WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:29.400 The 00:29.400 --> 00:34.360 field of candidates in Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor gets smaller as the campaign 00:34.360 --> 00:38.940 ad war heats up and the vice president visits Wisconsin. 00:38.940 --> 00:43.360 This is Inside Wisconsin Politics. 00:43.360 --> 00:48.360 I'm Sean Johnson here with Anya Van Wankton-Dank and Zach Schultz, say you too. 00:48.360 --> 00:54.480 So we've been talking about this as a crowded Democratic primary for a long time now and 00:54.480 --> 00:57.200 we had seven Democratic candidates just a few weeks ago. 00:57.200 --> 01:01.280 And that was narrowed down to six as Missy Hughes got out of the race. 01:01.280 --> 01:03.480 David Crowley this week gets out of the race. 01:03.480 --> 01:05.680 Now we're down to five. 01:05.680 --> 01:11.760 Zach, is it still crowded or has this race shifted to you in a meaningful way? 01:11.760 --> 01:15.440 I think the crowd, it depends more on the lanes of what we're talking about. 01:15.440 --> 01:17.520 I think there's clearly a progressive lane. 01:17.520 --> 01:21.840 There's clearly a more establishment center government lane. 01:21.840 --> 01:25.360 And then there's a question of if there's room in between for any of the rest of them 01:25.360 --> 01:29.520 to kind of stake their own area or if they're competing for those two groups. 01:29.520 --> 01:33.600 But there clearly is this sense as the two candidates have dropped out that have now 01:33.600 --> 01:37.400 endorsed Sarah Rodriguez, that there is an establishment going on. 01:37.400 --> 01:42.720 And that fits this national theme that we're seeing of establishment Dems worrying about 01:42.720 --> 01:48.560 progressive Dems potentially undermining chances to win seats in November versus progressives 01:48.560 --> 01:53.360 who are saying no, we are the ones that are going to win these primaries and win in November 01:53.360 --> 01:55.440 get behind us as we keep going forward. 01:55.440 --> 02:00.640 So there's definitely a shrinkage there, but it's almost a shrinkage into lanes as opposed 02:00.640 --> 02:02.160 to these individual candidates. 02:02.160 --> 02:03.600 Anya, how do you see those lanes? 02:03.600 --> 02:08.160 I mean, I think just a few weeks ago, I was kind of having a hard time putting the candidates 02:08.160 --> 02:10.400 into different lanes or buckets. 02:10.400 --> 02:14.320 However you want to do it, what are the lanes now as you see it? 02:14.320 --> 02:18.080 Yeah, I think that sort of hit the nail in the head with establishment versus progressive. 02:18.080 --> 02:21.760 And one way that we're seeing that is when these candidates are dropping out that they 02:21.760 --> 02:23.520 are endorsing other candidates. 02:23.520 --> 02:28.920 There's a world in which you drop out and you say, I love my party and all I want is 02:28.920 --> 02:30.320 for a Democrat to win. 02:30.320 --> 02:33.960 And David Crawley did that kind of initially in his original announcement that he was stepping 02:33.960 --> 02:34.960 down. 02:34.960 --> 02:35.960 He didn't immediately endorse anyone. 02:35.960 --> 02:40.040 He said the most important thing is just that somebody beats Tom Tiffany in the fall. 02:40.040 --> 02:42.240 And then this morning came out and endorsed Sarah Rodriguez. 02:42.240 --> 02:47.040 So I think that's a sign that people are kind of choosing teams and trying to say who do 02:47.040 --> 02:51.800 I think is the best ability for Democrats to win in November. 02:51.800 --> 02:53.880 Is it the sort of hung progressive lane? 02:53.880 --> 02:56.840 Is it the Rodriguez more sort of establishment lane? 02:56.840 --> 03:02.400 Nobody that I've heard has come out and said, well, we got to stop Francesca Hong. 03:02.400 --> 03:05.840 But we've seen this debate that you've referenced at the national level where you have sort 03:05.840 --> 03:13.440 of the national establishment Democrats fighting against this Democratic socialist caucus this 03:13.440 --> 03:15.080 growing. 03:15.080 --> 03:21.000 Is there an unspoken, we got to stop Francesca Hong in all this or are we making that up? 03:21.000 --> 03:23.920 Are we looking for conflict where there is none here in Wisconsin? 03:23.920 --> 03:27.320 I don't think it would be wise for anyone to say that out loud from the Democratic Party 03:27.320 --> 03:30.400 because there's a very good chance that Hong can win this. 03:30.400 --> 03:32.200 And then they have to unite behind her. 03:32.200 --> 03:35.920 So that is the the other half of this game is you can drop out and you can endorse someone 03:35.920 --> 03:37.360 that you would prefer. 03:37.360 --> 03:40.920 But then you still want to create a sense of party unity that like that is still the 03:40.920 --> 03:45.200 goal is for the Democrats in their minds is to beat Tom Tiffany and whether that is 03:45.200 --> 03:49.600 Francesca Hong, whether that's Sarah Rodriguez or Mandela Barnes or Brennan or Roy's or 03:49.600 --> 03:53.360 anyone that's still in this race at this point, they have to worry about that in the long 03:53.360 --> 03:54.360 run. 03:54.360 --> 03:57.480 So in the short run, we're not seeing some of the disunity of attacking each other that 03:57.480 --> 03:59.840 was a potential with a more crowded race. 03:59.840 --> 04:03.080 There's still time and there's still million dollar ad buys coming up. 04:03.080 --> 04:07.200 Count of Roy's just announced an hour ago that she's got 1.2 million that she's going 04:07.200 --> 04:09.680 to announce and she's going to spend every last penny of it. 04:09.680 --> 04:11.680 She's not going to drop out of this race. 04:11.680 --> 04:16.440 And she has a history in some of these big competitive elections of going a little contrarian 04:16.440 --> 04:17.440 towards the end. 04:17.440 --> 04:21.520 So I don't think it's going to be all quiet and rosy from here until August. 04:21.520 --> 04:26.200 There's going to be some fireworks as they try and create that last separation to hopefully 04:26.200 --> 04:30.840 put themselves over the 30 to 35 percent that maybe needed to win. 04:30.840 --> 04:37.240 Anya, you were all set to do this profile of David Crowley, which you know, it just sounds 04:37.320 --> 04:40.760 like it's not going to happen at this point. 04:40.760 --> 04:46.120 But can you kind of talk through why it didn't work out for his campaign from your perspective? 04:46.120 --> 04:51.800 I mean, there's a world where you can imagine David Crowley being seen as one of the front 04:51.800 --> 04:55.880 runners in this race and it never felt like that way as this campaign unfolded. 04:55.880 --> 04:56.880 Yeah. 04:56.880 --> 05:00.440 One of the ways that he was positioning himself throughout was essentially, you know, I had 05:00.440 --> 05:01.440 the cities on lock. 05:01.440 --> 05:03.000 I am a Milwaukee native. 05:03.080 --> 05:05.080 I have been able to work with the suburbs. 05:05.080 --> 05:09.440 I represent a county that, you know, straddles suburban and urban areas and I can hold the 05:09.440 --> 05:10.440 line on rural areas. 05:10.440 --> 05:14.680 So he was essentially making this pitch of like, I can be this kind of statewide candidate 05:14.680 --> 05:15.680 for many people. 05:15.680 --> 05:19.920 One of the things that came up while I was trying to write this profile that is no longer, 05:19.920 --> 05:24.480 you know, whenever we write profile, poor went out for my having a little bit free time 05:24.480 --> 05:25.480 this weekend. 05:25.480 --> 05:29.840 But, you know, you always look for both, you know, supporters and critics. 05:29.840 --> 05:32.320 And I could not find a critic of David Crowley. 05:32.360 --> 05:36.520 I called people who have been on the record criticizing his, you know, his policies and 05:36.520 --> 05:40.280 some of how he's handled, for example, the lapse of health insurance at the county level. 05:40.280 --> 05:43.840 And even his like most vocal critics were like, I really like him as a person. 05:43.840 --> 05:45.680 And I think he'd work really well in Madison. 05:45.680 --> 05:48.720 And these are like conservative Republicans that I'm calling. 05:48.720 --> 05:53.600 And so I think that was kind of where he fit in is this really kind of affable person 05:53.600 --> 05:57.000 who gets along well with who plays nice with others. 05:57.000 --> 06:00.160 And I think in a certain way, what we're seeing is that maybe that is not as appealing to 06:00.160 --> 06:01.160 voters. 06:01.160 --> 06:04.840 Voters are mad and things are really hard for a lot of people right now. 06:04.840 --> 06:09.040 And maybe they want somebody who seems like a little bit of a fighter, maybe like a little 06:09.040 --> 06:14.400 bit of a FU to some of the institutions that they are not feeling very happy with right 06:14.400 --> 06:15.400 now. 06:15.400 --> 06:20.360 So I think Sarah Rodriguez would obviously say, this is great for me. 06:20.360 --> 06:21.360 He's endorsing me. 06:21.360 --> 06:22.360 Did you notice that? 06:22.360 --> 06:25.400 This is unquestionably good news for me. 06:25.400 --> 06:29.040 Is there a case that this is good for Mandela Barnes? 06:29.040 --> 06:31.640 These campaigns says, yes, we benefit the most. 06:31.640 --> 06:33.000 They're calling to show it. 06:33.000 --> 06:36.200 Already making that case, and everyone's in boxes that will listen. 06:36.200 --> 06:39.800 And I think there's a rational argument, especially for those that kind of follow this 06:39.800 --> 06:43.000 from a distance that put people into those other broader categories. 06:43.000 --> 06:47.760 If we have two African American men with Milwaukee roots that have connections to that part of 06:47.760 --> 06:52.200 the state, deep establishment ties to winning lots of local elections there, that you could 06:52.200 --> 06:55.880 argue that some people may say, well, that's a natural transition. 06:55.880 --> 06:59.400 If you liked David Crowley, you should also like Mandela Barnes. 06:59.400 --> 07:01.680 They don't have the same electoral history. 07:01.680 --> 07:05.800 They don't have the same record of working in Madison. 07:05.800 --> 07:09.160 They have challenged Mandela Barnes as challenged members within his own party. 07:09.160 --> 07:10.520 He's run a statewide contest. 07:10.520 --> 07:14.360 David Crowley is known for working more with Republicans as part of his pitches. 07:14.360 --> 07:19.080 I've worked with people to help rural Wisconsin with his bills for local issues. 07:19.080 --> 07:25.040 So there's an argument at one optic that this absolutely should help Mandela Barnes. 07:25.080 --> 07:32.120 And then there is the other end of it of who, if there is 5% that Crowley had in the state. 07:32.120 --> 07:35.880 Were they looking at him as more of that centrist candidate that can know how to make government 07:35.880 --> 07:40.840 work and won't be too crazy or too loud, more of a Tony Evers style, aw, shocks let's 07:40.840 --> 07:44.600 all work together and make things function, or were they looking at him as more of a, 07:44.600 --> 07:47.000 we need some of them from that part of the state to fight for us. 07:47.000 --> 07:49.320 And that goes back to that original argument we've been having. 07:49.320 --> 07:54.200 So were his 5% those let's get it done or let's fight? 07:54.200 --> 07:57.520 I think that could determine where some of those voters go. 07:57.520 --> 08:01.680 And I think it's a sign that this race has kind of flown under the radar this year in 08:01.680 --> 08:06.120 that we haven't heard people complaining about, gosh, you're being bombarded by all these 08:06.120 --> 08:07.480 political ads. 08:07.480 --> 08:11.960 There has not been an advertising blitz in this race the way that we've seen in, you 08:11.960 --> 08:16.640 know, the races for Supreme Court that we're used to by now or a November general election 08:16.640 --> 08:21.040 campaign, you know, the kind of ad bliss you're going to see in a few months. 08:21.040 --> 08:26.520 And so in that context, how does it matter, I guess when Sarah Rodriguez says, I'm going 08:26.520 --> 08:32.080 to have a million dollar ad buy that I'm going to pay for with my campaign in this sort of, 08:32.080 --> 08:33.880 you know, under the radar race. 08:33.880 --> 08:37.960 You know, one person I once spoke to a political scientist I once spoke to kind of explained 08:37.960 --> 08:40.560 that money in politics kind of serves two functions. 08:40.560 --> 08:44.840 So there's money as money, right, like the thing that you use to buy things. 08:44.840 --> 08:46.960 And she has a million dollars to spend on this ad. 08:46.960 --> 08:50.560 But then it's also money as a signal is sort of a signal of your strength, the signal 08:50.560 --> 08:54.720 of, you know, maybe I want other candidates to kind of back off because I have this in 08:54.720 --> 08:55.720 my bank account. 08:55.720 --> 08:56.720 What do you have? 08:56.720 --> 09:01.320 And so in this case, it's kind of that that to fur where both she will be able to get 09:01.320 --> 09:06.960 a pretty sizable amount of spread for her money paying directly from her campaign. 09:06.960 --> 09:10.280 But then also it signals to the other candidates like what do you got, right? 09:10.280 --> 09:14.920 And so it kind of again is her kind of establishing that she is a front runner because she has 09:14.920 --> 09:16.360 this money to spend. 09:16.360 --> 09:20.240 And so maybe she's also trying to, you know, sort of intimidate others who may not have 09:20.240 --> 09:21.240 that, right? 09:21.240 --> 09:23.840 Like she's sending the signal of come and get me. 09:23.840 --> 09:28.440 I kind of wondered if that was a factor in Crowley dropping out actually, you know, because 09:28.440 --> 09:29.680 they happen pretty close together. 09:29.680 --> 09:33.320 And I imagine a decision like that builds up more than just overnight. 09:33.320 --> 09:35.160 And it came right after the fundraising deadline. 09:35.160 --> 09:39.360 And so it's possible, you know, that campaigns have their internal goals of like if we hit 09:39.360 --> 09:42.080 X by certain date, we're still viable. 09:42.080 --> 09:45.160 And one of the things he said in his dropout was like, it is clear I will not become 09:45.160 --> 09:46.160 the Democratic nominee. 09:46.160 --> 09:49.840 And so clearly there's like a calculus of what makes that clear and maybe money was part 09:49.840 --> 09:50.840 of it. 09:50.840 --> 09:52.800 Yeah, you know, she's got at least $1 million according to her. 09:52.800 --> 09:56.840 And she has this outside group that has been spending money on her behalf kind of throughout 09:56.840 --> 09:57.840 the year. 09:57.840 --> 10:01.840 And they don't have to report their donors and kind of like the Wild West in terms of 10:01.840 --> 10:02.840 fundraising. 10:02.840 --> 10:10.520 The tone of the ad is, well, what says a bad word to start out with? 10:10.520 --> 10:12.360 There's a bleep off the top of the ad. 10:12.360 --> 10:14.360 And that's obviously very intentional. 10:14.360 --> 10:18.960 They craft these ads with a lot of money spent on the people writing the ads, speaking to 10:18.960 --> 10:20.440 specific audiences. 10:20.440 --> 10:24.520 And I think there's a lot to actually analyze within the decision of that word alone off 10:24.520 --> 10:25.520 the top of the ad. 10:25.520 --> 10:26.520 I think so, too. 10:26.520 --> 10:29.880 I think the first reaction that I have is this is a sign of the coarseness of American 10:29.880 --> 10:34.960 politics since Donald Trump entered the platform in the atmosphere more than a decade ago is 10:34.960 --> 10:39.320 that it's acceptable for your political candidate to use an expletive in their ad. 10:39.320 --> 10:43.880 Even if it's bleeped out as a way of showing their rawness, their approachability, the 10:43.880 --> 10:49.080 way that normal people speak at maybe not the dinner table, but at least at the bar with 10:49.080 --> 10:50.080 friends. 10:50.080 --> 10:54.360 I think there's a sense of that does make them more real in the same way that Tony Evers 10:54.360 --> 11:00.600 has been let off the hook time and time again for swearing over and over because he seems 11:00.600 --> 11:02.120 like this kind old man. 11:02.120 --> 11:05.720 And when he says that he really means it, and if someone else says it, oh, that's course 11:05.720 --> 11:06.720 and disgust. 11:06.720 --> 11:10.320 So it's definitely a change in that atmosphere, but it also goes back to the original question 11:10.320 --> 11:11.320 we have. 11:11.320 --> 11:15.400 This is a nicely themed episode, Sean, of the establishment versus the rage. 11:15.400 --> 11:19.440 If Rodriguez does represent the establishment in the center, she is the lieutenant governor 11:19.440 --> 11:24.040 at this point, but she's the one showing a little more flair, a little more fight with 11:24.040 --> 11:27.640 the words that she's dropping off the top and talking about she'll fight for you. 11:27.640 --> 11:32.840 She's definitely reaching out to bring the rest of that democratic primary audience over 11:32.840 --> 11:36.480 to her to say, I'm not just the person that is the establishment and that I'm the 11:36.480 --> 11:39.520 sitting lieutenant governor and the first person to enter the race. 11:39.520 --> 11:42.520 I'm also the person that will swear and fight for you. 11:42.520 --> 11:45.720 The other person likes to swear a lot in this race, Francesca Hong, she's got a history 11:45.720 --> 11:47.640 of dropping a few F bombs out there. 11:47.640 --> 11:51.840 So I think that shows this broad spectrum and this interest in these two different categories 11:51.840 --> 11:52.840 of voters. 11:52.840 --> 11:57.200 Yeah, I mean, I'm reminded that Francesca Hong in, I believe her introductory speech 11:57.200 --> 12:01.920 in the assembly dropped an F bomb and in her final speech in the assembly, if you ever 12:01.920 --> 12:07.200 had a chance to see that, she just let one linger as she forbid we're farewell to 12:07.200 --> 12:08.200 her colleagues. 12:08.200 --> 12:09.200 And plenty in between. 12:09.200 --> 12:10.200 Those weren't the only two. 12:10.200 --> 12:11.200 No, they're not. 12:11.200 --> 12:12.200 I think it's expected. 12:12.200 --> 12:16.300 I mean, I think it's expected that in today's politics right now, I think Democrats are 12:16.300 --> 12:22.720 so mad at President Trump that you have to show in your ads that you're not just like 12:22.720 --> 12:26.960 an old time Democrat that you're going to get up there and fight, fight, fight. 12:26.960 --> 12:28.120 I mean, that is the word. 12:28.120 --> 12:32.080 And again, that you are not sort of part of this establishment that people are so angry 12:32.080 --> 12:36.000 with and do see as, you know, too moderate or too incremental. 12:36.000 --> 12:40.400 And so they don't want these sort of consultant polished candidates, right? 12:40.400 --> 12:41.680 They want people who are more real. 12:41.680 --> 12:43.600 That's certainly part of the appeal of Hong. 12:43.600 --> 12:48.240 I keep hearing that from voters who support her is that she seems like she is who she's 12:48.240 --> 12:51.320 always been in the same way that you kind of hear about Bernie Sanders. 12:51.320 --> 12:54.640 And you know, it's hard this week to talk about politics without mentioning sort of 12:54.640 --> 12:58.520 the Graham Plattner situation in Maine, but one of the kind of series of reactions 12:58.520 --> 13:03.160 to that has been now that he's dropped out, the progressive wing saying, okay, but voters 13:03.160 --> 13:07.960 clearly wanted his politics, if not sort of all of the other things that went along 13:07.960 --> 13:09.120 with it. 13:09.120 --> 13:12.680 So they're waiting to see whether, you know, the Democratic Party, if they try to shoehorn 13:12.680 --> 13:14.920 in a more establishment sort of candidate. 13:14.920 --> 13:17.400 And so I think we're seeing these like real fights. 13:17.400 --> 13:20.960 And so Wisconsin, I think, will be another kind of bellwether, maybe not in the sort 13:20.960 --> 13:24.720 of fireworks and really scandalous way of what's going on in Maine, but I think 13:24.720 --> 13:27.840 that we're having sort of our own version of that play out right here. 13:27.840 --> 13:28.840 Yeah. 13:28.840 --> 13:31.480 I mean, I think nationalize or elsewhere right now, but over the next month, we are going 13:31.480 --> 13:36.880 to have a real debate among Democrats here about what it means to be their party in 13:36.880 --> 13:37.880 2026. 13:37.880 --> 13:44.120 What about Mandela Barnes as we kind of look at other advertising in this race? 13:44.120 --> 13:47.680 He is one of the other candidates who at least through his own money and through that 13:47.680 --> 13:50.920 outside money has been up on the air, right? 13:51.000 --> 13:57.200 He's gotten out there that it's hard to figure out if he's rerunning his Senate race and 13:57.200 --> 14:00.920 living off that experience of like, I'm the guy you remember, you liked me before. 14:00.920 --> 14:03.680 I got the most votes of anyone who's lost a US Senate race. 14:03.680 --> 14:06.800 I should have won, but I was the only one that lost to an incumbent. 14:06.800 --> 14:11.160 Or if he's running a new race, but it doesn't feel like there's a different message than 14:11.160 --> 14:12.160 there was before. 14:12.160 --> 14:14.240 So he's definitely running on that platform. 14:14.240 --> 14:17.920 And the question is, where does he fall within these frameworks we've talked about 14:17.920 --> 14:19.800 because he's got establishment history. 14:19.800 --> 14:21.920 He's also got very progressive history. 14:21.920 --> 14:26.720 The question is, does he carry through to voters to say, no, I'm the best of both worlds. 14:26.720 --> 14:32.000 And how much does that loss in the Senate race still linger over the top of them? 14:32.000 --> 14:34.880 His opponents have used it against them on the campaign trail. 14:34.880 --> 14:39.840 It does seem like when he got into the race, his message was, I am the front runner here. 14:39.840 --> 14:41.280 You know, it's just a matter of time. 14:41.280 --> 14:45.440 I am going to set the agenda in this race and I'm focused on November. 14:45.440 --> 14:50.200 You're now starting to see Sarah Rodriguez make that same general argument. 14:50.200 --> 14:52.440 Look, these candidates are coming in endorsing me. 14:52.440 --> 14:57.960 The state party in these straw polls has been supporting me. 14:57.960 --> 15:00.440 But you know, we don't know. 15:00.440 --> 15:01.440 We don't know. 15:01.440 --> 15:05.360 Mandela Barnes did come in here with actual name recognition that nobody else could really 15:05.360 --> 15:06.360 match. 15:06.360 --> 15:10.200 And so we'll find out soon whether the other candidates have kind of cracked the consciousness 15:10.200 --> 15:13.360 of people who've been on their summer breaks here. 15:13.360 --> 15:16.960 And one thing that should also be noted is that while the Democrats are kind of working 15:16.960 --> 15:20.440 all of this out amongst themselves and we are devoting so much airtime to what they're 15:20.440 --> 15:24.280 talking about, Tom Tiffany essentially has the Republican field to himself. 15:24.280 --> 15:28.120 And so he just launched his own, his, I think, fourth ad campaign. 15:28.120 --> 15:30.520 And it shows him having a pancake breakfast. 15:30.520 --> 15:35.960 And it's like this very kind of wholesome, folksy, you know, all American, I'm a normal 15:35.960 --> 15:37.520 guy, you betcha, right? 15:37.520 --> 15:41.840 And because he kind of has the field to himself, he doesn't need to be kind of parsing those 15:41.840 --> 15:42.840 details. 15:42.840 --> 15:47.240 And I think it's really good for Republicans that Democrats are kind of out there splitting 15:47.240 --> 15:52.680 hairs in all of these different ways, splitting donors and right, splitting attention while 15:52.680 --> 15:55.000 Tom Tiffany can just sort of like have the field to himself. 15:55.000 --> 15:58.960 And so I think we're also going to see a real shift in dynamic after the primary because 15:58.960 --> 16:03.200 that's when all of these national Democratic groups, et cetera, will throw their weight 16:03.200 --> 16:07.600 behind one candidate and see if they can pick up, you know, whatever that is, six months, 16:07.600 --> 16:12.520 or six weeks, 80 weeks of momentum on top of everything that Tom Tiffany has essentially 16:12.520 --> 16:13.520 had since January. 16:13.520 --> 16:16.960 Yeah, you did see the Democratic governor's association through an affiliated group start 16:16.960 --> 16:18.680 running ads against him this week. 16:18.680 --> 16:19.680 But you're right. 16:19.680 --> 16:24.600 He has spent millions of dollars just painting himself as Mr. Wisconsin love pancakes, old 16:24.600 --> 16:29.520 fashions, just kind of like your neighbor, basically. 16:29.520 --> 16:30.520 What's that primary is done? 16:30.520 --> 16:32.640 There's just going to be an onslaught of money, though. 16:32.640 --> 16:35.320 We had to talk about the vice president coming to Wisconsin. 16:35.320 --> 16:37.200 He does that from time to time. 16:37.200 --> 16:38.200 Zach, why? 16:38.200 --> 16:39.960 It's not a presidential year. 16:39.960 --> 16:41.200 He wasn't in a swing district. 16:41.200 --> 16:42.200 What was he doing here? 16:42.200 --> 16:46.520 Well, any time a Republican comes to Milwaukee, they're there to raise money, first and foremost. 16:46.520 --> 16:50.440 The difference is he actually held an event open to the public on top of it during the 16:50.440 --> 16:51.440 Bush era. 16:51.440 --> 16:55.200 The Republicans coming in constantly is just they held a fundraiser in left town with 16:55.200 --> 16:57.640 the money, not with any ad recognition. 16:57.640 --> 16:59.200 But he's still here campaigning. 16:59.200 --> 17:00.440 He's campaigning for Tom Tiffany. 17:00.440 --> 17:01.600 He's campaigning for himself. 17:01.600 --> 17:04.200 No matter what Donald Trump thinks, he can't run for president again. 17:04.200 --> 17:08.320 And JD Vance wants to be the presumptive Republican nominee in 28. 17:08.320 --> 17:10.760 No one's is beyond looking two years ahead. 17:10.760 --> 17:13.200 That's actually a short window for them to be looking ahead. 17:13.200 --> 17:16.960 So this was entirely political, no matter what the platform on the stage said. 17:16.960 --> 17:19.160 Yeah, campaigning is kind of like exercise, right? 17:19.160 --> 17:22.080 Like even when you don't feel like doing it, it seems like candidates feel like they got 17:22.080 --> 17:26.480 to keep coming to these swing states, just kind of rinse and repeat. 17:26.480 --> 17:30.640 Anya, anything in the message, stand out, or just the visit as a whole, stand out to you 17:30.640 --> 17:32.840 about why JD Vance is here now? 17:32.840 --> 17:36.920 I mean, yeah, I think you can't in an election year ignore Wisconsin or other swing states. 17:36.920 --> 17:39.160 I think he was also campaigning for Derek Van Orden to say. 17:39.160 --> 17:42.520 And Brian's style, yep, the two kind of targeted Republicans in Wisconsin. 17:42.520 --> 17:43.520 Yeah. 17:43.520 --> 17:47.880 So just again, sort of bringing some national attention, some money, but also he had this 17:47.880 --> 17:52.320 message around fraud and rooting out fraud and sort of the federal government's response 17:52.320 --> 17:53.320 to fraud. 17:53.320 --> 17:57.080 And so I think this is a way in which we're seeing that concept emerge as an election 17:57.080 --> 18:01.640 year issue of sort of rooting out corruption and like they are going to be the honest and 18:01.680 --> 18:06.240 transparent arm of government, which is a sort of interesting tactic to take at a time 18:06.240 --> 18:09.760 that I think people are much more concerned about, you know, prices than necessarily 18:09.760 --> 18:15.160 the specter of fraud that again, sort of there's no evidence actually exists. 18:15.160 --> 18:16.160 All right. 18:16.160 --> 18:18.000 That's all the time we have for today. 18:18.000 --> 18:19.000 Thanks for joining us. 18:19.000 --> 18:21.560 Our colleague Rich Kramer will be back next week. 18:21.560 --> 18:23.400 This has been Inside Wisconsin Politics. 18:23.400 --> 18:29.440 Be sure to follow us on PBSWisconsin.org, WPR.org, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.