>> All right. We'll leave it there. Commissioner Don
Millis, thanks very much. >> Thank you. Have a good
weekend. >> Looking ahead to the
2026 midterm elections, Wisconsin Attorney General
Josh Kaul announced this week he's running for
reelection to that office, not for governor. Where
does this put the crowded race on the Democrats side
and the not so crowded field of Republican
candidates? We check in with our political analyst,
Republican Bill McCoshen and Democrat Scott Rawson.
Thanks for being here. >> Thanks for having us.
>> So, Scott, first to you, would it be fair to say
that Josh Kaul would have been considered the front
runner? >> Oh, absolutely. He's a
statewide elected, statewide elected official
who's who's won twice in tough environments. So yeah,
he would have been he would have been a great candidate.
He'll be a great attorney general candidate again.
And I believe that if some changes are made in terms
of the environment, that he'll win again. But, you
know, Democrats have an embarrassment of riches.
really good candidates. They have some candidates
who are still talking and thinking about it. But, you
know, to run against, you know, what I would argue is
the front runner in Tom Tiffany, who is, you know,
basically an extension of Donald Trump and everything
about Donald Trump is embodied in Tom Tiffany. So
but again, it's about the it's about the environment.
And I think Democrats have to do some things to change
that environment. reaction on the Republicans
part to Josh Kaul not running?
think he would have been the front runner the day he
got in. He's running won statewide twice before.
He's got a record. He's got a base a statewide base. So
it's big news for us that one of the top tier
candidates got out of the way. So that leaves
Democrats I think their bench is a little bit short
right now. The top tier is David Crowley, Milwaukee
County Executive Sarah Rodriguez lieutenant
not former Lieutenant gets in. That would be
their top tier. And I feel pretty good about our
chances against that. >> So this leaves Tom
Tiffany, you think, who has announced his run in in
good shape? question Tom Tiffany is the
frontrunner. I mean he's a sitting congressman.
Congressman. All have districts with 760,000
people. He's got a base and it's a very red base. Where
he's less known is southeastern Wisconsin. And
as I pointed out, the last time Scott and I were on
his show, the deficit for Tom has always been
fundraising. He wasn't very good at it. He's already
raised more than $1 million in the first two weeks in
the race, including 250,000 at a single event last week.
So he's going to be our frontrunner. But I think
Josh is going to stay in the race. Josh is a you
know, he's got a couple advantages. Josh is a
younger man. He's 24 years younger than Tiffany and
he's got geography on his GOP primary come within 100
miles of where Josh lives. >> I just want to stay with
you a minute, Bill, and ask you your reaction to your
former boss, Governor Tommy Thompson, once again saying
he's seriously considering a run.
misunderstood on that. I love Tommy Thompson. I
wouldn't be where I am without him. I think what
he really was saying was, if these guys don't get out
of the blocks, I'll be available. I'll be in the
bullpen warming up, and that would be next spring.
And I don't expect that to happen, but I love I hope I
have half the energy he has when I get to be 83 years
old, and I don't expect him to be a candidate.
>> He'll be ready there to wish youngster Joe Biden a
happy birthday, right? I think they know that
they're born on this basically on the same day,
right? Yeah, but the former governor is a year older. I
mean, I think the great news about Tom Tiffany
being the front runner and he is the front runner, and
I expect that he will be their nominee. Is that that
nationalizes this race because he is so tied to
Trump. And, you know, the definition of fascism is an
authoritarian political ideology defined by a
dictatorial leader, centralized governor, and
suppression of opposition. That is part and parcel of
everything that has happened in these, you know,
what seems like ten years, but is really nine months
of Trump being in office. They have control of
everything. They have control of the Supreme
Court. They have control of Congress, they have control
of the executive. And they are running the fascist
playbook up until and something on Friday where
they were. They were calling the march planned
march, saying no kings as a terrorist outfit. This is
this is not what America is about. And I would say to
my Democratic friends, if you don't start treating
fascism like fascism and calling it out, you can't
expect people to see that America is in crisis and
that we need to step up and do something about this so
that we can stop it, restore the Constitution,
restore our civil liberties, and stop things like
marauding ICE Gestapo, disappearing kids in the
middle of the night. >> Nobody on the dem side
has Tiffany's record. He was elected to local office,
State office, State Assembly and state Senate
and now Congress. So he's eminently qualified. He is
a strong, consistent conservative. So is Josh
Schoemann. I think we have an embarrassment of riches
on our side, and it's going to play out pretty well.
>> Scott, the one candidate that we've mentioned that
has not yet entered the race on the Democratic side
is former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.
What's your take on his entry into the race?
>> Well, his supporters tell me that he would be
the most experienced, best campaigner to get in the
race if he got in the race and that he spent since he
left office working to restore democracy, protect
democracy and lift the lives of others. You know,
and I think that, you know, all of the candidates in
this race have some claim to that, whether it's David
Crowley or Sarah Rodriguez or Kelda Roys, you know,
they all have that claim that they have stood up for
democratic values. Again, the question for me is who
is going to tell it like it is and step up to this
threat that America faces, because I don't think we
can win the race if we're defined by the feckless
politics of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. You
know, what is going on is it's unprecedented in
American history. And we have to look at it that way,
and we have to treat it that way because the people
want nothing less than to than to make sure that the
Constitution is being upheld.
>> So, I mean, swinging back to the race, bill,
what do you think about how formidable Barnes might be?
>> You got to remember, 2022 was one of the best
midterms for Democrats since Bill Clinton was in
the white House in 1998, and Mandela Barnes lost.
This was the first election statewide election post
Dobbs. He's one of the few statewide Democrats to lose
that night. So we're not afraid of Mandela Barnes
being their candidate. And to you, if you think Thom
Tiffany's too conservative, is he more conservative
Mandela Barnes? I don't think so.
that Schumer left Mandela Barnes high and dry for
three and a half weeks after the primary, where
there were no TV ads from DC coming for Barnes. You
know, you know, I don't want to relitigate that
campaign. But if you if you allow your opponent to if
you allow your opponent to define you, you're in a lot
of trouble. And that's what happened in that race. I
think it was, you know, again, it was a it was a
tough loss for sure, but it was one that's explainable
beyond Mandela's. in Wisconsin that came back
from a statewide loss and won statewide is Bob Kasten
in 1980. It's been a long, long time indeed.
>> That's a deep cut. Nice. both about the government
shutdown and which party you think goes down as
being blamed for it, and whether or not that has any
kind of political legs. >> It will. I mean, next
week is payday for a lot of federal employees, and it
needs to get solved. If Republicans think they're
not going to get blamed for this, ultimately they're in
charge. And I understand the filibuster rule.
Frankly, I would do away with the filibuster if I
were John Thune, and I would pass the C.R. today.
I think that's their best move. And I would be ready
with a health care reform bill in the next two weeks.
>> I mean, yeah, I think Bill's right. You know, the
Republicans are in charge of things and the
Republicans own this. But again, let's see what's you
know, again, back to my point two centralization of
government. On Friday, we started to see illegal
firings of union and nonunion employees in
federal government. Those by Trump Partizans. And
again, remember all this. A part of this is about it's
taken the it's taken the ability of the House to
vote to release the Epstein files. They're one vote
short. You know, Johnson won't appoint you know,
won't sit a congressperson who won a special election
so that that deciding vote will make this happen. So
again, it's all about this is about protecting, dear
Leader. It's about Leader. It's about