So they imagine someone going, whoa,
it's always in the back.
All right, I guess kind of the summary here,
walk me through the quick version of the last two weeks
for you, because this has got to be just a pretty up and down,
right?
The last two weeks has been absolutely
a roller coaster, a whirlwind, making a decision
to suspend my campaign based off of the information
that I have, which is a really tough decision to make.
And then coming back into this race,
because so much information has changed
since I stepped out of this race.
And I like to make my, the best decisions
based off of the data, based off of the facts.
And because that has changed, I'm back into this race.
Yes, it's been a whirlwind, but we
have seen an incredible amount of home
made some sense coming back into the game.
And so to have Governor Evers endorsement,
laborers, mayors all across the state of Wisconsin,
we're really excited as far as what we're
going to be able to do on August 11th.
And ultimately, when the governor's shipping,
keep it blue on November 3rd.
So look, somewhere down the road,
when you have time to reflect,
do you think there'll be an idea that maybe this
was a benefit to you?
Like, it was a bigger splash coming back in,
as opposed to if you just stayed in the race
and then had a surge?
Well, I mean, hindsight is always 20-20, right?
And so, you know, trying to, you know,
wonder what would have happened,
or how things would have unfolded if I was in this race.
We don't know, it can't live into a crystal wall.
But we did see a resurgence of energy.
I mean, I think we had more people at our relaunch party
that was at our launch party.
And now I think it's become more of a real opportunity
for us to not only just win this governorship,
but to flip the state assembly.
And so, I'm really excited as far as the momentum
that we're building, but we can't make it seen
as if it was going to coast, you know,
through this primary.
I have to earn every single boat and I plan on doing it.
So there's a narrative that's clearly shaping of,
there's Francesca Hong, who's been pulling
pretty consistently in the lead.
She's over on the farther left with her platform.
And then there's, everyone else kind of seemed
who can be head to head with her.
Is there a concern that the rest of you
can kind of split the centrist moderate votes
of those that either like you guys better
or are worrying about a general election
that she might not be best suited for?
Well, this is a democracy, right?
And that means that anybody can get into these,
you know, run for office, run for county exec office,
or run for governor.
I'll be the first to say, just because you're running,
doesn't mean you should become the next governor.
But ultimately, we all have the same goal,
is to make sure that we can tackle the affordability crisis.
That people can afford, you know,
to pay for their own groceries,
afford housing, childcare, healthcare, you name it.
And ultimately, defeat Tom Tiffany.
We don't want to see a Republican,
a mega-extremist occupying the governor's office.
So no matter what happens post-primary,
it's extremely important that Democrats hunker down.
We got to come to the table and focus on building
the necessary coalition in order to defeat Tiffany, you know.
So when you look at the landscape here,
there's a lawsuit that's been filed by the Democratic Party,
trying to allow people to spoil absentee ballots.
There are a lot of people that have voted already.
Not everyone wants to change their mind
in how they voted.
But how big of a factor does that play
when we're talking about something
that may be a close election in the end?
I mean, this is not about, you know, the candidates.
This is about the people, right?
And so, you know, I'm not mistaken,
we suspended our campaign in July 8th.
They came up with this guidance July 9th.
And so I think it's important
that you allow people voices to be heard.
And when I received all those phone calls
while I was out of this race,
a lot of people were quite frankly disappointed
because they felt like they cast their ballot
and it was for now.
So I commend the Democratic Party of Wisconsin,
pushing this lawsuit, trying to overturn the guidance
that was given.
And not that it's just bad guidance,
but we're so close to an election.
It was just a little over a month from this election.
And so with this being a critical election
for Democrats picking the right nominee,
I do think that there's merit to the case
that the Democratic Party is bringing
to the Wisconsin election commission
to allow everybody's voice to be heard.
So polling shows anywhere from the third to half
of Democratic voters are still undecided.
Are they gonna play, follow the leader?
Are they gonna look, are those people, do you think,
looking for who's got momentum,
who's got the best chance?
There's a theory that they don't wanna spoil their vote
on someone who doesn't have,
even if that's their favorite candidate
that someone who's not gonna win.
So are they looking to see who's gonna take that lead
and join the winning team kind of thing?
Yeah, I think that, you know, we start off with what,
like six to seven to nine candidates in this race.
And so I can imagine how overwhelming
that could be for many voters.
But I work with many of these candidates
in some type of capacity at the state level
or as a county executive.
And I know it's tough for a lot of voters,
but I just want them to look at not just
what we wanna bring to the state of Wisconsin,
as far as our vision and the mission,
to make sure that every single community,
rule or suburban, urban has an opportunity to thrive.
But who's in the best position to actually get it done?
You know, I'm the only executive in this race.
I've had a great opportunity to do great work here
in Milwaukee County and extend that work
across the state of Wisconsin.
And I wanna make sure that we can do the exact same thing
as the next governor.
Republicans and national media are jumping all over
the Democrats in disarray and chaos.
Is there something to be said for having more attention?
Like people are not waking up like,
oh, wow, things are, there is an election.
I may have forgotten about that.
Well, you know, the Republican Party,
I mean, they're always throwing names
and throwing bombs out there.
I mean, heck, they're even investing in meddling
in our democratic primary for governor.
And so for me, I would like to, you know,
the Republicans to focus on their side of the aisle,
focus on what they need to be doing while we sort this out.
And again, democracy can be messy.
And, you know, people are gonna focus on their candidate.
They're gonna push their candidate,
but we can't continue to tear down one another, right?
And it doesn't matter where you lay on the political spectrum
as a Republican or as a Democrat
or a democratic socialist of America or MAGA,
our goal is to make sure that we are,
we're delivering results for our, for working families,
for real people in the state of Wisconsin.
And so I'm not worried about the labels
and where people side on the political spectrum
because at the end of the day,
it's a lot of gray in politics.
And we just need, we need government to work again, right?
It doesn't matter what you believe in
or who you want to vote, we know that we have to do better.
So there's a theory that no matter the,
what it looks like right now of how clean or needed
the Democratic primary may be.
Once it's over, as long as there's unity,
this will be forgotten by the time
anywhere close to ballots coming out in the fall.
Is that fair, do you think?
I think it is fair, you know.
I think that, you know, we've experienced a lot of trauma,
you know, in the past decade,
when you think about our elections, right?
And we're still relitigating a 2020 election related
whether Donald Trump, Boston or not,
and he absolutely did.
But I do think this is helpful, right?
For us to focus on not just the candidate themselves,
but the policies and the coalition that they can build.
And so this provides a great opportunity for voters
to really do a deep dive into each candidate
and what they bring to the table.
But again, we know this is, this can be messy.
And so just want folks to understand that, you know,
while we are fighting for our candidate,
let's make sure we're respecting one another
and focused on our ultimate goal come August 11th.
So talking about that, Tom Tiffany's had the field
to himself for quite a while.
He's been running a lot of positive ads,
portraying himself as the friendly guy at the bar.
Is that gonna be too much to overcome
when it comes to redefining him
in the eyes of people that may not have had
an opinion of him before?
You know, I don't think that we have to redefine him
because he's defined himself already.
I mean, he has been in Congress for a few years,
almost a decade ago, not mistaken.
And what his record shows is that he is willing
to do whatever Trump tells him to do a vote,
whatever Trump wants.
And when he doesn't like it,
it doesn't wanna take a bad vote.
He just doesn't show up to session.
And I think that people need to understand who he is.
I mean, he's created barriers, put up barriers
when it comes out to reproductive freedom.
He doesn't believe that we should be investing
in childcare and in public education.
He wants to freeze our utility rates,
which means that we're gonna have to burn more coal
and we won't be able to invest
in the clean energy infrastructure
that we need here in the state of Wisconsin.
And so we don't have to redefine,
we just have to make sure that people
know who he has always been.
And like my grandma used to say,
when someone shows you who they are the first time
you have to believe them.
And I think at the end of the day,
we have to show who exactly times if he has been,
not just as a congressman,
but also as a state representative,
or excuse me, a state senator as well.
Will there be enough money
for a Democrats to be able to do that?
There's stories coming out about the national DNC
being deep in debt.
The state Democratic party has not raised nearly
as much as some people might've expected
to be able to transfer to the winning candidate.
Obviously, you guys are spending all your money right now.
What's that period gonna look like in mid-August
when he's running ads attacking the winner
and Democrats are still trying to fundraise?
Well, we've been able to see a surge in fundraising
in the past couple of days.
And we want to continue that momentum,
because unfortunately, it does take money
to run these types of races.
And you think about how much money
we're spending in these races?
We can be solving the problems
that we're actually talking about
and running these campaigns on.
And so we know that we have to continue
to talk to as many grassroots supporters as possible
because it's about putting your money
where your mouth is, right?
And so if we want to not just win the governorship
and keep it blue, but if we want to take over the state Senate,
take over the state assembly, it's gonna take money.
There's one other power that I believe,
Trump's pun not intended money power is,
and that's people power.
And so as long as we continue
to build the necessary coalition,
where we have voters, we have supporters,
we have folks who are willing to volunteer their time
to talk about this message,
about what is actually on the ballot
because it's not just the candidates,
it's reproductive freedom.
It's affordable housing, right?
It's childcare, it's health care,
it's expanding badge of care,
it's making sure that our farmers get access
to the resources that they need
so they can become more sustainable
because they're not looking for a hand-doubt.
And so as long as we continue to do that,
build this momentum, there's no doubt in my mind
that we'll keep the governorship.
So you've been in this race, obviously,
for a long time since last fall.
You've had months and months to travel to state,
meet people, shake hands.
Is this last stretch though,
just about dollars and campaign ads
and getting your message out,
or is it still about meeting people
even in these last couple days?
All of the above, you know,
you're gonna need those dollars, right?
Those dollars help to pay for, you know,
lodging while we're traveling across the state,
gasoline at the pump while we're traveling across the state
and putting up ads, utilizing both traditional
and non-traditional media.
But it's also, I have to go out there, you know,
we have been traveling all across the state,
we've been in the pier, we've been in Marinette,
we've been in the cross, we've been in from Roqua,
we've been in Paloy, we've been in Madison,
all those days in just the past five,
all those places in just the past five days.
And so I don't plan on leaving no stone unturned,
and we're gonna put a lot more miles on the truck
to make sure that we're earning every vote
across Wisconsin.
Have you noticed people that maybe weren't as tuned
into your campaign, but now with like the return,
it's like, oh, well, now I do wanna check this guy out.
You know, Governor Evers says, listen to this guy.
Well, I think that right now,
this is where people are actually starting
to tune in a lot more.
And so, you know, the read launch definitely helped us
with that momentum, and we know we need to continue
to ride that wave, but it's gonna take some hard work.
So I'm looking forward to, you know,
traveling all across the state,
with Governor Evers by my side,
making the case a while be the best governor
for the state of Wisconsin.
If you win, it's just gonna be the new platform,
like suspend mid-term and then relaunch.
I would not recommend anybody to suspend their campaign
in the middle of this, you know, I'll tell you that,
you know, we suspended our campaign, you know, we endorsed.
And once that information came out that next Monday,
I started getting all this phone calls.
And I'll be honest with you, I said, no, me and my wife,
we said, no, we booked the trip to Jamaica,
we're ready to leave at the end of this month,
but we prayed about it.
And after that prayer, our prayer was actually answered.
And so, you know, the biggest lesson that I've learned
throughout all this, make sure you buy traveling shirts.
But that had to be, because people talked about,
like, the numbers in campaign financing,
like the numbers raised represent a momentum behind them.
And when the numbers are inflated,
that's not the true picture.
I mean, there's gotta be a gut punch of like, what?
Like, well, I mean, it was a gut punch,
but, you know, I'll talk to Lieutenant Governor twice
to her that week before I got into the race.
And I let her know, while I was angry and disappointed
by what had happened, I do not believe this is her fault.
This is the part, you know, her campaign managers
for who she fired.
I was still going to continue to back her,
because at the time, that's with the information,
and the data said that we should do to make sure
that we're allowing the best candidate to win this race.
But when she made her decision to drop out,
I made my decision to get back in.
And so, now, you know, I'm gonna continue
to talk to as many people as possible,
keep my energy up, raise the funds.
And I think that is showing that we're building
so much momentum.
550,000 dollars raised in the first five days,
volunteers, labor organizations,
elected officials, including Governor Evers,
endorsing us, because they know about my judgment.
They know the experience that I bring,
and they know that I care about the people of the States.
So, is Jamaica re-booked, or is it just on hold?
I'm trying to still figure that out,
as far as what we're gonna do with Jamaica,
but hopefully, I'll find out soon,
because we're supposed to be leaving on July 3rd.
All right, anything else you want to add along these lines?
They can hit everything.
All right, that's what we need.
All right, thank you.
Appreciate it.
Thanks for coming in.