Here & Now

Along with the weather, the heat is also on in Wisconsin's primary election campaigns.

With just about six weeks to go before the August 11th runoffs.

There are congressional races like in the seventh and Third districts to watch, and the race for governor, where six Democrats are still vying to be chosen to take on the leading Republican in the race.

As the campaigns heat up, we turn to political panelists Republican Bill McCoshen and Democrat Scot Ross.

And thanks for being here, guys.

Thanks for having us.

So first to you, Scott.

With absentee ballots going out and now being arguably into the final stretch, who is breaking through on the Democratic side for candidates for governor and why?

still could be anybody's ball game.

There's a lot of spending going on right now.

I guess, you know, they say it's not a sprint.

It's a marathon.

But we have crossed the 20 mile marker and we're getting to the point where people are going to have to start making up their minds about who their candidates are going to be.

I think the Democrats have an think they are fighting.

You know, they're they're running down downhill because the Republicans are so in trouble because of the record of, of, of Donald Trump and the fact that their nominee, Tom Tiffany, is a radical extremist who is completely and totally tied to Trump in every single way.

So, Bill, do you want to respond to that?

I don't agree that there's it's anybody's ballgame.

1 has already dropped out.

Missy Hughes I wouldn't be surprised if two more dropped out in July.

We got 38 days to go.

I think it's really three people who are seriously in contention to win this.

It's Francesca Hong legislator from Madison, Mandela Barnes, former lieutenant governor and current Lieutenant governor Sarah Rodriguez.

I think those are the only three who have a legitimate shot to win at this point, based on all the polling.

We will have a new Marquette poll out in about ten days here in Wisconsin that will sort of tell give everyone the picture of where things are at.

But what we know from private polls and some other publicly released polls is those are the top three.

And Hong is the one that's surging at this point.

Hong Scott, what do Democratic strategists make of Democratic socialists?

I mean, listen, for the last 50 years, when a Democratic elected wants to spend money that's not on tax cuts for rich people or corporations.

Bill's party calls them socialists.

They call them welfare.

They call them worse.

I mean, for God's sakes, they were calling his old boss, Tommy Thompson, signature achievement BadgerCare here in Wisconsin Welfare.

That's what the speaker of the Assembly was calling it.

So, you know, we're a big tent.

And the fact is, is that when it comes to people's expenses, when it comes to gas prices, Republicans are a failure for Wisconsinites, a failure for America.

That's why Democrats are going to win this election in the fall, not because of labels that Republicans have been putting on us for 50 years.

Anyhow.

that label on her.

Well, I mean, Democrats.

Are owning it and proudly owning it.

And I think that's actually worked to Francesca Hong advantage.

I mean, she's gone on national podcasts with a guy named Hassan Piker, who's got several million followers, and she raised 100 grand in one day.

Why?

She's the boldest progressive in the race.

She's willing to say what others are not willing to say, and she's willing to be a democratic socialist.

And and none of the others have attacked her for that.

I can guarantee you, Tom Tiffany is going to contrast with her if she ends up getting through the primary in 38 days.

I mean, Tiffany has been attacking Barnes and Hong the entirety of his campaign and again.

Which I think is smart.

Yeah, of course.

But, you know, let's let's not kid ourselves.

Tom Tiffany was on a podcast last week with a book burner who says that foreign governments are turning our kids trans.

So like, if we want to, if we want to talk about the internet and who is appearing on internet fight that Democrats.

have 13 Democrats in the Congress who have signed up to sort of fight the Democratic Socialists.

That's less than 10% of the Democratic members of the So it is a it is a tough line to hoe right now for Democrats.

They're not sure if they should be with the socialists.

Guys like J.B.

Pritzker have come out in favor.

Said, we need more socialists in our party.

That's stunning to me.

I think the thing you think about that is that all the all the candidates who are calling themselves Democratic socialists and the ones who have been elected are all younger, they're all millennials.

They're all the ones who are staring up, standing up to the gerontocracy that is the Democratic Party with our 75 year old Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

So I think it's you know, ideologically, Democrats are all in the same, are all in the same camp, which is we want fully funded schools.

We want access to affordable health care.

We want to protect our clean air and water.

We want our civil liberties.

And we don't want ICE Gestapo, you know, disappearing 38 people in Wisconsin yesterday.

up in two words.

They want bold progressivism.

And that's why Hong's in the game.

Eight years ago, when Tony Evers won this primary with 42%.

By the way, the winner of this will not come close to that number.

She would have been a fringe candidate today.

She's got a chance to win it.

Super interesting.

So Bill, who would Tom Tiffany most want as a general election opponent and who would he be afraid of?

I think he would have been most concerned about those that are not going to make it to the finish line.

Believe it or not, I think Democrats decided that the sort of more moderate who can appeal to trade union guys or sort of the moderate old school Democrats, they're not going to make it to the finish line in this race.

So all three of those who we've both agreed are sort of in the front of the pack are pretty progressive.

And that's a good contrast for Tiffany.

So I don't think he has a problem with any of the three top tier candidates.

Tom, Tiffany's biggest problem is not who he's going to face, but the fact that he's on the ballot at all.

This is a guy who took money out.

He took food out of the mouths of children to give billionaires tax breaks.

He wants a national abortion ban.

He took $300 billion from rural health care.

So rural Wisconsin, when your hospitals are closing, you can thank Tom Tiffany for that.

And he he supports the $2 billion payoff for the January 6th terrorist terrorist insurrectionists.

So this is a guy who is radically out of touch with where Wisconsin folks are, especially now when prices are higher than they've ever been.

Gas prices are higher than they've ever been because of the war of choice in Iran.

And the fact that Trump is making billions of dollars while people can't afford food.

The landscape is challenging for a sitting congressman in this cycle.

There's no question about that.

But I think Tom Tiffany can easily make the contrast between common sense and crazy.

And I think most Wisconsin voters will side with common sense.

He's trying a makeover.

It's not going to work.

He scrubbed his website before he got in the race.

And you know, he can't hide from his record.

He can't run from it as much as he ducks the media.

He cannot run from it.

third and seventh congressional races, will carry the day?

Of course, in the primary, presumably.

But in the general.

Both of those seats lean red.

Remember, our congressional maps were not changed.

These are the same ones that have.

We've run on for the last couple of cycles, which means Derrick Van Orden should be considered the favorite.

He's the incumbent, and it means that the Republican.

Whomever comes out of the primary in 38 days should be the favorite in the seventh.

I think Donald Trump is going to help Derrick Van Orden.

I think he's going to be in western Wisconsin once or twice.

I think.

JD.

Vance will be.

I think Donald Trump will ultimately help in the seventh.

But I think they also don't want to have to spend too many resources up there.

That's kind of a messy primary, which is unfortunate.

On our side between Kevin Herman and former Iranian hostage and successful businessman and and young man Michael Alfonso, who did get the president's endorsement.

You know, my hope is that Republicans sort of put down their arms and stop the circular firing squad that's going on on that, because I think either would be ultimately a great congressperson.

But but right now, it's pretty messy for the Republicans.

Scott, what are the next six weeks look like in these races?

I think the next six weeks are in the third and the seventh day.

I think you're going to see Republicans ducking the media.

Derrick Van Orton is just terrified of going before any sort of camera.

You know, that's not, you know, some right wing podcaster.

I think that he is the one who is in the most trouble, you know, whoever comes out of the primary.

And obviously, you know, there's Rebecca Cooke who has a massive fundraising advantage, and Emily Berg, who's who's the councilman up in Eau Claire.

I think either one of them contrasts great against the record of of Derrick Van Orden.

I mean, he's been, you know, if Tom Tiffany wasn't in Congress, he'd be our most extremist member of Congress.

So I think that he's got a lot of he's got a lot to answer for.

And I think the voters are going to hold him accountable for that.

All right.

We need to leave it there.

We'll circle back with you both before the primary and before the primary and