Along with the weather, the heat is also on in Wisconsin's primary election campaigns
with just about six weeks to go before the August 11 run-offs.
There are congressional races like in the seventh and third districts to watch and the
race for governor, where six Democrats are still vying to be chosen to take on the leading
Republican in the race.
As the campaigns heat up, we turn to political panelists, Republican Bill McCation, and Democrat
Scott Ross.
Thanks for being here, guys.
Thanks for having us.
So first to you, Scott, with absentee ballots going out and now being arguably into the
final stretch, who is breaking through on the Democratic side for candidates for governor
and why?
I mean, it seems like it still could be anybody's ballgame.
There's a lot of spending going on right now.
I guess if they say it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, but we've crossed the 20-mile
marker, and we're getting to the point where people are going to have to start making up
their minds about who their candidate's going to be.
I think the Democrats have an embarrassment of riches.
I think they are fighting, you know, they're running down downhill because the Republicans
are so in trouble because of the record of Donald Trump, and the fact that they're nominee
Tom Tiffany is a radical extremist who is completely and totally tied to Trump in every
single way.
So Bill, do you want to respond to that?
I don't agree that it's anybody's ballgame.
One has already dropped out, Missy Hughes.
I wouldn't be surprised if two more dropped out in July.
We got 38 days to go.
I think it's really three people who are seriously in contention to win this.
It's Francesca Hong, a legislator from Madison, Mandela Barnes, former Lieutenant Governor,
and current Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez.
I think those are the only three who have a legitimate shot to win at this point based
on all the polling.
We will have a new Marquette poll out in about 10 days here in Wisconsin.
That'll sort of give everyone the picture of where things are at, but what we know from
private polls and some other publicly released polls is those are the top three, and Hong
is the one that's surging at this point.
Speaking of Francesca Hong, Scott, what Democratic strategists make of Democratic socialists?
I mean, listen, for the last 50 years, when a Democratic elected wants to spend money
that's not on tax cuts for rich people or corporations, Bill's party calls them socialists.
They call them welfare.
They call them worse.
I mean, for God's sakes, they were calling his old boss, Tommy Thompson, signature achievement,
badger care here in Wisconsin, welfare.
That's what the speaker of the assembly was calling it.
So, you know, we're a big tent, and the fact is, is that when it comes to people's expenses,
when it comes to gas prices, Republicans are a failure for Wisconsin, it's a failure for
America.
That's why Democrats are going to win this election in the fall, not because of labels
that Republicans have been putting on us for 50 years, anyhow.
Republicans are putting that label on her?
Well, I mean, Democrats are owning it, and proudly owning it, and I think that's actually
worked to Francesca Hong's advantage.
I mean, she's gone on national podcasts with a guy named Hassan Piker, who's got several
million followers, and she raised $100,000,000 in one day.
Why?
She's the boldest progressive in the race.
She's willing to say what others are not willing to say, and she's willing to be a Democratic
socialist, and none of the others have attacked her for that.
I can guarantee you, Tom Tiffany's going to contrast with her if she ends up getting
through the primary at 38 days.
I mean, Tiffany's been attacking Barnes and Hong the entirety of his campaign, and again,
which I think is smart.
Yeah, of course.
But, you know, let's not kid ourselves.
Tom Tiffany was on a podcast last week with a book burner who says that foreign governments
are turning our kids' trans.
So, like, if we want to talk about the Internet and who is appearing on Internet things, yeah,
I think that's a fight that Democrats win.
But nationally, you only have 13 Democrats in the Congress who have signed up to sort
of fight the Democratic socialist.
That's less than 10 percent the Democratic members of the House of Representatives.
So it is a tough line to hold right now for Democrats.
They're not sure if they should be with the socialist.
Guys like J.B.
Pritzker have come out in favor, said we need more socialists in our party.
That's stunning to me.
Yeah, I think the thing you think about that is that all the candidates who are calling
themselves a Democratic socialist and the ones who have been elected are all younger.
They're all millennials.
They're all ones who are staring up to, standing up to the gerontocracy that is the Democratic
Party with our 75-year-old Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
So, I think, ideologically, Democrats are all in the same camp, which is we want fully
funded schools.
We want access to affordable health care.
We want to protect our clean air and water.
We want our civil liberties.
And we don't want to ice Gestapo disappearing 38 people in Wisconsin yesterday.
I would sum his up and two words.
They want bold progressivism.
And that's why Hongs in the game.
Years ago, when Tony Evers won this primary with 42%, by the way, the winner of this will
not come close to that number, she would have been a fringe candidate.
Today, she's got a chance to win it.
Super interesting.
So, Bill, who would Tom Tiffany most want as a general election opponent?
And who would he be afraid of?
I think he would have been more concerned about those that are not going to make it to the
finish line.
Believe it or not.
I think Democrats decided that the sort of more moderate who can appeal to trade union
guys or sort of the moderate old school Democrats, they're not going to make it to
the finish line in this race.
So, all three of those who we've both agreed are sort of in the front of the pack are pretty
progressive.
And that's a good contrast for Tiffany.
So, I don't think he has a problem with any of the three top tier candidates.
Tom Tiffany's biggest problem is not who he's going to face, but the fact that he's on
the ballot at all.
This is a guy who took money, he took food out of the mouths of children to give billionaires
tax breaks.
And he's the one who wants a national abortion ban, he took $300 billion from rural health
care.
So, rural Wisconsin, when your hospitals are closing, you can thank Tom Tiffany for that.
And he supports the $2 billion payoff for the January 6 terrorist arrest, terrorist insurrectionists.
So, this is a guy who is radically out of touch with where Wisconsin folks are, especially
now when prices are higher than they've ever been, gas prices are higher than they've ever
been because of the worst choice in Iran.
And the fact that Trump is making billions of dollars while people can't afford food.
The landscape is challenging for a sitting congressman in this cycle.
There's no question about that.
But I think Tom Tiffany can easily make the contrast between common sense and crazy.
And I think most Wisconsin voters will side with common sense.
He's trying to make over, it's not going to work.
He's scrubbed his website before he got in the race and, you know, he can't hide from
his record.
He can't run from it.
As much as he ducks the media, he cannot run from it.
So, Bill, in the third and seventh congressional races, will Donald Trump's endorsement carry
the day, of course, in the primary, presumably, but in the general?
Both of those seats lean red.
Remember, our congressional maps were not changed.
These are the same ones that we've run on for the last couple of cycles, which means
Derek Van Ordon should be considered the favorite.
He's the incumbent.
And it means that the Republican, whomever comes out of the primary in 38 days, should
be the favorite in the seventh.
I think Donald Trump is going to help Derek Van Ordon.
I think he's going to be in Western Wisconsin once or twice.
I think J.D.
Vance will be.
I think Donald Trump will ultimately help in the seventh, but I think they also don't
want to have to spend too many resources up there.
That's kind of a messy primary, which is unfortunate on our side between Kevin Hermanning, former
Iranian hostage and successful businessman and young man Michael Alfonso, who did get
the president's endorsement.
My hope is that Republicans sort of put down their arms and stop the circular firing squad
that's going on on that, because I think either would be ultimately a great congress
person, but right now, it's pretty messy for the Republicans.
Scott, what are the next six weeks look like in these races?
I think the next six weeks are in the third and the seventh or day.
I think you're going to see Republicans ducking the media.
Derek Van Ordon is just terrified of going before any sort of camera that's not some
right-wing podcaster.
I think that he is the one who is in the most trouble.
Whoever comes out of the primary, and obviously there's Rebecca Cook, who has a massive fundraising
advantage, and Emily Berg, who's the councilman up in Eau Claire, I think either one of them
contrasts great against the record of Derek Van Ordon.
I mean, he's been, if Tom Tiffany wasn't in Congress, he'd be our most extremist member
of Congress.
So I think that he's got a lot to answer for, and I think the voters are going to hold
him accountable for that.
All right.
We need to leave it there.
We'll circle back with you both before the primary, and after, of course, Bill McCuschen
and Scott Ross.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
No, it's okay, but the way you guys did at the conventions with Zach, that would be
so fun.
Yeah.
Go.
Yeah.
We should do it.
We should think about that.
We could do that.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Are you going to Valencia this summer?
I want to go in September, but I don't, I don't, it's sort of up to my wife, kind of
I'm kind of trying to be...
That would be cool.
Responsible.
Be a better husband.
Be the best husband.