A powerful figure in the state
legislature is not seeking
re-election.
After 22 years representing
his Racine County district and
13 years leading the assembly,
Republican Speaker Robin Voss said
late this week he is retiring from
office.
The Voss announcement comes as
Democrats try to flip control
in the legislature in upcoming
elections under new voting maps.
Senior political reporter Zach
Schultz is at the Capitol with more
and hi Zach.
So describe just how powerful
Speaker Voss has been in the
legislature.
Well, he is the longest serving
assembly speaker in state history,
and that did not come without him
learning how to consolidate power
within his own party, within his
own caucus in the assembly.
He had a lot of nicknames from both
friends and and foes.
Boss Voss, the shadow governor.
It was basically known that
nothing could become law without him
saying yes and signing off and
allowing it to come to the floor in
the Assembly. And he controlled that
chamber for quite a long time.
What does his departure say about
how real the potential
of November elections might be
for the partisan makeup of the
legislature?
Well, Democrats certainly see it as
a positive sign.
They're definitely proclaiming in
all their press releases that this
is the sign Republicans know that
this going to be a Democratic fall
and they're going to pick up those
five seats that they need to flip
the assembly. I wouldn't look as far
into it as that.
In his announcement, he wasn't going
to seek reelection.
Vos said he had a mild heart attack
last fall.
He certainly is.
He said he's going to continue to
campaign.
He certainly set up a machine within
the Republican Party to win those
seats, even when they're facing into
headwinds. So I wouldn't count that
out. It's a lot about optics
though. Democrats are gonna campaign
and say they've got momentum because
of this. And certainly the idea
of what the assembly will look like
in the future without Robin Vos, no
matter who's in charge.
Means there's a lot of uncertainty
coming to the chamber and to the
Capitol.
How realistic is a
flip from Republican to Democratic
majority in the assembly and
Senate?
Well, in the Senate, it's two seats
that the Democrats need to pick up.
They have their eyes on those, and
they feel very confident that
they have got good candidates in
seats. They have got some open
seats. As Republicans are retiring
and not choosing to defend some of
those seats, they're optimistic in
that chamber. In the assembly, it is
an uphill climb.
They had those same seats that they
had two years ago.
On the Senate side, it was seats
that weren't up two years so they
couldn't have done it.
The assembly Democrats had their
chance. They won 10, but they
lost the five. They needed to flip
it.
They've rechained candidates,
they've got their eyes on who they
want to see targeted.
We all know what those battleground
races are going to be.
A lot of it depends on what the wave
looks like at the top, if there is
one, one way or the other.
But down-ballot, and that's one
thing Voss has been known for, is
insulating his candidates in those
seats so that they don't face some
of those political headwinds that
may impact other candidates.
So it is a complete toss-up in the
assembly.
Meanwhile, the assembly was
adjourning with a little undone
business on the floor, including
that deal between the Republicans
and the governor over property tax
relief.
That could still happen, or what do
we think?
Well, there's always time.
The assembly, Republicans say that
this is the last time they're going
to be in session, that they're
taking the rest of the year off to
get ready for the campaign.
However, there are floor session
dates available in March if they
wanna come back in regular order.
And obviously they can always come
back in special session or
extraordinary session.
This is the kind of deal that could
get done on a moment's notice simply
because there's a lot of political
incentives going into the fall for
both sides to wanna figure out how
to spend some of this surplus and
campaign on that.
However, the two sides are
not on the same page right now and
they are running out of their own
set deadlines for how long they
have. So.
I wanted to ask you about the
bill that passed in both chambers,
that's the Medicaid expansion
to give one year postpartum coverage
to new mothers.
I thought FOSS didn't like that.
Yes, he was the lone person standing
in the way of that bill becoming law
for at least a couple sessions now.
He told me last December he didn't
believe in expanding the welfare
state, which is why he exposed
Medicaid expansion.
However, the people that were lined
up, the Republicans out front, to
announce they'd reached a compromise
were those very vulnerable assembly
Republicans running to protect that
majority for next year.
It wasn't a coincidence that they
were ones to announce that that bill
was gonna pass. And in the end, Voss
voted for it on the floor.
All right, well, Zach Schultz,
thanks so much.