The Progressive Midwesterner

Brian Hagedorn, the far-right candidate in the open-seat Wisconsin Supreme Court election to be held April 2, has lost the endorsement of the normally right-wing Wisconsin Realtors Association. This is in response to the fact that Hagedorn founded a school that discriminates against the LGBTQ community: BREAKING: Wisconsin Realtors have UNENDORSED @judgehagedorn after revelations that he founded a school that discriminates against the LGBTQ community. https://t.co/mgnOjpMbDy — Democratic Party WI (@WisDems) February 21, 2019 Hagedorn's track record of bigotry proves that Hagedorn cannot be trusted to decide cases that appear before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a fair and impartial manner. Hagedorn's opponent is Lisa Neubauer, currently the Chief Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, and she is running for Wisconsin Supreme Court to continue her track record of being a principled jurist who upholds the rule of law, not bigotry.

Across America, there is a wave of energy for Democratic candidates for public office, and that's no different in the Heartland. Many Midwestern states have seen more Democrats file to run for seats in Congress or state legislative seats in this year's elections than in recent election cycles. In this wave of endorsements from The Progressive Midwesterner, I will endorse multiple candidates who are running as a Democratic candidate in an officially partisan race or are running as a de facto Democratic candidate in an officially non-partisan race. North Dakota Tax Commissioner - Kylie Oversen Kylie Oversen, the chairwoman of the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party (DNL), is running for the statewide elected office of North Dakota Tax Commissioner. The Progressive Midwesterner endorses Kylie's campaign for tax commissioner in North Dakota, and you can learn more about Kylie's campaign here . People like Kylie are the future of the Democratic Party, no...

I'm excited to announce that I endorse Kelda Roys for the Democratic nomination for the office of Governor of Wisconsin! A few days ago, Kelda released this web video in which she talks about her efforts to ban the usage of the neurotoxin Bisphenol A in plastic products, such as baby bottles: Kelda's web video got a ton of national attention, not because of her opposition to unhealthy chemical compounds in plastic, but because, during the video, Kelda breastfed her infant daughter while continuing to talk about her opposition to Bisphenol A. The video has been featured by, among others, People magazine , Cosmopolitan magazine , and Bustle . I was going to hold off until after my home state of Illinois held its primary elections later this month, but, since her campaign has received a ton of national attention, I'll say this now...I proudly endorse Kelda Roys for the Democratic nomination for the office of Governor of Wisconsin! The biggest reason why I'm end...

I'm only going to write one blog post on The Progressive Midwesterner during the Winter Olympics this year, but it's for a good reason. Kriss Marion, a farmer, political activist, and a member of the Lafayette County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors, is running for a seat in the Wisconsin State Senate in the 17th Senate District of Wisconsin, which includes parts of southwestern Wisconsin and is home to many farms and small towns. I endorse Kriss Marion in her state senate race in Wisconsin. Marion's campaign website and Twitter page can be found at the links in this sentence. Marion's political advocacy led to Wisconsin's ban on the sale of home-made baked goods to be ruled unconstitutional by a judge in her home county in Wisconsin, and Marion supports implementing a "cupcake law" in Wisconsin that would officially legalize and regulate the sale of home-made baked goods in Wisconsin. My home state of Illinois passed a "cupcake law" in 201...

I will note that I am currently serving a two-year term as an election judge in my home county of Vermilion County, Illinois, and I may be asked to serve as a poll worker in the March 20, 2018 primaries here in Illinois. If I am asked to serve as a poll worker in the primaries here in Illinois this year, I will do so to the best of my ability and in an impartial manner in accordance with Illinois state laws. This blog is completely separate from any election judge duties that I may have in the spring of 2018. However, I am also a registered voter here in Vermilion County, and I will publicly mention that I intend to vote for Mary Catherine Roberson for Vermilion County Clerk . As far as I know, Mary's campaign lacks a website or a Twitter page, although her campaign does have Facebook and Instagram pages. Mary is, like me, a progressive Democrat and a lifelong Vermilion County resident who strongly believes in the right to vote. Mary is a critic of the now-dissolved Kobach Co...