Citizen Action Weekend ’26 Newsletter, Friday, October 9th
Join Citizen Action of Wisconsin today!
Sign up to speak to a Citizen Action organizer. We want to talk to you!
RSVP for Political Education Issue Series: BadgerCare Public Option & other Health Care Policy, Tuesday, October 13th, 6pm
RSVP for Political Education Issue Series: BadgerCare Public Option & other Health Care Policy, Tuesday, October 13th, 6pm.
This is a virtual session focused on building attendees’ understanding of one of Citizen Action’s core issue priorities, why it matters, and what members can do to get involved in our organizing campaigns.
For more information on the event, contact: Kristie.Tweed@citizenactionwi.org
Are you ready to defend democracy in Wisconsin this November? Join us for our 2nd round of Democracy Defenders Training, Wednesday, October 14th, 6:00PM
This special training will start to equip Citizen Action members with organizing plans to confront possible scenarios the Trump regime might employ to disrupt the midterm election and how we are preparing to respond to ensure every vote is counted.
We will also have an advanced track for all returning attendees or leaders currently helping us organize on the ground in Wisconsin communities.
Read more about our organizing in the Up North News.
From Up North News: “People like me in past elections have really worried about discouraging people from voting,” said Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action Wisconsin. “We have said, ‘Oh, no, it’s easy. There won’t be any problem.’ But it’s because the threat is so great now that we need to be clear about it without panicking.” …
“We need election officials to take precautions,” Kraig said. “And legal officials like city attorneys, county attorneys, the state attorney general, the election commission. We need courts to know what they should do with FBI agents who arrive and demand the ballots. They should not turn them over. But we’re going to need very large public mobilization if this happens.”
Volunteers are discussing tactics that range from simply documenting attempted interference or monitoring the path of seized ballots to nonviolent resistance to allowing polling places to come under siege at the behest of Trump, any administration officials, rogue law enforcement, or Trump supporters.
“That’s what happens in banana republics,” Kraig said. “If enough people come out, that backs up our clerks, backs up our city officials, and deters the wrongdoing. We may need a lot of people to show up somewhere if this happens.”
For anyone who thinks election interference would be limited to large cities like Milwaukee, Kraig has a scenario much closer to home for voters in western Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, where US Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) and Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke could be locked in a close battle for every last vote.
Kraig describes the chaos that would follow if federal officials showed up in Eau Claire or La Crosse and seized only the uncounted absentee ballots. Even if a judge promptly ordered them to be returned, that break in the usual chain of custody would incite conspiracies and raise doubts about the results.
“If the FBI runs off with the ballot boxes before they’re tabulated or certified, [the election results] will be a dispute forever,” Kraig said. “Who won the election? You could have Rebecca Cooke defeat Derrick Van Orden, but literally not be seated because the Republican Congress will say, ‘We think that she didn’t win the election, and therefore we’re going to seat Van Orden.’”
Attend Citizen Action’s Democracy Defenders Training, next Wednesday, October 14th, 6pm. RSVP.
Citizen Action Southeast Co-op Member Meet and Greet with the new organizer, Tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 10th, 2pm.
It’s at the Milwaukee Public Library downtown in the Rotary Community Room from 2-4p. There will be National Geographics and other magazines to craft utopia collages with. We will also have pizza and sparkling water!
RSVP or just show up.
For more information, or to contact Grace Koch >> Grace.Koch@citizenactionwi.org
Citizen Action co-hosts $20 Minimum Wage Town Hall in Eau Claire this week.
Citizen Action’s Northwest Wisconsin Organizing Cooperative co-hosted a Living Wage Town Hall on October 8th in Eau Claire, to share the Wisconsin Living Wage Coalition’s efforts to raise the minimum wage in Wisconsin to $20 an hour.
Speakers included Peter Rickman, President of Milwaukee Area Service & Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH), State Rep. Angelina Cruz (Democrat from Racine), State Rep. Christian Phelps (Democrat from Eau Claire). Dozens of people attended to share their struggles with low wages, and the need to organize a local action team of citizens to build support among local legislators in Northwest Wisconsin.Contact Citizen Action’s Northwest Organizer Jeremy Gragert if you are interested in being involved: jeremy.gragert@citizenactionwi.org
Learn more about the $20 minimum wage legislation and take action, urging your state legislators to support the bill.
Do YOU or someone you know make less than $25/Hour? Join our campaign to raise the minimum wage to $20 and index it to inflation?
Watch video and contact: Maletha.Jones@citizenactionwi.org
Attend $20 Minimum Wage Town Hall in Appleton, Wednesday, October 21st, 6pm
Join the Wisconsin Living Wage Coalition, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, and other allies. Hear from local residents about their daily struggle to make ends meet at less than $20/hour. Learn more about the current state legislation and find out how you can get involved and help make $20 a reality in 2027.
RSVP for Appleton, Wednesday, October 21st, 6pm; Appleton Beer Factory, 603 W. College Ave, Appleton.
Learn more about the legislation and take action, urging your state legislators to support the bill.
For more information, contact: g.degrace@citizenactionwi.org
Citizen Action is excited to be partnering in the organizing of these exciting events with Francesca Hong.
Join us and allies at a “We Make Better Possible” event near you.
Citizen Action in the News
UPNorthNews did an important story on what Citizen Action and our allies are doing to prepare to prevent the Trump Regime from sabotaging the vote count in Western Wisconsin.
Read about it here. You can also answer the publication’s weekly poll on how concerned you are about election interference by the federal government here.
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig was on the Jeff Santos Show to discuss whether the coming blue wave will be enough to produce Democratic majorities in Wisconsin and Congress.
Watch and Listen here (@ 1 hour 34 minute mark of the video)
The Boston-based radio program airs statewide in Wisconsin from 2 to 5 PM weekdays on the Civic Media radio network.
Listen to “Badgers for Healthcare” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We celebrate the late night victory of the Milwaukee Brewers that has Matt tired during the morning recording of the podcast. Go Brewers! Robert has a packed Tick report this week, including Alpha Gal Syndrome, spread by Lone Star ticks rising in Illinois and the theatrical release of a new horror movie focused on ticks.
We take a deep dive into healthcare costs and coverage as a top election issue with new Kaiser Family Foundation research showing Democrats are significantly more trusted on healthcare costs than Republicans. We look at the huge opportunity David Crowley’s embrace of BadgerCare Public Option provides to make real progress on making health care truly affordable and accessible for all.
We encourage our listeners to RSVP for Citizen Action’s Political Education Issue Series: BadgerCare Public Option & other Health Care Policy, next Tuesday, October 13th, 6pm.
Wisconsin’s election system has devolved into”legalized bribery,” where 3 billionaires (Diane Hendricks and the billionaire couple Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein) have given more than $73 million to Republican committees and candidates in 2026, dwarfing the combined donations of everyone else. When self-dealing billionaires are the largest funders of political campaigns can we have a healthy democracy?
Meanwhile, Trump tries to bribe upper middle class voters with $500 ACA refund checks only for people who make 4xs poverty wages or more.
More signs of an authoritarian security state? Records obtained in a FOIA request show that using surveillance authority passed after 9/11, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security probed millions of records of nonprofit groups in witch hunts for voter fraud. The report includes mention of undercover agents. One faith based group in MN did not even know it was under investigation until the records were released Wednesday.
Listen to the show.
