Benny Witkovsky – The Conversation

Will local Republican Parties again serve as megaphones for election disinformation, as they did in 2020? AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

October 11, 2024

Swing‑state GOP leaders amplified election denial in 2020 − and may do so again

Sadie Dempsey, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Benny Witkovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Jianing Li, Rutgers University; Michael W. Wagner, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yiming Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison

In 2020,the #StopTheSteal movement built over months of false claims of fraud, culminating in the violence of Jan. 6, 2021. Is the same foundation being laid by local GOP activists today?

An activist is arrested after his van was stopped by Kenosha police Aug. 27, days after police shot a Kenosha man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed. Scott Olson/Getty Images

December 4, 2020

Wisconsin’s not so white anymore – and in some rapidly diversifying cities like Kenosha there’s fear and unrest

John M. Eason, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Benny Witkovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Chloe Haimson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jungmyung Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison

New research on Wisconsin’s changing demographics suggests that racial integration and political polarization were a combustible combination in Kenosha, where violence erupted in August.

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