It's beautiful.
It's in the mountains.
Right on. I mean, I understand
the sort of odd.
Can
Can you guys tell me what I'm...
With Democratic Governor Tony Evers'
announcement that he will not run
for a third term, the November
2026 election for governor
is wide open.
And already, candidates are lining
up. On the Republican side,
Whitefish Bay businessman Bill
Barion and Washington County
Executive Josh Showman have
entered the race.
Democratic Lieutenant Governor Sarah
Rodriguez is also formally
declared.
Now, there are a whole lot more
names potentially throwing their hat
in the ring.
For more on this, we turn to our
political panelists, Republican
Bill McCaushan and Democrat Scott
Ross. And nice to see you both
again.
Great to be with you.
So, Bill, what kind of opportunity
is this for Republicans?
It's pretty rare.
It's the second time in my 60 years
on this earth where we've had an
open gubernatorial seat.
2010 was the last time.
Scott Walker beat Milwaukee Mayor
Tom Barrett.
So the fact that it's an open seat
is an opportunity for Republicans
to actually win here.
Both of the national
prognosticators, whether it's the
Cook Political Report or Larry
Sabato's crystal ball, move
this race from lean Democrat as
soon as Tony Evers made his
announcement to toss up.
It's an opportunity for the
Republicans to potentially take
back the governorship in 2026 here
in the state of Wisconsin.
So Scott, as to that toss-up
kind of status, how
would policymaking change if,
in fact, a Republican were to
win?
Well, I mean, obviously, if the
Republican Party, which is wholly
controlled by Donald Trump, were to
win the gubernatorial election and
Democrats not pick up
either of the chambers, it would be
the most radical, extreme,
partisan handout to special
interests and corporate and the
wealthy that we've ever seen in the
history of Wisconsin.
But I think that you have to look
beyond, you know, the sort
of toss up numbers when
it comes to the court.
Yeah, on on you know if you look at
on faith, Wisconsin, you
knows, goes back and forth.
But if you look at the real numbers
and where the Republican Party is
right now,
you know, if you're not Donald
Trump, the party has, Wisconsin
voters have rejected you in
statewide elections.
Election after election after
election.
We I think we've only had two of
any consequence that have gone
Republican in the last like 15 years
Ron Johnson, of course who got in
there because you know the D triple
DSCC abandoned Mandela Barnes And
he was outspent by 26 million
dollars in racist third-party ads
Go and and and the Supreme Court
race where they just you know They
were a Democrat quite didn't quite
hadn't quite figured out how to lock
up those races yet Now it's a
completely different universe, and
the Republican Party, with Donald
Trump in full control of the
government, isn't getting more
open for,
isn't getting more accommodating for
swing voters. It's getting even
more, you know, barbaric,
more, the cuts that are coming,
the cuts that are already here, the
storm troopers on our streets
pulling people off in masks and
disappearing them, and that's not
the American way.
Bill, as to the Washington
influence set in the Congressional
District, Republican Tom Tiffany
has been talking about running for
a long time, what's he waiting
for?
He says he's going to make a
decision sometime around Labor Day.
I hope he does it sooner than that.
There are several congresspeople in
the House now that are running for
governor in different states.
Byron Donald's being at the top of
the list in Florida.
I think the president's a little
concerned about that because the
margin, the House, the GOP majority
in the house is so slim to begin
with. So I don't know if Tom Tiffany
is going to get in.
If there's he's got a lot
of strong suits for sure, but
probably his weakest areas is
fundraising He's got $125,000
cash on hand which today and
Scott would agree that's a good
assembly race. That's not a
gubernatorial race So
fundraising is his biggest
shortcoming We'll see if he gets in
at the end of the day where Scott
and I actually do agree Donald
Trump's gonna pick the winner of
this primary whoever he endorses in
this primary will win the
race for sure on our side
So who else?
Go ahead, Scott.
I'd say $125,000 is a
good start for an assembly race, you
know, and here's how narrow that
House majority is in
the Congress, that they have all
fled so that they don't have to
keep taking votes to release the
Jeffrey Epstein files about how
Trump was fully engaged in what was
going on with the sex trafficker
and predator who hung himself.
Who else are Republicans looking at,
Bill? I mean, there is a long list
of people out there.
Well, other names that are being
bandied about are State Senator Mary
Felskowski, who comes from roughly
the same geography as Tom Tiffany.
She represents the 12th Senate
district up north.
If she won't get in, if Tiffany does
get in. But if Tiffany doesn't get
it, I would expect to see her join
the race. You might remember she
voted against the state budget.
She's the first Senate president
to ever vote against the State
budget.
Eric Kuvde's name still gets talked
about. And I think there's a player
to be named later.
Again, because it's an open seat,
it's a real opportunity.
So I think, there's probably
somebody on our side that people
aren't talking about yet who could
get in this race. Remember, we got
375 days
between now and the August 11th,
2026 primary.
It was interesting to see that Scott
Walker kind of was toying with it
and then said no, he's not in.
Yeah, well, he got some attention
for himself and for Young America's
foundation.
I think he'll be involved in the
race in some way, just like my
former boss, Tommy Thompson will.
Hopefully they'll agree on the
candidate in the primary this time.
They didn't in 2022.
For our side, hopefully we learn
some lessons about 2022.
You can't destroy your
GOP opponent in the primary and hope
that the party can come together
during the general election, because
it won't happen.
If we want to win this thing and
it's a real opportunity to win, we
got to hang together and whoever
wins the primary, that's our person.
Scott, let's talk about that.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I just want to say like I think the
reason you know part of the part of
the challenge of the Republicans I
have in contrast to the Democrats is
that their two Republicans have no
experience. I mean you know you know
God bless Washington County, but
it's not even one of the top 10
largest counties in Wisconsin.
Whereas on the Democratic side there
is a very long list of people with
credentials who have delivered for
the people of Wisconsin starting
with the lieutenant governor you
know continuing with the attorney
general who's gotten $750
million back from opioid
settlements, something that the
previous Republican administration
and previous Republican attorney
general refused to allow us to get.
You've got the county executive in
the state's largest county, David
Crowley. You've state Senator
Kel DeRoyce, who's on
the Joint Finance Committee and
who's run a couple of times before.
There's a long list of people with
real credentials about doing the
things that Wisconsinites want.
They want people who are going to
lower the cost of living, who
are gonna get affordable health care
and affordable housing who are gonna
make sure that education is
protected and strengthened and make
sure that everybody's treated with
dignity, the way that they need to
be treated and stop this dividing
that's gone on with the Republicans
under this onslaught of whether it's
ICE or it's DEI or whatever
prejudices they're bringing to the
table.
The one Scott didn't mention was Ben
Wickler, former party chairman.
Nobody has raised more money than
Ben Wicklar.
He is the best fundraiser on their
side or our side.
So if he decides to get in, he'll
be formidable.
What do you say to that?
Oh, absolutely.
Yes. I mean, Ben's a great guy who's
traveled around the state doing the
rubber chicken circuit, you know,
for years. I mean it's a reason why
a lot of us thought in 2022 that
Rebecca Clayfish was going to be the
nominee for the Republicans.
But the Republicans decided they
don't want to have a woman at the
top of the ticket. So they went with
an out of state businessman who
lost.
Scott, as to the toss-up status
of the governor's race, how much
confidence, though, does the most
recent 10-point victory of
Justice Susan Crawford give Dems?
Well, there are two different races,
but it also shows that Democrats
have been able to
mobilize their voters in a way that
Republicans simply have not been
able to do for a very, very long
time. Again, they've won a
couple statewide elections, but the
margins, percentage-wise and
number-wise, are so much more narrow
than the blowouts that the Democrats
have be able to. Because again,
they're talking about the things
that people want.
They want to make sure that people
are protected. They want make sure
abortion rights are protected and
restored in some cases.
You know, they want to make sure
that when you go into court that you
have your day in court and it's not
balanced towards the rich.
That's completely different to what
the agenda of the of the Republicans
are most embodied by the
fact that, you know we've got this
big bad bill which is now
going to bankrupt, you, know the
country, you kick 270,000
Wisconsinites off of their health
care, you snatch snap benefits,
you literally take the food
out of babies and
That's the agenda of the Republicans
and Democrats will continue to run
on that in contrast to what we're
trying to do.
I wanted to just jump to the next
Supreme Court election and
have you describe the stakes of
that.
Well, we have Rebecca Bradley,
who hasn't decided whether she's
going to seek re-election or not.
On her most recent finance report,
she hadn't raised any money.
My advice to her is if you're not
going to run, get out and give
people time to raise money.
I think one of the dynamics that
there's a relationship between the
two races. I don't think the Supreme
Court race is going to be as hotly
contested as the last two
were. I don't think it will be a
$100 million race because it isn't
for the majority. I think the
gubernatorial race now that it's an
open seat will be the political
Super Bowl in Wisconsin in 2026.
Scott, we know that appeals court
judge Chris Taylor is running
for Supreme Court.
How formidable is she?
I think she's an incredible
formidable candidate and has built a
career on protecting the rights of
people in Wisconsin, you know,
whether it is for living with
dignity or abortion rights or
whatever, you just,
that's the, that is the
profile that she has, the record
that she hasn't, especially as a
judge.
And you know that contrast again
with Rebecca Bradley, who's one of
the most divisive, one of most
noxious elected officials that we've
had in the history of the state of
Wisconsin. And I think, you know,
for her.
What's, you know, the problem is if
she's waiting for a federal
judgeship, like, what's
the incentive to taking out the
incumbent from a judicial
race when, by and large,
over decades, and Bill will agree
with this, the incumbent wins,
almost used to be unheard of that.
Almost 100%. Judicial candidate
wouldn't win, yeah.
Yeah, the last two Supreme Court...
Yeah, the last two Supreme Court justices
who have lost were appointed.
They did not win those seats.
And so she would actually Bradley
would be our best shot for sure.
Alright, we need to leave it there,
but really nice to see you both
again. We'll have you on more now
that we're heating up into this
next election cycle.
Thank you.
Great to be with you.
Minutes over.
Yeah, there was a lot to cover.
Yeah, yeah, you were both great.
I almost had to defend
Donald Trump, though,
Scott, because we don't know,
do we? We don't what his
involvement was,
if any.
Oh, oh, oh right, right, I
was listening. I was looking at the
Jeffreys who said they knew if Trump
said what he said about their late
daughter that he was
so