On Wisconsin

Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕

This Tuesday, Wisconsin will host a Supreme Court primary that could completely change the trajectory of the state.

The race has already shattered records in terms of fundraising, though the odd timing of the mid-winter race may dampen turnout.

Two judges on the right and two on the left are running for a seat left open by a retiring conservative, meaning that liberals could take back the majority for the first time in about 15 years. That prospect is even more tantalizing to the left considering the cases the court will likely hear. They include a draconian abortion ban, egregious gerrymanders — that have given state Republicans unshakeable, overwhelming majorities despite the consistently tight statewide election results — and any election disputes stemming from 2024.

“I can’t think of any past races where I’ve gotten so many text messages at the primary stage,” Robert Yablon, associate professor of law and faculty co-director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, quipped to TPM.

Voters will decide on some bonus initiatives Republican legislators stuck on the ballot too: one that would amend the state constitution to make it harder for criminal defendants to get out on bail, and one non-binding “advisory question” that asks voters whether low-income people should have to perform job searches to get welfare benefits — which they already have to do in Wisconsin to get unemployment insurance.

For the Badger State, this one is for all the marbles.

The top two vote-getters on Tuesday will go through to the April general election.

More on other news below. Let’s dig in.

— Kate Riga

The Troll From Saint Petersburg

I wrote this week about Yevgeny Prigozhin, AKA Putin’s Chef, AKA mercenary-in-chief at Wagner Group, AKA mastermind of Russian interference in U.S. elections.

For Prigozhin, a street thug-turned-caterer-turned-oligarch from Vladimir Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg, all of these personas are part of a very conscious effort at self-presentation. Some Russian political analysts have described him as the only person apart from Putin who acts like an independent politician. And in Prigozhin’s case, it’s always aimed at loudly and aggressively fulfilling plans that Putin has put forth; be it interfering in American politics, or prosecuting a criminal war against Ukraine. Prigozhin addressed the former this week, proclaiming not only that he was responsible for the 2016 election interference, but that the idea was his.

— Josh Kovensky

DeSantis News That He Probably Hoped You Wouldn’t Hear

This week, Gov. Ron DeSantis did something out of character: He passed pivotal legislation without making a made-for-TV moment out of it. The Florida archconservative signed a bill on Wednesday expanding the jurisdictional authority for the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Let the bill’s sponsor tell it, the bill is supposed to encourage nonpartisan decision-making among local prosecutors, under the threat of state-level interference.

But the expansion is actually another shot at netting convictions through DeSantis’s election police force after multiple losses in court. Florida’s Secretary of State Cord Byrd asked for increased funding for the police force just last month. And the House version of the bill pointed directly at these botched voter fraud cases as reason to scale up the OSP’s reach.

“This is no different from anything else that doesn’t go his way,” Rep. Yvonne Hinson, a state House Democrat, told TPM. “It’s all about him having his own way.”

— Kaila Philo

• Ron DeSantis is widely expected to launch a White House bid, and the Republican Florida governor has begun to take preemptive, incoming fire from former President Trump and his allies. On Monday night, Roger Stone, the far-right former Trump adviser and infamous political dirty trickster, used a fake photoshopped image to attack one of DeSantis’ top aides, Christina Pushaw.
• Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced their bill this week to extend the program’s solvency “effectively until the end of this century,” as Warren put it to TPM. The bill would expand benefits by $2,400 a year, and would be offset by raising the payroll tax cap. Currently, only income up to $160,000 is taxed; the senators’ bill would tax income over $250,000. More here. 
• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) called on President Joe Biden Thursday to emulate Abraham Lincoln and ignore the likely coming nationwide ban of abortion drug mifepristone, expected to be handed down soon by a federal judge the senator described as an “anti-abortion zealot.”
• A Fulton County grand jury said that it believed charges should be brought as part of its investigation into President Trump’s interference in the 2020 election in Georgia. Per excerpts of a report prepared by the state grand jury that were released on Thursday, jurors said they believed that unnamed witnesses had committed perjury during the probe, which went throughout 2022. More here.

“People say, will he get in? Will he wait? How can you wait when you are currently the hottest governor in Republican politics, seeing how hard it is to regenerate that attention almost a decade later?”

That’s the very loyal former Trump White House press secretary and Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany encouraging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to announce his presidential bid and dive into what is expected to be a crowded fight for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination.

In recent months, DeSantis has emerged as the Republican that could give Trump the biggest headache of his third bid. And it’s telling that McEnany is supporting DeSantis — aka “the hottest governor in Republican politics” — over her former boss.

McEnany’s DeSantis-friendly comments come shortly after Nikki Haley launched her presidential bid. Since her Tuesday launch, Haley got endorsements from two top Trump allies: Freedom Caucus staple Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and election denier Don Bolduc.

— Emine Yücel 

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