Citizen Action Weekend ’26 Newsletter, Friday, May 8th
Citizen Action of Wisconsin is hiring a Climate Action Coordinator
The Climate Action Coordinator is the lead organizer and strategist for our climate campaigns.
Read the full job description.
Big News! Long time GOP State Representative Jesse Rodriguez is retiring, creating an open seat for Citizen Action endorsed David Liners
Jesse Rodriguez, who represents Assembly District 21 in the Milwaukee area, is retiring and creating an open lean-Democratic Assembly seat in the Milwaukee area.
Just last week, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Board announced the endorsement of David Liners in State Assembly District 21. The primary election is on Tuesday, August 11th.
David Liners is no stranger to working for Wisconsin, with decades of experience organizing alongside Citizen Action and partners.
He will use his voice for District 21 and work to ensure strong public education funding, and fight for the environment including a moratorium on data centers.
Learn more about David Liners and volunteer to help get him elected at www.davidliners.com.
Read more about Rodriguez’s retirement.
Citizen Action Statewide Healthcare Action Team Update
Ashland/Bayfield Neighbor’s Union Reinvigorates Community Organizing. I was fortunate enough to travel to Ashland with Northwest Organizer Jeremy Gragert to join the Neighbor’s Union and League of Women’s Voters for a Healthcare Town Hall – Why We Need a Public Option. I was deeply inspired by the strength, discipline, and heart of this community. In a region facing the crushing realities of the affordability crisis — rising healthcare costs, shrinking access to local healthcare services, and a severe lack of affordable housing — the Neighbor’s Union has built something powerful: a true culture of community care and collective action.
What makes this group so remarkable is not just the work they do, but how they do it. Every week, members gather for a community potluck, sharing food and conversation before grounding themselves in movement songs led by organizer Alex Strachota and his guitar. From there, they move into civic and political education, public discussion, and direct action focused on improving life for their neighbors. They defend land and water, feed community members, support one another through hardship, and organize around local issues with passion, purpose, and determination.
This is the kind of organizing that movements are built on. The Neighbor’s Union has created a space where people feel connected, valued, and empowered to act together. In a time when so many organizers and community members are facing burnout, exhaustion, and discouragement, this group serves as a powerful reminder that organizing is not only about fighting against injustice — it is also about building community, joy, resilience, and hope.
I look forward to working with Neighbor’s Union on BadgerCare Public Option and our other healthcare bills that would drastically improve the lives of the folks in Northern WI and throughout the state. – Kristie Tweed, CAW Healthcare Action Coordinator
Upcoming Event:
- La Crosse BadgerCare Public Option Media Event – Monday May 11th at 10:00am – All Seasons Farm, 7649 Oboe Ave, Cashton, WI
You can take action today:
- Email your state legislators and urge them to co-sponsor the BadgerCare Public Option bill
- Attend your local Co-Op Healthcare team meeting
- Reach out to learn how you can plug into this strategic campaign
Stay tuned for more updates on a broader package of healthcare bills that will complement the BadgerCare Public Option—holding large hospital systems accountable for pricing, curbing unnecessary expansion projects, and cutting out costly middlemen in Medicaid.
For more information or to get involved, contact:Kristie Tweed, Healthcare Action Coordinator; 📞 608-317-1331; kristie.tweed@citizenactionwi.org
Together, we can build a healthcare system that truly works for Wisconsin families and small businesses.
BadgerCare Public Option Roundtable in Green Bay with Citizen Action members and state legislators.
In Green Bay on Wednesday the BadgerCare Public Option tour continued!
In the morning there was a great round table discussion at Hinterland Brewing with Main Street Alliance. Citizen Action members got a chance to speak along with state legislators (Representative Tara Johnson, Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner, Representative Ryan Spaude, Representative Lori Palmeri, and Senator Jamie Wall).
“Hard work isn’t the problem, we have worked harder than any other time in human history, but the system is. And this bill is a really big first step in ensuring that we not only create a competition in the market–for those that don’t know denial rates in private insurance companies are at upwards 20% but for government sponsored it’s less than 10%… we need to insert some accountability into this market. This Public Option is about both Accountability and Affordability.” Said Rep Rivera-Wagner, Citizen Action member.
“In 35 years of life, I’ve never had consistent healthcare coverage” said Member Emma Embers, She continued to say “I was able to get on Badgercare while at school. I was a different person then, consistently excelling in my classes and community work. Then I got a part time student job in the library and that tiny income added on to my partners made it so I lost my Badgercare. I lost my medications again”
Citizen Action North Central Organizing Co-op HealthCare Action Team Update.
On Thursday, May 7th, the healthcare Action team for North Central Wisconsin held their monthly meeting. 8 people were in attendance, with 3 members having a conflict. We had a great meeting.
Dan and Kathleen collected 25 Badgercare Public Option (BCPO) petitions since our last meeting in April. Most of the team has committed to help call leads from our online healthcare surveys. All of the attendees agreed to take paper petitions and collect signatures at the events and places they go.
Randy Radtke and Ron Alexander did a role play as if they were knocking doors in support of the BCPO. They did an awesome job!
The next meeting will be May 28th, at 6 pm, and is typically held on the 4th Thursday of every month at the same time.
If you have an interest in this work and are located in central and north central Wisconsin, contact Organizer Joel Lewis at joel.lewis@citizenactionwi.org
Governor Climate Forum held by Citizen Action partners.
Do you want to learn more about how Wisconsin candidates for Governor are approaching big climate issues like our state’s clean energy plans, data centers, community health resilience, and energy affordability?
Join 350 Wisconsin, Faith in Place, and Healthy Climate Wisconsin on May 11th and May 19th to hear candidates’ responses to the tough questions that Wisconsinites are asking.
Watch Citizen Action’s governor forum from April, including data ceneter and climate question.
Citizen Action in the News
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel chronicled the history of Milwaukee’s lead abatement program in a detailed article this week, which includes Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s role in creating what was at the time one of the leading lead abatement programs in the U.S. in the early 2000s.
Citizen Acton’s Robert Kraig was on the Jeff Santos Show to debrief May Day mobilizations in Wisconsin. The nationally syndicated program runs on Civic Media radio network statewide in Wisconsin from 2 to 5 PM weekdays.
Watch the interview here ( at 1 hour 38 minute mark of video podcast)
Listen to “Organizing Worker Power & Political Expectations” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We welcome Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Service and Hospitality Union (MASH) to discuss the union’s big organizing victory this week at Landmark Theater in Milwaukee, the rapid growth of the union, and the union’s commitment to the Living Wage Coalition pushing for a $20 minimum wage bill.
We take a dive into new national polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation showing health care cost is a dominant election issue in 2026, including for Republicans and treasured independent and swing voters. Seventy-two percent of Democrats, 63% of independents and 47% of Republicans said the cost of healthcare will have a major impact on which party’s candidate they vote for. Robert updates us on the continued fight for a BadgerCare Public Option and the leaders helping make it happen. We also highlight the dysfunction of our health care system, as evidenced by news this week that Ascension Wisconsin now has tele-ICUs at some hospitals… that’s right, no ICU doctors on-site.
We close with the scandalous news that more massive “hyperscale” data centers are coming to Wisconsin, according to the head of WEC (the parent company of WE Energies and WPS), who arrogantly bragged at a recent shareholders meeting. This is the result of Wisconsin state political leaders green lighting data center development with tax breaks and failing to pass any regulations defending their communities from the invasion of data centers.
Listen to the show.
