Let's go. Okay. I'm ready. All right. So I guess let's start with giving me a little bit of your background and then at what point in this redistricting process did you realize, hey, there might be a seat open here for me to try and, you know, to run for it? Sure. So my name is Ryan Spoutley. I'm a criminal prosecutor here in Brown County. My personal focus is on prosecuting drunk drivers, keeping my community safe. I've lived in this district for over two years now. I grew up a little bit north of Green Bay and with, I mean, go back to the old maps. I actually filed in January of this year back when we actually were still using the old maps. I was in the old fourth district at that time and that was the gerrymander that ran from Howard on over to Allaway was a district I think Trump carried twice. It was more of an uphill battle, but I was ready to roll up my sleeves and run because I thought, I mean, I love politics. I thought I could do a better job than my state representative at the time. So I filed and then in February, we got those maps, Governor Syndham, I was very excited. The new district that I'm in, it's the 89th Assembly District. It covers almost all of the west side of Green Bay and all of the Schwabenheim. So it's a nice, compact, contiguous, competitive district. And it's a district that actually voted for Trump the first time and Biden the second time. It's a fair fight and that's what we've been, we didn't want new maps at favorite Democrats. We wanted just a set of fair maps where the best candidate with the best ideas would win. So I remember the governor signed it. I was very excited. I quickly figured out what the number was and I amended my campaign paperwork. And yeah, it's an open seat. There's no incumbent. And yeah, I boned his hearts in the right place. We just disagree on a lot of important issues. So when you look at this seat that's open, how much of it overlaps with that old district or is this largely new territory in that sense? I think the overlaps are probably about, I mean, probably about 50%. So the old map we ditched Howard and Alloway retained the parts of a Schwabenheim and Green Bay that were in it. And then they added more of Green Bay and the rest of a Schwabenheim. So it actually makes a lot of sense when you just think of, I mean, during mandarin's one of the few things in law where you know it when you see it. And you could just tell that old map, it was rigged. It ran parts of Brown County that really didn't have a whole lot to do with each other. And now it's contiguous, it's compact. And it just makes sense too. You don't want to put Green Bay shouldn't be in three or four different assembly districts. It should be primarily in one or two. That's what we got. So when you talk to people at doors around the community, do they understand that there's no districts, no lines? And what do they think of this new process when you say, hey, this is actually a competitive seat? I'm not just running as the dem to try and be on the ballot kind of thing. Everyone knows I'm going to lose. I would say the majority of folks whose door I'm knocking on, they're aware that there's new maps. They know about it. Do they know what number they're in? No, I mean, the big thing is the old 90th has a lot of overlap with the new 90th. The new 88th kind is in the same part of the state as the old 88th. The numbering, when you go from 4 to 89, I like to say we moved up in the world a lot. I don't think people really, I mean, it's not hard to explain though. The West Side, West Green Bay and the Schwab and on, if I just say, when I'm knocking doors, I usually just say it's the West Side and people know what that means. So what are the issues that you are most focused on in this race? Yeah, it's the issues that I'm hearing the most about when I'm knocking doors, two things. First one, cost of living. People are hurting. This district, it's not, I mean, it's about, in terms of median income, it's about average for the state. The stock market's going up while people around here just are not feeling it. There's still a lot of hurt, a lot of pain. People are stretching their money and the jury's secret, I think last I checked, the state has a multi-billion dollar budget surplus. That's our money. So when I talk to folks about the cost of living, I say either they need to take that money and invest it into people or they need to give it back. Just if it was a bank, it would be a little practice to let the money sit there for years. So I'm hearing a lot about the cost of living and if you don't have my flyers with me right now, but there's five things I'm running on, it's the same five things that I was running on when I filed, when I started back in January. All of those things are designed to keep more money in people's pockets. I could summarize my pitch in just a couple words. I'm a criminal prosecutor and I'm running to keep more money in people's pockets. The other issue I hear a lot about is why can't you darn people work together? Why is there so much gridlock down in Madison? Fun fact, I used to be a Republican. I'm 30 years old, but in high school and most of college, I voted for Republicans. I was knocking doors for them and talking more about what happened. There are quite a few things that happened that made me realize, yeah, I don't belong there and that party doesn't represent me, but I'm not afraid to compromise the C word. And I tell people at the door, with that surplus, if there's a deal on the table, we have to keep the state government open, we have to get a budget through. If the Republicans want tax cuts, I'm happy one dollar in tax cuts for maybe a dollar for public schools or some other priority that we as Democrats have. I'm happy with that trade-off. One for one, just don't let it sit there and not and collect us. That doesn't make any sense. So when you look at what your opponent is focused on, you said that he's a lot of issues that go in a different direction, he sees on the county board, right? So he has a track record of where his priorities lie. How do you see the biggest contrast between the two of you? I think the biggest contrast is, as I was describing, compromise. What I would like to do, I mean, he does not believe we need to invest more money in public schools. He does not believe we need to expand badger care. He doesn't believe we need to protect women's rights. He doesn't believe we need to fully fund the child care counts program. I mean, he might do lip service to those things, but he is demonstrated again and again on the county board when it comes to taxes. What he wants, he wants the biggest tax cut that will help people like him. And that's, again, I'm hoping to compromise. Happy to do that, but you can't cut your way to prosperity. I think that, I mean, we disagree on a lot of issues. But fundamentally, how do we help people, people who are hurting in this district? It's not through just tax cuts. There has to be something more. That's what I'm trying to offer to people. Something more that will actually help working families. When you look at the number of referenda that are being put up by school districts, now we're getting municipalities, ambulance services, they're all asking for more money. Do you tie that directly back to the state and what the state has done? And then with your opponent being in local government, shouldn't he be one that understands how much local government could use more assistance from the state? Yeah, he should know better. I would say, he's not a current member of the assembly, but the current when you see, you know, schools, local governments, different bodies going to referenda again and again and again, this isn't a coincidence. This is what happens after 14 years of neglect by Republicans down in Madison. This is not one of those both sides things. This is 14 years of neglect. Those folks are supporting that booklet. They're supporting my opponent. You'll have to ask him exactly what he thinks about shared revenue. I'm not going to, I honestly don't want to put words in his mouth. But on the county board, he's just, again, he gets fixated on taxes. And he thinks the best thing he can do is just, you know, let's shrink, slash government cut it as much as possible until it's really not doing anything. You go out about here, working families in Brown County are hurting. If they think the past couple years have been great and there's no need for a course correction, well, maybe Pat Buckley has their vote. I'm, I'm running, I'm saying, I'm acknowledging the pain and I'm laying out things we can do with our tax dollars to alleviate that pain. When you look at the Green Bay and Brown County as a whole and the race, the competitive races that are here from the bottom to take it all the way up the top, do you think people are voting holistically up and down the ballot or are they making decisions race by race, state, Senate to Congress, to Senate, all the way up to president and differentiating between each set of candidates? I would, Wisconsin, these races are always super close, even when sometimes, you're not sure why some of those are always so close, but I think you got one in 10 voters in the state of Wisconsin who, who they say, I mean, a lot of folks say they're independents. I respect, I don't pry usually into their personal lives when I'm knocking on their doors and asking how they vote. I usually just talk about me then, don't talk about partisan. I mean, don't talk about just, I'm a Democrat, you should vote for me because I'm a Democrat. Here's the issues, here's where I stand. I'd say though, I mean, nine out of 10 voters have a habit of picking one party over the other. We live in a very polarized time in our, just our state, but in our country. But yeah, I always enjoy when I get that one in 10, when I'm knocking doors and I meet somebody who really, truly votes for the person, not the party, I'm always excited because those conversations go all over the place, but those are, I mean, these are the folks who feel like they're being left out, they, I want to hear them and I want to respond to their concerns. Have you ever seen an environment like this? You said you've been focused on politics or campaigning for a long time, where every race is quite significant, control of the assembly, future control of the state Senate, Congress, the Senate, I mean, every one of these races, the outcome is determinative. I mean, I cut my teeth during the recalls. Now 2012, 2011, I mean, each of those was a dog fight. So I think, I think as a country, it hasn't probably been this bad polarization in our country. I don't think has been this bad in a very long time. You have probably go back to the 60s, but in our state, there was a period of time, 2011, 2012, it was even nastier than it is now and we were able to turn the temperature down a little bit. It took some time. It didn't happen overnight. So I do think, I mean, we're at so many competitive races. It's, you know, I mean, it's almost too much. You've got the top of the ticket, you've got President, Vice President, Senate's going to be competitive, Congress could be very competitive, Jamie Walzer, and for state Senate, I'm running for state assembly along with Christie Welch, Mad Rivera Wagner, future colleagues, hopefully. I mean, there's something for everybody right now. If you're an independent, I mean, go to our websites, compare us. My website is standwithspouty.gov. Just take a look and see what Pat Buckley's offering. And if you don't like it, I mean, reach out, ask questions. I'll try to respond. But I think there's going to be, I'm feeling excited. My first time running for office, I'm excited. I'm energized. I think there's going to be a lot of exhausted people, though, by November 5th. So as we get down to the home stretch, we're going to have to, again, take the temperature down a little bit. And just when I'm knocking doors, I just want to learn more about the people in front of me. You can't effectively represent people who you haven't met. And that's, I mean, at this point, that's what I'm doing on the doors. I'm not leading with, I mean, I say my name, criminal prosecutor. What issues matter to you? When you vote, what matters to you? I don't, I don't shove the flyer in their face and say, will you vote for me November 5th? I'm still trying to get to know people and we'll get to the turnout part of the campaign later on. When it comes to enthusiasm, what is the shift that's taken place since Joe Biden left the jacket and Kamala Harris became the front runner? Yeah, so I went out and I knocked doors that Sunday, the day that Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris. I went out, I knocked 100 doors. I personally, that's, this is the most excited I've ever been to vote for presidential candidate, actually the ticket. Again, 30 years old, I haven't voted for all that many, not as many as some folks, but my God, yeah, I was very excited. I am excited to vote for Kamala Harris for president. And I was like, let's go. And I got out, I knocked 100 doors that day. And I wasn't alone. Again, we focus on and we're trying to just knock the doors of independent voters up here. There were story time to ladies. When I knocked their door separate, two different houses, different streets. And they were just as excited and they wanted to express that and to, again, two people that day, they saw me, I was the first person in their life who was going to talk politics with them. And they said, did you hear? Pamela's running. And I looked at Pamela. They're like, Pamela Harris. I'm like, oh, the vice president. Yes, I'm excited. Like people, like they were that jazzed. They just excited utterance. They just threw it out there. I'm like, okay, let's, and then trying to get those people to engage. Like, I think we agree on the issues. Here's information about our county party. We have an incredible party. We have opportunities to knock doors, phone calls. We do events. Did it work? Have you seen it? I have not seen those particular two ladies. Though I have seen, there's a younger gentleman who I did knock doors on who showed up. Yeah. I won't give the name, but, but yeah, no, it does happen. And there's some. I mean, the, for me, the exciting part was I knock doors for ears and barns in 2022. I knock doors for Janet Potosay. It's in 2023. And then this spring, we had our city council elections. And I knocked for every single one of our candidates on the Westside of Green Bay. And I've lost count on them. And fingers toes, the number of houses where I'm like, hey, do you remember me? My name's Ryan Spouty. I was advocating for this person or that person. And I can look up on my phone, look in the app. I talked. Do you remember speaking with me? And they'll, they'll usually take them a moment and be like, yes. I'm like, I'm running for stay assembly now. I know you supported this person. I agree with them. I'd be honored to have your vote too. The first time candid, that's the magical part. It's like people who I've never pitched myself to already know who I am. And it just sounds you building that sense of community, like it's not just a one and done. We elected a progressive majority on the city council. And by golly, I want to work with them. We do not have, in this area, we do not have a many state representatives who want to work with the city council. Let's work together. Let's build each cycle to get to move the needle and to help working families more and more around Green Bay. When you think about a 50-50 district, is the difference going to be trickle down from the top of the ticket, like how Harris Trump goes? Or do you think that shoe leather will outdo all the rest of it? Two things can be true. I mean, we definitely, I think, are going to have some coattails. I think was it Marquette Law up all the day had Harris, you know, before the debate, Harris was winning statewide by about four points. I've crunched the numbers. I love maps. The new 89th district, it always votes one or two points either way from the statewide result. So that's why Trump won the district the first time when he was winning statewide and he lost the district the second time when he was losing statewide. And, you know, not just president, but governor and U.S. Senate. This district's a little microcosm of the whole state overall within one or two points. So if Harris, if Harris maintains this, if she's winning by five, six, seven, eight, well, there's going to be a lot of, not just me, a lot of Democrat assembly candidates who are going to get that lift. At the end of the day, though, I think I expect the vice president is going to carry this district. And I'm hoping that I'll be able to even run a little bit ahead of her, no matter what, just, I mean, you can't be 60,000 people, it sounds like a lot. But when you're actually out there every weekend, like I am, you're meeting a lot of those folks. So I think every Democratic assembly candidate can run a little bit ahead of the top of the ticket, not by distancing them, distancing themselves. They can embrace, you know, the whole ticket, I want you to vote top to bottom, this is my pitch, I want you to vote top to bottom Democratic, but, you know, when's person to person on the doors or on the phones, you know, I want to, if I can get them to vote for me, and if that can be a bridge to help them vote for the rest of the ticket, I'm going to do it. So yeah, I think if she's win statewide, four or five, as it is now, if she gets hired a little lower even, she'll carry my district, I just want to run ahead. And I'm, I'm rambling just a little bit here, but the best part for me, I'm a prosecutor. She's a former prosecutor. It's the most natural segue, once I'm done talking about myself and I, if they haven't slammed the door in my face yet, I go, there's another prosecutor actually on the ballot, as you might have know, and usually they're like, Oh, yeah. And it's, you know, I'm not the vice president, or any of the other candidates who are running, but it makes it really easy to talk about these other people and just rope, rope the voters in, you know, direct them to more resources to that candidates website, to what that candidates saying in their positions. It's a really, and that wasn't, that was very difficult before President Biden stepped aside. When you talk to voters, are you also making the pitch about there, because of the new maps, there is a chance for Democrats to actually possibly take the chamber and sell themselves up in the state Senate. I mean, do, does that raise the stakes enough for people to go? Oh, yeah, that is different. I mean, I, if, if I think that the conversation after 30 seconds can continue, I will definitely, I will say, Hey, fair maps, not for Congress, but for the state assembly and state Senate, that means, whoever, it really truly, the best candidates, whichever party has the best candidates, best ideas is going to have a majority in the state assembly. And we can fire Robin boss, that usually gets a lot of people's attention, because they, they've known nothing really recent memory. It's always been boss, boss, boss, boss. But again, I nerd out a little bit, and I just say, Hey, with the maps, it's a little complicated, but not all the seats in the state Senate are up. Only half are, it's going to be almost impossible for that chamber to flip. And again, when did compromise become a dirty word? I almost enjoyed like saying, Hey, I used to be a Republican. I'm a Democrat now for these reasons. I'm running. I want Democrats to win a majority in the state assembly. And I know that means we're going to have divided government. And I, I don't know, probably not a whole lot of candidates lean into that, but I'm leaning into the idea of, I would like your vote. And I'm going to just tell you right now, the next two years are going to be messy. So we're going to need to roll up our sleeves. And we're going to need to compromise on some issues for the better, for the betterment of our state. The last time there was split government. Oh, God, when was that? It was 2006. So 2007 to 2009. There's a little break there. When was it 2012? When it was, oh, wait, there's a little break. Well, it was eight to 10. Well, yeah, that's what I'm thinking of. Was it technically during session? So didn't ever. Oh, okay. Technically, if you want to get a political trivia, the only thing that is important there is that put Democrats in control of the Senate, they were able to sue as the party on file to get the redistricting documents released that were blocked in court. Oh, I forgot that part. So that was the most significant element of them taking majority for just a few months, even though they didn't actually have, there was no legislative session hoping never get all of the actual documents released, which showed that Republicans do what they were doing. It had locked them away. Anyway, that's my political. No, I love that. Thank you. But the last time there was actually a split in the legislature, it was 2007. It was a 2006 election. Results. So it started in 2007 to 2009. The budget was not done until October. Okay, yeah, yeah. They had to go to a conference committee. Is that the kind of thing that I think is, you think is realistic that that's the ugliness, the messiness that could be out there is some of these delays as both parties kind of dig their heels in? I don't know, to be quite honest. My understanding is the Joint Finance Committee of Democrats win a majority in one chamber. Republicans have a majority in the other. I believe it's equal number of seats. I really don't know where that leads us. Maybe it does. But maybe it's going to be a repeat of 2007. I don't honestly know. I'm going to name drop just State Senator Eric Windburger. Love to work with him. Maybe not just on budget stuff, but on criminal justice reform, yet least we have that same background. I mean, whichever committee, if I win, if Democrats win a majority, wherever I end up, yeah, it's not going to be pretty and I'm ready to talk and just, I mean, I'm not going to compromise on my principles. I mean, there's five things really I'm running on everywhere on my list on my website, on my social media. I'm not going to compromise on those things, but yeah, it could. I'd be happy to be a part of that and to help facilitate discussion. So in terms of your progression from Republican to Democrat, because for a lot of people, that was Donald Trump that did that, but it sounds like for you, it was pre Donald Trump. Well, it's two things. Big thing was Trump. I remember when he came down that golden escalator in 2015, I was a no, not just always. I was a hard no, like I'm never voting for that man. So when everybody in the Republican party, almost everybody rolled over and started hugging him and he won. And then everyone supported his reelection. That was part of the two parts of the equation. That was the first one, Trump. For me personally, I had a little bit of a personal transformation. 20. I mean, it overlapped with when Trump was in the White House, few years before, few years after I came out, gave dude came out in 2019. Me personally, going to law school, I was a very eye opening experience. I went, I was living out East had a few years actually worked on Capitol Hill. Few years in DC got some great, great experience, came back for law school and going to law school down in Madison was very eye opening to me on how much the law can be used to lift people up and how much it used to push people down. And that was, I mean, some other things, but me personally, just, it was a good chance to hit the reset button, look around, who was around me in these parties? Do I even want to be a part of a party? And I just realized, Oh God, like the Democratic Party is where I'm at. I mean, what did Reagan say? The Republic for Reagan, it was the Democratic Party. I didn't leave it. They left me vice versa. For me personally, I'm like, Oh God, what happened? And I think the vice president put it very eloquently when she spoke at the National Democratic Convention, she said, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand. That's that spoke to me. I'm like, yep, it became very clear to me. By January 6, 2021, that was the nail on the coffin. I looked, I saw the democracy being defended by one side and not by the other. And I just like, well, that was it. If there was a one moment in time where I had pinpoint where that change happened, January 6, I was just, I mean, I was sick to my stomach. I, those images, the videos, I knew those places because I used to walk them and move. I was helping facilitate constituents when they would visit their members of Congress, doing tours of the building. Like, it was like watching your house being invaded by a burglar on national television. I had that fight or flight response. I was sick. And that was it for me. That was the moment in time where I said, okay, I get to choose between democracy and authoritarianism. The choice for me was pretty clear. There are, there are a lot of former Republicans who've been in that same position. Some are taking elections one by one. Some are kind of loosely unaffiliated with both at the moment or if they don't have a home. Some have actually said, like, well, I've tried supporting Democrats and I don't always feel welcomed by the Democratic Party. I just, you know, I may vote for their candidate, but I don't always feel welcome in the same room. There are some Democrats who aren't always the nicest to former Republicans saying, well, I know well. Yes. What is your experience in there and what can others learn from your experience in terms of opening up that tent? So, I mean, a lot of those folks you're describing in the equation, we each got through the first part we came out on the same end. Trump, Trump was a, as a deal breaker. Like I said for me, though, I'd have kind of withdrew myself from politics, had a very personal transformation and just really established, clarified in my mind what actually matters to me. And that part I realized not everyone experiences and I wouldn't expect it to. I mean, it's just not. That, that was a period of time in my life. I also was, again, trying to keep this short and concise. I was diagnosed with a really bad digestive disorder. And I was, I struggled mightily with that. And finally, when I was in, and this was during COVID as well. So, again, access to health care was, I was a student. It wasn't that difficult, but it was eye-opening for me. Just that small little bump in the road made me realize, oh, God, there's so much, so many hurting people who they just can't afford that. They don't have insurance. They can't even get the pills they need to, to live a normal life. So, former representative Kinzinger, former representative Cheney, former vice president, Dick Cheney, they all, I mean, they've all kind of gone through that same mental equation. And they, and I respect their, they're like, hey, I still believe the same things. I just recognized that the threat of one party is so great. I'm going to cast my ballot for another, kind of reminds me in other countries where you have these parties that just, I mean, for me, in my one contribution, I hope if I, if I can win, if we can bring all of the democratic candidates here together and, and get that majority in the state assembly, I want to knock down the walls that some people might have been putting up within the democratic party, big 10 party. That's what, and I've said that a couple times here. We do our monthly meetings. I think the very first, yeah, it was the very first monthly meeting I spoke at, I got yelled at, there were two folks who got up because they didn't trust me. And I'm happy to tell my story to anybody. It wasn't a very good interaction. Those conversations are still kind of ongoing. But yeah, I mean, that's, that's a sign that, you know, this person, you know, has a story to tell. You might not like it, but I'm going to put myself out there. And I think, and this is the, this is the best part. There are so many people like me in this district. That's, that there's so many folks. I've lost count how many people I normally vote Republican, or I consider myself a Republican. I find myself voting for a lot of Democrats lately. It's like, yes, like, I was there. I've, I've had those same kind of mental exercises. Like, what am I doing? Again, it's not the same equation. It started to finish for everybody. But I think, um, what was it? Uh, it was at the time Mayor, Mayor Pete talked about future former Republicans. That was it. I was like, what was it that got me at my attention? He was 2019 future former Republicans. I remember the first time I heard them like, God damn it. That's me. And here I am. I'm a Republican. I'm a Democrat. And there's a lot of people in this purple district who are just like me. So that's, I mean, that has to be a selling point. Yeah. And for them to, to understand, well, because there are still people that are in the middle that, for whatever reason, don't fully trust Democrats. So they think, Oh, once you get to Madison, you're going to go full liberal, or you'd be like, those people down there and you'll lose your, your green Bay values. And so is there something that you can kind of hold on to like, no, I'm still the same person up here. I'm still this guy. I really wish I had some of my flyers. I have like, flash it right now. These are the things I believe in. They didn't change when they got new maps. These are things I've always believed in. If I win, if I get the honor of representing 89th Assembly District, come back two years, ask me how I did, hold me accountable, hold my feet to the fire on those things. I mean, I'm not, I love to say when I'm talking to folks at the doors, I cannot promise you a purple unicorn. I can promise you though, I'm going to fight for these things. And if there needs to be a compromise, these are the places I start when I negotiate, just like when I have negotiated cases. So we can resolve criminal cases in Brown County. There are certain things I ain't going to bend on. But there's others. It's like, okay, let's give and take, do the give and take. And there's people at the doors who are like, yep, like, I like these things. I get you are one person out of over 100 potentially. And you don't, you're not going to get everything you want. I like the starting point. I like what you're telling me. You have my vote. You have my confidence for this election. And I want to see, I want to see something happen again, one to one dollar to dollar, whatever it might be, whatever my priority might be, whatever the Republican priority might be, people want to see something happen. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Now expecting a different result. Anything else you want to add along these lines? I appreciate your time. I just, I want to emphasize there's a lot of issues out there. There's a lot of pain. And that is one thing I can say I've experienced. I'm wearing these nice clothes now. You got it. You're a courtroom prosecutor. You got to address the part. I'm very proud every time. I mean, every time I get to go into the courthouse, I represent people of Brown County. So I'm proud of my work and my job where I've found myself in life. But I know what that pain feels like. And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. There's hurt. Let's do something to help working families. Great. Okay. This is it for me. Yep. All right. Thank you. All right.