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>> Do endorsements matter.
This week we look at a few

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examples, including in
heated primaries for the

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seventh Congressional
District and the governor's

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office, plus the latest
Republican Party drama

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following the Supreme Court
blowout. This is Inside

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Wisconsin Politics.

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I'm Shawn Johnson here with my
colleagues Anya van

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Wagtendonk and Rich Kremer
in Eau Claire. Hey, gang.

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>> Hey, Shawn.
If you haven't been following

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these primaries yet and
you'll be forgiven. It's

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April, but the races for
the seventh Congressional

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District, especially on the
Republican side and the

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Democratic primary for
governor, are pretty

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dramatic. Let's start with
the seventh, though, Rich,

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because another reason we
want to follow these is

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that they involve
endorsements that seem like

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they could define the race.
Tell us about what happened

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up in the seventh, where
you got kind of the biggest

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endorsement of all.
>> Yeah, truly. President

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Donald Trump, way back in
January, endorsed one of

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the candidates running for
that seat, Michael Alfonso.

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Of course, Michael Alfonso
is the son in law of U.S.

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Transportation Secretary
Shawn Duffy, who also had

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that congressional seat
before. So it definitely

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created a stir within the
GOP primary. And I'm sure

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you'll be hearing a little
bit about that endorsement

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in the general.
>> And the reason we have

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an open race up there, Anya,
is because the current

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officeholder, Tom Tiffany,
is running for governor.

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We're going to get to that
race in a bit. But first of

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all, with Tom Tiffany as he
transitioned to the

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governor's race, he also
got that Trump endorsement.

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How has that played out in
his race there?

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>> Yeah, I mean, if people,
you know, go all the way

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back in time to 2025, there
were briefly three

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Republican candidates for
governor alongside Tom

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Tiffany. One dropped out
after some negative

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reporting about some of the
stuff he'd been following

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on social media. That was
Bill Barron. But then Josh

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Schoemann, Washington
County executive, stayed in

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the race until the morning
after Tom Tiffany got the

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Trump endorsement and he
dropped out. And so it was

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a little bit of this nod to
the fact that in a

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Republican primary, a nod
from Trump can really be a

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sort of kingmaking move, at
least in the primary. But

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then it can also lead to
all kinds of stuff in the

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general.
effect situation there,

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right? Endorsement. One day
he drops out the next. That

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has not been the case in
the seventh though. Rich. I

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mean, I think that is the
general playbook is that

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Trump endorses. And people
sort of assume that in a

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Republican primary that
seals it. That is not

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what's happening there. And
you kind of saw it first

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hand last night at a
candidate forum in Mercer.

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Tell us about that.
>> Yeah. So this forum was

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hosted by the Iron County
Republican Party. It was in

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a former gymnasium of a
very old school. And it

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happened on the first 80
degree day that Mercer saw

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this year. So it was a nice
event. But the theme was,

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if I might summarize the
candidates and some of the

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people I talked to in the
audience, we support

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President Trump, but that
doesn't mean we have to

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vote for who he tells us to.
So a lot of people up there,

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and this was actually the
first time that I saw.

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Candidates, Republican
candidates, Kevin Hermening

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and Jesse Ebben go negative
against Alfonso. They were

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criticizing Alfonso, who is
26 years old, 26 years old,

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for not having very much
experience in politics or

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local government, etc. and
they were portraying

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themselves as the better
choice. But they also there

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was discussion about, you
know, does El Alonzo Shawn

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Duffy feel like this
congressional seat is

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something that he's
entitled to? So it was

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really interesting people
up there tip toeing the

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line of still supporting
the president, who did very

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well in this district,
which leans pretty

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Republican, but they just
don't. There's this

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independent streak where
they don't like the idea of

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being told what to do.
>> And I got to ask you

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about what they did on the
stage there, too, because

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they had assigned seats for
all the candidates,

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including Michael Alfonso.
>> Yeah. And in fact, the

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only seat that was that had
a sign on it was Michael

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Alfonso. So you had the
three of the Republican

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candidates were on the
stage. That's Nina Baum,

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Jesse Ebben and Kevin
Hermening. And then there

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was an empty chair with
Michael Alfonso's name on a

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piece of paper taped to it.
And even during the the

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debate, Kevin Hermening
stretched his arm out and

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kind of put it on. The
chair had a big smile. His

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campaign person took a
picture that made it up,

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made it on social media
pretty quickly. So there

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was that. But even before
the debate, one of the

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interesting things that
kind of got me interested

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in going up there was this
Republican Party. Their

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Facebook page was
essentially goading or kind

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of making a little bit of
fun of Alfonso's campaign

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for not responding. The GOP
chair up there told me that

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people he knows with the
Michael Alfonso campaign

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told him that the Trump
endorsed candidate doesn't

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need to debate, and people
in the audience say that.

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They told me that's just
not the case. Like, this is

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important. You've got to
get out in this district

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and meet people one by one.
And that's that's what it

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takes to win.
>> So you have the

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candidates who are in that
race saying, you can't tell

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us what to do. We're still
running up here. Anya,

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although one of the
candidates who which has

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done some reporting on, did
drop out this week. Tell us

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about that. Paul Ryan left
the race.

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is a successful business
person. He had a largely

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self-funded campaign. And
so him dropping out is kind

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of the first big drop out
of the race. And that's one

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of the things we kind of
look to going into a

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primary, especially in
these crowded fields, is

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when will people start
dropping out. So this is

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kind of the first one. He
had raised quite a bit of

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money from himself, as I
mentioned, but very little

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in terms of independent
donors. And then by

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contrast, you have Alfonso,
who has received quite a

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bit of money from this,
these kind of DC connected

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Pence studies on, you know,
one thing that when Rich

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covered the the empty chair
Alfonso was posting at the

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same time on Facebook.
Photos of him with

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Republican Congress people
in DC. So he has these big

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connections. And so I think
it was a little bit of a

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signal that even people
with deep pockets are not

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necessarily feeling up to
the challenge. He also said

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that he didn't want to
Oscar, and said that he

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didn't want to kind of
contribute to a bloody

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primary, that that could
only empower Democrats. And

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so I think we're going to
see a little bit of that,

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you know, bowing out in
order to maintain the good

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of the party.
>> Rich.

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>> Yeah. If I could just
chime in on that. So the

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other thing is that, you
know, there's this

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political action committee
that has been raising money.

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It's based in Alabama, it's
brand new and it's been

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getting some of that money,
$1 million from Shawn

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Duffy's former
congressional campaign. And

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so they've essentially been
doing a lot of ads, a lot

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of work for Alfonso.
Therefore, he hasn't had to

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spend as much of the money
that he's actually raised.

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And with regard to
Wasserman, what you noticed,

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Shawn, on that last finance
report that that we looked

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at when I was reporting on
it, there was some

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interesting loan
information. You want to

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talk about that?
>> Oh, yeah. I mean, well,

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I think the thing that got
his attention for Paul

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Wasserman when he jumped
into the race was, as you

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mentioned, an ability to
sell funds. So he loaned

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himself a million bucks
there to start out. He had

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repaid a lot of that in the
in the last report. So I

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think it's a situation
where you put the money in

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there to send a message. He
decided it was not well

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received and took the money
back and got on out of

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there. Rich, I guess one
thing we got to ask here,

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this is a very Republican
district. And so we are

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talking about this
Republican primary. But is

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this a situation where
because of this infighting,

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you know, uneasiness among
Republicans up there, is

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this a door open for
Democrats?

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>> I've heard that it is,
and I've heard that it

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isn't. So this is a
district that has tended to

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be more and more Republican
since, say, 2010. We have

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to also remember that
former Democratic

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Congressman Dave Obey
represented that the

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seventh for many, many
years. But of course, with

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the Tea Party wave, Shawn
Duffy got in and and it

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stayed Republican since, of
course, the map also

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changed. But just what I've
been told by Joe Hendrick,

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who's kind of like the the
maps and elections data

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guru for the Republicans is
that it is Republican. It

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would be an uphill battle
for any Democrat. But it's

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not impossible. And he said
if the GOP picks the wrong

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candidate in the primary
and it's a wave year, which

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it. He said, it seems to be
looking like it might be.

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It's possible for this to
flip back to Democratic

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hands. Whether that happens
or not, Hendrick said. It's

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unlikely, but it's not off
the table.

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>> So let's turn to the
Democratic primary for

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governor here, where we
have seven candidates

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running. And it is at this
stage not getting a ton of

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attention statewide. I mean,
we did just have a Supreme

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Court race that ate up some
of that. There's a little

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national news right now
that has people's attention

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Barron in that race, it
feels like you could be

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talking about endorsements
every week in a way about

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how that might affect the
race. What's one that

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caught our eye this week?
>> Yeah. I mean, so there

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have been all of these kind
of smaller or more local

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endorsements that have been
coming through. So local

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this week was the first, at

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least that I've noticed
sort of national figure to

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back a candidate. So Ilhan
Omar of Minnesota backed

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Francesca Hong, who is a
Democratic representative

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from Madison, she aligns
with the Democratic

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Socialists sort of platform.
And so she's one of the

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further left candidates,
obviously, getting the

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backing of a further left
member of Congress. And

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this really caught our
attention for sort of a

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double edged reason, right,
that that can really signal

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where Huang stands here in
Wisconsin. But of course,

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Ilhan Omar has plenty of
people who don't care for

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her in the Republican and
sort of conservative side

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of things. And so looking
towards the general

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election, I'm curious what
it'll mean to have some of

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these more divisive
endorsements. But right now,

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it's also really
interesting for a big

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national figure with a lot
of media attention, social

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media attention, to be
throwing her weight behind

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a candidate in the
Wisconsin governor's

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election.
>> Yeah, to me, I think if

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you're a voter out there
who's barely paying

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attention to these races at
this point, and you have

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this, you know,
overwhelming list of

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choices in front of you,
essentially, they're

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probably looking for clues
on if they want to go for a

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very liberal candidate.
This is a way of sending

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that message, that
Representative Hong is that

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candidate. You know, you
don't earn an endorsement

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like that without being a
candidate like that. So it

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is a way to send a little Q
kind of early going, right.

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>> There's not a lot of
differentiation on policy

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differentiation on sort of
the specifics of things.

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But basically every
Democratic candidate

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supports abortion rights,
supports expanding Medicaid.

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Like there are all of these
kind of signals there. And

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so endorsement can offer a
more specific kind of

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endorsement, I'm sorry, a
signal around values. And

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also, again, invite some of
the media attention that

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can come with that. So it's
one thing to say, oh, I

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have the support of this
local union in my community.

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And what does that say
about my support for

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workers rights? It's
another thing, if, you know,

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Mamdani comes in and backs
you, right, a sort of

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nationally famous figure
where people have already

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kind of done the work to
understand who that person

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is. And so then they can
apply it to the candidates

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here.
So Anya, I guess a

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question that I have when
it comes to endorsements

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like this on the Democratic
side, is there an

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equivalent to the Donald
Trump endorsement where if

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this person comes in, you
know, it's kind of all over

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in a primary?
>> I mean, put simply, no,

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Trump is really the
standard bearer for the

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Republican Party and has
been for a decade.

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Democrats just don't have
that equivalent person, in

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part because, you know, you
do have some of this

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division between more
left wing Democrats. And so,

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again, somebody like Ilhan
Omar is going to really

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appeal to people who are
kind of already in the

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Francesca Hong camp, would
not necessarily appeal to

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more sort of moderate or
business minded Democrats.

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And then there are people,
a Kamala Harris or somebody

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similar who might appeal
more to those kind of

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centrist folks. But there's
not really a uniting figure

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in the same way that Donald
Trump is.

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>> You could imagine if,
let's say, former President

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Obama were to jump in with
an endorsement in that

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primary, which seems
unlikely, but you never

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know. That might turn some
heads. I think one

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difference is that
President Trump has sort of

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gone after people who don't
fall in line in a way that

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I don't know that President
Obama would or could. Trump

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brags about it, frankly. I
mean, he is not afraid to

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enforce his endorsements.
And so I don't know that

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you have something like
that on the Democratic side.

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>> Well, and you also don't
have Tony Evers weighing in

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on who would be a good sort
of recipient of the torch

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that he wants to pass. And
in fact, I have asked him

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several times if he's going
to endorse and he shoots

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that question down every
time. So it looks like he's

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really not playing
again, another lack of a

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signal, right? If if
there's nobody to kind of

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carry forward the specific
Evers legacy, then who is

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the person who can do what
he did, which is win pretty

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narrowly against a
Republican?

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>> Yeah. I want to just
like reinforce that that is

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a perfectly reasonable
question and you should

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keep asking it. And I think
in a different year, in

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different circumstances,
he'd have somebody. But in

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this race, he doesn't want
to go there for for

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whatever reason. So I guess
it is an open question that

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we could ask every single
campaign. But I don't care.

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I want to ask it again. Do
endorsements matter? Do

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they matter for for voters?
To me, I think the answer

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is absolutely yes. Given
given the circumstances.

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One, I think that where you
see it definitely mattering

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is in our upcoming court
race. I don't know if

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you've paid attention to
this one yet. I mean, I

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know you have you've
written about it, but you

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did not have candidates
endorse. You did not have

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the liberal justices
endorse in that race yet.

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So in the 2024 Supreme
Court race, you had the

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four sitting liberal
justices endorsed Susan

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Crawford early on in 2025.
You had them endorse Chris

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Taylor. You've had a
candidate jump into the

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race this race already. Anya
that you've written about

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Lindsey Brunet, she did not
immediately get that

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endorsement. And so now you
have maybe Judge Pedro

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Colon in Milwaukee could be
running. So the lack of

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endorsement may be spawning
a little liberal primary on

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that side.
>> Yeah. Again, and

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especially with the courts,
right. There can be a

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little bit of that, you
know, king making approach

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00:15:30,597 --> 00:15:32,900
again. So I think it is
when you have a crowded

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field that the endorsements
really matter. But we live

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00:15:35,569 --> 00:15:38,505
in also such polarized
times that going into a

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general election, there are
going to be very few

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surprising endorsements. So
the people that I've talked

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to about the politics of
endorsements have said, you

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00:15:46,446 --> 00:15:48,715
know, surprising
endorsements really matter.

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Less surprising ones matter
less because, you know, of

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00:15:51,652 --> 00:15:54,688
course, Democratic royalty
is going to back Democrats

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and Republican royalty is
going to back Republicans

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in general.
>> Before we wrap up here,

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I feel like we got to talk
about the kind of aftermath

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of the 2026 Supreme Court
race, though, in just about

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00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,437
a minute here, there was
some talk that the state

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00:16:10,504 --> 00:16:13,307
party chair, Brian
Schimming, could lose his

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job over that race. Some
people wanted him out.

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What's the update on that?
>> Yeah, he's still in the

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the party web page still
shows him as chairman. They

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had an executive committee.
So that's the group of

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people that could have
fired him and they

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00:16:31,258 --> 00:16:35,128
apparently did not. But the
twist is people I talked to

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that are on the committee
said, we can't tell you

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00:16:37,531 --> 00:16:40,601
what happened there because
we signed non-disclosure

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00:16:40,667 --> 00:16:43,403
agreements. Those
agreements were put in

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00:16:43,470 --> 00:16:48,275
effect in December. And
just for context, after the

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2025 loss that Republicans
had, that was the Schimel

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00:16:53,447 --> 00:16:57,351
and Susan Crawford race.
There were calls for Bryan

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00:16:57,417 --> 00:17:01,355
Schimming to be fired or
resigned. So kind of the

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00:17:01,421 --> 00:17:05,726
same thing. And shortly
after that, the executive

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00:17:05,792 --> 00:17:09,963
committee passed some new
rules to kind of clamp down

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00:17:10,030 --> 00:17:13,534
on people complaining
publicly about GOP party

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00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:18,305
leadership. So this is
Schimming is still in place,

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00:17:18,372 --> 00:17:20,908
and there's a new rule
where you have to sign an

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00:17:20,974 --> 00:17:23,610
NDA.
executive committee for the

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00:17:23,677 --> 00:17:27,314
party makes decisions like
this. And, you know, you

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00:17:27,381 --> 00:17:30,250
talk to one of the members
and he didn't really tell

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00:17:30,317 --> 00:17:35,289
you about what went on, but
he said, check the website.

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>> Yeah, check the website.
That's right.

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00:17:37,791 --> 00:17:41,662
Schimming name as chair.
Well, we'll continue to

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00:17:41,728 --> 00:17:44,198
follow that one and all
these endorsements. That'll

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00:17:44,264 --> 00:17:47,734
do it for this week. That's
all the time we have. Our

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00:17:47,801 --> 00:17:50,370
colleague Zac Schultz will
be back next week. Thanks

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00:17:50,437 --> 00:17:53,507
for joining us. This has
been Inside Wisconsin

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00:17:53,574 --> 00:17:57,044
Politics. Be sure to follow
us on pbswisconsin.org.

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00:17:57,110 --> 00:17:58,979
WPR.org, YouTube, or
wherever you get your

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00:17:59,046 --> 00:18:00,714
podcasts.