Here & Now

McCoshen & Ross on Candidates in Wisconsin's 2026 Primaries

Frederica Freyberg:
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 11 runoffs. There are congressional races like in the 7th and 3rd 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.

Bill McCoshen:
Thanks for having us.

Frederica Freyberg:
So first to you, Scot. 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?

Scot Ross:
I mean it seems like it 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 embarrassment of riches. I think they are fighting. You know, they’re running downhill because the Republicans are so in trouble because of the record 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.

Frederica Freyberg:
So, Bill, do you want to respond to that?

Bill McCoshen:
I don’t agree that there’s — it’s anybody’s ballgame. One 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, a legislator from Madison, Mandela Barnes, former lieutenant governor and current Lieutenant Governor Sara 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.

Frederica Freyberg:
Speaking of Francesca Hong, Scot, what do Democratic strategists make of democratic socialists?

Scot Ross:
I mean, listen, for the last 50 years, when a Democrat 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.

Frederica Freyberg:
Republicans are putting that label on her?

Scot Ross:
Well, I mean…

Bill McCoshen:
Democrats are owning it and proudly owning it. And I think that’s actually worked to Francesca Hong’s advantage. I mean, she’s gone on national podcasts with a guy named Hasan 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 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.

Scot Ross:
I mean, Tiffany has been attacking Barnes and Hong the entirety of his campaign and again —

Bill McCoshen:
Which I think is smart.

Scot Ross:
Yeah, of course. But, you know, 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 things, I think that’s a fight that Democrats (?).

Bill McCoshen:
But nationally, you only 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 House of Representatives. So it is a tough line to hoe right now for Democrats. They’re not sure if they should be with the socialists. Guys like JB Pritzker have come out in favor, said we need more socialists in our party. That’s stunning to me.

Scot Ross:
I think the thing you think about that is that all the candidates who are calling themselves democratic Socialists and the ones who have been elected are all younger. They’re all millennials.

Bill McCoshen:
They are younger.

Scot Ross:
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 — 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.

Bill McCoshen:
I would sum this 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.

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

Bill McCoshen:
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.

Scot Ross:
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 supports the $2 billion payoff for the January 6th 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.

Bill McCoshen:
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.

Scot Ross:
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.

Frederica Freyberg:
So Bill, in the 3rd and 7th congressional races, will Donald Trump’s endorsement carry the day? Of course, in the primary presumably but in the general?

Bill McCoshen:
Both of those seats lean red. Remember, our congressional maps were not changed. These are the same ones that 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 7th. 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 7th 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 Hermening, former Iranian hostage and successful businessman 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 right now, it’s pretty messy for the Republicans.

Frederica Freyberg:
Scot, what are the next six weeks look like in these races?

Scot Ross:
I think the next six weeks are — in the 3rd and the 7th — I think you’re going to see Republicans ducking the media. Derrick Van Orden 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 the councilman up in Eau Claire. I think either one of them contrasts great against the record 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.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. We need to leave it there. We’ll circle back with you both before the primary and after, of course. Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross. Thank you.

Scot Ross:
Thanks for having us.