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Falls. I'm Steven Potter for
"Here& Now".

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>> With Democratic Governor
Tony Evers announcement that

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he will not run for a third
term, the November 2026

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election for governor is
wide open, and already

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candidates are lining up on
the Republican side.

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Whitefish Bay businessman
Bill Berrian and Washington

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County Executive Josh
Shewman have entered the

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race. Democratic Lieutenant
Governor Sarah Rodriguez is

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also formally declared. Now,
there are a whole lot more

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names potentially throwing
their hat in the ring. For

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more on this, we turn to our
political panelists,

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Republican Bill McCoshen and
Democrat Scot Ross. Nice to

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see you both again.
>> Great to be with you. So

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good to be here.
>> Bill, what kind of

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opportunity is this for
Republicans?

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the second time in my 60
years on this earth where

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we've had an open
gubernatorial seat. 2010 was

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the last time Scott Walker
beat Milwaukee Mayor Tom

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Barrett. So the fact that
it's an open seat is an

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opportunity for Republicans
to actually win here, both

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of the national
prognosticators, whether

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it's the Cook Political
Report or Larry Sabato's

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Crystal ball, moved this
race from lean Democrat as

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soon as Tony Evers made his
announcement to toss up. So

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it's an opportunity for the
Republicans to potentially

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take back the governorship
in 2026 here in the state of

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Wisconsin.
toss up kind of status, how

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would policymaking change
if, in fact, a Republican

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were to win?
>> Well, I mean, obviously,

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if the Republican Party,
which is wholly controlled

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by Donald Trump, were to win
the gubernatorial election

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and Democrats not pick up
either of the chambers, it

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would be the most radical,
extreme. Partisan handout to

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special interests and
corporate and the wealthy

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that we've ever seen in the
history of Wisconsin. But I

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think that you have to look
beyond, you know, the sort

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of toss up numbers when it
comes to the Cooke. Yeah. On

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on you know, if you look at
it on face Wisconsin, you

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know, goes back and forth.
But if you look at the real

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numbers and where the
Republican Party is right

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now, you know, if you're not
Donald Trump, the party has

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Wisconsin voters have
elections. Election after

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election after election. And
we I think we've only had

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two of any consequence that
have gone Republican in the

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last like 15 years. Ron
Johnson, of course, who got

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in there because, you know,
the D triple DS abandoned

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Mandela Barnes and he was
racist third party ads. And,

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and, and the Supreme Court
race where they just, you

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know, they were Democrats
quite didn't quite, hadn't

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quite figured out how to
lock up those races yet. Now

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it's a completely different
universe. And the Republican

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Party, with Donald Trump in
full control of the

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government, isn't getting
more open for isn't getting

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more accommodating for swing
voters?

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>> Bill, as to the
Washington influence,

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seventh Congressional
District Republican Tom

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Tiffany has been talking
about running for a long

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time. What's he waiting for?
>> He says he's going to

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make a decision sometime
around Labor Day. I hope he

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does it sooner than that.
There are several

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congresspeople in in the
House now that are running

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for governor and different
states. Byron Donalds being

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at the top of the list in
Florida. I think the

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president's a little
concerned about that,

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House, the GOP majority in
the House, is so slim to

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begin with. So I don't know
if Tom Tiffany is going to

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get in if he's got a lot of
strong suits, for sure, but

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is fundraising. He's got
$125,000 cash on hand, which

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today and Scott would agree.
That's a good assembly race.

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That's not a gubernatorial
race. So fundraising is his

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biggest shortcoming. We'll
see if he gets in. At the

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end of the day, where Scott
and I actually do agree,

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Donald Trump's going to pick
the winner of this primary,

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whoever he endorses in this
primary will win the race

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for sure. On our side.
>> Who else are Republicans

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looking at, Bill? I mean,
there's there is a long list

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of people out there.
>> Well, other names that

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are being bandied about are
State Senator Mary

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Felzkowski, who comes from
roughly the same geography

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as Tom Tiffany. She
represents the 12th Senate

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district up north. If she
won't get in, if Tiffany

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does get in. But if Tiffany
doesn't get in, I would

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expect to see her join the
race. You might remember she

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voted against the state
budget. She's the first

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Senate president to ever
vote against a state budget.

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Eric Hovde name still gets
talked about, and I think

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there's a player to be named
later again, because it's an

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open seat. It's a real
opportunity. So I think

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there's probably somebody on
our side that people aren't

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talking about yet who could
get in this race. Remember,

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we got 375 days between now
and the August 11th, 2026

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primary.
>> I'm sorry. I just want to

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say, like, I think the
reason, you know, part of

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the part of the challenge is
the Republicans have, in

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contrast to the Democrats,
is that they're two

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Republicans have no
experience. I mean, you

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know, you know, God bless
Washington County, but it's

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not even one of the top ten
largest counties in

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Wisconsin. Whereas on the
very long list of people

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with credentials who have
delivered for the people of

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Wisconsin, starting with the
gotten $750 million back

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from opioid settlements,
something that the previous

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Republican administration
and previous Republican

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attorney general refused to
allow us to get. You've got

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the county executive in the
state's largest county.

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David Crowley, you've got
state Senator Kelda Roys,

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who's, you know, who's on
the Joint Finance Committee

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and who's run a couple times
before. You know, there's a

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long list of people with
real credentials about doing

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the things that
mention was Ben Wikler,

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former party chairman.
than Ben Wikler. He is the

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best fundraiser on their
side or our side. So if he

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decides to get in, he'll be
formidable.

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Scott?
>> Oh, absolutely. Yes. I

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mean, Ben's a great guy
who's traveled around the

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state doing the rubber
chicken circuit, you know,

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for years. I mean, it's a
reason why a lot of us

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thought in 2022 that Rebecca
Kleefisch was going to be

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the nominee for the
Republicans, but the

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they don't want to have a
woman at the top of the

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ticket. So they went with an
out of state businessman who

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lost.
status of the governor's

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race. How much confidence,
though, does the most recent

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ten point victory of
Justice, Susan Crawford,

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give Dems?
>> Well, there are two

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different races, but it also
shows that Democrats are

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able to have been able to
mobilize their voters in a

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way that Republicans simply
have not been able to do for

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a very, very long time.
Again, they've lost. They've

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won a couple statewide
elections. But the margins,

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percentage wise and number
wise, are so much more

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narrow than the blowouts
that the Democrats have been

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able to do, because, again,
they're talking about the

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They want to make sure that
people are protected. They

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want to make sure that
abortion rights are

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some cases, you know, they
want to make sure that when

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you go into court that you
have your day in court and

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it's not balanced towards
different to what the agenda

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of the of the Republicans
are most embodied by the

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fact that, you know, we've
got this big bad bill which

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is now going to bankrupt,
you know, the country, you

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know, kicked 270,000
Wisconsinites off of their

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health care, you know,
snatch snap benefits, you

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know, literally take the,
the, the food out of out of

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babies and children. That's
the agenda of the

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Republicans. And Democrats
and contrast with what we're

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trying to do.
>> I wanted to just jump to

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the next Supreme Court
election. And have you

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described the stakes of
that?

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>> Well, we have Rebecca
Bradley, who hasn't decided

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whether she's going to seek
reelection or not on her

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most recent finance report.
She hadn't raised any money.

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My advice to her is, if
you're not going to run, get

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out and give people time to
raise money. I think one of

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the dynamics that there's a
relationship between the two

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races, I don't think the
Supreme Court race is going

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to be as hotly contested as
the last two were. I don't

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think it will be a $100
million race because it

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isn't for the majority. I
race, now that it's an open

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seat, will be the political
Super. Bowl in Wisconsin in

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2026.
appeals court Judge Chris

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Taylor is running for
Supreme Court. How

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formidable is she?
>> I think she's an

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incredibly formidable
candidate and has built her

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career on protecting the
rights of people in

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Wisconsin. You know, whether
it is for living with

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dignity or abortion rights
or whatever, you know, just

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that's the that's the that
is the profile profile that

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she has, the record that she
has. And especially as a

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judge. And you know, that
contrast, again, with

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Rebecca Bradley, who was one
of the most divisive, one of

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the most noxious elected
officials that we've had in

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the history of the state of
Wisconsin. And I think, you

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know, for her, what's you
know, the problem is, if

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she's waiting for a federal
incentive to taking out the

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incumbent from a judicial
race when, by and large,

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over decades? And Bill agree
with this, the incumbent

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wins almost used to be
unheard of, that almost 100%

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judicial candidate wouldn't
win. Yeah.

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>> All right. We need to
leave it there. But really

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nice to see you both again.
We'll have you on more now

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that we're heating up into
this next election cycle.