The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has elected Devin Remiker as their new chair, and he explains how he hopes to reach out to new voters. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, explains why negotiations between Senate and Assembly Republicans is just as important as negotiations with Governor Tony Evers. Mike Pochowski tells us why he supports a bill that would increase transparency for assisted living referrals. Mark Copelovitch, professor of political science at UW-Madison, talks about the impact of tariffs and a war in the Middle East on businesses.

Devin Remiker
Chair, Democratic Party of Wisconsin

• Remiker says Democrats in Wisconsin are in a strong position to retake the Assembly and State Senate in the next election, and he hopes his age will help the party reach a segment of voters that went towards Republicans in the last election.

• “I think that we have a really unique opportunity to change the way that we communicate and to reach voters in places that we haven’t been able to before. One thing I’m really excited about coming into this role, obviously as a 32-year-old, I’m a little bit younger than a lot of folks may otherwise be in politics. And I think that that can give me an opportunity to connect, particularly with younger voters that our parties had some difficulty with in the last election, to be able to reach them in authentic, engaging ways.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos
(R) Rochester

• Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester,said they have renewed budget negotiations with Gov. Tony Evers but Senate Republicans are the ones holding up the process.

• Vos: “Well, one of the things I learned a long time ago is I love the Assembly, right? That is where I get to work. If I predicted what was gonna happen in the state Senate, I would have even less hair than I do right now, right. So I have no idea what they’re gonna do over there. Here, I feel very confident that we have almost all, if not all, Assembly Republicans in general agreement with our framework. Again, the budget’s gotta work its way through. There are still details left to work out. But the idea that we’re gonna make investments in special education, that’s something that we support. The idea that we’re going to invest in childcare, we agree with that too. That we’re going to have significant tax relief, hopefully focusing on retirees and the middle class, that’s a winner. So I think you check a lot of boxes that get Republicans to want to be a yes. Now we just have to get a bill to the governor so we can actually be done with our part of the process.”

Mike Pochowski
CEO, Wisconsin Assisted Living Association

• Pochowski said a bill at the Capitol would make clear that referral agencies that help seniors find assisted living facilities actually make their money by referring clients to more expensive facilities.

• Pochowski: “For the most part, these referral agencies charge anywhere between 85% to 100% of the resident’s first month rent and care. And so what happens is that gives them the incentive to move individuals into higher priced facilities because then they can get a higher fee with that. The problem with that too is that what happens is for these individuals, they spend down their assets more quickly, making them Medicaid eligible faster. And so we already have a Medicaid system that’s already having lots of problems. So it just enhances the problem with our Medicaid program.”

Mark Copelovitch
UW-Madison Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs

• Copelovitch said business loves certainty, and there is little of that in the world right now.

• Copelovitch: “So in general, really bad things happen in world politics when there’s a lot of uncertainty. And both on the security side and on the trade policy side, that’s what we’re seeing right now. So on the security side, obviously, there’s what’s going on with Israel and Iran and lack of clarity about what role the U.S. is going to play in that. But in terms of tariffs and economic policy, the last five months under President Trump has been week after week of uncertainty because of the way the tariff policy is going — an announcement of what’s going to happen, and then a reversal, and then a new announcement and a new reversal.”

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