Here & Now

Wisconsin Republicans look ahead to 2022

Frederica Freyberg:

Now to the Republican Party and how 2022 is shaping up for GOP candidates. There’s only one Republican candidate so far who has announced his intention to run for governor. Jonathan Wichman is a small business owner. Others who have expressed interest in running include Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, State Senator Chris Kapenga, 2018 U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow and former GOP staffer and lobbyist Bill McCoshen. Now McCoshen is also a “Here & Now” political panelist. He’s currently on hiatus from the series. Andrew Hitt is the chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and he joins us from Appleton. So that’s quite a slate of candidates, Andrew. But what is your response to Tony Evers running for reelection?

Andrew Hitt:

Well, you know, I don’t think it’s really a big surprise that Governor Evers would run for reelection, entering — trying to enter into a second term. My reaction, though, is what is Governor Evers going to run on? He really has no record of accomplishment over the last two years. We’ve seen mismanagement and incompetence from the governor. I think the one thing that he’s really good at is blaming Republican legislators. So it’s going to be interesting to see as they develop a reelection messaging strategy, because I’m not sure really what he’s going to run on.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, he has been at the helm obviously through the pandemic and very protective of public health. In your mind, too protective?

Andrew Hitt:

Well, I think, you know, if we go back to the beginning of the pandemic, and just the unevenness, where you could go to Walmart and buy furniture, but you couldn’t go to your local furniture store on Main Street. People saw a lot of inconsistencies across our state and across the spectrum in terms of the rules and lockdowns. I think people were very frustrated by that. People saw a willingness to exceed the legal abilities, the legal restrictions and the powers of the governor. I think they’re also frustrated by that. But I think, most importantly, he was the former DPI superintendent and he didn’t get our schools open. He couldn’t get our schools open. And he had all the resources in the world with the stimulus dollars in order to try to accomplish that and he really didn’t even try. And we saw across the state there were some schools that opened and did so effectively. They did so safely and showed that it could be done, but he couldn’t muster that. He couldn’t marshall that on a statewide basis.

Frederica Freyberg:

He keeps trying to expand Medicaid and Republicans keep blocking it. Why is that move resonant with voters when polling shows that Wisconsin supports expanding Medicaid?

Andrew Hitt:

So I think, you know, Medicaid, if we go back to the reforms that Governor Walker put in, we are one of, at that time the only state in the country that did not have a coverage gap. There was coverage for those people that needed Medicaid below 100% of the poverty line. Anybody over 100% of the poverty line had access to health care through the exchange. Republicans are very concerned that the money being offered by the federal government is going to disappear at some point and then the maintenance and effort requirements that are out there are going to sack the state of Wisconsin with a hefty, hefty bill. There are — there is no coverage gap in Wisconsin. There are certainly more things we can do to improve health care, and we should do that, but expanding Medicaid doesn’t have to be one of them.

Frederica Freyberg:

But this sounds like another example of the GOP kind of turning away federal dollars, big federal dollars, coming into Wisconsin.

Andrew Hitt:

Well, the concern with the federal dollars coming in, a couple of things. One, those aren’t just magical dollars that are coming in from nowhere. Those are taxpayer dollars. And under the Biden administration, we have seen an unprecedented increase and proposed increase in federal spending and expansion of the federal government. We as Republicans don’t agree with that. We’re also concerned about the strings that come attached with those federal dollars. The fact that those federal dollars will go away at some point, leaving the states with trying to figure out how to grapple with this. We need a Wisconsin solution, not one from the federal government.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to turn to electoral politics and ask you what has Senator Ron Johnson told you about whether or not he will in fact announce that he is running again?

Andrew Hitt:

So as I’ve said many times before, Senator Johnson is not going to make a decision anytime soon. I don’t expect a decision, to be honest with you, this year. I think we will see Senator Johnson’s final decision sometime in early 2022. He is going to do things and has done things already as though he has decided to run for reelection, like laying infrastructure, like connecting with the grassroots all over the state of Wisconsin and traveling and, importantly, raising money. He’s going to continue to do that, but his final decision will come early next year.

Frederica Freyberg:

Ok, good to know. Andrew Hitt, thanks very much.

Andrew Hitt:

Thank you.