It’s what’s not in the state budget that is generating both anger and 2026 candidates

From homeless veterans to childcare to school funding, there are a lot of missing numbers that have some people talking and others taking action.

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In the two weeks since the new state budget was passed with a bipartisan vote of the Wisconsin Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers, much has been said about how the final compromise was either far from adequate or the best deal possible, given the race to get it done ahead of cuts coming from Congress.

The rhetoric is now giving way to the real-world impacts of the state’s 2025-27 spending blueprint. The lack of funds in multiple sections of the budget are driving decisions that affect families, schools, veterans, and the first wave of candidates for 2026 elections. 

Childcare provider shutting her center, may run for office

Corrine Hendrickson choked back tears while recounting how one of the girls in her daycare center reacted after hearing she would have to go to a new childcare provider.

“One of my kids, she looked at me and she was like, ‘Corrine, why don’t you get to be a teacher anymore?’ And that just about broke my heart because that’s what I do.”

In April, Hendrickson was among the providers sharing the findings of a state-commissioned survey that showed one in four caregivers would consider getting out of the business if the next state budget discontinued the funding that supports the Child Care Counts program.

On August 29, Hendrickson will go out of business herself.

With the end of a state program funded with federal pandemic relief funds, Hendrickson said she faced raising her rates $60 a week to $350 for children under age 2 and $320 for ages 2 and up.

“And in New Glarus, it’s not tenable,” Hendrickson said. Even if it were, she said it was unfair to parents to leave them feeling insecure about whether her business would have to close, forcing them to either find new arrangements or leave their jobs.

“I just lost an employee because their [own child’s care] rates went up,” Hendrickson said. “What it’s going to take is that until [politicians] see it and feel it, they don’t understand. And they don’t have the empathy and they don’t have the imagination. And that’s not okay.”

Hendrickson said one option may be to run for a seat in the Legislature to call attention to the needs of parents, childcare providers, and employers who are losing workers unable to find safe, affordable options for their children. She is considering a challenge to Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee that struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ request to use $480 million of the state’s $4 billion surplus to support childcare providers and parents. The new budget contains significantly less funding and for only one year.

It is unusually early to see people announcing campaigns or at least exploring the possibility, but the 2026 election season is getting jump-started by people unhappy with the final results of a “compromise” budget.

“I’m excited that real people are interested in running,” Hendrickson said. “Because we do need real people who have meaningful conversations and relationships with real people, instead of staying in their bubble and listening to what the experts are saying. None of us were at the table to say these policies are terrible.”

If Hendrickson decides to run, she would be the second Democratic candidate in the 17th Senate District and maybe not the last. At one point, as many as seven people expressed interest in trying to challenge Marklein. Rep. Jenna Jacobson and Lisa White of Platteville have already declared their campaigns.

Assembly Reps seeking Senate seats

Jacobson is not the only Assembly representative seeking to trade in their two-year seat for a four-year term in the State Senate. Rep. Robyn Vining on Thursday announced her candidacy to unseat Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) in the 5th District. 

Vining has won repeatedly in the communities that straddle Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, showing a crumbling of what was once a big red wall that prevented Democratic victories in the suburbs.

The new state budget fell far short of what Vining wanted, so she voted no due to a lack of support for K-12 education, childcare, and healthcare programs.

“It was not hard to know where my constituents stood after listening to them for six months,” Vining said.

In contrast, Hutton was one of the Republican holdouts who refused to support the budget bill put forth by fellow Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee. By refusing to vote for a budget he felt needed less spending on the UW System and elsewhere, GOP leaders had to negotiate with Democrats to make their deadline—a document Evers signed at 1:30am to stay ahead of President Trump’s budget reconciliation bill.

Homeless veterans left out of budget, centers may close

Arguably, the biggest head-scratcher in the budget was the lack of funding for state facilities that assist homeless veterans. Gov. Tony Evers requested nearly $2 million for a program that assists with housing and recovery from substance abuse. Rather than reduce what Evers was seeking, Republicans zeroed out the line entirely.

Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) said even if it was an oversight, Republicans had the opportunity to avoid giving veterans a goose egg.

“I introduced an amendment on the floor to bring that amount back,” Smith said. “But I think they were still in this giddy ‘well, we’re doing this to the governor and we’re taking everything out.’ They really weren’t listening, I guess. They totally just missed that one.”

All Republicans but one voted down the amendment. Later, Marklein and Joint Finance Committee co-chair Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) claimed the homeless programs could be funded by a general increase in budget items related to veterans. But Evers ripped GOP lawmakers for failing to provide specific support to homeless veterans—and said facilities in Chippewa Falls and Green Bay could close at the end of September.

“The bottom line is that there will now be fewer options for homeless veterans as a result of the Legislature’s irresponsible decision to reject the investments that I proposed,” Evers said. 

[Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to fix a quote that was transcribed incorrectly. Instead of “One of my kids looked at me and she was crying, ‘Why don’t you get to be a teacher anymore?'” the correct quote is “One of my kids, she looked at me and she was like, ‘Corrine, why don’t you get to be a teacher anymore?’]