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leverage and flex their
political power while they

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still have it. Governor
Evers making a comment

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there on political fortunes
going forward. What will

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those fortunes look like in
the midterm elections? We

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welcome our political
panelists, Republican Bill

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McCoshen and Democrat Scot
Ross. And hello.

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>> How are you?
>> Pretty good. So Bill Tom

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Tiffany said Republicans
got their butts kicked

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Tuesday night. How, in your
view did that happen?

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>> Well, he's right about
that. If you're going to

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win statewide, you need
three things. You need

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money, organization and
message. Mom, we had no

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money. We didn't look like
we had any organization.

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And I'm not sure what the
message was. So I think we

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failed on all three of
those points. And

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ultimately, it wasn't the
worst Supreme Court

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election in state history,
but it was pretty close.

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And you know, when when
Maria Lazar is losing her

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home county of Waukesha by
43,600, she got 43,600

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fewer votes than Brad
Schimel did in her own

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county. That's a rough
night.

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>> Scott wasn't about the
money advantage for Chris

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Taylor.
advantages before where I

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mean, I've been part of
ones where the Republicans

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had all the money and the
Liberal candidate didn't

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have any. And we've never I
haven't you know, the most

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I saw was like I think
seven points back in 2013.

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But the fact is, is that
this is a combination of a

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couple things. First and
foremost, that the

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The Donald Trump Republican
Party has taken us to war.

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It's taken us into the
poorhouse, and it keeps

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doubling down. And I would
point out that, you know,

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in the same interview where
Tom Tiffany said they got

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their butts kicked, he also
endorsed Trump's, you know,

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announced intention to
commit war crimes and every

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economic policy that he has
pushed forward, including

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trying to overturn the
results of the 2020

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election. Considering this
race was about fairness,

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freedom and rights, there's
no wonder the Republicans

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lost.
factor is Trump in these

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elections?
was nationalized. I don't

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agree with Scott on that.
It may have had something

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to do with some people
staying home. I mean, the

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truth is they didn't know
Maria Lazar. She raised

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less than $1 million, which
is far less than Brad

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Schimel. I mean, a year ago,
we had the most expensive

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Supreme Court race in
history, $115 million. This

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one combined was around 10
million. So people didn't

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know who she was. So I'm
not I'm not sure that Trump

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was a huge factor in this
race. But the truth is, you

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know, congrats, first of
all to justice elect Chris

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Taylor. But she won seven
out of eight congressional

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districts, including Tom
Tiffany's.

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>> And they went up 7171 of
the 72 counties had a

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higher performance than in
2025.

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>> So how does this travel
into November?

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>> Well, I think I think
that the trend is

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irreversible in terms of
the Republican performance

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would just I mean, again, I
just have to disagree

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because if you look at past
elections, you know, like

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for instance, in 2016 where
Rebecca Bradley, I mean,

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she lost, she won by 94,500
votes, you know, when there

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were 97,000 more
Republicans who voted in

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the presidential primary
that year, that's not even

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close to 20%. It's not even
close to double digits in

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terms of the difference
between the two. You know,

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Republicans have in the in
the Trump era, lost races

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where tons of money, the
most money ever spent,

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they've lost when not a lot
of money spent. They've

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lost by double digits. Each
time that we've had these

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things, it's just again,
it's the brand is broken.

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They are doubling down. The
cult will continue. Tom

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Tiffany, Derrick, Van Orden
and whoever. Republicans

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can finally try and get to
be leader of the Senate and

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Assembly or Republicans,
you know, come November,

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you know, it's just a
disaster. But again,

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Democrats have to do the
work in order to get there.

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>> Not a great correlation
between spring elections

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and fall elections in the
state of Wisconsin. If you

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look at 2023, Janet
Protasiewicz won a Supreme

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Court seat by ten points.
2024 Donald Trump wins

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Wisconsin with the most
votes of any statewide

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candidate in history. So
it's it's not a perfect

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correlation, but I would
say it's a warning sign for

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Republicans, and they ought
to take it that way.

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>> So, Bill, what about the
war in Iran and its

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repercussions at home?
>> I think it's having an

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impact in this respect. Gas
prices are up whether it's

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a buck, buck 50 and people
feel that. So the

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fundamental question that
every voter has to answer

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when they go into the
voting booth is, what's in

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it for me if I vote for X
or Y? And right now, that's

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not great for Republicans,
for Republicans to have a

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shot this fall, gas needs
to be at or below three

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bucks a gallon. And if it's
not, it's going to be a

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tough cycle.
>> Yeah, 33% gas prices

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have gone up since Trump's
war of choice in Iran.

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>> So if if that somehow
gets resolved and those gas

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prices come down and
inflation comes down, is it

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does it kind of revert to a
regular cycle then.

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>> Because people are still
losing their health care,

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they're still seeing ICE,
you know, the Gestapo in

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our streets, you know,
killing Americans who do

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nothing more than protest.
Like those things aren't

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going to stop. And the cult
of Trump within the

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Republican Party of elected
officials, specifically

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Derrick Van Orton and Tom
Tiffany, who both, as Bill

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correctly pointed out, lost
the congressional district.

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I mean, Derrick Van Orton
lost his district or Chris

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Taylor 1 Derrick Van
Norton's district by 22

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points. Eau Claire and La
Crosse were nearly 40%. It

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could.
>> It could revert to a

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normal cycle before the war
broke out in the Middle

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East. The generic ballot
was a couple points

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favorable towards Democrats.
That's something that

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Republicans can and compete
in and win in. Now it's 5

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or 6, and in some polls
it's eight points. That's a

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much tougher environment
for Republicans.

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>> So, Scott, what about
for Democrats in their

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splintered primary for
governor with so many

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candidates?
there's more coverage of

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what Democrats are talking
about because they're not

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attacking each other, not
going after each other.

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It's the same thing from
2018. I mean, there were

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hardly any even contrast
levels in the 2018 primary

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for for Democrats. And what
ended up happening, Tony

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Evers upset Scott Walker,
who was trying to win a

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third term. And didn't you
know, I think that on top

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of, you know, not just that
ballot, but talking I'm

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sorry to your question, not
just talking about the

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Democrats in the in the in
the primary, but what

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that's going to do for the
down ballot, the state

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Senate and state Assembly.
I mean, we saw things like,

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you know, some of the
targets, the best targets

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the Republicans have in the
state Senate, Jeff Smith,

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Chris Taylor won his
district by 30 points. Like,

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you know, that's all I mean,
there's even new there's

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new meat on the table as
results of of Tuesday night.

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>> Not surprising but a
different take. There's 123

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days until the primary. If
they do not define one

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another Francesca Hong will
be the Democratic nominee.

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>> What's the money race
going to look like?

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>> It's going to be very
different this fall. Maria

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Lazar got no outside help,
including from allied

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groups like the Federalist
Society and WMC, who have

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always spent seven figures
in Supreme Court races.

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This fall, the money will
be there for Tom Tiffany.

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>> And what about the money
on the Democratic side?

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>> Golly yes, I think that
the money is going to be

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there for Democrats because
they have been an

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incredible fundraising
you know, since Wikler.

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Thankfully.
>> He's Wikler gone.

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>> So but Devin's doing a
good job of raising the

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money too. You know, again,
Democrats need to do what

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in order to win these races?
It's not about outraising

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the Republicans. It's about
a consistent, relentless

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assault on what Republicans
stand for and how they are

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hurting the people of
Wisconsin.

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>> 207 days to go. It's
time to get the war over