that would empower the office with far more responsibilities.
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FILE - Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette speaks to reporters after a hearing on April 1, 2011, in Dane County Circuit Court in Madison, Wis. La Follette has said he decided to run again to stop Republicans from meddling with elections, citing Trump’s call to Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, after the 2020 election asking him to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state. (Michael P. King/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, Pool, File)
FILE- Kim Crockett speaks during the first day of the Minnesota State Republican Convention, May 13, 2022, at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn. In Minnesota, the presumptive Republican secretary of state nominee, Kim Crockett, has called the 2020 election a “train wreck” and accused state election officials of using the pandemic as “cover to change how we vote, but also how the vote is counted.” (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, File)
FILE - Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon speaks during the summer conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Baton Rouge, La., July 8, 2022. In Minnesota, the leading Republican candidate has called the 2020 election “rigged” and has faced criticism for a video attacking three prominent Jewish Democrats, including the current secretary of state, Democrat Steve Simon, who is seeking reelection. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton, File)
State government reporter Mitchell Schmidt's top stories of 2021
It would be an understatement to say it’s difficult to select my top five stories from 2021.
Covering Wisconsin politics is anything but dull or slow (by my count I’ve had a little over 300 stories so far this year), but here are a few of the bigger impact stories I’ve had over the last 12 months.
Covering the COVID-19 pandemic has been an exhausting endeavor. Whether discussing vaccines and face masks, the state’s use of billions in fed…
Another major storyline brought on by COVID-19 has been the pandemic’s impact on the state’s economy – specifically in terms of state unemploy…
As 2021 winds to a close, the battle over Wisconsin’s next 10-year political maps has only begun, with the Wisconsin Supreme Court looking to …
Once touted by former President Donald Trump as “the eighth wonder of the world,” southeast Wisconsin’s Foxconn project has, so far, failed to…
For a bit of good news, the World Dairy Expo confirmed in April that Dane County’s premier convention and exposition would remain in Madison t…
State Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, speaks during debate in a meeting of the Joint Finance Committee at the state Capitol in Madison on May 29, 2015.
