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The only mistake that

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I made is to say

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once in a period I said I'm running

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for Congress. I forgot that I'm

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writing for Governor.

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It's a crazy lunch, but I'm not

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gonna just have breakfast or dinner,

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let's sit over here, just cause the

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sun's shining.

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Oh, okay, yeah.

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Actually, we were at a Mandela

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Barnes event, and he said he has a

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friend named Tiffany Tom.

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And he said her social media is all

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messed up.

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Alright.

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I thought that was pretty funny.

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You good? Alright.

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Well, I guess we've got the

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Democratic primary is kind of going

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a little nuts right now.

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What's your reaction to all the

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chaos over there?

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I mean, when you look at the

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candidates, it's not surprising,

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especially with the injection of

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the big government socialism that's

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really being pushed.

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And we've always known that that was

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going to be the end point for them,

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but they wanted to get there

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gradually.

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Well, they're boiling the frog fast,

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is what they're doing at this point.

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And they just don't want to admit

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that that's ultimately where they

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were heading. There really isn't

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a... Worth a difference between the

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candidates. I mean they're very

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similar and whoever comes out of the

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primary is going to be advocating

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for the same stuff.

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Is that going to be hard to

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translate to voters if someone other

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than Francesca Hong wins because it

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looks like the party's trying to

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keep it away from her if they

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call it a more centrist?

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That the voter might believe, oh,

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they're more centrists than her.

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I mean, is that a concern that

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because of her being there that

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makes them all look a little more

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centist?

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No, no, I don't think so.

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I mean, when you have a candidate

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that said America's founding

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was awful, when you a candidate

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who could not keep the health

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insurance in

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place for county employees,

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I mean they have serious problems,

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but that's not what I'm going to be

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focused on. I'm focused on the

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future of Wisconsin.

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We're going to make the state more

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affordable.

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We're going to make state government

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more accountable to the taxpayers

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and we are going to

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revive Wisconsin and make it one of

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the great states in America once

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again. This is a state that has

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really great potential that

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needs to be unlocked at this point.

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We're gonna do that.

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Talk to me a little about the

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advantage you've had of kind of

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introducing yourself to the rest of

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the state that doesn't know you as a

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congressman and the advantage of

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mostly having the field to yourself

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and the money to actually advertise.

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Yeah, I mean it was one of the goals

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from the start was to make sure that

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people got to meet me on

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my own terms because

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oftentimes when your opponents get

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to do it.

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They do not relay it accurately,

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I would just put it that way.

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And we're able to tell it

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in our own terms.

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I mean, people see it.

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I mean I grew up on a dairy farm

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like so many people did

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in Wisconsin.

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We learned the value of hard work.

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We raised our family,

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you know, in a middle class setting.

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We worked hard as small business

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people. It was never easy,

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but we were better for it.

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I mean we achieved, as I said, on

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the stage here.

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We achieved the American dream here

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in Wisconsin. I just want young

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people to also be able to achieve

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their dreams here in Wisconsin.

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So what is this contrast going

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to be like when we flip the script

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into August 12th and beyond,

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where you do have an opponent you

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can actually name and identify,

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start digging into their record?

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What will that look like for voters?

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It really will be crazy versus

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common sense. I mean, when you see

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these things like abolishing the

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Senate, abolishing prisons,

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and when you see someone

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with that unfortunate

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shooting in Madison come

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out and say the police may

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have executed that person,

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I mean that's really wild rhetoric.

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People from Wisconsin don't want

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that. They want to have a steady

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hand as their governor and someone

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who has a vision for

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making Wisconsin.

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A really great state once again and

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that's what I'm going to bring is

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that steady hand.

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You were talking about the ads and

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defining yourself versus letting

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your opponents, and I guess the

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contrast to four years ago or even

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a Huggies race where those primaries

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really took the ability away

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from the candidate to define

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themselves first and they got

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slammed to so many ads versus the

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atmosphere you're running in where

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people are learning about you from

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you. It's completely different,

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right?

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I mean, we planned our campaign out

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this way and we thought we could,

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I mean we've been fortunate, there's

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no doubt, but this is

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how we envisioned it and being able

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to deliver the message to the people

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of the state of Wisconsin because we

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knew this was going to be a really

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big election in 2026.

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I mean I could have stayed home and

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had a safe seat in Congress for

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probably as long as I wanted to,

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but that's not why I got into

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politics.

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I got in to politics to make

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Wisconsin a better state.

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And we did that back when

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I was first elected to the

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legislature in 2010 when we

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fixed that enormous budget deficit

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of three billion dollars.

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I'm in it to fix problems and

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that's what we're going to do when I

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become governor.

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A few months ago, a lot of

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Republicans were saying, well, it's

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an off year, it is not a good year,

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the presidential is going to weigh

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down the party.

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Are you seeing more optimism as

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people look at your campaign and

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say, wait a minute, there's a real

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chance.

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Yeah, there's really good optimism

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out there. I mean, we see it with

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this event that we're doing tonight.

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I mean there's well over 100 people

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that are here. We've been doing

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these Tavern Talks all over

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Wisconsin and people are really

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optimistic and they are really

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motivated.

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They know what's at stake here in

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2026.

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They don't wanna go the route of big

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government socialism.

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They want to save Wisconsin and

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that's exactly what we're going to

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do. And I think that message is

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going to resonate all the way from

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here to November and I believe

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we're going to win as a result of

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it. And I've really,

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really tried to be positive

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in regards to there's

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problems, we need to fix

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them, but after we fix them

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we're going to lead Wisconsin

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in the right direction.

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Thanks for your time, really

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appreciate it.

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Always good to join you, Zach.