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The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is coming up, and polling shows a majority of you say

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you don't know enough about the candidates.

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Let's fix that.

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This is Inside Wisconsin Politics.

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I'm Sean Johnson here with my colleagues, Zach Schultz and Rich Kramer.

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Hey, guys.

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Hello.

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Hey.

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So this is not something we're just making up here.

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There has been polling on this race, and the leading vote-getter in that poll was a majority

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of people saying they don't know who they're going to support.

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That is so different than in 2023 and 2025 when we in Wisconsin were the super bowls

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of election for our Supreme Court races.

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So Zach, what is the difference this year?

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The simple difference is this isn't for the majority.

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The liberals will have a four-person majority for the next session, no matter what.

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If Chris Taylor wins, it goes to 5-2.

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If Mariel is our wins, it stays at 4-3.

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But that simply is the difference between $100 million in campaign and the attention of

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the world on this very important swing state, and of course, decisions on election laws

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versus a snooze fest, even in the state for people that normally tune in for these elections

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are still trying to figure out, oh, when is that coming up?

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And that's not hyperbole either.

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That $100 million was a real number from last election when we shattered the 2023 record,

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not just for Wisconsin, but for national judicial races.

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Rich, the 2025 race was the first one you'd covered really closely.

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What was a day in life like on that one, and how does it compare to what you've observed

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in this Supreme Court race?

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I mean, it's like night and day.

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I covered former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimmel spent a day with him on the

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campaign trail, and first off the bat, he took money directly from the Republican Party

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of Wisconsin.

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Also, I was at a campaign event at the Republican Party in La Crosse where Brad Schimmel framed

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the race as a fight between good and evil.

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And he also used an analogy of driving the serpent out of the Garden of Eden.

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So the language used by Schimmel is very different than what we've seen from Judge Lazar.

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She's promoting that she is the independent candidate compared to Chris Taylor, who she

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attacks as being an activist and former Democratic lawmaker.

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But she just hasn't made the same kind of statements that I've heard that Schimmel did

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last year.

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It's almost like an old-fashioned Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, Zach.

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It harkens back to a day where things weren't as heated, that your TV wasn't filled with

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ads nonstop in the lead-up to it, where you really did have to pay attention to learn

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who these people were.

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Now, it's still Republican Democrat.

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They may use the label's conservative liberal, but Chris Taylor is a former legislative Democrat

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but now independent judge.

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But her connections to the Wisconsin, the Democratic Party, run deep.

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Lazar's connections to Republican Party covered go deep.

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I've attended multiple events with her, which she's been speaking at GOP rallies with the

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next speaker's Eric Tony running for attorney general.

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So it's not like either these are running down independent lanes.

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They're still following that traditional, the new path.

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If you want to become on the Supreme Court, you keep the political parties at an arm's

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length in your name, but you take all the money under the table, you take all their

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effort for grassroots because that really matters when it comes to getting people out

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to vote.

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Those turnout operations, those dollar operations, still belong to the parties.

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There is no independent structure for anyone to remain independent and actually win a campaign.

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So let's talk about the candidates here.

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Let's start with Chris Taylor.

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She got into the race first.

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What should people know about Chris Taylor's background and what led her to this point?

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Well, the clearest thing is she had worked for abortion rights groups before she became

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a member of the legislature.

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She ran as a Democrat and assembly race in the Dane County area.

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I covered that race way back when she was here through a lot of the tumultuous times

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in the Capitol.

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And then she left.

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She was appointed a Dane County judge by Governor Evers.

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And she ran for the appellate court and became a judge there, which is what she's

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doing today.

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So she has followed the judicial pattern, but she's got heavy partisan activity in her

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background.

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And she doesn't deny that, but like every judge or justice, she won't be the first one.

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I mean, former justice prosser served as the assembly speaker for Republicans.

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And back in the day when they could say, well, I'm a conservative justice, not a conservative

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politician.

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With Chris Taylor in this modern environment, I don't know if it really matters because

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the candidates are so tied to the parties anyway that her background doesn't seem to

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have any baggage.

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And we saw with Brad Schimmels, Rich, as you were talking about last year, he's a former

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Republican attorney general for Wisconsin, and he did not shy away from those Republican

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connections.

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But you see a difference with Lazar and how she's handled herself.

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Rich.

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Oh, sorry.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So Lazar has been focusing on her career in the courtroom.

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She's been a lawyer since 1989.

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She worked for the Department of Justice under former Republican attorney general JB Van

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Holland.

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And that was in the early years of Republican control of state government.

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So after 2011, when a lot of laws were passed, that wound up in court.

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That's tried to sue to stop the voting maps passed by Republicans, abortion restrictions,

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and act 10.

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So Maria Lazar, as an assistant DOJ attorney, was representing the state and defending

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those.

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And she was elected to the Waukesha County Circuit Court, but that was both of her races

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there were unopposed.

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And then in 2022, she became a judge on the Second District Court of Appeals.

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But to your point, yes, she's leaning on her experience in the courtroom, but also her

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political ads kind of let you know where she stands on certain things, or at least where

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her campaign does.

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So there's plenty of signals out there.

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You know, some of these candidates, when they run for Supreme Court, they come from

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the law.

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And maybe you're hearing about them for the first time or getting introduced to them

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for the first time.

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But you know, Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar, as you've all mentioned, have been around

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for a little while.

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I remember Maria Lazar defending Republican-drawn legislative maps in 2012, alongside co-counsel

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Dan Kelly, who former Supreme Court Justice and who ran in a couple of races in loss.

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I remember Chris Taylor very well for her role in the minority on the legislature's

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budget committee, where if you have that position, you are expected to be able to talk and defend

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every position and attack the majority's position aggressively.

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And so she did that well.

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She wasn't just a backbencher legislator.

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She was the person who was on that front line of attack.

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And you know, since she's become a judge, that's changed.

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And she has indicated, and her friends have indicated, look, she knows this is a different

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role on the court.

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But it is striking a very big change for her to go from that attack, attack, attack,

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democratic legislator to a judge going to cease things differently.

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You mentioned those ads, Rich, from Maria Lazar.

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She is trying to go for this kind of above-it-all judge.

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I don't want to get into politics.

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The ads, they tell a different story, though.

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I mean, she's definitely not going that way with her campaign.

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Yeah, the ads have focused on basically attacking Taylor on things like abortion.

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Lazar's campaign adds, say, that Taylor wants abortion up to the moment of birth, which

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is a line you've heard a lot of Republicans say over the years.

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And the latest one that I think just came out this week.

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There's a woman saying that she's afraid of her daughter having to compete against

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biological men in school sports, which Republican themes pulled right from congressional races

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and state assembly races, governor races, hitting the points that work for them.

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Yeah, so the ad lays out the political part of it.

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And then you've got a picture of Lazar saying that she'll uphold the law.

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So it seems like she's still trying to walk that line, but the ads do send a cycle.

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Well, so let me let me ask you.

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So we've seen low turnout elections in the past.

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And that was at a time when conservatives really want a lot of these races, when there

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was lower turnout, when their consistent voters from the suburbs of Milwaukee came out to

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vote no matter what.

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And the liberal candidates really struggled to get the attention that they needed to win

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these races.

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And then we saw things flip from Rebecca Dallot on in 2018.

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So what do you see as the impact of less attention right now on this race?

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I think we'll find out what a less attention race means here.

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I think though, in the era of Donald Trump for one, you know, since Donald Trump realigned

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the Republican Party and its base of voters, a base that reliably elected conservative

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justices for many years up until, you know, around 2017, we don't know what that shift

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is going to mean in a lower turnout election.

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But we know that conservatives start out at kind of a structural disadvantage in these

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races.

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And we also know that liberals have just found a pattern for what it takes to run, talk about

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their values.

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They're not afraid to talk about cases that have happened.

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They're not afraid to talk about women's health.

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And it's just been a winning formula for them in, you know, really since 2018 with one exception

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in 2019, that has been the liberal path to victory year in and year out.

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So but there have been a couple cases, Zach, that you have asked both candidates about.

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We actually got to hear them.

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You gave them a chance anyway to weigh in on some very high profile races that came before

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the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

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Let's look at those.

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If we can, there was one about the 2020 election, which we will be talking about forever as

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reporters, I think.

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And this was a, there were a lot of challenges to the election results and to Joe Biden's

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victory in Wisconsin that came before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

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What did you ask the candidates?

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So the, the case that was ultimately decided that election in Wisconsin was called Trump

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v. Biden and it was brought by Trump's lawyers, one of which is Jim Troopis, who is currently

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being prosecuted in Dane County Court for forgery related to the false electors thing tied in

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around the same time period.

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It's a very small world in law, especially in political lawyers times.

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But yes, that case when all the way to the Supreme Court and the question was the Trump

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administration or the Trump campaign wanted to throw out 200,000 votes in Wisconsin, specifically

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in Dane and Milwaukee counties regarding absentee ballots.

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And the question before the Supreme Court was, should they even take the case?

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So the question was standing in the legal sense of, did Donald Trump and his campaign

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have a legal right to even file a lawsuit in the first place?

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Ultimately, it was a four, three decision and this is at a time when conservatives controlled

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the court, four to three, that said, no, we won't take the case.

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It was Brian Hagadorn, who ultimately sided with the three liberals to throw out the

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case.

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That solidified the win, Biden won Wisconsin definitively, election conspiracies be damned.

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And it was the three conservatives who didn't necessarily say they would have thrown out

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the votes, but they said we should at least hear the case.

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When I asked both candidates about this, Chris Taylor was absolutely on the side of the liberal

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candidate saying, of course, they made the right decision and they never should have

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thrown out those votes, should have never gotten that far.

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It was Maria Lazar, who really didn't want to take a position on it, but she said the

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issue of standing is still going to come back before this court, which is true.

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And she won't even go the one step further, because I asked her point blank, like, there

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are people who are going to hear this answer and say, well, what about the 200,000 votes

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that we're going to get thrown out?

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And she said, well, I don't want to weigh in on that.

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I don't want to talk about that.

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And that was just a place she wasn't willing to go.

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And the Democratic Party and Taylor's campaign immediately jumped all over that saying she's

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still connected to election deniers and conspiracy and this whole issue.

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So, you know, the 2020 election will not go away.

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It's still present.

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And it's present in their answers, too.

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Yeah.

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Rich, that is two things can be true.

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That is a position that a lawyer can take that, look, this has to deal with standing.

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We're not going to get into it.

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Another thing that is undeniably true is that there are people in Maria Lazar's base or

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the conservative base who have strong feelings about the 2020 election.

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Yeah, they absolutely do.

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So in 2022, she was endorsed by people, she was attacked for being endorsed by people

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like Michael Gableman and also for associating with Troopis.

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Gableman is a former Supreme Court justice who led the 2020 election investigation that

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was kind of widely panned and also he was fired by Assembly Speaker Robin Voss who had

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hired him before.

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I mean, it was a whole thing.

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So she's still getting hit for even associating with those two people.

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But yeah, the standing issue, the other thing that comes to mind is I've, you know, we've

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heard the president, President Donald Trump say, well, you know, all those cases, they

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never looked at the cases.

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They just found these technicalities and they tossed them out.

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That's not true.

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There was plenty of cases that were dismissed on the merits, lack of evidence, et cetera.

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It just kind of reminded me of that when I heard that answer from Lazar.

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And I've seen that same answer from a lot of people who do believe that the 2020 election

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was stolen.

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And Zach, I feel like we can't talk about a court race in Wisconsin these days without

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talking about the issue of abortion.

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That's another one where you asked the candidates about their positions.

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What was your question and how did they handle that?

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Specifically the question was how would they have decided if they had been on the court

234
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,600
when call versus Ermansky was brought before the court.

235
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:52,920
To be clear, that was the case that looked to throw out the 1849 abortion ban from Wisconsin.

236
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,920
That was the attorney general suing a boy again.

237
00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:56,920
That wasn't the point.

238
00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,720
It was that was what the case was called for three.

239
00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:04,520
The liberal majority throughout that law said it was annulled essentially by laws passed

240
00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,720
after that, specifically one by Scott Walker and the Republicans.

241
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,360
And Chris Taylor said it was absolutely the correct decision.

242
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:12,760
Maria Lazar.

243
00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,720
That's again, didn't say how she would have voted, but she kind of answered it in the

244
00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:21,000
end of her answer by saying, well, if I win, it'll still be a 4-3 court.

245
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:26,120
So I wouldn't have changed the outcome of that case, which sounds a lot like her saying

246
00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,040
she would have decided with the conservatives on the case, which really shouldn't be all

247
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,040
that shocking.

248
00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:35,040
Those are who her colleagues would be if she wins and then another conservative wins and

249
00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:36,320
she would be in the majority.

250
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:37,480
And who knows?

251
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:41,200
That is the question that Taylor and other people are saying was if the court flips again,

252
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,440
well, abortion rights come up before the court.

253
00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:48,000
I will say Lazar finished her answer by saying, however, she views that Supreme Court decision

254
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,120
as final and that the abortion issue is settled as far as the courts are determined.

255
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:56,680
Obviously, it's not settled when it comes to gubernatorial and legislative elections.

256
00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,920
So those will still play out and we're going to be covering a lot of that coming up.

257
00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:03,880
But their answers kind of fell into the camps that you might expect them to, especially

258
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,080
given their messaging and ads.

259
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:11,760
And Rich, there was another finding in the Marquette poll that we recently covered that

260
00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,320
it's hard to say where people stand on the candidates when more than half a voter say

261
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:16,320
they don't know.

262
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:21,320
But what we did see, which you saw, there's a lot of tells in there about which side is

263
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:24,720
more enthusiastic right now at this moment in time.

264
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:25,960
Yeah, big time.

265
00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:30,880
There was a big disparity in terms of who is excited to vote in the April 7 election.

266
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,280
So some numbers all run off here.

267
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,000
People saying that they're certain to vote.

268
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:41,720
On April 7th, Democrats are up 18 points over Republicans.

269
00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:46,520
How important the election is to the outcome or how important is the election outcome to

270
00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:47,520
you.

271
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,040
That was a 19 point spread in Democrats favor as well.

272
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:55,280
So there's all kinds of metrics and not to mention that President Trump had his lowest

273
00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,520
net negative approval rating in Marquette poll history.

274
00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,560
So those are all some headwinds for conservative candidates.

275
00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:10,400
Zach, I guess against that backdrop, what can Maria Lazar point to and say, I got a good

276
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:11,880
chance nonetheless.

277
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:16,120
The quick answer is she's relying on Hagadorn's race from 2019.

278
00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:20,720
Like her, he was another conservative candidate who was vastly outspent and written off towards

279
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:21,720
the end of the race.

280
00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,920
People thought that he was not going to win so much so that the liberal candidate at the

281
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:29,440
time really took her foot off the pedal when it came to running through the finish line.

282
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,800
Lazar directly points to that race and says that's the path to follow.

283
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:33,800
That's get out the vote.

284
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:34,800
That's grassroots advocacy.

285
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,080
If we can't win on ads, we have to make sure our voters get to the polls, especially in

286
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:40,800
a lower turnout election.

287
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,120
Taylor said she's aware of it.

288
00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:45,200
She's going to run through the tape, not let enough the pedal at all.

289
00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:50,000
And she is running a different kind of race than the judge Newbauer who ran in that year's

290
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:51,720
race, you know, ran.

291
00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,800
I mean, you mentioned it, taking her feet off the pedal.

292
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,040
She ran more like a judge than a candidate, I guess, in that race.

293
00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,160
So we'll see how that plays out in the closing days.

294
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,880
Thanks for joining us for this week's Inside Wisconsin Politics.

295
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,920
Our colleague Anya VanWack and Nok will be back next week.

296
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:13,400
Be sure to follow us on PBSWisconsin.org, WPR.org, YouTube, or wherever you get your

297
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:14,120
podcasts.

298
00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:47,720
Are they going to be able to edit that together?

299
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:51,360
I'm sure we'll be able to cut that out, but no.

300
00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:56,520
So my question for future references is, was my cue too subtle because I tried?

301
00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:02,080
I said your name and then left it so I don't think so because I was just too nervous.

302
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:03,000
I didn't hear it.

303
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,560
I was just waiting for Sean voice and so he's saying he wasn't paying attention to me at

304
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:08,080
all.

305
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,080
Well, that's not what I'm admitting.

306
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,680
You can infer what you like, but yeah, I got it.

307
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:14,680
I was just so nervous.

308
00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:15,680
I was too in my head.

309
00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:16,680
I wasn't listening to the conversation.

310
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:17,680
No, that's not a big deal.

311
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:19,880
It's more of for the future.

312
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:20,880
Is it also?

313
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:25,560
I don't know if this helps me at all because it's just almost more distracting.

314
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,440
But I think it does work better when I'm tossing to you.

315
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,960
It's not going to Sean every time or I take it from you and ask Sean a question.

316
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:38,880
So I guess what I did this time is I said your name and then finished a sentence.

317
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:45,360
What I can do in the first is say the sentence say, rich, like I can double tap rich, like

318
00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:46,360
I shouldn't matter, man.

319
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:51,080
So I should be able to, you know, and then the rich, I can, I can make it, I can lay

320
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,760
a lot of your.

321
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:58,080
I should, you know, I should recognize my own name, you would think.

322
00:19:58,080 --> 00:19:59,080
But, um,

323
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,080
Well, apparently not from my voice.

324
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:03,800
Maybe at the end, it would be all right.

325
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:10,040
Otherwise, I just vow to pay more attention and not be as nervous trying to get ready

326
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:11,680
for my answer.

327
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:12,680
But.

328
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:17,920
All right, are we going to try the open again?

329
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,320
Yeah, that's what we discussed.

330
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:21,320
Yeah, if we can.

331
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:22,320
Might as well.

332
00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:23,320
We're all here.

333
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:31,360
Uh, it would probably, I would probably do a better job if you are able to just like

334
00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:35,080
flip it around so that I land on inside Wisconsin politics.

335
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:41,120
Yeah, like you were there.

336
00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:49,880
I think the end of the show would probably benefit from you saying that's how we've got

337
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:51,920
time for today and then the close.

338
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:52,920
Yeah.

339
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,640
That's another signal to the audience.

340
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:59,760
Otherwise, it might feel abrupt, finish the sentence and then go to the close.

341
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:00,760
You know what I mean?

342
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:01,760
Just like that.

343
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:02,760
I did.

344
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:03,760
But I maybe.

345
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:04,760
No, did I not?

346
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:05,760
I didn't know.

347
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:06,760
I mean, I didn't hear anything.

348
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:07,760
Wow.

349
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:08,760
I said, thanks for joining us.

350
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:09,760
Maybe that was it.

351
00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:10,760
Yeah.

352
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:11,760
Yeah.

353
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:12,760
Yeah.

354
00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:13,760
That's all we have time for.

355
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:14,760
That's good.

356
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:15,760
That's it.

357
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:16,760
Yeah.

358
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:17,760
That's how Fred and I wrap most of our interviews.

359
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:18,760
We'll have to leave it there.

360
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:19,760
That's all we have time for.

361
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:20,760
And me, we're just out of time.

362
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:21,760
Yeah.

363
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:22,760
That makes sense.

364
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:23,760
That's good.

365
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,120
Otherwise, it can feel abrupt as that shift.

366
00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:27,920
Oh, yeah.

367
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,320
You could do the Porky Pig thing.

368
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:31,320
Could I see prompter?

369
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:32,320
It's not.

370
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:33,320
There we go.

371
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:34,320
So we have not stopped recording.

372
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:35,320
They're just getting their stuff together back in control room.

373
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:36,320
We'll be ready to go very soon.

374
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:37,320
All right.

375
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:38,320
Yeah.

376
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:39,320
They'll look down as good as.

377
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:40,320
Audio folks.

378
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:47,480
Can you hear me?

379
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:52,720
And so I've got my mic up and I've got the headphones up to be able to hear them.

380
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:54,240
Because the feed was a little quiet.

381
00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,280
But I'm hearing some noise, man.

382
00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:01,200
I'm hearing like a hum from lights and some kind of ba-da-da-da-da-da-da.

383
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,200
Is that not coming through on your end?

384
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,200
That sounds good, huh?

385
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:07,200
Yeah.

386
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:08,200
Okay.

387
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:17,400
Well, I mean, I just, I felt terrible after the fact last week when you guys said there

388
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:18,400
was some issues.

389
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,560
But if you're not hearing it, then it's all right.

390
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:23,560
Weird.

391
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:29,720
Well, yeah, what's strange is it gets louder when I turn direct monitor off.

392
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:32,160
So I don't know what the deal is.

393
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,760
Anyway, it doesn't matter.

394
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,760
Hopefully.

395
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:38,760
Okay.

396
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:39,760
Okay.

397
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:40,760
Okay.

398
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,760
You guys good to go?

399
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:45,880
Yeah.

400
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:55,480
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is coming up and polling shows the majority of you say

401
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:57,520
you don't know enough about the candidates.

402
00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:58,520
Let's fix that.

403
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,240
I'm Sean Johnson here with my colleagues, Zach Schultz and Rich Kramer.

404
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,760
This is Inside Wisconsin Politics.

405
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:05,760
Hey, guys.

406
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:06,760
Hello.

407
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:07,760
Hey.

408
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,760
Hey, Rich Kramer.

409
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:15,040
Hello, TV.

410
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:16,040
Yeah.

411
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,560
Just trying to imagine how we would jump in.

412
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:29,200
I'll actually ask a pretend question afterward.

413
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,360
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is coming up and polling shows a majority of you say

414
00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:35,200
you don't know enough about the candidates.

415
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:36,200
Let's fix that.

416
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:40,160
I'm Sean Johnson here with my colleagues, Zach Schultz and Rich Kramer.

417
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,480
This is Inside Wisconsin Politics.

418
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:43,480
Hey, guys.

419
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:44,480
Hello.

420
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:45,480
Hey.

421
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,400
So the 2022 and 2025 elections were really big, Zach.

422
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:49,400
And this one's not as big.

423
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:50,400
What happened?

424
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,480
Because there was no election in 2022.

425
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:53,480
2023.

426
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:54,480
Good catch.

427
00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,480
You're trying to catch me there.

428
00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:57,480
Yeah.

429
00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:58,480
Yeah.

430
00:23:58,480 --> 00:23:59,480
I lived through that.

431
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,280
I asked Protostave what's how to say your name.

432
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:03,360
Oh, gosh.

433
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:18,360
OK, we're going to take a look at some light stuff.

434
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:20,480
Do you need us here for that?

435
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,480
Yes, we need that.

436
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:30,280
Let's see how pretty we can make you out look.

437
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:31,280
Good luck.

438
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,520
The tweet's working for you.

439
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:35,520
OK, John.

440
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:36,520
Right.

441
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:37,520
They're corduroy.

442
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,520
I think it's corduroy.

443
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:50,160
No, this is the first thing I'm going to try to hold this yellow.

444
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:51,600
Mm-hmm.

445
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,600
Yeah, I mean, it's in my earbuds.

446
00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:00,880
It sounds like some kind of an interference from a light.

447
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:06,480
Because it's sounds like a motorboat far away, kind of like a

448
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,040
kind of like a kind of.

449
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:09,080
He's talking about motorboat.

450
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,360
I think he's talking to audio, Zach.

451
00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:15,160
You motorboat in son of a bitch.

452
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:24,200
I would love to put together a blooper reel of rich statements.

453
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:25,740
Oh, man.

454
00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:28,240
The stuff that comes out of his face is just random.

455
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,720
We'll get ended.

456
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:30,800
Oh, God.

457
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,320
The more comfortable he gets to, the better material

458
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:33,840
you're going to get.

459
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,700
It started with him going, oh, what?

460
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,720
I'm glad he didn't curse.

461
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,080
He could have gone, oh, shit.

462
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,080
I'm assuming you will cut that out.

463
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,280
Yes, we made a note.

464
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,720
We also souped you incorrectly at first.

465
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:52,680
That was on you?

466
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,240
I think so.

467
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:55,920
Poor on you.

468
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,560
He looks the most.

469
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,760
If you want, I mean, you see how Zach put his off to the side.

470
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:04,200
Yeah.

471
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,400
Could do something like that.

472
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,720
Well, oops.

473
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,360
We can have the audio people.

474
00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:16,800
No, I should have known that.

475
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:17,720
I'll be right back.

476
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,240
I never speak directly into a mic like that.

477
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,040
And get up here, and I forget how to think.

478
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:30,440
Hmm.

479
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:35,440
I thought that was better than Scott.

480
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,880
You didn't say me what Elon Musk.

481
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:38,800
That was Rich's job.

482
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:39,320
No, Rich.

483
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:46,000
An unforgettable moment.

484
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,680
It was crazy.

485
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,760
It was straight up handing people money.

486
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:54,720
That kid still has that as his banner.

487
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:55,520
I know.

488
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,960
Rich asked him about it in an interview once,

489
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:03,000
and the kid was like, he just, like, wouldn't answer it at all.

490
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,920
And then a week later, he puts it up on Twitter.

491
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:16,480
Like, I think we're going to use just FYI,

492
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,640
like the first five and a half minutes off of the top,

493
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:20,480
right here and now.

494
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:21,480
Oh.