The top political news stories WPR journalists are watching in 2025

2024 was a big year for Wisconsin politics. This coming year will be no different.

So far, there is one open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the decision of the state’s next two-year budget.

WPR political reporters Rich Kremer and Anya van Wagtendonk joined “Morning Edition” host Alex Crowe to break down the stories they’re watching in 2025.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Alex Crowe: The state Supreme Court race looming in Wisconsin. This will take place during the spring elections in April. Rich, can you tell us a little bit about what’s going on here?

Rich Kremer: Well, let me just tell you, if you thought election season was over, you were sorely mistaken. In less than four months, Wisconsinites will head to the polls in a pretty important battle for ideological control of the state Supreme Court.

The election will determine who replaces retired liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who has served on the court since 1995. The two candidates we have so far are former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, who is now a judge on the court of Waukesha County Circuit Court, and Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, who has worked as an attorney for Democrats and Planned Parenthood.

This election will take place in April 2025 as you mentioned, but Schimel has been in the campaign since November 2023. He accused liberal judges of going rogue by focusing more on politics than the law.

Crawford entered the race in Juneand she framed her campaign as an opportunity to preserve the court’s current majority. She says she will focus on upholding the law and protecting constitutional rights.

AC: The state’s high court is going to hear a number of high-profile cases between now and 2025. Can you just give us an overview of maybe a few of these cases that you’re watching?

RK: There is a matter regarding if a law passed in 1849 banned most abortions in Wisconsin. This is probably the most publicized case.

Another will determine whether a GOP-controlled legislative committee violated the state constitution by block an agency rule that would have banned conversion therapy. The caveat is that the ban on conversion therapy is currently in effect, but this committee has essentially temporarily banned that ban.

There’s also a case over whether Wisconsin’s top elections official, Meagan Wolfe, should be allowed to keep her position amid Republican efforts to fire her.

What if a veto on the budget of a position who increased school funding for 400 years violates the state constitution.

AC: 2025 is also when state legislators must craft the next two-year budget here in Wisconsin. This has always been a notoriously difficult time in the state, and there’s always a lot of back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats. Anya, do we have reason to believe that this time it will be different?

Anya van Wagtendonk: The budget is one of the most important pieces of legislation that Parliament works on. It is essentially a document that outlines what the state of Wisconsin’s funding priorities are over the next two years.

And there are several reasons for these partisan struggles that you mentioned. It usually comes down to philosophical differences over the size of government and whether to spend the state surplus. And there are some policies that Republicans and Democrats will simply never agree on. For example, Evers always proposed legalizing marijuana in his budget – recreational and medicinal – and Republican leaders have made clear they will never support full legalization.

It will most likely be cut, and then we’ll get a final document that Evers will then have to sign. But he also has the power to partially veto the budget, allowing him to remove items included in the Joint Finance Committee.

We’ve already heard talk of a possible veto, namely Evers saying he won’t support returning civil servants to office.