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>> We leave it there.
Bridgette Krause, thanks

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very much.
>> Thank you.

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>> The state Senate
adjourned this week, but

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not before passing
bipartisan bills to release

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more than $125 million for
PFAs cleanup protections

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and help for communities
poisoned by the forever

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chemical. After years of
impasse, the measures now

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head to the governor for
signing in. Related news,

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tonight we share a new on
air program and podcast

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from W, r and PBS Wisconsin
News. Inside Wisconsin

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Politics is a weekly
political roundtable that

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brings together our most
experienced Capitol

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reporters to share the
week's political and

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government news, explaining
what happened, what it

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means and why it matters.
PBS Wisconsin senior

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political reporter Zac
Schultz w p r Capitol

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Bureau Chief Shawn Johnson
and w r political reporters

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Rich Kramer and Anna Van
Wagtendonk joined The

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conversation. Today's
program included the

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breaking news that the
Republican state Senate

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majority leader will not
run for reelection. The

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crew unpacked whether the
governor will sign the

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online sports betting bill
passed out of the chamber,

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the approval of money for
the UW to offset name,

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image and likeness costs of
athletes and data centers,

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and how the politics of the
final regular Senate

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session played into it all.
Here's an excerpt.

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>> The Wisconsin Senate
wraps up its regular

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business for 2026. What
passed, what didn't, and

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what can we learn from the
way this Senate voted? This

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is inside Wisconsin
politics.

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The Senate gave us lots to
talk about, including as

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we're getting ready to
record news that the Senate

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majority leader, Devin
LeMahiue, is not going to

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seek reelection, which in
the world of the state

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Capitol, as you all know,
that is a pretty big deal.

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Zac, what can we take from
that, given the way that

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the Senate has been acting
this week? And how big a

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deal is it in the Capitol?
>> Well, it certainly felt

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like a week of voting where
people weren't worried

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the next term. There were
questions of whether that

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signaled LeMahiue knew that
his majority position was

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at stake. As Republicans
are worried about having

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the Dems flip the Senate.
But I think the bigger

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picture to look here is
we're going to have a new

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majority leader in the
Senate, a new speaker in

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the Assembly and a new
governor. And the last time

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that happened was 2011 with
Scott Walker and the Fitz's

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running the show. Big
changes that time. We might

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see big changes next
session, too.

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>> A wave election. And
there's people, of course,

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every every election is
nationalized right now. And

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there have already been
people talking about

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nationalized democratic
you know, that Capitol

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building and you know how
much sway leaders carry,

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how big of a deal is it to
you that Devin LeMahiue,

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the leader that you've
covered in that Senate

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since you've been here is
stepping down?

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that came forward where
there was a real question

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of whether Devin would let
them get to the floor,

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because he did not have
Republican votes. And so

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there were kind of threats
being floated about what

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that would mean for his
leadership position. And

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those bills passed with
necessary Democratic votes

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in order to pass. And so
then him stepping down, it

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really is this kind of
signal that he whatever

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kind of consequences might
have come in the caucus, he

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doesn't have to worry about
them anymore.

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>> And Rich, you were
covering the session this

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week and that question of
whether or not to get

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Democratic votes is
talking about. And, you

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know, the Senate Senator
LeMahiue even had some kind

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of not so veiled threats
thrown out from a member of

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his own caucus. Don't do
that. Basically, how

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unusual was this session
week in terms of

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bipartisanship? Frankly.
>> Things are changing

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there. It feels like things
are changing in the Senate.

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They used to have a
supermajority not that long

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ago. Then we got new maps
after the Wisconsin Supreme

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Court's Liberal majority
struck down ones that were

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drawn by Republicans back
in 2011. And then we had an

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election under those maps.
So that supermajority went

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down to 18 Republican
senators. And that threat

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goes to this thing called
the the rule of 17. It's an

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informal rule, but the idea
is that if you're in the

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majority, you pass bills
with majority support. You

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don't even really consider
them if you don't have

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those 17 votes. But we saw
examples where Devin

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LeMahiue went ahead and
passed them anyway with

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Democratic support.
>> So let's unpack a couple

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of the bills where this did
end up being a factor this

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week. And one of the bills
that did die was this

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Republican data center bill
would regulate data centers.

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Speaker Vos very helpfully
had a forum on the last day

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of Senate session where he
had some opinions about the

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Senate not taking up his
data center bill. Ana what

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did he have to say?
>> Yeah, I mean, this was

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basically the closest that
the legislature came to

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having any type of
regulatory bill for data

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centers, which of course,
are kind of exploding

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across the state. And the
fact that it is that it did

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not reach the floor of the
Senate means that the

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session has passed without
basically any guardrails,

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any new guardrails coming
on. But this was a

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Republican bill Vos
championed it. It had a few

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Democratic votes in the
Assembly, but most

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Democrats said this is
rushed. We need to be more

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thoughtful about how we are
regulating data centers.

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And then the Senate didn't
even bring it to the floor.

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But Vos talked about, you
know, that really being as

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he thought, an issue for
Senate Republicans, that if

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they don't kind of lead on
this issue, that it might

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cost them votes in November.
>> Yeah. It's rare to hear

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a speaker come out against
a majority leader from his

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own party the week that
he's still in session with

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that kind of criticism. I
think sort of the secret

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was sort of out on Tuesday.
I mean, we didn't know know

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that Devin LeMahiue was not
going to seek reelection,

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but there was talk about it.
There was speculation about

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it. People are looking at
the Senate math and they're

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thinking about it.
>> Well, it changes a lot

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when no one has to worry
about reelection next year.

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And Serve Wisconsin
LeMahiue can all speak in

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ways that we have not heard
or we have not heard them

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00:06:07,868 --> 00:06:09,803
speak publicly. We've heard
them off the record or

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heard from their staffers.
But I think this bill in

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particular still has the
next election cycle written

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all over it, as Vos pointed
out, because it's a major

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issue in the gubernatorial
campaign. I think if

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LeMahiue had a strong point
of view, he would have

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brought up the floor and
let Democrats help pass it

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if he thought that was the
way to go. But there's not

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a clear advantage at this
a clear advantage at this