Highlands
North Carolina.
It's right near Asheville.
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 McCaussian 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 in 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 face, 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 costs that are already here, you
now, 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 Donalds 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.
He's got a lot of strong suits, for
sure, but probably his weakest area
is fundraising.
He's $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 going to pick the
winner of this primary.
Whoever he endorses in this primary
will win the race, for
sur on our side.
So who else had a puppy?
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
banning about our 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
in, 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 Kovde'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, that's where, yeah.
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
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 ten 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 dollars 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 got state Senator
Kelderoy's who's, you know, who's
on the Joint Finance Committee and
who's run a couple of times before,
you know, 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 going to get affordable health
care and affordable housing, who are
gonna make sure that education is
protected and strengthen 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 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, they're two different races,
but it also shows that Democrats
are able to 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 been able do. Because again,
they are 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 know, snatch snap
benefits, you literally take the
food out of babies
and children. 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
gonna seek reelection or not.
On our most recent finance report,
she hadn't raised any money.
My advice to her is if you're not
gonna 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 gonna be as hotly
contested as the last two
were. I don't think it'll be $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 has and 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. The last two Supreme Courts.
Yeah, the last two Supreme Court justices
who have lost were appointed.
They did not win those seats.
And so she would.
Bradley would be our best shot, for
sure.
All right, 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, right, right.
I was listening. I always look at
the Jeffries who said they knew if
Trump said what he said about