Here & Now

Brian Schimming on the 2023 Outlook of Wisconsin Republicans

Zac Schultz:

The Republican Party of Wisconsin recently changed leadership again, with their fourth chairman in the last four years. The newest chairman is not new to the party. Brian Schimming has been heavily involved in GOP politics in Wisconsin for a long time and joins us now. Thanks for your time.

Brian Schimming:

Thanks for inviting me.

Zac Schultz:

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has had stability in leadership and they’ve been a fundraising powerhouse. Has the turnover in the GOP affected election outcomes?

Brian Schimming:

Oh, I don’t think so. We don’t see any sense of that. We just re-elected Ron Johnson after they dropped $150 million of their money on him, and captured a few new Democrat seats in the Assembly, picked up a supermajority in the Senate, elected a new Republican for Congress so I’d say based on the dollar that we’re doing pretty well for ourselves. And some disappointments this year but I’ll certainly be spending some time raising money as well. Of course with the Republican National Convention coming to Milwaukee, which we’re very excited about, it will be great to have that much focus on Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

You were in Washington last week, speaking of our new congressperson. Kevin McCarthy had to give up a lot of power to win the gavel. Will that affect his ability to function? That’s what the scuttlebutt is. What do you see?

Brian Schimming:

I was there for three days last week. My sense of it is no, I think they got some concessions in kind of the back and forth of the leadership elections there. But look, the play book for that was set by the Democrats. Nancy Pelosi, the last two times, had to struggle to get the votes to get elected speaker. Made a number of concessions to the AOC wing of the party, and it showed. And it finally got to the point where she left. So I’m not worried about that, and in the actions that they’ve taken since Kevin McCarthy was selected speaker, there’s unity. A lot of it.

Zac Schultz:

In Wisconsin, the governor and Republicans in the legislature are trying to meet and build up some trust that’s been lacking. What does compromise look like in this environment, especially from a Republican base point of view?

Brian Schimming:

With the legislature overwhelmingly Republican, governor’s office obviously in Democrat hands. I worked there, as you know, for a number of years as chief of staff to the speaker and other positions there. The governor needs to come a ways. I think Republicans are willing to compromise with the governor on some issues, not on principle but on some big legislative items. I think they’re willing to compromise with him but it’s going to take the governor coming in too. The governor just flatly refused to meet with the legislative Republicans several times, most of the time, during the last four years. I hope the governor now realizes that the Republicans are here to stay in the legislature. They can get some things done. I hope they do.

Zac Schultz:

We just saw Republicans introduce a new flat tax proposal but they did it as a standalone bill, which obviously if it’s passed, it can be vetoed by the governor. Does that mean it’s more of a statement of values to put it that way instead of trying to put it in the budget or do you think it will still go into the budget as a flat tax?

Brian Schimming:

I think some type of tax reform will probably end up going into the budget. That will be dependent on the governor. The flat tax is one proposal. There will be others I’m sure both in the Senate and the Assembly. So there will be different ideas out there. I trust our legislators to get that right. But it will take the governor saying look, I’m willing to look at what has historically been a high tax state and figure out ways to make it more affordable for everyone watching this program and the 6 million people in this state. So I hope the governor comes to the table and works productively on it.

Zac Schultz:

So if the budget is passed, is that a win? Keeping the governor from vetoing it entirely, is that a win?

Brian Schimming:

Well remember, the last budget, the Republicans passed it over months of objections by the governor, then he ended up signing it. So I’m not sure what’s in the governor’s mind right now, but we’ll see. I’ve been through a number of budgets as you have, watching it and participating up in the Capitol. A lot of money sloshing around. I kind of always say to Republicans in the legislature, if there’s too much money in Madison, get it out of here. And so I hope that’s their emphasis, is figuring out ways to give money back to taxpayers, because it’s their money.

Zac Schultz:

Robert Spindell, a Republican appointee to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, recently sent an email that’s gotten some attention. Urban Milwaukee quotes Spindell as writing this great and important decrease in Democrat votes in the city of Milwaukee was due to a well thought out multifaceted plan. Democrats are saying that’s voter suppression.

Brian Schimming:

I tell you what the multifaceted plan is, and that is the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the Republican National Committee opening offices on the north side and predominantly African-American neighborhoods, and on the south side, in prominently Latino neighborhoods, staffing them with paid staff, with volunteers. We’ve been as active in Milwaukee, and I’ve been on the board with Bob Spindell for a lot of years. He’s been the chief proponent of increased activity in Milwaukee in the minority communities. So perhaps the statements weren’t as artfully put as they could be, but I don’t doubt that he means that — what we all mean as a party and I certainly mean as the party leader, and that is that we are going to continue to work those neighborhoods and other neighborhoods in Milwaukee. I have an office in Milwaukee for years. We’re going to continue to work those neighborhoods and frankly we up ticked a little bit. Republicans did generally in Milwaukee, and that’s going to continue and frankly I want to highlight Milwaukee as the Republican National Convention comes to town. So in fact, I’ve been meeting on this in the last couple days. I was in Milwaukee the last couple of days. So we’re going to continue our outreach efforts in Milwaukee, and I’m not going to get distracted by those kind of stories.

Zac Schultz:

There is a very important Supreme Court election coming up, two liberals, two conservatives running. Do you anticipate the party getting involved in the primary?

Brian Schimming:

No, I can’t imagine a situation in which we get involved in the primary in the Supreme Court race. Of course the primary coming on Tuesday, February 21st. I think our role as the party and my role as the party chairman statewide is to make sure, past that primary, that one of the conservatives that we hope will get through — every moderate to conservative voter in this state ought to know about the differences between the conservatives in this race and the liberals in this race, and they are, in fact, very, very liberal. We saw that in the debate that happened this past week, where they were commenting on cases that had been before the court or may be before the court again. That is — number one, that’s flat out inappropriate for them to be commenting on those case, the liberals. So that’s number one. But number two, I want to make sure that folks, center right folks all across the state understand the differences between the two candidates and that’s a role we’ll help play.

Zac Schultz:

We’ve got about a minute left here. In past Supreme Court elections, it’s rare to see two conservative candidates go head to head. Is there a concern that they may up each other’s negatives by some of the sniping that’s going back and forth between them and their opponents and their supporters?

Brian Schimming:

Right. There’s probably as much concern on the liberal side because they’re having quite a shootout on their side as well, kind of a Milwaukee-based candidate versus a Madison-based candidate. So I don’t get a lot of that concern out there yet. There may be as we go along. We’re a ways out from the primary yet, but I suspect the liberals are starting to cut at each other a little bit as well. So we’ll see what happens. But we’ll be unified after February 21st, that I can tell you.

Zac Schultz:

All right. Brian Schimming, thanks for your time.

Brian Schimming:

Thanks for inviting me.