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>> One of the elections
that often goes overlooked

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in Wisconsin is the race
for attorney general. The

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AG runs the state's
Department of Justice,

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oversees the state crime
lab, and has the authority

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to represent the state in
lawsuits in both state and

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federal court. The
incumbent attorney general

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is Josh Kaul, a Democrat.
He's opposed by fond du Lac

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District Attorney Eric
Toney, a Republican. This

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is a rematch of the
election from 2022, when

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Kohl narrowly defeated
Toney. I sat down with each

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of the candidates to talk
about this race. We start

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tonight with the incumbent.
I met with Josh Kaul in

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Madison, attorney General
Carl, thanks for your time

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today.
>> Thanks for having me.

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>> So I think let's start
with kind of the the

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precursor to this race is
your decision to stay in

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this race. There was a lot
of speculation you might

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run for governor. How do
you feel about your

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decision to stay in the
race for Attorney general

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now?
decision. It's something I

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thought about seriously,
but there were a few

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factors that that weighed
on my mind. One is I'm

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really committed to having
an impact through the work

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that I do. And of course, a
governor can have a ton of

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impact, but we're also
having a huge impact

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through the work that we do
at Wisconsin DOJ. And I, I

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don't think that that the
work that I've been doing

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is, is done yet. You know,
family considerations

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ultimately, I'm really
excited about seeking an

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additional term and about
the work we could do in an

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additional term.
>> So this is unique in

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that it is a rematch of the
last election. We don't see

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that too often. How do you
think that will influence

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things?
interesting about a rematch

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is you can look back at
what the candidates said in

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the prior race and see how
those things held up, and I

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think that that's really
instructive here. In the

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last campaign, it was
shortly after Roe v Wade

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had been overturned. I had
filed a lawsuit seeking to

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block enforcement of a law
that dates back to the mid

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1800s. Eric Toney my
opponent had attacked me

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for that case. He called it
a partisan partisan stunt.

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He said it was should be
dismissed. And so we now

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can look and see how our
claims held up. And what we

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know now is that the
Supreme Court sided with

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the argument we made in
that case, and ultimately

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we won that case. And
access to abortion is safe

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and legal in Wisconsin.
>> So will voters separate

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the attorney general's race,
do you think, from the rest

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of the ballot? Because
we've seen historically,

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there's usually a few fewer
voters for the ag race than

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for governor, and you've
trailed right belong. You

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know, we get to go back to
2006, the last time they

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were AG and governor from
separate parties. So how

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does that all work together?
>> You know, the results

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tend to be fairly close.
But in Wisconsin, we have a

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lot of close elections. And
so sometimes those small

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differences can can make a
big difference in the

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outcome. But I'm running
based on, on my record and

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my time as AG. And, you
know, the focus can be

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different. My top priority
as attorney general has

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been public safety, and
we've made significant

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progress on really
important public safety

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issues. One of them is
fighting the opioid

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epidemic. My administration
has helped to secure over

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$800 million from companies
that we've alleged

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contributed to the opioid
epidemic, and from others.

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Many of those dollars will
be going to communities

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across the state. Some
already have. And we are

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seeing a real impact.
Opioid overdose deaths in

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Wisconsin from 23 to 24
dropped by over 40%. That's

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more than 600 person
difference. We need to keep

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making progress. Our work
isn't done, but I want to

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build on the progress we're
making.

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profile things your office
has done is filed lawsuits

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against the Trump
other attorneys general

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from around the country.
Can you give me maybe your

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short list of some of the
most important cases that

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maybe the public isn't
aware of, the significance

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of some of those?
>> Well, I think you can

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look at them by category.
So a lot of these cases

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involve the Trump
administration either

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putting illegal conditions
on or cutting or freezing

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funding that would
otherwise be coming to

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Wisconsin. There's a huge
amount of money that has

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been impacted by this, and
it's vital programs, things

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like funding for education
or for mental health

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programs in our schools,
funding for disaster relief

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and mitigation funding for
the AmeriCorps program,

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which the Trump
administration tried to cut

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transportation funding and
public health funding. We

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have consistently fought
back, and we have one case

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after case, and what that
has meant is that those

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funds either are not
illegally conditioned or

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they're not frozen or
ultimately cut, and instead,

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they can come to our
communities and support

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critical programs in
Wisconsin.

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There are some of those
cases where if only if

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you're a plaintiff, do you
actually get the benefit.

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And in some cases, some of
the other states have

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gotten the benefits just
because you've won overall,

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what would the impact have
been if Eric Toney had been

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the attorney general and
had discretion on whether

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to file these cases?
>> Yeah. Well, of the 60

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plus cases that we've been
involved in, I don't think

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any single Republican AG
has joined us in

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challenging the Trump
administration in any of

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those cases. And I'm not
aware of a single case

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where Eric Toney has said
he would have challenged

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the Trump administration.
What that would mean in

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some cases is Wisconsin
wouldn't get the relief

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that happens in court,
because in a number of

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these cases, it's only the
states that have brought

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the challenge that get the
relief. And so it could be

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that we no longer have
protection for critical

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programs. If an AG is not
part of one of those

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challenges.
understands the stakes

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there?
huge. And so I think the

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more we talk about it, the
better. One thing that is

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unfortunate, I think, in
the Trump administration is

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we often see the
president's actions get

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understandable. But what I
think there's been less

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coverage of is the fact
that in case after case

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actions have been blocked
and he's been stopped from

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moving forward, in part
because of these suits that

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we're talking about.
>> For a lot of people that

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don't follow your office
very closely, one of the

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ways that they hear about
the Department of Justice

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and the AG every four years
is crime labs, statistics.

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Obviously, that's one of
the major things you

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campaigned on when you
first got elected. It was

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one of the issues in the
last election. Your

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crime lab and unfilled
positions and slow

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turnaround. So defend your
record in where the crime

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lab is.
>> Yeah. Well, first, I

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think it's important to
separate two things out.

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One is one of the issues I
talked about back in 2018

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was untested sexual assault
kits. And we worked to get

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legislation passed, which
ultimately passed through

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the Republican led
legislature. That's going

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to help ensure that
Wisconsin never has another

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backlog of untested sexual
assault kits. Now, in terms

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of the labs themselves, on
a day to day basis, one of

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the things I've been clear
about is where we need

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resources from the state
legislature. And in the

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last state budget, my
office requested 19

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additional positions for
the labs. Eric Toney allies

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in the state legislature
provided zero positions.

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And look, that's not an
accident. This is politics

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being played here. But the
overall picture, I think,

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is important not to lose
sight of Wisconsin last

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year in 2025, had the
lowest number of violent

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crimes that we have had any
year since 2011. Fond du

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Lac County, where Eric
Toney is Xia last year had

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the second highest number
of violent crimes that the

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county has had in decades.
And so if you compare our

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track records overall,
there's a clear difference.

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It's we need to keep doing
what we're doing to keep

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our communities safe.
>> How do you think that

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the DOJ gets credit for for
lower crime statistics

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statewide?
>> Well, there are lots of

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folks who play a role in
what we do statewide. And

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the Department of Justice
is involved in

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investigating crimes of
statewide importance. We

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oversee the crime labs. We
work on every felony

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criminal appeal in the
state. We also work in

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partnerships with lots of
other law enforcement

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agencies. What I think is
important is that we

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recognize that lots of
folks contribute to overall

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safety in the state, and
that certainly includes

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local law enforcement and
others. What's notable, I

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think, though, is fond du
Lac County has gone the

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opposite direction from the
rest of the state under the

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leadership of of Eric Toni
that, I think, is not the

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kind of failure I want to
see taken statewide.

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>> You brought up abortion
earlier, but I want to

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bring that back as a topic.
How relevant is that still

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to voters? Because it's not
a constitutional right in

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either the nation or in
Wisconsin, despite lawsuits

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that have attempted to make
it so. So how important is

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it who the next attorney
general is?

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>> It remains to be seen.
One thing we saw, I think,

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over the last four years is
it certainly can have an

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impact because my
administration was fighting

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to protect access to safe
and legal abortion. And

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Eric Toni called the case
that we brought a farce,

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among other things. Now,
fortunately, we've got a

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ruling in place that
currently protects access

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to safe and legal abortion
in Wisconsin. But as you

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said, there's no state
constitutional protection

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in place right now. There's
no federal constitutional

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protection specifically for
abortion access. And what

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that means is that if there
were a Tom Tiffany and a

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Republican legislature, you
could have further

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restrictions put in place,
attorney general, Eric Toni,

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if he were in office,
aggressively working with

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them to restrict access to
abortion. The other thing

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that's going on right now
is the federal government

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is potentially going to
restrict access. The new

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attorney general had a
meeting with with an

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anti-abortion group, where
he signaled that he wanted

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to restrict access. And I
think making sure that the

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states are prepared to
fight back where there's a

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legal basis for doing so is
going to be important to

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protecting people's rights
>> Josh Kohl, thanks for

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your time.
>> Thanks for having me.

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>> Earlier this week, I met
with Eric Toni in Fond du

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Lac Eric Toney. Thanks for
Lac Eric Toney. Thanks for