Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski launches bid for lieutenant governor
Godlewski is the first candidate from either party to announce for lieutenant governor, although others are considering getting in. The seat is open since the incumbent, Sarah Rodriguez, is running for governor.
Godlewski, 43, was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers as secretary of state in March 2023 after the incumbent resigned less than three months into his term. Unlike in most states, the office does not run elections in Wisconsin and has almost no official duties.
Godlewski previously served as state treasurer from 2019 to 2023, another office with almost no duties, and ran for U.S. Senate in 2022. She dropped out of the race to clear the way for then-Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes to win the nomination. Barnes lost in the general election and is now among those considering a run for governor.
The winner of next year's Aug. 11 Democratic and Republican primary election for lieutenant governor will be paired with the winner of each party's primary for governor. They will then run as a ticket in the November election.
Evers announced last month that he won't seek a third term as governor in the battleground state, creating an open race next year.
Rodriguez, the current lieutenant governor, announced her candidacy for governor last month. Other high profile Democrats considering a run include Attorney General Josh Kaul, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, state Sen. Kelda Roys and Barnes.
Longshot candidate Ryan Strnad, who has worked as a beer vendor at Milwaukee Brewer games for nearly 40 years, launched his bid for governor last week. He argues that Wisconsin voters will embrace him as a symbol of the working class because he works two other jobs alongside his vendor gig.
Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and manufacturer Bill Berrien are the highest profile announced Republican candidates. But U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a former state senator and close ally of President Donald Trump, is taking steps to run.
Evers' decision not to seek reelection is having a domino effect on other constitutional offices. So far, the races for governor, lieutenant governor and now secretary of state will have no incumbent in 2026. If Kaul runs for governor, the attorney general's office would also be open.
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CBS News
14 minutes ago
- CBS News
Newsom signs California redistricting plan that could tilt 5 House seats toward Democrats
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law a contentious congressional redistricting plan, as state Democrats seek to counter a Trump-backed effort to add to the GOP's House majority by redrawing Texas' congressional maps. The new map — which still needs to be approved by voters — would shift five of California's Republican U.S. House seats to be more favorable to Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. The legislation easily passed the Democratic-led Assembly and Senate on Thursday. After Newsom's signature, it will be added to the ballot on Nov. 4 for the voters' final say. That election is likely to be expensive and unpredictable given how quickly the effort has come together and how little time there is between the legislature's actions and voters starting to have their say. California Democrats insisted they had no choice but to undertake the new maps after President Trump intervened in Texas and asked Republican lawmakers to redraw the districts to preserve the GOP's razor-thin majority in the U.S. House. Following Newsom's declaration that he would redraw California's maps, several other states said they would undertake similar efforts. "They fired the first shot, Texas. We wouldn't be here had Texas not done what they just did," Newsom said at a signing ceremony Thursday. "We're neutralizing what occurred [in Texas] and we're giving the American people a fair chance." Although California Republicans have denounced the redistricting plan as a "tit-for-tat strategy," the state's Democrats on Thursday touted that the effort is different from Texas since it will be ultimately approved by the state's voters. "In California, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that voters, not Donald Trump, will decide the direction of this country," said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. "This is a proud moment in the history of this assembly. Californians, we believe in freedom. We will not let our political system be hijacked by authoritarianism, and today, we give every Californian the power to say no. To say no to Donald Trump's power grab and yes to our people, to our state and to our democracy." The Republican-led Texas House on Wednesday approved the new congressional maps after a two-week delay when Democrats left the state to deny a quorum to bring the measure to the floor. The measure now goes to the Texas Senate, where it is likely to pass. Shortly after the Texas House passed the maps, Newsom posted to social media: "It's on." When Texas first launched its redistricting effort, Newsom had vowed to redraw the Golden State's congressional districts to counter the Lone Star State's plan and neutralize any potential GOP gains. Newsom — who is widely seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender — sarcastically congratulated Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott on X, saying, "you will now go down in history as one of Donald Trump's most loyal lapdogs. Shredding our nation's founding principles. What a legacy." President Trump late Wednesday congratulated Texas Republicans for advancing the new maps, writing on social media that "Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself." He also encouraged GOP-led Indiana and Florida to take on redistricting. The relatively rare mid-decade redistricting gambit comes as both parties prepare to face off in 2026 and has major implications nationwide. Republicans have a narrow majority at the moment, and Democrats winning back three seats in the 2026 midterms could be enough to flip control of the chamber if the lines used in the 2024 election were still in place. Redistricting in red states could change that dynamic significantly however, and with it the impact of the final two years on Mr. Trump's second term in office. Texas and California are the two biggest redistricting battlegrounds, but Mr. Trump has pushed similar efforts in GOP-led Indiana and Florida, and New York Democrats have floated redrawing their House map. The Republican-led state of Missouri could also try and redraw a Democratic district in the coming weeks, and new maps are also expected in Ohio, where a redraw brought about by state law could impact some of the red state's Democratic members of Congress. Earlier this week, former President Barack Obama acknowledged that he was not a fan of partisan gerrymandering but he backed Newsom's redistricting plan anyway at a fundraiser in Martha's Vineyard and on social media, calling it a "smart, measured approach." Less than 24 hours before California's scheduled vote, Newsom joined a press call with Democratic party leaders, urging support for his state's redistricting effort. "This is about taking back our country," Newsom told reporters. "This is about the Democratic Party now punching back forcefully and very intentionally." A draft congressional map unveiled by California Democrats late last week would heavily impact five of the state's nine Republican U.S. House members. It would redraw Reps. Doug LaMalfa and Kevin Kiley's Northern California districts, tweak Rep. David Valadao's district in the Central Valley and rearrange parts of densely populated Southern California, impacting Reps. Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa. And some more competitive Democrat-held districts could be tilted further from the GOP. There's no guarantee that Democrats will win in all five newly recast districts. Democrats hold large majorities in both chambers of California's state legislature. But some legal hurdles still lie ahead, and Republicans in the state have pushed back against the redistricting plans. Unlike Texas, California has an independent redistricting commission that was created by voters earlier this century. To overhaul the current congressional map, a constitutional amendment would need to be passed by a two-thirds vote in California's Assembly and Senate and be approved by voters in the fast-moving fall election. On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied a GOP attempt to stop the mid-cycle redistricting. California Republicans had legally challenged Democrats' efforts, claiming the state's constitution gives Californians the right to review new legislation for 30 days. But Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said they "failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time." The GOP legislators who filed the legal challenge told CBS News the ruling is "not the end of this fight," vowing to keep fighting the redistricting plan in the courts. In a phone interview with CBS News on Wednesday, California Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, a Republican, condemned Newsom's redistricting efforts. "This whole process is illegal from the beginning and violates the current California Constitution," Jones said. "The voters spoke with a loud voice in 2008 and 2010 that they were taking this process out of the politicians' hands and putting the responsibility into an independent commission." Democrats faced a flurry of questions from Republican lawmakers during hearings this week on the alleged lack of transparency in the drafting of these maps and the financial implications of the Nov. 4 special election. "If we're talking about the cost of a special election versus the cost of our democracy or the cost that Californians are already paying to subsidize this corrupt administration, those costs seem well worth paying at this moment," said Democratic state Assemblyman Isaac G. Bryan. Democratic lawmakers and Newsom have repeatedly emphasized that these redistricting efforts would not get rid of the independent commission and that the new maps he's hoping to put in place will be the lines used through the 2030 election. The commission would go back to drawing the state's congressional maps after the 2030 census, according to Newsom, who says this is only being done as a response to Mr. Trump and Texas' redistricting. That notion was rejected by Jones, who said: "Growing up, I was taught two wrongs don't make a right, so no, it is not justified." Anne Bryson contributed to this report.
Buzz Feed
16 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Hannity's Ironic Critique Of Newsom Goes Viral
Sean Hannity's attempted slam of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was irony defined for many of the Fox News host's critics. Fox News On Wednesday, Hannity devoted several minutes of his prime-time show to attacking Newsom, who has recently taken to trolling Donald Trump on social media by mimicking the president's bombastic and combative tone. Fox News Top Trump ally Hannity denounced Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, as a 'radical' whose policies had wrecked California and dismissed his Trump impersonations as 'embarrassing.' Fox News Then came the line that went viral: 'I have a point. Results matter. A new performative, confrontational style. Maybe it wins you points with the loony, radical base in your party. But America is not going to vote for that record.' Fox News You can watch the full clip here: Hannity: A performative confrontational style—maybe it wins you points with the loony radical base in your party but America is not going to vote for that record. — Acyn (@Acyn) August 21, 2025 @Acyn / Fox News / Via Critics pounced on the remark, arguing it sounded more like a description of Trump — and Hannity himself — than of the governor. The irony of not knowing what a mirror is. — Truthstream Media (@truthstreamnews) August 21, 2025 @truthstreamnews / Via That's rich coming from Hannity, a guy whose entire career is built on performative confrontation. It's like McDonald's telling you not to eat fast food. He's out here critiquing 'loony radical bases' while serving as the maître d' at the all-you-can-eat grievance buffet every… — Nate Lichtman (@27KeysToTheRace) August 21, 2025 @KeysToTheRace / Via I R O N Y 😂 — jp (@ChefjparkJohn) August 21, 2025 @ChefjparkJohn / Via Is their audience that unaware? — 𓂀 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𓂀 (@marysupoppinz) August 21, 2025 @marysupoppinz/ / Via Irony is dead. — Jason P. (@JasonPYYC) August 21, 2025 @JasonPYYC / Via Hannity should know better, since he's part of the loony radical base of the party which elected just such an antagonistic, confrontational person President. — Robert Firsching (@robfirsching) August 21, 2025 @robfirsching / Via
The Hill
16 minutes ago
- The Hill
Karl Rove warns Ukraine defeat could be Trump's Afghanistan withdrawal
Republican strategist Karl Rove on Thursday underscored the stakes of the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, saying failure to come to a resolution could be the downfall of President Trump's presidency. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rove outlined the three possible outcomes from Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine: a successful peace deal; a failure to reach a deal, resulting in continued conflict; and a Russian victory over Ukraine. Rove compared the third possibility — which Rove said would result from either no agreement or from an agreement that Russia breaks — to the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021, when President Biden's poll numbers tanked and never recovered. 'In addition to being the worst possible outcome morally and geopolitically, this third possibility is the worst scenario for the president and the GOP,' Rove wrote in the op-ed. 'The disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover broke President Biden's reputation with voters. He never recovered. Mr. Biden was at 50% approval in Gallup in July 2021; he dropped precipitously after Kabul fell the following month. He bottomed out at 36% in July 2024 before he withdrew from the presidential race,' Rove continued. 'The defeat of Ukraine by Russia would be similarly disastrous for Mr. Trump,' he added. Rove noted that Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. Since then, Rove said, Trump has 'put himself at center stage' with his approach to dealmaking and his engagements with foreign leaders. 'The president can't abandon his starring role even if he wants to,' Rove said. 'Public opinion in America and the rest of the civilized world would rightly blame Mr. Putin for the invasion itself—but Mr. Trump for allowing it to succeed.' Rove said that the first outcome—a successful deal—is within reach for the U.S. president, and he touted Trump's steps so far in defense of Ukraine. He also said Trump's pressure on NATO countries to spend more on defense 'is paying off.' Rove urged Trump to become 'as tough on Mr. Putin as he has been on' Zelensky, saying that approach could get the warring countries 'to arrive at a deal that results in a durable peace.' 'Mr. Trump can bring about a reasonably successful conclusion to this catastrophic war by doing what Mr. Putin fears most: rejecting the Russian dictator's flattery and demands and insisting he make a fair, enforceable deal with Mr. Zelensky. Or else,' Rove said. 'Anything less would be a stain on Mr. Trump and on his party, for which they'd rightly pay a high political price,' he continued.
