Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 83. Sunrise is 6:37 and sunset is 7:00, for 12 hours, 23 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 18.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Parks and Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1787, the United States Constitution is signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, bringing the Constitutional Convention to an end.
While it seems improbable to me that State Rep. Francesca Hong will be the Democratic nominee in the 2026 gubernatorial race, she’s not wrong to see that the primary race will have a role for a wild card:
A Democratic state lawmaker who is promising to be a “wild card” joined Wisconsin’s open race for governor on Wednesday, saying she will focus on a progressive agenda to benefit the working class.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, who lives in the liberal capital city of Madison, is embracing her outsider status. In addition to serving in the state Assembly, Hong works as a bartender, dishwasher and line cook. As a single mother struggling with finding affordable housing, she said she is uniquely relatable as a candidate.
“I like considering myself the wild card,” Hong said. “Our campaign is going to look at strategies and movement building, making sure we are being creative when it comes to our digital strategies.”
Part of her goal will be to expand the electorate to include voters who haven’t been engaged in past elections, she said.
See Scott Bauer, Democrat Francesca Hong promises to be ‘wild card’ in Wisconsin governor’s race, Associated Press, September 17, 2025.
The WIGOP candidates in the gubernatorial primary have a clear formula for winning the nomination:
(SOME MONEY) + (PLENTIFUL EXTREMISM) + (MR. TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT) = WISGOP GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION
The WisDems, like national Democrats in many places, are unsure how to proceed under a second Trump Administration. There’s no consensus whatever. Democrats within the state have different approaches, and Democrats outside the state are even further apart from each other on both strategy and tactics. Democrats need something more than their current disordered posture.
Francesca Hong may not be the wild card that the WisDems need, but they could use a wild card or two to redirect their diffuse, unfocused efforts.
Tesla’s self-driving mode may struggle near railroads: