If that's how I'd grown up I'd be
closer to Swear Engine and some of
those guys.
Pine Savage, Lake Array.
I I probably could have.
Are we running?
All right. Tom Tiffany, thanks for
joining us.
For voters who don't know who you
are, introduce yourself and give us
a sense of why you're running for
government.
Yeah, lifelong resident of
Wisconsin. I grew up on a dairy farm
in western Wisconsin with my seven
brothers and sisters.
We were up early in the morning
milking cows, feeding calves and all
that. I worked my way through UW
River Falls, got an agricultural
degree and then ultimately settled
in the Northwoods where I met my
wife Chris and that's
where we raised our three daughters.
Is there a single issue that would
say defines you or maybe a a
lane within your political party
that may
You know, I think one thing that
maybe a lot of people don't realize
the reason I ran for the state
assembly back in two thousand ten
when I first gained elected office
was because of fiscal
responsibility.
We had a three billion dollar
deficit at that point and that's
always animated me that government
should spend within its means.
Raise in this primary and for the
general election.
Yeah, a lot.
We're budgeting to raise forty
million dollars.
We'll see if we get there.
But you know, Wisconsin because
of that pass through loophole,
I call it the billionaire loophole.
There's just so much money that
comes into Wisconsin.
But you know, you can cry about
it or you can compete.
We choose to compete and
but we're we're hoping to raise
forty million dollars.
When it comes to a competitive
primary, how do you personally
define the difference between
negative campaigning versus defining
the differences or issues between
you and an opponent?
You know, if you're just hurling mud
at your opponent, name calling,
stuff like that, then I
don't I don't think that's how
Wisconsin voters respond.
As long as you're talking about
issues and you know, some
people describe negative campaigning
as being that if you point
out differences, I think that's the
important part of the political
process is to point out the
differences between you and your
opponent. And so that's what I
always try to do.
As voters are tuning in, should
they be more drawn to a candidate
that has the issues that align with
them or should they be thinking
about electability as well?
For the primary
electability is a b is a big part
of it. I think I think it's a
combination of issues and
electability because if you're
right on the issues, you're going to
gain some voters and that's
ultimately what it's all about is
getting fifty fifty percent
plus one.
Obviously you represent northern
Wisconsin.
What's your what's your goal or
what's your plan to reach the rest
of the state and introduce yourself
there?
Well we have a seventy two county
strategy. Sometimes Republicans have
not done that, including ignoring
right where we sit right now in Dane
County.
We will not ignore Dane County, the
fastest growing county in the state,
and but we have a seventy two
county strategy and we're gonna
cover every bit of it.
How much of an impact do you think
Donald Trump will have on this
election?
You know the
There'll be some, certainly, but I
know one thing that Democrat,
whoever the Democrat candidate is,
they will try to make it about
Donald Trump.
And part of the reason for that, I
think, is that they don't have a
strong set of issues that have been
animating them that the voters
want to hear.
I mean, when you see see some of the
stuff like defund the police
or you know, boys and girls
sports, stuff like that, most of the
voters in Wisconsin are like, yeah,
we're not buying that stuff.
And so I
think that's part of the reason why
they try to make President Trump
the central part of the campaign
rather than debating the issues.
I can assure the voters that I
will be debating the issues.
What's your view of tariffs and the
tariff policy at the federal level?
I'm hoping that it will settle
down now.
And we've seen various tariff
proposals go back and forth.
I mean it's very
very important that for a
manufacturing state like Wisconsin
that we be able to be compete
on the worldwide stage because we've
lost too much of our manufacturing
here in Wisconsin and across
America. So bringing some of that
back is really important and that
was the goal with the tariffs
policy.
But I think now you want to see it
settle down because it
does lead to some uncertainty
and you want to pull that
uncertainty out and I'm hoping that
we are in a better place now,
especially with some of the
reinvestment that is.
I mean, we've seen some companies
announce major investments
here in America.
As governor, there's a good chance
you'd have a Republican legislature
behind you. What's your A B one?
What's the first bill you want to
sign?
Boy, you know, I don't think we have
any choice at this point, but we got
to deal with education.
I just saw some data this week where
almost half of first graders cannot
read at grade level.
We have fallen behind Mississippian
education.
That is unacceptable.
I don't care if you're Republican,
Democrat, or whatever political
persuasion.
We have always had a long, proud
tradition of educating children
well, and we've got to get
that back. Otherwise, our state
cannot succeed.
But I think next is the
cost of living, and
it is getting the
cost of energy down, reducing
taxes, things like that that
make Wisconsin more affordable.
I th one of the major
things that I'm going to roll out is
a red tape reset because
it doesn't matter whether you have a
daycare or any other kind
of business, we are so overregulated
in Wisconsin that costs a lot
of money, and that over regulation
is oftentimes duplication.
Conversely, there's a chance as
governor you could have Democrats in
control of one of the chambers.
What's your track record of working
across the aisle?
So I've done bills when
I was in the legislature and
as well as in Congress working on a
bipartisan basis, and we're gonna
try to do the same thing.
The thing that I won't get away from
is my principles though.
And number one is we gotta
make sure that we have balanced
budgets. We cannot spend too much
money. The second thing is we
gotta do a better job with our
educational system, public, private,
parochial, homeschool, whatever.
Every kid in Wisconsin should expect
to get a good education, regardless
of their zip code.
And then we have to m
we have to reduce regulations in
Wisconsin because it is
costing us so much money.
We're the second highest regulated
state in the Midwest, next to
Illinois, and any time we are
compared to Illinois, we're in the
wrong spot.
The public service commission is
looking at utility rate hikes
and data centers are being proposed
all over the state.
What's your policy on on those
issues?
So in regards to energy,
we need an all of the above approach
and we gotta bring energy prices
down. We used to be the second
lowest in the Midwest, like twenty
years ago. We are now the second
highest, and that is hitting people
in the pocketbook.
And it's one of the things that I
really disagree with the Evers
administration where we have
two billion dollars in counting
of rate hikes in the time that
he's been governor.
That hits people every month
with their utility bills.
We need to bring the cost of energy
down and we can.
I think we should embrace nuclear.
We should not be closing down
baseload power plants that we
currently have.
And we gotta make sure that
we have affordable energy in
order to be able to prosper here in
Wisconsin.
And and what about data centers?
Yes, so in regards to the data
centers exciting new technology,
I think we need to make sure on the
energy side of it that
we do not harm existing ratepayers,
so residential ratepayers and
manufacturers.
It would be unfair to existing
manufacturers for them to
pay much higher electricity
rates just because a new
industry came in.
So we're gonna probably have to find
a new template if AI
and the data centers specifically
come into Wisconsin.
We're probably gonna have to find a
new template of how we deal
with energy and the data
centers.
You mentioned public education
before. Does that include new
investment or is an overhaul of
regulation? What needs to happen
specifically?
So I'm I
would be fine if we put more money
into education. In fact I expect
that we will, but we need to make
sure that it goes to
goes to children and families.
We should pay good teachers
more and I think
we should reward administrators
that are successful in their
schools. We have to get back to
where we reward success in
education.
And I think that's one
of the way we we fix this
problem of us falling behind
Mississippi and
but I'm not adverse to putting more
money in, but it has there has to
be accountability.
What about the voucher system?
What do you want to see happen with
that?
You know, we've had choice in
Wisconsin and it's worked for
thousands of families across the
state of Wisconsin and we should
continue to have that program.
But I'm a product of public
schools as well as my seven brothers
and sisters. All three of my
daughters went to public schools up
in the Minaqua area.
And public schooling has a long,
proud history in Wisconsin.
We need to make sure that we have a
strong private, public, and
parochial system.
Regardless of how you choose to
educate, we've got to make sure we
have a strong educational system.
And I think it's important to r
remember I have a little bit of a
different perspective than perhaps
some Republicans on this, having
grown up in a small town where
your school is the that public
school is the only place you're
gonna get an education.
We gotta make sure our public
schools are strong also.
What's your number one tax reform
idea?
Property taxes.
We first of all we need to bring
property taxes down.
I would get rid of the 400 year
property tax increase that Governor
Evers put in place.
Talk about death and taxes.
That is the 400 year property
tax increase.
So that should go away immediately,
and then we should freeze property
taxes. People should be able to
afford to stay in their homes
because it is really a problem,
especially for young people, to be
able to afford to buy a new
home. And part of that is
being able to pay the taxes.
Over the course of the last year,
the Wisconsin Supreme Court has
eliminated legislative oversight
over a lot of the agency rule
making process.
Would you like to see some of that
restored?
I think there should be a balance
between the three branches
of government.
And it's been disappointing
to see Governor Evers
and his administration take
advantage of that because that has a
long term that will do long
term harm to the state of Wisconsin
when you do not respect
that delineation
of authority between the three
branches of government.
I will respect the three
branches of government.
What would you like to see in terms
of funding for local municipalities?
Yeah, we well
I as a locally elected of
I serve two terms as a locally
elected official.
I think we need to make sure that
they are well funded.
I think especially on the
infrastructure side in regards to
roads, because that's oftentimes the
biggest thing for local units
of government. We need to make sure
that they have good funding to be
able to maintain their
infrastructure, especially roads
and bridges.
There are multiple mining
exploration projects going on right
now in the North Woods.
You helped write the mining bill
that we have in place.
Is that where you'd like to keep it
or do you think there needs to be
changes to to welcome mining?
I thought we did a good job of
writing the last mining bill for two
reasons.
One is we made sure
that we had the toughest mining law
in the United States so
that we are going to protect the
environment. We also provided
for local control.
I think it's really important for
locals to be able to have input
in regards to these projects.
But this is something, I mean, we've
got a long great history.
I mean, we have a miner on our flag,
right? And we have a long,
proud history of mining here
in in Wisconsin.
And when you look at, we talked
about data centers earlier,
when you look at like wind and
solar, it takes seven, what is
it, seven thousand pounds of copper
in a typical wind turbine.
If we're going to have these
alternate sources of power, we're
going to have to mine.
And we can't just be reliant
on China, especially like for the
rare earths.
We're gonna have to produce some
here in America.
And Wisconsin has a very rich
endowment.
And as long as we do it safely,
both in terms of the people that
work there as well as the
environment, I think we should be
able to do that.
Do you have any concerns over your
own personal safety in this modern
political environment?
You certainly think about it a
little bit, especially in light of
the assassination of Charlie Kirk
and of course the attempts on
President Trump's life in twenty
twenty four where he almost lost
his life. So we do think about
it more at this point, but I
I just
I try to tune it out
because I'm going to do my
job.
And
Wisconsinites are almost
everyone is really good about this
stuff, whether I'm knocking on
doors, seeing people, whatever,
people are almost always respectful.
And I think it's important for us to
be out amongst the public and
I'm not going to stop doing
that just because some people have
their lives threatened.
What would you like to see in terms
of increasing affordable housing in
Wisconsin?
So first of all, we need to
get control of property taxes at
a minimum freeze them.
I would get rid of the 400-year
property tax increase.
But I think we can do a lot of it
via regulatory reform, and I
I refer to it as a
red tape review.
You look at the state of Virginia,
they did something like this, and
they reduced their regulations
largely by getting rid of
duplication by about 25%.
They reduce the cost of building
a new home by about $24,000.
We've seen studies by the Win
Wisconsin Institute for Law and
Liberty where they've said as much
as $80,000 goes in
to the cost of a new home that has
nothing to do with building
materials.
So I think we can get control
of some of that by reducing
duplication in regulations.
And I think also
some local communities need to look
at their zoning codes.
Because I've contacted regularly
by local communities saying, you
know, can you help us?
Affordability is a real problem.
And I always say to them, you gotta
look at your local zoning code first
because that's where a lot of the
cost lies that has nothing to
do with building materials.
We're in the middle of Governor
Evers' plan to overhaul the
Department of Corrections and the
prison system. Would you carry that
forward?
We have to re reform the
Department of Corrections.
Governor Evers, when he ran against
Governor Walker, he said, I
am going to take care of that,
including Lincoln Hills, and he has
not followed through on it.
And when you look at the debacle
over in Wapan, with
I think there's been a couple deaths
over there, I mean that's
unacceptable.
We need reform in the Department of
Corrections.
And I will
I don't know that I'll go in the
same direction of as Governor Evers,
but clearly we have to reform our
correctional system.
No so I voted for
the current law, which
ten years ago when I was in the
state legislature, which is you
can have an abortion up to five
months, and I voted
for that law and as governor
I will uphold it.
Tom Tiffany, thank you so much for
coming in.
It's great to join you, Zach.
All right. Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Enjoy your trip back up.
Rapid fire. This is excellent.
Watch out, you're still tethered
there.