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

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Lac Eric Toney. Thanks for
joining us.

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>> It's great to be with
you to talk about the

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Attorney General's race and
the importance of it for

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Wisconsin.
why you decided to run

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again. It's not often we
see repeat candidates for

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these statewide elections.
>> You know, you know,

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within a week of that race,
back in 2022, I had so many

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people already encouraging
sure it was something that

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I would want to do, because
there's a lot of time and

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energy that goes into these
statewide races. But for me,

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I really had a clarifying
moment in 2023. I was I

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ended up in probably August.
What I later learned to

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have a mini stroke in the
office, lost control of my

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legs for about 20s. I was
inpatient at the hospital

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here in fond du Lac. The
next day, cardiologist did

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some testing, came in and
said, your aortic valve is

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destroyed and you need open
heart surgery. I was

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starting to think about
what do I want to continue

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to do if this surgery goes
well? But I was at that

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point just trusting God
through the hands of my

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medical team that hoping
and praying things would go

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well and I, as it got
closer, knew that I would

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want to run again.
>> So when we're looking at

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a rematch in this
environment, what what

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should voters be thinking
of in terms of, oh, how did

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I vote last time? Or what's
different about this

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matchup this time?
>> You know, one of the

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things people can look at
with me is what I've done

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since then. As the
president of the District

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Attorneys Association, I've
always talked about putting

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public safety over politics.
I stood with our attorney

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general after that 2022
race, helping him get more

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crime lab positions in that
state budget, working with

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Republican legislators
behind the scenes. I helped

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get a transformational
investment into prosecutors,

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public defenders in our
judicial system, in that

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budget that the Wisconsin
Law Journal awarded me as

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an unsung hero for what
they described as helping

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end a constitutional crisis.
Those are all things we do

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together, working with the
Democrat governor and the

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Republican legislature to
deliver those results. And

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then, in contrast, you see,
during the tenure of our

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attorney general, we've
seen periods of record

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homicides in places like
Milwaukee, record drug

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deaths and other increases
in crime. And I've never

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been one to say it's one
individual person's

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responsibility when that
happens, because there are

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so many different factors
that go into why crime

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happens in different areas.
But what we have to look at

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is what are people doing
with the resources they

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have? And so what we saw
our attorney general do

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during this period is put a
hiring freeze in place. And

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so I mentioned those crime
lab positions. I helped him

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get. Well, over a year
later, we saw a nonpartisan

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audit released of our crime
labs. And they said he

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hadn't even filled those
positions. We saw that he

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had less DNA positions
filled compared to 2020.

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And we see that they're
taking for DNA, for example,

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taking on average over
twice as long to test less

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from when he started to
where we are now.

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>> So the attorney general
points to crime statistics

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being down in Wisconsin, as
they are across the country.

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He also singles out that
crime statistics in fond du

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Lac County are up. Why
should either one of you

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get credit or blame for
crime statistics when, as

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the. You know, either the
prosecutor or the Attorney

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General, you don't control
whether crimes are

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committed or even how
they're investigated.

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>> That's a great question
to ask the Attorney general,

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because he's been the one
trying to take victory laps

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when he see crime numbers
go with what he thinks is

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in his favor, despite
cherry picking what those

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stats are, I don't think
anybody heard from him when

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we were seeing record
homicides in Milwaukee. But

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now, because we're seeing
crime down in many areas,

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including fond du Lac
County, crime is down

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overall, and I've never
taken credit for the crime

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numbers we've seen during
my almost 14 years as a

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district attorney, because
I know it's a team effort

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when we do these things and
crime doesn't stop at

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county lines.
>> When we look at Attorney

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General's races in the past,
historically, they followed

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right below the
gubernatorial election. The

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last time there were
members of different

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parties was 2006 to to win
these races. So are you

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trying to separate yourself
from Tom Tiffany in his

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race for governor, or do
you think you're going to

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follow right along with him?
>> I'm running my own race

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from when I got into this
back in October of 2025, I

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talked about the forensic
testing failures, the

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fentanyl epidemic, and how
partisan, our attorney

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general, has become. I mean,
we we have driven home

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issues that affect people
in all 72 counties. And

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that's what I've been
focused on is what our

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Department of Justice can
do to help protect

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everybody in Wisconsin by
putting public safety over

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politics. Again, it all
comes back to what do you

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do with the resources you
have. And so what we're

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seeing is broken promise
after broken promise from

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our attorney general. He
campaigned on the fentanyl

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and opioid epidemic. And
there is accountability for

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pharmaceutical
manufacturers. But talk to

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anybody in law enforcement
or public safety, and they

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will tell you the overdoses
that we're seeing, by and

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large, are coming from
fentanyl, which is coming

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across the border and then
here into Wisconsin, and

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parents are burying their
child. And our attorney

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general has broken that
promise. He won't even talk

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about that issue because it
doesn't maybe be popular

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with his liberal base. We
look at the forensic

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testing he actually
promised back in 2020 that

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we were going to see a
dramatic improvement in DNA

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testing because he had more
analysts than his

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predecessor, and he had
improved technology. And

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his own policies were the
reason that they were

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testing less, limiting what
law enforcement can send in.

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And now, on average, he's
taking over twice as long.

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And he campaigned against
all of the political

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lawsuits when he first ran.
And now that's effectively

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what he's running his
entire campaign on is those

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lawsuits where he's putting
politics over public safety.

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>> Well, let's talk about
those lawsuits. Obviously,

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the Department of Justice
has filed and joined a lot

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of these federal lawsuits
against the Trump

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administration. If you were
the AG, would you have

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joined any of these?
>> So one of the things

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I've always talked about is
putting public safety over

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politics. And when we see
the attorney general, he's

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not filing lawsuits. What
he's doing is called

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joining them. So the vast
majority of those lawsuits,

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whether he signs on to that
or not, are going to

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continue to move forward
because other attorneys

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general across the country
have actually done the

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legal work on those. And so
what I will be doing as

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attorney general is making
sure we are prioritizing

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our resources for public
safety, ending the hiring

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freeze that's been put in
place by him to make sure

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we have those crime lab
positions filled, that

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we're always filling our
DEI and other public safety

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positions, and we'll
evaluate any case that's

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been filed on a case by
case basis to make sure

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that we're following the
facts and the law.

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>> One more question on the
federal lawsuits and some

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of those cases, if you
weren't a member of those,

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you didn't get the benefits.
And Wisconsin has seen some

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of those benefits from
being a part of those

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winning cases, as AG. Would
you have joined any of

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those cases?
>> One of the things that

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we have to do at our
Department of Justice, it

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can't be who's in the white
House or who's in the

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governor's office. We have
to look at these on a case

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by case basis. And
unfortunately, we haven't

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do that. He's he's talked
about joining over 60 of

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these lawsuits in the last
18 months or so, compared

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to probably five or less
during the four years of

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the Biden administration
and has effectively given a

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free pass to Tony Evers. So
to me, it's not going to

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matter who's in the white
House or who's in the

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governor's office, we're
decisions based on the

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facts and the law. So I
would expect, whether it's

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a Republican or Democrat,
governor, president, that

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lawsuits when it's needed
to protect Wisconsin.

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>> One of the issues that
Josh Kaul says is

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interesting about this
rematch is looking at some

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of your position statements
from the last race, and he

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brings up abortion
specifically. At that time,

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he had filed a lawsuit that
eventually was passed by

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the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
which guaranteed the right

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to abortion in Wisconsin.
He at that time, you

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criticized his part of that
lawsuit. Do you still think

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that was the wrong choice
for him, for the state to

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file that lawsuit against
the 1848 abortion law?

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>> Well, the original Dane
County judge actually

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didn't support the ultimate
legal finding that was made

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by the Supreme Court. But
we have to look at where

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the law is now. And there
are five month protections

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in place for women. I have
not and am not advocating

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for any changes to the law
in Wisconsin. And if there

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is going to be any change,
that's something that needs

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to be voted on by the
people of Wisconsin and not

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decided on by politicians
in Madison. We need to

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create an environment that
supports women and girls in

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our state, in every corner.
And you look at what our

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attorney general's comments
have been in recent years

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on this. He was actually
asked about those five

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month or 20 week
protections in 2024 in the

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fall. And he said, it's not
a protection, it's a

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restriction. He said there
intervention calling for

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the legislature to take
action, effectively arguing

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for nine month abortion
here in Wisconsin.

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>> Eric Toney, thanks for
your time.

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>> Greatly appreciate it.
Thank you.

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>> Today marks 25 years
since the terrorist attacks

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of September 11th, 2001. In
of September 11th, 2001. In