Announcer:

The following program is a “Here & Now” 2022 Election Special.

Zac Schultz:

Good evening. I’m Zac Schultz. Tonight, just ahead of “Here & Now,” we bring you a special program highlighting the biggest statewide races in Wisconsin. We’re on the trail with the candidates for the U.S. Senate. We’ll look at how education is shaping the race for governor. Why the race for attorney general is about more than just law and order. And we have a report from Milwaukee PBS on voting trends in southeast Wisconsin.

Announcer:

Funding is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

In just 11 days, voters will go to the polls and decide what the future of Wisconsin government will look like. Democratic Governor Tony Evers says he has spent the last four years playing goalie, vetoing hundreds of bills passed by a Republican-controlled legislature. If he wins re-election, he can expect more of the same in his second term, as the legislature is all but assured to remain in Republican hands. If Republican challenger Tim Michels wins, you can expect a very different scenario. And he has promised to, “transform Wisconsin for generations to come.” The future of public education is at stake in this election, as the candidates have very different visions for how our schools should operate.

Tim Michels:

We are going to stop the CRT and get back to the ABCs.

Zac Schultz:

Republican Tim Michels’ education plan can be reduced down to one line and he says it in every speech.

Tim Michels:

We are going to stop the CRT and get back to the ABCs. We are going to stop the CRT and get back to the ABCs.

Woman:

Time is up please. Governor?

Tony Evers:

CRTs are not taught in our schools and the ABCs are. In fact, most parents teach the ABCs at home.

Zac Schultz:

CRT is short for Critical Race Theory, a college-level political theory that uses race as a lens to examine history. But in political discourse, CRT has become part of the ongoing culture wars that drive Republican turnout at the polls.

Tim Michels:

Now it’s all about the acronyms: LGBTQ and CRT and BLM.

Tony Evers:

When you start picking people out, whether it’s black kids brown kids, LGBTQ kids, wokeness. All of a sudden you divided everybody. And now people can get excited and upset and angry. That does nothing for a conversation. And it sounds like somebody that has never walked through a public school in their life.

Zac Schultz:

Democrat Tony Evers is very comfortable in public schools even if the kids confuse him for somebody else.

School kid:

You look like somebody I know.

Tony Evers:

Governor of the state of Wisconsin, you may have seen me on TV.

School kid:

You look like Joe Biden.

Tony Evers:

Joe Biden? Well, that’s a compliment.

Zac Schultz:

Prior to becoming governor, Evers spent his entire career in education, as a teacher, administrator, and as the state superintendent. He wants to reinvest more money into public schools, proposing $2 billion in additional spending in the next budget.

Tony Evers:

We need more resources for them. No question about that.

Zac Schultz:

Tim Michels did not agree to an interview for this story, but has made his positions clear in numerous speeches and debates.

Tim Michels:

Our education system is broken in Wisconsin. The problem there is we’re already throwing so much money at education. That’s been the fix, if you will, for the last 10 or 20 or 30 years. More money at education, more money at education and it’s not working. The definition of insanity.

Woman:

We’ll leave it at that.

Zac Schultz:

His solution is what he calls universal school choice.

Tim Michels:

We are going to have education reform. What are we going to do? Universal school choice.

Zac Schultz:

His website is light on specifics, but the policy would likely lift the enrollment and income caps on the current voucher programs. Allowing wealthy families to use tax dollars to pay private school tuition. Evers says the problem is when voucher dollars leave the public schools. They still have to pay the light bill and they are required to raise property taxes to make up the difference.

Tony Evers:

This will be real likely a half billion dollar property tax increase.

Zac Schultz:

Michels says his plan is needed by pointing to a handful of Milwaukee schools in Black neighborhoods that saw reading scores crash during COVID.

Tim Michels:

Baby Kewonn and thousands of young babies like Kewonn, and baby girls, have zero chance at being successful in life unless, unless we change education. That’s why it’s the foundation of what we’re going to do. We’re going to get universal school choice, and we’re going to help get Milwaukee headed in the right direction.

Zac Schultz:

The problem with his argument is Milwaukee has had a voucher program for three decades. Universal school choice won’t change the situation there at all. Attacking schools may be good politics, but Evers says it’s dangerous policy.

Tony Evers:

What does that do to our institutions in the meantime? It destroys them. So it’s politics at its worst.

Zac Schultz:

And the politics may turn into policy. Evers vetoed a Republican bill last year that would have allowed parents to sue their local school districts over things like the use of names and pronouns for transgender kids. Michels would sign it.

Tony Evers:

If my opponent is governor, all 128 bills that I did veto over the last three and a half years will become the law of the land impacting voting rights, impacting reproductive health, impacting our public schools, you name it. Wisconsin will be a different place.

Tim Michels:

We know they’re indoctrinating our children.

Zac Schultz:

In his speeches to more conservative audiences, Michels’ rhetoric becomes more inflamed.

Tim Michels:

That is a cultural shift that the left wants. It’s part of their destroying America.

Zac Schultz:

At one speech, Michels linked public schools with a number of movements connected to black America.

Tim Michels:

We believe this country is on a slippery slope towards socialism. It’s being cloaked behind CRT and BLM and defund the police.

Tony Evers:

It’s all dog whistle politics.

Zac Schultz:

To Evers, the racist undertones should not be ignored.

Tony Evers:

There’s a lot of harm that’s done by dividing people, dividing people and dividing people. That’s how Trump does it. That’s how my opponent does it.

Zac Schultz:

At that same event, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis praised Michels.

Ron DeSantis:

I really believe everything we’ve done in Florida, you will be able to do in Wisconsin and then some.

[cheering]

Zac Schultz:

Earlier this year DeSantis signed a bill critics called the “Don’t say gay” bill, which prevents elementary teachers from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity with students.

Tony Evers:

We don’t need Ron DeSantis to come to Wisconsin and tell us how to do things.

Zac Schultz:

Evers says the politics of DeSantis and Michels aren’t good for Wisconsin schools.

Tony Evers:

I read that he said, if my opponent’s elected, we can be like Florida. Well, whoop-de-do? Exactly who thinks that’s a good idea?

Zac Schultz:

So how does Michels want students educated on the issues of race and gender?

Tim Michels:

We’re going to let parents decide, not a couple of woke educrats that are going to say this is what it is now, we’re going to start teaching this, that this is bad and this is good.

Tony Evers:

Obviously, he believes that, that there’s this liberal cabal in every school district in the state that is woke, whatever that means.

Jill Underly:

We need to make sure kids see themselves represented in the history that we teach.

Zac Schultz:

State Superintendent Jill Underly wrote an editorial this year saying “Critical Race Theory is not a subject being taught in K-12 schools,” but she says, “if what you’re actually asking is, are we teaching students about race and racism? Then the answer is and should be yes.” And that’s what has Michels upset.

Tim Michels:

I disagree with the statement Frederica that everything is being taught properly right now. Parents have come to me and shown me the stuff that’s being taught to their kids in school and they’re outraged and they don’t like it.

Zac Schultz:

Evers says Michels is trying to use that confusion and outrage to get elected.

Tony Evers:

It bothers me because people can’t define it and then people get angry with each other. It’s just a way of dividing people and there is political sense in dividing people. If you divide people, then you’re going to be — and you divide them in such a way that 51% of them believe you. You get elected.

Zac Schultz:

The race for a seat in the U.S. Senate between incumbent Ron Johnson and challenger Mandela Barnes may decide which party controls the chamber. “Here & Now” reporter Steven Potter has this report on the contest between Wisconsin’s senior senator and the lieutenant governor.

Steven Potter:

The cost of everything is up. Numerous polls show inflation is the number one concern among voters.

Ron Johnson:

Do not believe the lies.

Steven Potter:

Political candidates including Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Mandela Barnes who are competing for a seat in the U.S. Senate want Wisconsin voters to know they’re listening.

Mandela Barnes:

All across the state people are concerned. They’ve been concerned with rising costs.

Ron Johnson:

They’d like some relief from inflation.

Steven Potter:

Barnes is currently serving as the state lieutenant governor and Johnson is seeking his third term in the Senate. They have very different plans for addressing inflation. Senator Johnson says the problem is high government spending.

Ron Johnson:

Stop spending so much money. Inflation — it’s pretty easy to understand what caused it. It’s massive deficit spending. It’s printing dollars. You have way too many dollars chasing too few goods.

Steven Potter:

Lt. Governor Barnes says some targeted tax changes are needed.

Mandela Barnes:

We need a middle-class tax cut and we can achieve this by making sure the wealthiest among us pay their fair share. That’s how we get to a place where families can have a little more economic security.

Steven Potter:

UW-Madison political scientist Eleanor Powell says the pain that people are feeling financially might motivate those who don’t usually vote in mid-term elections.

Eleanor Powell:

Between the pandemic, the economy and inflation, a lot of people are really hurting and that could bring out a lot of sort of more discontented voters.

Steven Potter:

But there’s another issue that Powell says is highly motivating in the contest between Barnes and Johnson and that’s abortion.

Eleanor Powell:

Particularly women, younger voters are really upset by the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and abortion politics, which have been particularly consequential here in Wisconsin because we had this sort of preexisting ban dating back to the 1800s on the books. And so this has mobilized a lot of energy on the left. And it’s not really enthusiasm. It’s really anger and mobilization.

Steven Potter:

Barnes is calling for a new federal law allowing access to abortion. To achieve this, he wants to end the filibuster in the Senate. A filibuster is a tactic used to prevent a bill from passing by stalling it with prolonged debate.

Mandela Barnes:

The reality is we need to end the filibuster to codify the right to choose into law once and for all and we can do this if we flip Wisconsin and add one more seat to the 50/50 quote, unquote majority that we have right now.

Steven Potter:

Johnson who opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is at risk, says individual states should use referendums to decide if abortion should be allowed.

Ron Johnson:

In 50 states, people use democratic process to answer this question. Here’s the fundamental question of this profound moral issue: at what point does society have the responsibility to protect life? How do you balance the rights of a woman versus the rights of an unborn child.

Steven Potter:

Unlike other states, Wisconsin law does not currently allow direct referendums.

Eleanor Powell:

Senator Johnson speaks very well to the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Lieutenant Governor Barnes is young. He sort of represents a new generation in American politics. He really is trying to speak to younger voters, voters of color, voters who often feel their interests aren’t being well represented in Washington.

Steven Potter:

Barnes and Johnson took very different paths into politics. Mandela Barnes was born and raised in Milwaukee and is very proud of his working-class roots.

Mandela Barnes:

Mom was a teacher and my dad worked third shirt.

Steven Potter:

After working in community organizing, he ran for office at the age of 25, winning a seat representing Milwaukee’s north side in the state Assembly. After two terms there, Barnes ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2016 before winning election as lieutenant governor in 2018 with Democratic Governor Tony Evers. In his run for the U.S. Senate, Barnes says his goal is to help middle-class Americans.

Mandela Barnes:

As I look around the state, times are getting tougher for people. Things are more difficult. It’s harder and harder to get ahead, access to middle class has been denied to so many people.

Steven Potter:

On the other side, Ron Johnson, who lives in Oshkosh, is equally as proud of his working-class background.

Narrator:

As a young man, he shoveled driveways, mowed lawns, delivered papers.

Steven Potter:

After a successful career in plastics manufacturing, Johnson first ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, beating longtime Democratic Senator Russ Feingold. He beat Feingold again in 2016. In the Senate, Johnson has served on the Homeland Security and Budget Committees. In 2016, you said you would only run for two terms. January you decided you’d run again. What made you change your mind?

Ron Johnson:

Our nation’s coming apart. Trust me, it was my preference and my wife’s very strong preference to serve out that second term and just return to our private life. I think I’m in a position where I’ve had a great deal of success as a U.S. Senator. I’ve helped improve things.

Steven Potter:

While both candidates are trying to stay on message with what they can offer voters, Johnson and Barnes also have plenty of criticism for each other.

Ron Johnson:

He is a radical leftist. I know he’s trying to hide that from Wisconsinites.

Mandela Barnes:

This is about an out of touch politician who has failed to deliver for Wisconsin, who has put himself ahead of all of us every chance.

Steven Potter:

But the candidates aren’t the only ones getting into the mudslinging. Outside groups are running their own political attack ads.

Narrator:

Ron Johnson used his office to scoop up millions for himself.

Narrator:

Mandela Barnes supports defunding the police.

Steven Potter:

Political Science Professor Eleanor Powell says voters should be very leery of any advertising they see or things mailed to their homes.

Eleanor Powell:

Political ads are in this really funny exempt category where people can say whatever they want and there’s no obligation for anything to be factual. Buyers should beware, viewers should beware that if just because it’s on TV does not mean it’s true.

Mandela Barnes:

We knew the other side would make up lies about me to scare you.

Ron Johnson:

You’ve seen the ads attacking me. They’re all lies.

Steven Potter:

Still both candidates do have their controversies. Johnson has come under fire for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and a plan to give then-vice president Mike Pence a fake slate of presidential electors. Barnes has taken heat for paying his property taxes late and for the high cost of his security detail. Currently, the political makeup of the U.S. Senate stands at 50 Democrats, 48 Republicans and two independent Senators who lean left. Given that close split, Powell says election results in Wisconsin are key.

Eleanor Powell:

Control of the Senate hinges on our razor thin majority right now. Here in Wisconsin, we have the potential to determine who controls the Senate. Wisconsin may be the ball game here. If you care about the outcome of this race, you should show up on Election Day because we really don’t know what’s going to happen.

Zac Schultz:

We turn now to an election that can get overshadowed by the races for governor and U.S. Senate. Wisconsin’s attorney general is often called the state’s top cop. And public safety is the number one issue for both the incumbent, Democrat Josh Kaul and the challenger Republican Eric Toney but which party controls the office of attorney general has a much bigger impact on other hot button issues like abortion and elections.

Josh Kaul:

I think public safety is the most important issue for the attorney general. It’s been my top priority since I took office and it continues to be.

Eric Toney:

Josh Kaul has decided that’s not going to be his top priority. Politics has been his top priority and that’s why we need a prosecutor and not a politician as our top cop.

Zac Schultz:

The attorney general leads Wisconsin’s Department of Justice. And while that may sound imposing, DOJ is typically not on the front line of the fight against crime. They often play a support role, stepping into assist local police and county district attorneys when needed.

Eric Toney:

What we want to do is focus on Milwaukee County.

Zac Schultz:

Eric Toney wants a more direct role. If elected, he plans to ask the legislature for the authority to step in and prosecute any case in Milwaukee County.

Eric Toney:

It’s evident that we need more resources and to have the attorney general’s office assist with that on that type of violent crime.

Zac Schultz:

Josh Kaul says if the legislature is giving more authority to the DOJ, it should apply statewide but he also can’t think of cases where the Milwaukee County district attorney is choosing not to prosecute violent criminals.

Josh Kaul:

I can’t think of examples where, you know, DAs think that there is a prosecution that should be brought and they’re choosing not to.

Zac Schultz:

For the record, Toney can’t list any examples of that either, but he knows Milwaukee has a budget shortfall.

Eric Toney:

The mayor’s budget proposal this year is for less police officers than the year before and so our Department of Justice can be a resource to augment what we’re seeing in Milwaukee with DCI agents and prosecutors to add more to our Department of Justice.

Zac Schultz:

Kaul says the way to fight crime is for the legislature to fully fund shared revenue to local governments, so the city of Milwaukee can afford more officers.

Josh Kaul:

What we really need, though, is not just a shift in authority. We need to get resources to our communities.

Zac Schultz:

Toney says Republicans in the legislature are more likely to fund his Department of Justice than increase shared revenue to Milwaukee.

Eric Toney:

What we need is someone the legislature trusts to partner with to deploy those resources for public safety.

Zac Schultz:

Kaul says it’s important to have an attorney general willing to stand up to Republicans in the legislature, especially on election issues.

Josh Kaul:

This is a clear contrast in the attorney general’s race. If you want a candidate who you can count on to protect democracy, I think my track record speaks for itself. My opponent’s track record speaks for itself in a very different way.

Zac Schultz:

Kaul represented the state in numerous lawsuits filed before and after the 2020 election, and says a Republican couldn’t be trusted to do the same.

Josh Kaul:

That’s a real concern that I have, is that if there is Republican control, that they would overrule the will of the people and I’m worried that if Eric Toney were AG, that he would potentially suggest, you know, falsely that laws were broken or that there was fraud. And again, he has suggested that laws were broken in 2020, despite the fact that this has been litigated in case after case after case.

Eric Toney:

That’s incredibly disingenuous and dishonest of our attorney general to make a statement like that.

Zac Schultz:

Eric Toney is one of the few Republican candidates this election cycle to clearly state Donald Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 and that there was no widespread voter fraud.

Eric Toney:

I’ve been the most vocal statewide Republican candidate saying we cannot decertify the election. That it’s not lawful. That there was not level of fraud that would have overturned the results of the 2020 election.

Zac Schultz:

That doesn’t mean Toney and Kaul agree on election issues. Toney says the members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission could have been prosecuted for the guidance they issued to local clerks.

Eric Toney:

WEC exceeded their lawful authority in directing these clerks to effectively break Wisconsin law.

Zac Schultz:

Kaul says no matter Toney’s prior statements, he wouldn’t trust him in 2024.

Josh Kaul:

What we’ve seen, though, is on issue after issue, Republicans in Wisconsin have been unwilling to stand up to Donald Trump.

Zac Schultz:

Toney says in 2024, he will follow the law.

Eric Toney:

I will enforce the rule of law not just when it’s popular and not just when I agree, that I will not inject my personal beliefs on others. I will follow the law.

Zac Schultz:

He says that applies to another area of contention in this election: abortion. Specifically enforcing Wisconsin’s 1849 law that bans all abortion except to save the life of the mother.

Eric Toney:

I’ve been very clear as a DA and as attorney general, I’m going to enforce the law. Right now that means we have an abortion ban on the books here in Wisconsin and I will enforce that as a DA and I will enforce and defend that as our attorney general.

Zac Schultz:

Josh Kaul has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn that law and has said he will not enforce it as attorney general.

Josh Kaul:

The Wisconsin Department of Justice has about a hundred investigators, as well as a number of prosecutors. Putting those resources towards going after doctors or nurses or spouses or parents for violating that 19th Century abortion ban first is wrong but on top of that would be shifting resources from protecting public safety.

Zac Schultz:

Not only would Toney enforce the 1849 abortion ban, he would ask the legislature to allow adjoining counties to bring cases if the local DA won’t prosecute.

Eric Toney:

We need to give our attorney general the authority to prosecute. They already would have the technical authority to investigate it and I think another approach would be allowing for adjoining counties to be able to investigate and enforce that abortion ban in Wisconsin.

Josh Kaul:

What we do in Wisconsin in these elections makes such a big difference. The margins are small, but the consequences are huge.

Zac Schultz:

Josh Kaul thinks this is the type of issue that swings elections and may make the difference in a tight race.

Josh Kaul:

I do think that this is going to impact the election. I think there are people who may have voted Republican when they — when they knew there was a constitutional protection for access to safe and legal abortion who are now seeing how extreme Republicans, including my opponent, are on this issue.

Zac Schultz:

Toney says in the end, it will come down to public safety.

Eric Toney:

Josh Kaul has been lockstep with Tony Evers where we need an attorney general that is going to stand with our law enforcement, public safety and the rule of law.

Zac Schultz:

State-wide races could hinge on three key national voting trends playing out in the Milwaukee metro area, which is home to a little less than half of the state’s voters. Scottie Lee Meyers from Milwaukee PBS brings us this report.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

DeAngelo Bester, the executive director for the Center for Racial and Gender Equity, is one of the lead organizers behind this voter registration party at the Sherman Phoenix marketplace. Democrats hope events like this could lead to higher turnout among Black voters, a key constituency for the party.

DeAngelo Bester:

What we’re trying to do is just, again, educate the voters here in Milwaukee and even across the state about making sure to register to vote, making sure they have all the information they need to register to vote.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

Milwaukee’s Black voter turnout was down in 2020. Stricter voting laws and the pandemic are two big reasons experts often cite for the decline. Thats why Bester and his team are knocking on a lot of doors right now.

DeAngelo Bester:

We’re hoping to knock on about 40,000 doors total in the state between, you know, when we started in around June through Election Day. We want to have around 15,000 conversations with voters. And we’re hoping to get, you know, 70% turnout for the people that we actually have conversations with.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

Republicans are looking to increase their support among Hispanic voters with a new initiative called Operacin Vamos, which launched in several key swing states including Wisconsin. Latino voters have typically favored Democrats, but not always by wide margins. They’re not leaving in droves but there is a measurable shift.

Rick Scott:

I know that Hispanic voters have basically been taken for granted by Democrats.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida is helping to lead these outreach efforts, which have sent campaign workers to knock on doors in neighborhoods in Milwaukee and throughout the state, trying to make inroads with Wisconsin’s largest minority group.

Rick Scott:

Hispanic voters are fed up with the public school system around the country right now They want a better economic market. They don’t want to see inflation. They want to live in safe communities. If we talk about those issues then we’re going to win elections.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

During our interview with Deb Dassow, the chair of the Democratic Party of Ozaukee County, people kept coming in to request yard signs. You’re probably seeing more in the area than ever before. Though still red, Ozaukee County recently saw the biggest increase in Democratic voters in the state. Waukesha County is second on that same list. It’s part of the purpling of the suburbs.

Deb Dassow:

I do get a sense that it’s changing. I’m not going to say it’s like a ginormous swing but it is, as I said, we are just picking up a couple percentage points every single year.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

At the center of the suburban swing are women, who Dassow says have energized the party after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Deb Dassow:

I had a woman stop in right after the Dobbs decision. She came in with her two little children. She had on a My body, my choice t-shirt on and she said, I’ve never voted for a Democrat before. I’ve always been a Libertarian. She was young. I’d say in her thirties. And she said, she goes, sign me up. What can I do?”

Zac Schultz:

Election Day is Tuesday November 8th. Thanks for joining us. I’m Zac Schultz. Stay tuned, coming up next is our regular episode of “Here & Now” where we have more 2022 election coverage.