Democrats are going through it in Wisconsin

In today’s edition … The cyclosporiasis outbreak continues ... The World Cup is over … but first …

It has been some week for Wisconsin Democrats.

Let’s go through it:

On Friday, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her campaign to succeed Gov. Tony Evers after acknowledging that the campaign had badly misstated its finances. Contributions had been double-counted, expenses had been underreported and the campaign had hundreds of thousands of dollars less than Rodriguez believed it did.

“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction,” Rodriguez said on X. She had fired her campaign manager days earlier.

Then came the comeback.

So, yeah, it’s been a week.

The upheaval matters because the winner of this race will be running in one of the most closely watched gubernatorial contests in the nation. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisconsin), the likely Republican nominee, is likely sitting in Washington and enjoying this madness. Republicans certainly are.

“Watching Wisconsin Democrats is like watching a clown car crash into a parked semi-truck,” said Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association. “From financial scandals to re-launching failed campaigns, these Democrats shouldn’t be in charge of a lemonade stand let alone the state of Wisconsin.”

The chaotic week sets up what is seen as a clash among Hong, Barnes and now Crowley.

Crowley’s return scrambles a primary in which Hong and Barnes have been the most prominent contenders. It also confronts Crowley with a basic question: What will be different this time?

A Marquette Law School poll conducted in March put Crowley at just 3 percent, compared with 14 percent for Hong and 11 percent for Barnes. But nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters remained undecided, making the survey more a measure of how unsettled the race was than a reliable forecast of its outcome.

Asked Monday why voters should reconsider him, Crowley told The Washington Post that “circumstances change in life and one of the qualities of a good leader is being able to adapt and adjust when necessary.” He pointed to Evers’s endorsement, which he did not have during his first run.

“I’m going to win the nomination, and defeat Tom Tiffany, by energizing Democrats in Milwaukee and Madison, while also competing in suburban and rural communities across the state,” he said. “I have deep roots and strong support in Milwaukee County, where Democratic turnout is crucial, and I have spent years building relationships across Wisconsin that allow us to be competitive statewide.”

Barnes had praised Crowley when he left the race. His campaign was far less welcoming when Crowley returned.

“David Crowley left this race for a reason,” said Darby O’Connor, Barnes’s campaign manager. “This Hail Mary serves no purpose other than playing spoiler and handing our state to Trump’s handpicked candidate in Tom Tiffany.”

Barnes has tried to use the week to reinforce his argument that he stands outside Wisconsin’s Democratic establishment.

“This last week is one of the main reasons why people are so frustrated with politics,” Barnes said over the weekend at a gubernatorial forum. “This week is why so many people are frustrated and want nothing to do with the Democratic establishment. ... We deserve so much more.”

Wisconsin’s primary is on Aug. 11.

The cyclosporiasis outbreak continues.

A few days after federal health officials announced that the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis has been linked to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in five states, the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that the test that linked the outbreak that has sickened thousands to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico was a false positive.

Our colleague Lena H. Sun, who has been all over this story since it first broke, wrote that “the agency did not back away from its conclusion that the company remains linked to a multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis through its traceback investigation,” but added that there are “currently no confirmed positive product samples for cyclospora.”

There are numerous reasons to keep watching this story.

First, to be blunt but not too graphic, no one wants to deal with the symptoms of cyclosporiasis. We will keep it there.

But second, monitoring this kind of foodborne illness is central to what the federal government does to protect people, and experts are raising real questions about whether cuts to health departments nationwide — including Trump-directed cuts to agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — have made this search for the outbreak more difficult.

“This has been a tough year for them as well as for us,” Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, told the Guardian about cuts to federal agencies. Michigan is currently the known epicenter of the outbreak. “Communication has been somewhat less than we have experienced in previous outbreaks. In previous outbreaks, we have received additional assistance from CDC, and we have not in this particular outbreak,” Bagdasarian added.

Democrats are already noting these cuts in light of the outbreak, hoping to put pressure on Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Families deserve to know that the food they’re buying is safe to consume,” said Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Arizona). “But instead, thousands of people are becoming sick while the administration undoes key public health systems that detect outbreaks and identify contaminated food.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) added: “Trump’s reckless cuts have gutted the CDC’s ability to protect us.”

The Current (Louisiana): Private equity is buying up utilities in Louisiana, causing headaches for ratepayers and threatening further price hikes.

Bangor Daily News: Troy Jackson, former Maine state senator, dominated the delegate process this weekend for the state’s now vacant Democratic Senate nomination. He is now the likely nominee to replace Graham Platner.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

This newsletter has had a little more sports content than usual, and that is, admittedly, because of my bias. I absolutely love the World Cup and was lucky enough to attend — and write a piece — from Sunday’s final. Thank you to Alec for his great piece on the Supreme Court while I enjoyed the match.

We asked for your World Cup reflections yesterday, and reading them has been fun.

“I loved having the World Cup in the US! It was great competition, interesting to learn about others’ beloved soccer stars, and fun to root for well-deserved underdogs!” wrote Mary Hamrick. “Overall, I loved, for my own family, and for our country, the feeling of rallying around something like the World Cup and the fun month of celebration and togetherness that we experienced.”

“Loved loved loved it,” said Harley Hansen. “Watched at least parts of every match.”

And Kristen Smith added, “Loved, loved, loved the World Cup. I was already feeling melancholy about it ending 10 minutes after the closing ceremony. Soccer is a fabulous sport and the WC was a delightfully unifying event that highlighted the strength of diversity and teamwork and the joy of international bonhomie.”

Andrea Lucas took it another direction: “Boring!” she wrote in response to the World Cup.

And then we got this email: “The best thing about this World Cup is that it’s finally, mercifully, over.”

Okay then.

You can expect more political analysis and midterm coverage in the coming weeks. Thank you for enjoying this newsletter’s love of the Mundial.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently said there was an “active conversation” among his staff about whether to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu when he arrives in September for the U.N. General Assembly. Some Democrats quickly condemned the comment, highlighting the divide in the party over Netanyahu and Israel. How should Democrats handle this divide within the party over Israel? Does it threaten to alienate voters? Or does it just highlight how the views on the nation have shifted in recent years? Let us and your fellow Early Brief readers know at [email protected].

Thanks for reading. You can follow Dan on at @merica.