WATCH: Former President Obama Campaigns for Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin

Watch as former President Barack Obama campaigns in Milwaukee for Democratic candidates running in the state’s 2022 midterm elections, including U.S. Senate candidate Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes and incumbent Governor Tony Evers.

Barack Obama to campaign for Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin Senate race

Former President Barack Obama is heading to Wisconsin later this month to help boost Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, a Democrat challenging GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, as well Gov. Tony Evers' re-election bid.

The joint event, set for Oct. 29 in Milwaukee, will also promote other Democrats on the November ballot, including Attorney General Josh Kaul and Rep. Gwen Moore. NBC News was first to report the news that Obama would campaign in Wisconsin.

“From restoring access to reproductive health care to defending democracy and Wisconsinites’ right to vote, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” the Wisconsin Democratic Party said in a statement on Friday.

The visit from Obama comes as both Barnes and Evers face tough battles against their Republican opponents. According to the latest polling averages from Real Clear Politics, Barnes trails Johnson by around 3 points while Evers is locked in a dead heat with challenger Tim Michels.

[SOURCE: NBC NEWS]

HBCU graduate Mandela Barnes wins Lieutenant Governor seat in Wisconsin

An Alabama A&M University graduate was elected to the Lieutenant Governor seat in Wisconsin Tuesday night.

Democrat Mandela Barnes, who is actually a Milwaukee native, was named Lieutenant Governor after his running mate, Tony Evers, claimed victory in the early morning hours on Wednesday.

Evers was declared the winner of the governor’s race by the Associated Press at 1:24 a.m, defeating Republican incumbent Scott Walker.

Barnes now becomes Wisconsin’s first African-American Lieutenant Governor.

[SOURCE: WAFF]

Judge strikes down Wisconsin voter ID, early voting laws

This past week has been a busy one on the voting rights front. North Carolina's voter ID law was struck down as discriminatory. We now we learn that parts of Wisconsin's voter and early voting laws were struck down as the presiding judge saw no evidence of supposed voter fraud which the laws were meant to stop. The judge also stated that the laws did hurt minority communities. Looks like republican attempts at voter suppression are running into this very annoying thing, the truth about voter fraud. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com.

Finding that Republican lawmakers had discriminated against minorities, a federal judge Friday struck down parts of Wisconsin's voter ID law, limits on early voting and prohibitions on allowing people to vote early at multiple sites.

With the presidential election less than four months away, GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel said he plans to appeal the sweeping decision by U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson.

Peterson also turned back other election laws Republicans have put in place in recent years.

"The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities," U.S. District Judge James Peterson wrote.

"To put it bluntly, Wisconsin's strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease."

Judge Peterson struck down the following provisions of the law:

■ Limits on early voting Republicans have put in place in recent years. GOP lawmakers restricted early voting to weekdays during the two full weeks before elections, thus eliminating weekend voting that was popular in Milwaukee and other urban areas.

■ A requirement that cities can have only one place for early voting. Critics have said large cities such as Milwaukee should be able to have multiple voting sites because not everyone can get downtown easily.

■ A requirement that people must live in their voting ward 28 days before an election. Previously, people had to live in a ward for 10 days before an election.

■ The system the state uses to determine if people with the most difficulty getting IDs should be provided identification for voting. He ruled anyone in that system must immediately be granted an ID for voting within 30 days.

■ Part of the voter ID law allows people to use certain student IDs to vote, but those IDs cannot be expired. Peterson found that aspect of the law is unconstitutional, ruling that expired student IDs can be used at the polls — just as expired driver's licenses can be used for voting.

■ A requirement that dorm lists provided to poll workers include citizen information. Universities provide the lists of those living in dorms to poll workers so they have an easy way to check whether students are voting in the right wards; lawmakers put in a requirement that those lists show whether the students are U.S. citizens.

■ A prohibition on providing voters with absentee ballots by email or fax

[SOURCE]

Lawmaker wants the rich to be drug tested before receiving high-dollar tax deductions

A Congresswoman who is “sick and tired” of drug testing welfare recipients has introduced a bill in Congress that would subject the rich to many of those same requirements.

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., unveiled Thursday the Top 1% Accountability Act, which would require those claiming itemized deductions of more than $150,000 on their tax returns to submit to drug tests or file for less generous tax deductions.

The proposal is a shot across the bow at Republican governors in states, including Moore’s home state of Wisconsin, that require the recipients of certain welfare benefit programs to be drug tested in order to remain eligible to receive assistance.

“As a strong advocate for social programs aimed at combating poverty, it deeply offends me that there is such a deep stigma surrounding those who depend on government benefits, especially as a former welfare recipient,” Moore said in a statement. “Sadly, Republicans across the country continue to implement discriminatory policies that criminalize the less fortunate and perpetuate false narratives about the most vulnerable among us.”

Moore, who represents Milwaukee, used welfare benefits to work herself out of poverty when she was younger and has said that her goal is to ensure others have the same opportunity.

“I’m grateful for the taxpayers for [welfare], and I have given back tenfold,” Moore told the Guardian. “I think everyone should have that same opportunity.”

Read more: Lawmaker wants the rich to be drug tested before receiving high-dollar tax deductions

Wisconsin Man Sentenced to 3 Years for Threatening President Obama

A judge has sentenced a Wisconsin man to prison for making threats against President Barack Obama last summer.

U.S. District Judge William Conley sentenced Brian Dutcher on Friday to three years in prison and three years on supervised release.

The 55-year-old Tomah man was accused of writing a Facebook comment in June 2015 saying he would be in La Crosse to fulfill his constitutional duty of assassinating Obama during the president's July 2 visit to the western Wisconsin city. He also told a La Crosse Public Library security guard on July 1 that he was in town to shoot Obama the next day.

A federal jury convicted Dutcher of making threats against the president in January.

Dutcher's attorney, Stephen Meyer, didn't immediately return a voicemail seeking comment on the case.

[SOURCE]

Scott Walker's policies 'tightening the noose' on black people, Gwen Moore says

[SOURCE] Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore says that Republican Gov. Scott Walker's policies are "tightening the noose, literally, around African-Americans."

Moore made the comment during a conference call Monday to discuss Walker's campaigning for president in South Carolina.

Moore is black and represents Milwaukee in Congress. She says Walker's opposition to raising the minimum wage, requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, and requiring drug testing for public aid recipients disproportionately hurt African-Americans.

Moore also said Walker's rejection of a high-speed train line between Milwaukee and Madison took away jobs from inner city Milwaukee.

She calls Walker a "stereotypical politician" who will say anything to get elected.

Walker's campaign spokeswoman AshLee Strong had no comment.