Right.
Exactly. For some reason in case I'm
going to need that information one
day.
I don't know.
How to recognize it.
That's the way I am with my husband
with like eighties music and stuff.
I'm like, you should let that go.
You got like new memory chips.
To put in there.
Yeah, for sure.
Because you know, I I could not
tell you which decade music
came from in the last two twenty
five years, but like in
the ra age range of the eighties and
nineties I could like almost give
you the month it came out.
For sure. Like those core identity
things and yeah, the worst is when
you reintroduce your kids to some of
your favorite stuff and they're
like, This sucks.
Oh my god, my kids have like my son
Tucker has this playlist that is
so perfectly my
high school years.
It's coming.
It's coming yeah, it's weird it's
coming back. My stepdaughter is now
into like Beastie Boys in A C D C
and it's like
What are you talking about?
Like why do you know the beastie
voice? There's nothing better coming
out right now, so you can't
blame 'em for that.
No, no, but it's like it is weird to
feel like that's your retro.
Like when they say this classic hit
from you know when you were a
freshman in high school vintage.
It's like, Oh no, I'm classic rock.
Yeah.
On that note, we're set to go.
We're good? All right.
Well, Missy Hughes, thanks so much
for joining us. Good to see you.
So for voters who don't know you,
introduce yourself and tell us why
you're running for governor.
Yeah, so I'm a mother of three.
I've lived in Wisconsin since
almost two thousand and we raised
our family here, my husband and I
working for Organic Valley.
And I worked for Organic Valley for
seventeen years.
And then Governor Evers asked
if I was interested in running
economic development for the state.
So for the last six years I was
the head of Wisconsin Economic
Development Corporation.
Is there a single issue that drives
you or perhaps a lane within the
party that helps define you?
You know, it it's all about the
economy and building a strong
economy for all Wisconsinites.
That's what I did for years working
at Organic Valley, helping farmers
stay on their farms, and then at
WEDC building an economy,
whether it was in Milwaukee or Anago
or Superior, all around the state,
working with communities and
businesses so that everyday
Wisconsinites can succeed.
How much money do you think you need
to raise in order to to win this
primary?
Oh, you know, the the the money
factor in politics is really
interesting and I have an incredible
network. I think that the race
is gonna be anywhere between
two or three million dollars for the
primary, but you know, I'm just
guessing. I I'm not sure that
I have the best answer that for
that. I can tell you that headed
into the general, which is what I'm
focused on, it is going to be an
incredible race.
All eyes of the nation are gonna be
on Wisconsin.
You personally, how do you define
the difference between negative
campaigning against a member of your
own party versus just defining the
differences between two candidates?
You know, I'm excited that Wisconsin
has a lot of choices for the
Democratic primary and
my goal is to make sure that
Wisconsinites know my story.
I have a story that is fresh and
different.
I've never run for office before.
I'm the only one who is from
outside of Madison or Milwaukee.
So I have a lot to say about myself
and I'm gonna be focused on telling
my story.
For primary voters who are tuning in
right now, should they be looking
for the the candidate where they
align most closely on the issues or
should they be thinking about
electability?
You know, as a Wisconsinite, I want
to make sure that we keep the
governor's seat blue
and that we have someone who can
lead the state and be successful in
building an economy for the state.
And that's why just as as a citizen
of Wisconsin, I'm focused on
electability and making sure that we
get the right candidate winning in
November.
For this democratic primary, most of
the candidates have connections to
Madison or Milwaukee, southeast
Wisconsin, or you know, even your
your position ties you to Madison.
What's your your goal to reach the
rest of the state and let people
know that you you can connect with
those other areas?
Yeah, well first and foremost, I
live in western Wisconsin.
So I am from outside of Madison
and Milwaukee.
I have worked all around the state.
We've had impact in all seventy two
counties. So, you know, whether it's
a small business in Washburn
that we've supported or Milwaukee
Tool or Pfizer in downtown
Milwaukee, we've had impact
all around the state and so I
can speak to creating a statewide
coalition that carries the day next
November.
What will be the impact of Donald
Trump on this election?
You know, I think what we're really
seeing is just a devastation
in the economy.
As I'm talking to businesses,
they are pulling back, they're
not rehiring people, they're
stopping investments.
And I'm as I'm talking to everyday
Wisconsinites, they are struggling
to make ends meet.
This is all because of Donald
Trump's policies.
This is a man made crisis that we
are in right now.
You know, looking at what's
happening with the farmers
out in western Wisconsin, we saw
farmers plowing under soybeans,
which is insanity.
And now Donald Trump is offering
a bailout to try to make up for
his failed policies and again
this man made crisis that he has
created.
When you look at the the diversity
that the democratic primary is
offering We're still hearing rumors
of other candidates out there.
Why does it seem like there's some
people within the party that want a
white guy to get on the ticket
somehow?
You know, like I said, Wisconsin
is gonna have a lot of different
choices. And what I hear from
Wisconsinites is they want someone
who is not the same old,
same old, not someone who has
just looking for the next rung up on
their career, someone who is
really demonstrated impact
and service to the state.
That's what I've done for my entire
career again, working for farmers,
working in the dairy industry and
manufacturing, which are huge in
Wisconsin.
And so I think that, you know, th
the the m the more the merrier,
whoever, you know, wants to come
and join this adventure of running
for governor. But at the end of the
day, we need the best candidate who
can win next November and that's me.
As governor, there's a good chance
you could have a democratic
legislature behind you.
In that case, what's your A B one?
What's the first bill you want to
sign?
Well, the first thing that the
governor comes in and does in
at any time when there's a new
governor is write the budget.
And so I will be working closely
with whoever's in the legislature
to make sure that we have a budget
that is immediately addressing
challenges that Wisconsinites are
facing. Things like health care
and child care costs, but also
we have, you know, a real challenge
around public education.
We need to reinvest in our
teachers and our schools, and
we need to make sure that our
university and our tech colleges are
funded in a way that helps them move
forward. It's all about investment.
It's all about taking the dollars
that we have in Madison and
leveraging them around the state to
make great things happen for
Wisconsinites.
There's also a good chance that
Republicans could control part of
the legislature.
What's your history of working
across the aisle?
You know, I I would say I've was
confirmed twice by the Republican
Senate unanimously as Secretary
of Economic Development.
And if you asked any of them, I
believe that they would say they
have a record of working with me.
I would also say that I've had a
bipartisan board at WEDC
for six years, and in that
whole time we had two close votes.
Other than that, the board was
practically unanimous in
many of our moves, approving our
budgets, passing programs.
So I have a a a mindset
of working with everybody who
is willing to come to the table and
have good discussions and think
about how do we make Wisconsin
better.
The Public Service Commission is
looking at some large utility rate
hikes and we're seeing data centers
being proposed all over the state.
What's your policy on that and do
you think we need to put some laws
in place regarding those issues?
You know, I think the most important
thing to remember when it comes to
data centers is we have leverage
in those conversations.
The data centers wanna be here
in Wisconsin for the main reason
is that it's cold and it doesn't
cost as much for them to cool those
big data centers because of Mother
Nature and just the weather that's
all around them.
So if they want to come to our
party, if they wanna be here, let's
invite them, but let's be at the
table making sure that they are good
partners for the state and making
sure that we are negotiating
the best deals that we can for the
state. I'm somebody who's been at
that table. I've had those
conversations, I've worked with the
big data centers and the big
providers, I've worked with many big
companies in negotiating for
Wisconsin, and I have that
experience that I would bring to the
table and I would be very hands
on in making sure that we're doing
everything we can to protect
Wisconsin ratepayers, Wisconsin's
environment, but also take advantage
of the opportunity that's offered by
the investment we're seeing in
technology.
You mentioned public education.
Does that just need more money or is
there an overhaul that needs to be
involved in that?
You know, right now we're in this
situation where we have said
that competition is good.
We s decades ago we decided, you
know, competition is gonna make our
public schools better.
But one thing what we're not doing
is looking at the rating of how
other schools are doing that are
receiving public funds.
Whether those are charter schools
or other types of choice schools,
we need to have a scale that helps
us understand how are they
competing. It isn't necessarily
that something must be better than
public schools. It's let's have a
real accountability, make sure
our kids are achieving and getting
the quality that they need in order
to succeed.
I will do everything I can to
support public schools and public
school teachers because that is so
fundamental to how
we are as a state.
We're based in education.
We've just had eight years of an
education governor who did
tremendous work and I was proud to
work for him. But we need to make
sure that we continue to invest and
put those dollars to work in our
communities.
When it comes to the voucher system,
do you think that needs to be
restricted, expanded, left alone?
I think that we need to look and
make sure that we have good
accountability and transparency
first. Before we start making
decisions about stopping or starting
or eliminating, we need to
understand what are they providing
for our children and our families.
Because there are families that are
counting on those voucher schools,
but at the same time it can't
come at the cost of public schools
and it can't come at the cost of
making sure that we're funding a
special education.
What's the number one tax reform
that you'd like to see happen?
I would like to see that we're
making sure that when Wisconsinites
pay into their income
taxes or their property taxes, those
dollars are getting reinvested.
Right now we have a system where the
money is coming to Wisconsin,
to Madison and it is staying here
and not being reinvested in our
communities. When we pay our
hard earned dollars into property
taxes or income taxes, we expect
those to be leveraged back across
the state. And so making sure that
we have a system that is responsibly
deploying those dollars is the first
thing that I think is most
important.
Over the course of the last year,
the Wisconsin Supreme Court has
rolled back legislative oversight of
the rule making process, and there's
been some people saying that we need
to have some bipartisan reform to
put some oversight back in place.
What do you think on those issues?
You know, there is a a broken
process between the
executive branch and our legislative
branch. That broken process has been
years and years in the making.
And it is because we can't find
our way to allow the other
side to have a win or to have
the other side to have a good
conversation about these things.
What we need to do is get people
back to the table. And as governor,
what I would want to do is be
sitting down with legislators who
have concerns around particular
regulations, understanding what
those concerns are, but then saying,
you know, we gotta move these things
forward. People need to know that
government can function.
We can't have these things
continually hung up just like the
surplus in Madison and not
being answered for the people of
Wisconsin.
What would you like to see in terms
of funding for local governments?
You know, local governments are
really struggling under the weight
of a lack of funding and and years
of lack of funding.
I had a chance to sit down
with the local police department in
Vernon County.
I did a ride along and and sat and
talked with the sheriff, and he
explained to me some of the real
challenges they're seeing when it
comes to taking care of their
officers, but also taking care of
the people who are in their
facilities.
And you know, when we're making
decisions about you know,
whether to support the mental health
care care of our law
enforcement officers versus
making sure that we're providing
other services to Wisconsinites,
and these are very, very difficult
conversations.
We need to do better and make sure
that local communities have
resources.
My platform of building the economy
is really focused on looking
at the main streets around the
state, saying, What do you need?
What are your priorities, giving
some resources so that then they can
start to generate momentum and
be able to have local economies that
are providing good jobs, health
care, and the services that
Wisconsinites need.
Currently there are multiple m
exploratory mining projects
happening in northern Wisconsin that
could develop into full scale mines.
W do you think that our current
mining law is sufficient to deal
with that? And what are your
thoughts on mining?
You know, I think that we've seen
decades of
ignoring people's rights
when it comes to some of that land,
whether it's our tribal nations
in the state, and also ignoring
the economic, I'm sorry, the
environmental impact on
some of our areas.
Natural resources in Wisconsin
are the basis of our economy.
We have to protect them while at the
same time we have to use them
responsibly.
We have to make sure that our mining
laws are in tune
with current mindset
around how we protect people's
rights in their in the land and
protecting the environment, with
making sure that we keep
using the resources in a responsible
way.
Do you have any concerns about your
own personal safety in this
political environment while
campaigning?
You know, no more than
how dangerous it is to drive
here from western Wisconsin on an
icy day.
You know, certainly it's
disappointing to see the
level of
noise that is created
around politics
these days and Wisconsinites are
looking for someone who's gonna
bring that noise level down.
That's what I'm going to do.
And you know, despite security
concerns, despite things like that,
I have the the energy to be in this
conversation. That's what
Wisconsinites need.
We need leaders who are ready for
day in, day out working through
these these issues in reasonable
ways, and that's what I'm gonna do.
What would you like to do in terms
of increasing affordable housing
across the state?
You know, housing is a is a vexing
problem, but it is not
insurmountable.
And what we've seen at WEDC,
the the work that we did was to
support innovative houd housing,
whether it's bringing a nursing home
into housing, a nursing home that's
closed in Gilman, we were able
to support making that into
apartments or schools
that have closed due to
lack of population,
turning those into housing.
But we're also seeing, you know, new
housing being built.
And so what I would want to do is
make sure that local communities
have the resources they need to
provide the infrastructure, the
water, the sewer for new
housing, but then also making sure
that we're supporting developers
all around the state as they make
the move to build housing.
I think we can do it we have to find
the best practices that are being
utilized all around the state and
and replicate them.
But we it's one step at a time.
It's a mountain that has to be
climbed, and the way that you do
that is by taking one step at a
time.
Right now, Governor Evers has a
ambitious plan to overhaul the
Department of Corrections.
Would you carry that plan forward?
I would I watched that plan
be developed.
I have great, great respect
for the team at the Department of
Corrections who has put that plan
together along with Governor Evers
administration and we need to get
moving on that.
You know, it it might not be
perfect, but nothing ever
is when it comes to corrections.
It's a very difficult situation.
And but we need to make improvements
on that. We need to modernize that
system. It is costing us more
now to keep the old
system in place than it would be to
build a new system and get that
rolling.
Would you like to see any changes to
Wisconsin's abortion law?
I would like to see it proactively
protected.
Women's right to choose right
now is dependent on court cases
and we need to have
a law on the on the books that
protects women's right to choose,
protects women's rights to
take care of everything that they
need for their bodies and puts women
first in that conversation.
Mr. Hughes, thanks for your time.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you for coming in.
Appreciate it.
Mining laws, Zach.