Wedge Issues
Join Cap Times politics reporters Jessie Opoien and Jack Kelly as they catch up with the movers and shakers of Wisconsin politics for thorough discussions about the people and policies making waves in America's Dairyland.
Episodes
On this week's episode, Jack talks with former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who joined him last week at Leopold’s Books Bar Caffè in Madison for a taping of the podcast in front of an audience of Cap Times members.
Jack spoke with Barnes, who came up short in his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022, about his race against U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, what he’s been working on since the election, what he plans to run for next and much more.
On this week's episode, Jack talks with Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents the state’s 1st congressional delegation, which encompasses large portions of southeast Wisconsin, including Janesville, Lake Geneva and Racine.
They discuss the debt limit deal negotiated by President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, if he’s supporting a particular candidate in the Republican primary for president and more.
On this week's episode of Wedge Issues, Jack spoke with Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
Baldwin, who is gearing up to run for a third term in the U.S. Senate, has been a mainstay in Wisconsin politics for more than 25 years. And even though she doesn’t yet have a Republican challenger in 2024, she’s wasting no time getting back on the road in Wisconsin to meet with voters.
Jack spoke with Baldwin last week at her campaign of...
Wisconsin Sen. Kelda Roys, an attorney and small business owner, was elected to the Senate in 2020. She previously served in the Assembly from 2009-2013. She now serves on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which — among other things — revises the governor’s state budget proposal before it goes before the full Legislature.
In this episode, the Madison Democrat talked with Jessie and Jack about bud...
This week, Jessie speaks with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
Vos, a Republican from Rochester in southeastern Wisconsin, is the longest-serving speaker in state history. He’s held the post for a decade, and has been in office nearly 20 years.
In this episode, Vos talked with Jessie in his state Capitol office, one day after the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee took its first votes on the 2023-25 state budget and Republican law...
On this week's episode of Wedge Issues, Jack spoke with Brian Schimming, chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Schimming assumed his role as head of the state party in December, becoming its first paid chairman in years. He’s been tasked with bolstering a state party — which trails its Democratic counterpart when it comes to fundraising — that has long relied on t...
On this week's episode of Wedge Issues, Jessie and Jack spoke with Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski. Godlewski, a former state treasurer, was appointed to the role earlier this month. She replaced longtime Secretary of State Doug La Follette, who was just reelected in November but unexpectedly retired March 17 after four decades in the office. In the episode, Godlewski walks through what she’s envisioning for the office...
In the latest episode of the Cap Times’ politics podcast, Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly talks about being a constitutional conservative.
Kelly, a conservative, is vying for a seat in the (ostensibly) nonpartisan race against Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal. Ideological control of the court is on the line, which has attracted a flood of national attention and made the race the mos...
The April 4 Wisconsin Supreme Court election features liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz and conservative former state Justice Daniel Kelly. In this episode, Protasiewicz talks abortion, redistricting, recusal rules and more.
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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers talks with Cap Times politics reporters Jessie Opoien and Jack Kelly about his new budget proposal, working with Republicans and cream puffs.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We wanted to share the first episode of "Reopening Sardine," an exciting new project from The Corner Table podcast that is co-hosted by Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians and Cap times contributor Chris Lay.
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When quarantine kicked in last spring, we refocused The Corner Table to examine and document effects the pandemic was having across so many facets of food service, cocktails, grocery stores, and local farm...
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the introduction of and historic protests over the legislation that would later become Act 10, the Cap Times is producing a series of stories and podcasts over the next month.
Led by Cap Times’ K-12 education reporter Scott Girard and state politics reporter Briana Reilly, the series will run to mid-March and be available at captimes.com. The podcast discussions will be made availabl...
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the introduction of and historic protests over the legislation that would later become Act 10, the Cap Times is producing a series of stories and podcasts over the next month.
Led by Cap Times’ K-12 education reporter Scott Girard and state politics reporter Briana Reilly, the series will run to mid-March and be available at captimes.com. The podcast discussions will be made availabl...
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the introduction of and historic protests over the legislation that would later become Act 10, the Cap Times is producing a series of stories and podcasts over the next month.
Led by Cap Times’ K-12 education reporter Scott Girard and state politics reporter Briana Reilly, the series will run to mid-March and be available at captimes.com. The podcast discussions will be made availabl...
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the introduction of and historic protests over the legislation that would later become Act 10, the Cap Times is producing a series of stories and podcasts over the next month.
Led by Cap Times’ K-12 education reporter Scott Girard and state politics reporter Briana Reilly, the series will run to mid-March and be available at captimes.com. The podcast discussions will be made availabl...
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the introduction of and historic protests over the legislation that would later become Act 10, the Cap Times is producing a series of stories and podcasts over the next month.
Led by Cap Times’ K-12 education reporter Scott Girard and state politics reporter Briana Reilly, the series will run to mid-March and be available at captimes.com. The podcast discussions will be made availabl...
Charlie Berens — comedian, Wisconsin native, "Manitowoc Minute" host and Emmy Award-winning former television reporter — joined Cap Times opinion editor Jessie Opoien (a northeastern Wisconsin native herself) on a Zoom chat to talk about journalism, his latest work (he has a new album out) and life up nort'.
"If you are casting your ballot in the 2020 election, remember that there's so much on the line," Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes tells Jessie in an interview a few days before Election Day. Barnes makes the case for the Biden-Harris ticket and discusses Wisconsin's approaches to COVID-19, racial disparities and climate change.
Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang talks with Jessie about how the U.S. economy can recover from the coronavirus pandemic, why he's campaigning for Joe Biden, and why Wisconsin is so important on Election Day.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After working on two of Wisconsin’s most high-profile Republican campaigns in 2016 and 2018, conservative operative Brian Reisinger is taking a break from the trail this year — but he’s definitely not out of the game. Reisinger a former journalist, has been writing about Wisconsin’s conservative movement for publications like The National Review. Jessie talked with him about what he’s learned, and what...
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