I spend a lot of time asking people to picture what we’re building, not just what we’re fighting off. This week I got to sit across from someone who’s spent the last several years doing exactly that at scale — and then, two days later, I watched my own neighbors do it, too, across Northeast Wisconsin.
Both things are the plan. Here’s the week.
This Week’s Show: Ben Wikler
Former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler joined me this week on The Dr. Kristin Lyerly Show, and as always, it was a fun, engaging conversation. His new book is appropriately heavy on hope and vision for the future, which is exactly what I needed to hear right now — and probably what you do too.
We broke down how Wisconsin became the testing ground for Project 2025, and how grassroots organizing turned it into the state that beat it back. And, in one of my favorite moments, Ben explained what really happened when Elon Musk poured millions into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race and showed up in Green Bay, why it backfired, and what it revealed about where voters actually stand.
We also unpacked his new book, This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy, including his strategy of investing in small municipal elections to build a much bigger political movement, his take on the race for Wisconsin governor, and what’s ahead for him now that he’s no longer leading the state party.
Quick preview of next week: Dr. Jennifer Grandis — esteemed surgeon and NIH-funded cancer researcher — joins me to talk about her new book, Harsh Medicine: Why Women Can’t Get Ahead in Science and Healthcare, and where we go from here.
The Situation Womb
Dr. Erin Stevens and I break down Sen. Josh Hawley’s push to get the DOJ to investigate Plan C, the abortion-information nonprofit he’s calling a “left-wing dark money” operation — and why an attack on it should worry anyone who uses the internet for health information.
We also dig into a Texas appeals court’s reversal of charges against midwife Maria Rojas, whose case — built largely on hearsay — upended abortion access for an already underserved community, and a Virginia federal court ruling that found the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone “arbitrary and capricious.”
Then Kimya Forouzan, principal state policy advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, joins to unpack new data on how post-Dobbs abortion bans are reshaping care — the surge in telehealth medication abortion, the ripple effects of state bans on neighboring states, and the confusion and fear that keep people from even searching for information online.
On Call by Paging America
Another day, another healthcare “plan” with a big headline and nothing underneath it. Dr. Chris Ford and I unpack the newly announced “Great Healthcare Plan” that Trump announced Monday afternoon in Michigan — comparing it to past promises and asking the question that actually matters: will it help patients?
We cover what’s missing from the proposal, what’s at risk, and why handing people money for “choice” isn’t the same as making healthcare affordable or effective.
Healthcare policy should be judged by outcomes like healthier patients and stronger hospitals, not campaign slogans.
If healthcare politics is your jam, you’re gonna want to check out the rest of the Paging America network, too.
Wisconsin Politics Group Chat
It’s been another busy week in Wisconsin politics: the one and only debate happened Tuesday at Marquette University, two new polls showed Francesca Hong opening up a sizable lead over the rest of the field, and the news cycle has been unfolding at breakneck pace as we get closer to the Aug. 11 partisan primary.
Pat Kreitlow of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area, and I broke it all down this week — the debate, the state of the field, why the other candidates didn’t go after the frontrunner, what’s next for the rest of the field, the healthcare questions that never got asked, and what the polls are telling us about undecided voters heading into the stretch.
Since we taped, Mandela Barnes has suspended his campaign, following Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting on anonymous allegations — reviewed by the state party — about his conduct with women in Wisconsin Democratic politics. Barnes has denied any wrongdoing. It’s a serious story and we’ll give it the fuller conversation it deserves next week, but for now: the field has shifted again, and Francesca Hong’s path to the nomination just got a little clearer.
I’ve been likening the governor’s field to characters from The Breakfast Club, and Kate cut a short of it that had me laughing — too good not to share.
Like, comment, subscribe, and ring the bell so you don’t miss next week’s episode — we’ll be covering the Barnes fallout, the reshuffled field, what the Michigan primary results mean for Wisconsin, and whatever else happens between now and then. And with this race, it’s always something.
An Investment Worth Making
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), along with the Society for Women’s Health Research and the Women First Research Coalition, just launched the National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap — a framework calling on Congress to invest $20 billion over 10 years in women’s health research, care, and outcomes. Congress took a real step forward in 1993 by requiring women’s inclusion in NIH-funded clinical research, but the gaps in research, clinical care, and implementation are still significant, even though women make up more than half the population.
The strategy calls for investment across five priorities: research and innovation, regulatory modernization, data and evidence infrastructure, workforce investment, and better access to evidence-based care. This is the kind of policy work that doesn’t make headlines but changes outcomes — the plan behind the plan.
I’m proud to serve as an elected leader within ACOG, helping chart this path forward for women’s healthcare in this country. This is exactly the kind of work I signed up for.
What Northeast Wisconsin Looks Like Right Now
A tornado tore through Menasha, Appleton, and other parts of Northeast Wisconsin early this week. Miraculously, no one was killed or seriously injured — but the devastation is profound.
And unsurprisingly, neighbors have been pitching in to help each other out, using whatever talents and resources and support they have to do what they can. I dropped off a couple loads of diapers, paper towels, and food this week, and I couldn’t believe the generosity and kindness on display everywhere I looked.
Even my favorite local, woman-owned bike shop found a way to help — collecting and distributing bikes to adults and kids affected by the storm.
Lora said it in the warmest, most neighborly way possible: “If you are affected by the storms, The Recyclist has a free shower, free wifi, and a nice comfy couch to relax on if you are in need of a space for a bit. You’ll have to endure our banter and overhear bike stuff.”
That’s the plan too. Show up for the people next to you, with whatever you’ve got.
Looking Ahead
I’m moderating the 8th Congressional District candidate forum on Monday, digging into every Wisconsin governor candidate’s healthcare record and plan, and carving out some real time with great friends in the middle of a Wisconsin summer.
There’s a lot coming — here’s where you can follow along all week long:
So Ben… What’s your SECOND favorite movie? We need you to pull another fun idea out of your hat 🎩to energize voters to guarantee a Democratic governor in Wisconsin !