>> The New year always brings the opportunity to look ahead,
but we wanted to take one more opportunity to look back. A year
ago, at the end of 2023. Here and now, senior political
with legislative leaders and asked them to define what
success would look like for them in the coming year. Remember,
this was before the Wisconsin Supreme Court had declared we
would have new legislative maps. Joe Biden was the Democratic
nominee for president, and some Republicans were trying to find
an alternative to Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. So as
2024 came to a close, we asked the legislative leaders to
reassess their vision of succes. >> End of year interviews
typically have the same format. Ask the politician to wrap up
the old year and what do they want to achieve in the new year?
But in December of 23, it was clear 2024 could bring in some
big changes and we wanted to know what Wisconsin's
legislative leaders would call success a year from now. How
will you determine success? What will be the criteria that we use
to judge whether you had a successful year end campaign
going into next winter? >> Yeah. So in terms of our work
inside of the Capitol, I would really have three priorities. We
protect the governor's veto and we prevent far right legislation
from moving forward in Wisconsi. >> A year ago, Representative
Greta Neubauer was looking in two directions as the Democratic
minority leader in the Assembly, with only 35 members. She had to
make sure everyone was present on the floor. Days to prevent
Republicans from having the two thirds majority needed to
overturn Governor Evers vetoes. And with a redistricting case in
front of a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, she
was looking at recruiting candidates to run for office in
2024. >> We are again recruiting
candidates and building our infrastructure so that we are in
a great position regardless of what happens in the court, but
particularly if there are fair maps to be able to compete for
the majority. >> Democrats did prevent any
Republican veto overrides from occurring, and they picked up
ten seats in the Assembly in November. In December, I asked
her to reassess her vision of success on the campaign side.
>> Of course, we're always going for the majority. We didn't
quite get there this year, but again, in a tough year for
Democrats, we're really pleased with the gains that we did make
this cycle, and we've got folks who are set up really well for
two years from now. In many of these districts, we did not have
competitive assembly races for over a decade. Now. We've got
grassroots infrastructure. We've got experienced candidates,
we've got, you know, local folks who are mobilized and excited to
participate in those competitive elections. And I think we've
learned a lot about how to run in this new environment in the
Senate last year, the minority leader was Melissa Agard, but
she left to run for Dane County Executive.
>> How will you define success? One year from now?
>> You know, I think that success a year from now is going
to continue ensuring that everyone knows that their vote
does matter and that it is safe and secure here in the state of
Wisconsin. I think that having success here in Wisconsin is
picking up more seats for Democrats in the Senate and in
the Assembly, and being able to have the governors back.
>> Senator Diane Hesselbein is now the Democratic minority
leader. They picked up four seats in the Senate, putting
them in position to compete for the majority in 2026.
>> She got an A plus. Yeah, I think those were great things to
be aspirational. And I think she did just that a year ago.
>> Republicans weren't sure what new legislative maps would mean
for Speaker Robin Vos large majority. And Republicans were
divided on whether Donald Trump should be the nominee for
president. One year from now, how will you judge success?
>> I'm coming back with a good, strong majority is a good way.
Boy, if we have a Republican president, that would be a big
success and better for the country. Hopefully we would be
fighting inflation. We'd actually have a world that looks
at America with respect and most importantly, we'd have a budget
that is affordable for the next generation, not driving us into
bankruptcy. With inflation. I also feel like we will hopefully
at the time, have the ability to help, hopefully have a good,
strong budget to be able to move forward. So I think the number
one thing, of course, is looking at what happens in the
elections. That's how we always judge where we are. But we've
had so many successes this time we'll have to kind of work on
what's going to happen in the next session.
>> Republicans lost seats but won enough of the swing
districts to maintain their his run as the longest serving
Assembly speaker in state history. How would you grade
your predictions? >> I guess that's pretty good,
actually. I'm glad I did that. I mean, obviously we have a GOP
president that's good for the country. We kept the majority.
if they had new maps, they would be able to get the majority.
What I've said for really the entire time I've been elected is
we have better candidates, a better message, and people who
work harder. We prove that correct. That's great.
Inflation. That's what we're in the equation, because I
really thought that those tax cuts would have already taken
effect. Here we are where Governor Evers kept the money in
the Treasury. We're still going to have a chance to correct