By: Misha Lee | IIAW Lobbyist

Originally published in the December 2022 Wisconsin Independent Agent Magazine. 

Wisconsinites voted this past November to keep a divided state government as a new two-year legislative session begins early next year. Republicans will maintain control of the Legislature with even larger majorities in both chambers and Democrats will hold the top two constitutional statewide offices with the re-election of Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul.

Incumbent Governor Evers defeated his Republican opponent Tim Michels by a margin of 51 to 48 percent, while Attorney General Josh Kaul defeated his GOP opponent Eric Toney in a tighter race of 51 to 49 percent. Evers outperformed all other candidates on the statewide ballot with the most overall total votes cast and yielding more votes than he did in 2018 when he unseated Governor Scott Walker. Meanwhile, Evers’ opponent Tim Michels underperformed and garnered less overall votes than the Republican statewide candidates running for Attorney General and U.S. Senate. Michels received less total votes than when Walker lost in 2018. Evers' and Kaul’s re-election to another term represents a major win for Wisconsin Democrats in an election year where they faced strong political headwinds nationally. Generally, when one party controls both The White House and Congress, elections historically swing in the other direction. However, Evers and Kaul bucked that trend.

And Evers is the first Wisconsin governor in more than three decades to win re-election in a midterm while a president from the same party held office. Evers' vote totals were due in large part by overwhelming turnout in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County which has accounted for an increasingly large share of Democratic votes statewide, and despite a lower turnout than usual in Milwaukee County. On the flipside, Michels failed to produce enough voter support and turnout in key areas of the state that historically produce large Republican votes. The race for Governor was the most expensive in state history with both candidates and groups spending in excess of $115 million.

Meanwhile, despite a less than stellar performance by Michels for Republicans at the top of the ticket, incumbent U.S. Senator Ron Johnson narrowly won re-election to a third term with his victory over Democrat opponent Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes with just over 26,000 votes between the two of them. Nevertheless, Democrats managed to maintain their slim majority in the U.S. Senate, while Republicans regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Barnes easily won the Democratic primary in August in a field of nine candidates at one point, but suffered in the general election with voter turnout setbacks in his home area of Milwaukee County and he did not get support like Evers did with the high turnout in Dane County.

Now with the midterms behind us, another important election just happens to be around the corner and will be one of the more consequential elections in recent state history. Wisconsinites will be asked to cast their votes in the statewide, non-partisan Supreme Court election in February and April of 2023. The outcome of that election will determine whether the conservative or liberal justices hold the majority on the court (currently 4-3 in favor of conservatives) and which could have serious implications with legal challenges over issues such as abortion, redistricting, executive versus legislative branch powers, and environmental matters just to name a few. Next year’s court race is likely to be one of the most expensive electoral contests in state history, and while it’s technically a “non-partisan” race, the political parties and partisan groups are certainly going to be heavily engaged in this election due to its significance.

There will be 31 new members joining the Legislature in January where Republicans will control the Senate 22-11 and the Assembly 64-35. The GOP fell short of the 66 members needed in the Assembly to gain a supermajority and have the power to override vetoes from the Governor. Divided state government continues here for at least another four years and prevents either party from ramming through their agenda without working with the other party.

All four partisan caucuses recently elected their new leadership for the 2023-24 session:

SENATE REPUBLICANS

Senate President – Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield)

Senate President Pro Tempore – Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point)

Majority Leader – Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg)

Assistant Majority Leader – Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac)

Caucus Chair – Van Wanggaard (R-Racine)

Caucus Vice Chair – Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan)

SENATE DEMOCRATS

Senate Minority Leader – Melissa Agard (D-Madison)

Senate Minority Assistant Leader – Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick)

Senate Minority Caucus Chair – Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee)

Senate Minority Caucus Vice Chair – Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton)

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS

Assembly Speaker – Robin Vos (R-Rochester)

Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore – Kevin Petersen (R-Waupaca)

Majority Leader – Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva)

Assistant Majority Leader – Jon Plumer (R-Lodi)

Caucus Chair – Rob Summerfield (R-Bloomer)

Caucus Vice Chair – Cindi Duchow (R-Town of Delafield)

Caucus Sergeant at Arms – Treig Pronschinske (R-Mondovi)

ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS

Assembly Minority Leader – Greta Neubauer (D-Racine)

Assembly Minority Assistant Leader – Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee)

Assembly Minority Caucus Chair – Lisa Subeck (D-Madison)

Assembly Minority Caucus Vice Chair – Jill Billings (D-La Crosse)

Assembly Minority Secretary – Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay)

Assembly Minority Sergeant at Arms – Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton)

Happy Wednesday! In this week's Big I Buzz, we are listing commonly overlooked holiday hazards and where to get your holiday social media content. 

Policyholders are Decking Their Halls With Hazards

Selective Insurance recently commissioned a survey conducted by The Harris Poll to find the commonly overlooked fire risks in the household during the holiday season. 

According to the survey results.., "85% of U.S. residents decorate for the holidays inside their homes. Nearly all of those holiday decorators (97%) use at least one fire hazard - - artificial Christmas trees, real Christmas trees, string lights, battery-/electric-operated candles, real flame-burning candles, two or more extension cords connected together, and tinsel -- when decorating inside their homes."

Allen Anderson, Senior Vice President of Selective Insurance, believes that U.S. residents need to better understand and practice smart fire safety precautions to help ensure a happy, healthy and safe holiday season. 

Read more about the survey results here. 

So, how do you help your clients better understand and practice smart fire safety precautions? That's where your IIAW membership comes in to help! Save yourself time by utilizing Trusted Choice for your social media content. Trusted Choice has content available year-round that you can share on your social media channels. Consider sending out an email to clients with graphics from Trusted Choice to highlight those holiday hazards. Just a quick search on their Trusted Choice Content to Share, they have graphics for Christmas Tree Safety Tips, Are Your Lights Safe?, 3 Tips for Holiday Light Safety, fire safety and so much more. View the entire Content to Share gallery here. 

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list. Additionally, we send out monthly newsletters with content curated just for you and your role. Make sure you're on the list to receive our communications by heading to bit.ly/industrynewsforyou to stay in the loop!

Happy December! It's hard to believe it's already the last month of the year, but here we are. In this week's Big I Buzz, we are sharing information about this year's Emerging Leaders Holiday Party, an upcoming webinar happening TODAY and this month's benefit of the month. 

IIAW Emerging Leaders Holiday Party

Join the IIAW Emerging Leaders at the IIAW office for their holiday party! Every year, the IIAW Emerging Leaders host a holiday party and fundraiser for a local cause. This year, the Emerging Leaders are fundraising for three humane societies across Wisconsin. For those making physical item donations, you can bring them to this holiday party! 

The party will start with a presentation on the State of the Industry and Government/Regulatory Update, providing a look back at industry data by diving into the Market Share Report, Agency Universe Study, market conditions and more affecting the insurance industry. The second half of the presentation will include a state and national regulatory and legislative update. We'll look at potential new regulations and legislative proposals impacting agents. Finally, we'll discuss how you can get involved in being a voice for your industry. 

The second half of the party will be a gift exchange ($25 limit for those participating) where you can steal an already opened gift or select a new gift from the pile of unopened items and networking. We hope to see you there! RSVP for the party today here. 

Video Marketing Best Practices  Webinar

Happening today at 1 p.m. CST, join Agency Revolution's webinar: Video Marketing Best Practices. The webinar will cover what's needed to create engaging insurance agency videos including: the right tools and equipment to get started, choosing the best topics for your audience, how and where to share your videos for maximum impact and tips for creating engaging content that resonates with your audience. RSVP here.

Member Benefit Spotlight: IMS

UFG is now a participating carrier for IMS Wisconsin! UFG's new, online, small business quoting experience is available. Pro-Quote, UFG's enhanced online quoting experience is designed by agents for agents. Easy is also the name of the game when it comes to BOP-Pro, their new solutions to simplify businessowners policies with tailored products and coverages for policyholders. Looking for a clearer appetite? Less clicks? Their new experience delivers fewer keystrokes, intuitive design and an easy-to-understand appetite. Combine those factors with a more-than-competitive compensation package that includes profit-sharing incentives. Access IMS here. Did we mention that access to IMS is free for all IIAW members? Check it out today. 

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list. Additionally, we send out monthly newsletters with content curated just for you and your role. Make sure you're on the list to receive our communications by heading to bit.ly/industrynewsforyou to stay in the loop!

Happy early Thanksgiving! Today we are sharing marketing materials you can use for Small Business Saturday, plus a look at the Black Friday shopping trends. 

Small Business Saturday for Independent Insurance Agencies

Get ready to highlight your agency this Small Business Saturday. Trusted Choice has launched their "Choose Local" campaign which has customizable print, video and social ads to remind your customers that you are a small business too! Check out the marketing materials available for you here.

Americans to Spend This Holiday Season, Despite Higher Costs

The National Retail Federation is predicting that about 166 million people will shop in the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. While retailers have been pushing out deals ahead of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving is still expected to be the busiest shopping day of the year. As your clients take advantage of the deals and make big purchases for their homes, it's a great time to remind them to update their insurance. 

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list. Additionally, we send out monthly newsletters with content curated just for you and your role. Make sure you're on the list to receive our communications by heading to bit.ly/industrynewsforyou to stay in the loop!

Happy Wednesday! We are sure that many of you were following yesterday's election results - keep an eye out for our December magazine, where Misha Lee, IIAW Government Affairs, will discuss the results and how it relates to the industry. In the meantime, scroll down to the Government Affairs section of this week's Big I Buzz e-newsletter to read about the election results so far (as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9th). Don't receive the email, but you'd like to sign up? Sign up instructions for our weekly e-newsletter are listed at the bottom of this blog post. 

In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing the cat breeds with the highest pet insurance claims and a reminder to activate your free Catalyit Full Access subscription. 

Forbes Advisor: Cat Breeds With the Highest Pet Insurance Claims

A new survey from MetLife found that 80% of cat owners said prices of pet ownership (veterinary care, food and accessories) have risen over the last year. 31% of those felt those prices had risen significantly. Forbes Advisor found the ten cat breeds that tend to have the highest pet insurance claims and the average cost of those claims. 

10. Domestic medium-haired cat - $356

9. Russian Blue - $369

8. Main Coon - $374

7. American Shorthair - $376

6. Mixed breed short-haired cat - $380

5. Ragdoll - $381

4. Mixed breed long-haired cat - $397

3. Mixed breed medium-haired cat - $403

2. Bengal - $404

1. Siberian Forest Cat - $457

Catalyit Full Access Subscription FREE for IIAW Members

You now have free full access to Catalyit as an IIAW member (a $1500 value). Your free subscription gives you, and every employee of your agency, full access to IIAW's hub for technology advice, tools, training, insights and more. Here's what you gain from Catalyit: 

• Guides & Reviews: Selection guides for each area of your tech with side-by-side comparison charts of solution provider features and reviews

• Tools: An in-depth tech assessment with a custom roadmap report for your agency awaits. Get a free consult with an expert, and guidance on the best approach for your tech stack. 

• Training: From live coaching and Q&A sessions to our on-demand video vault, you'll be able to get the most out of your tools. 

• Insights: You don't have to hunt for the latest tips and tech news. We send the tips and terms you need to know to your inbox each Monday. 

• Consulting: One-on-one expert support to help you implement solutions. 

Activate your subscription at iiaw.com/Catalyit. 

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list. Additionally, we send out monthly newsletters with content curated just for you and your role. Make sure you're on the list to receive our communications by heading to bit.ly/industrynewsforyou to stay in the loop!