Top political news WPR reporters are watching in 2025

2024 was a big year in Wisconsin politics. Next year will be no different.

So far, the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court session and the state’s next biennial budget decision are on the agenda.

WPR political reporters Rich Kremer and Anya Van Wagtendonck join Morning Edition host Alex Crowe to uncover the news they’re looking forward to in 2025.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Alex Crow: State Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. It is scheduled to take place in April during this spring’s elections. Rich, can you tell us a little bit about what’s going on here?

Rich Kramer: Well, let me tell you, if you thought election season was over, you were unfortunately wrong. In less than four months, Wisconsinites will go to the polls in a fairly significant battle for ideological control of the state Supreme Court.

The election will decide who will replace liberal Justice Anne Walsh Bradley, who has served on the bench since 1995, when she retires. The candidates so far are former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, currently a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge. Dane County Judge Susan Crawford has worked as an attorney for the Democratic Party and Planned Parenthood.

As mentioned earlier, this election will be held in April 2025, but Schimmel has been campaigning since November 2023. He accused the court’s liberal judges of misconduct by focusing on politics rather than law.

Crawford entered the race in June, casting his campaign as a chance to preserve the current court majority. She said she would focus on upholding the law and protecting constitutional rights.

AC: The state’s high court is scheduled to hear a number of high-profile cases in 2025. Can you give us some highlights of some of the cases that you’re keeping an eye on?

RK: There’s a lawsuit about whether a law passed in 1849 prohibits most abortions in Wisconsin. This is probably the most attention-grabbing incident.

The other committee will determine whether a Republican-led legislative committee violated the state constitution by blocking the agency’s rules banning conversion therapy. It should be noted that while the ban on conversion therapy is currently in place, this commission is essentially a temporary ban on that ban.

There’s also a lawsuit over whether Wisconsin’s top elections official, Megan Wolf, should be allowed to stay in her job as Republicans seek to remove her.

and whether the line-item budget veto that has increased school funding for 400 years violates the state constitution.

AC: 2025 is also when the Legislature needs to put together its next biennial budget here in Wisconsin. This is a notoriously difficult time in the state, and there is always a lot of back and forth between Republicans and Democrats. Anya, is there any reason to believe anything will be different this time?

Anya Van Wagtendonck: The budget is one of the biggest pieces of legislation that Congress tackles. This is essentially a document that lays out Wisconsin’s funding priorities for the next two years.

And there are several reasons for the kind of partisan conflict you mentioned. It usually comes down to philosophical differences over the size of government and whether to spend national surplus. And there are some policies on which Republicans and Democrats will never see eye-to-eye. For example, Evers has consistently proposed legalizing marijuana for recreational and medical purposes within the budget, and Republican leaders have made it clear they will never support full legalization.

Most likely it will be cut, and then we will get the final document that Evers needs to sign. But he also has the power to veto parts of the budget, so he can remove those included in the Joint Finance Committee.

We’ve already heard about a possible veto, with Evers saying he doesn’t support returning government employees to their jobs.