>> As we continue our interviews with the
candidates running in the Wisconsin primary election
for governor, we start with current Lieutenant Governor
Sarah Rodriguez "Here& Now" senior political reporter
Zach Schultz with Moore Rodriguez.
>> Thanks for joining us. >> Thank you so much for
having me. know who you are that well,
tell us who you are and why you're running for governor.
>> So I am the current lieutenant governor here in
Wisconsin, but I have spent most of my career in health
care. I'm actually a nurse by background, and I've
worked in so many different roles within health care,
whether it's night shifts in the E.R. all the way to
being an executive within a health care system, and one
of my roles as lieutenant governor is that I get to
go to all 72 counties, and I have done that every
single year that I have been lieutenant governor.
And when I talk to people there, they're telling me
the same thing, that they are doing everything right,
but they're feeling squeezed. And whether
that's accessible, affordable health care,
child care, we keep raising our taxes to pay for our
public schools. I mean, these are the things that
people are talking to me about, and these are the
things that I would like to be able to address as
governor. that drives you as a
candidate, or perhaps a lane within the Democratic
Party that may define you? >> I think that I have so
much experience within health care, which is a
complicated space, and we've seen what's happening
now in Washington, where they're taking away the
subsidies for the people who are going to get
their insurance on the exchange. These are small
business owners, these are farmers. These are people
who are trying to make a living, and their premiums
are going to double, maybe even triple in Wisconsin.
And so having somebody who has that expertise in
healthcare to be able to do that here in Wisconsin and
actually make a demonstrable difference in
people's lives, that's something that I'm really
excited about. >> How much money do you
think you're going to need to raise in order to be
successful in this primary? know, I've been talking
about this with so many different people, and it is
going to be millions of dollars to be able to be
successful in the primary. But I've got support all
over the state. I've got endorsements in all 72
counties. I got the first statewide union endorsement,
it's AFSCME, it's the public workers, municipal
municipality workers, and was just really proud and
honored to be able to get that endorsement and
excited about all the support that I'm seeing all
across the state. >> When it comes to a
competitive primary. How do you personally define the
difference between negative campaigning versus defining
differences between candidates?
>> Well, we're all going to have to make our arguments
to the voters. We're all going to have to say what
we're bringing to the table and what type of
experiences we have that are going to make us good
governors. And I would say for myself, I'm one of the
only candidates. I am the only candidate in the race
who's actually been able to flip a district from red to
blue. I did that when I was in the assembly. I'm also
somebody who has extensive private industry experience
elected office. That's a good balance between those
two things. I know what it's like to work shift
work. I know what it's like to be an executive within a
what it's like to be an elected official. You're
going to need all those skills to make sure that
you have a governor who's going to be ready on day
one. at all these candidates
should be thinking more in terms of which candidate
maybe has an issue they most closely align to, or
is it about electability? >> I think it's both. I
think you can look at the issues for all the
different candidates and values, but then we also
have to look to the general to see who's going to be
able to get across the finish line in November.
>> Most of the candidates in this race have
connections to either Madison or Milwaukee. What
are you doing to reach the rest of the state? Rural
areas, exurban areas? live in Waukesha County.
And so that is not that is very different than
Milwaukee County. But what I am doing in the primary
is I am again going to all 72 counties. We are doing
listening sessions all across the state because I
firmly believe you can't lead unless you listen. And
so that's how I'm doing my outreach. I'm going to
continue to do that tour all across the state,
hearing what people want in their governor, hearing
what's going on in their communities, because all
politics is local and we need to be able to listen
to our constituents. >> What impact do you think
Donald Trump will have on this election?
chaos in Washington right now. And I think when we're
looking at who could possibly be the Republican
governor candidate, that's Tom Tiffany there is very
little daylight between him and Trump. And so if that
chaos in Washington could absolutely trickle down
into into Wisconsin, if somebody is going to be