Here & Now

Zac Schultz on Speaker Robin Vos Retiring From The Assembly

Frederica Freyberg:
A powerful figure in the state Legislature is not seeking re-election. After 22 years representing his Racine County district and 13 years leading the Assembly, Republican Speaker Robin Vos said late this week he is retiring from office. The Vos announcement comes as Democrats try to flip control in the Legislature in upcoming elections under new voting maps. Senior political reporter Zac Schultz is at the Capitol with more. Hi, Zac.

Zac Schultz:
Hello, Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:
So describe just how powerful Speaker Vos has been in the Legislature.

Zac Schultz:
Well, he is the longest serving Assembly speaker in state history, and that did not come without him learning how to consolidate power within his own party, within his own caucus in the Assembly. He had a lot of nicknames from both friends and foes: “Boss Vos,” the “Shadow Governor.” It was basically known that nothing could become law without him saying yes and signing off and allowing it to come to the floor in the Assembly and he controlled that chamber for quite a long time.

Frederica Freyberg:
What does his departure say about how real the potential of November elections might be for the partisan makeup of the Legislature?

Zac Schultz:
Well, Democrats certainly see it as a positive sign. They’re definitely proclaiming in all their press releases that this is the sign Republicans know that this is going to be a Democratic fall, and they’re going to pick up those five seats that they need to flip the Assembly. I wouldn’t look as far into it as that. In his announcement, he wasn’t going to seek re-election, Vos said he had a mild heart attack last fall. He certainly is — he said he’s going to continue to campaign. He certainly set up a machine within the Republican Party to win those seats, even when they’re facing into headwinds, so I wouldn’t count that out. It’s a lot about optics, though. Democrats are going to campaign and say they’ve got momentum because of this. And certainly the idea of what the Assembly will look like in the future without Robin Vos, no matter who is in charge, means there’s a lot of uncertainty coming to the chamber and to the Capitol.

Frederica Freyberg:
How realistic is a flip from Republican to Democratic majority in the Assembly and Senate?

Zac Schultz:
Well, in the Senate, it’s two seats that the Democrats need to pick up. They have their eyes on those, and they feel very confident that they’ve got good candidates in seats. They’ve got some open seats as Republicans are retiring and not choosing to defend some of those seats. They’re optimistic in that chamber. In the Assembly, it is an uphill climb. They had those same seats that they had two years ago. On the Senate side, it was seats that weren’t up two years ago so they couldn’t have done it. The Assembly Democrats had their chance. They won ten, but they lost the five they needed to flip it. They’ve retained candidates. They’ve got their eyes on who they want to see targeted. We all know what those battleground races are going to be. A lot of it depends on what the wave looks like at the top. If there is one way or the other, but down ballot, and that’s one thing Vos has been known for, is insulating his candidates in those seats so that they don’t face some of those political headwinds that may impact other candidates. So it is a complete toss up in the Assembly.

Frederica Freyberg:
Meanwhile, the Assembly was adjourning with a little undone business on the floor, including that deal between the Republicans and the governor over property tax relief. That could still happen or what do we think?

Zac Schultz:
Well, there’s always time. The Assembly Republicans say that this is the last time they’re going to be in session, that they’re taking the rest of the year off to get ready for the campaign. However, there are floor session dates available in March if they want to come back in regular order. And obviously they can always come back in special session or extraordinary session. This is the kind of deal that could get done on a moment’s notice simply because there’s a lot of political incentives going into the fall for both sides to want to figure out how to spend some of this surplus and campaign on that. However, the two sides are not on the same page right now, and they are running out of their own set deadlines for how long they have, so who knows?

Frederica Freyberg:
I wanted to ask you about the bill that passed in both chambers. That’s the Medicaid expansion to give one-year postpartum coverage to new mothers. I thought Vos didn’t like that.

Zac Schultz:
Yes, he was the lone person standing in the way of that bill becoming law for at least a couple sessions now. He told me last December he didn’t believe in expanding the welfare state, which is why he opposed Medicaid expansion. However, the people that were lined up — the Republicans out front to announce they’d reached a compromise were those very vulnerable Assembly Republicans running to protect that majority for next year. It wasn’t a coincidence that they were ones to announce that that bill was going to pass. And in the end, Vos voted for it on the floor.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Well, Zac Schultz, thanks so much.

Zac Schultz:
Thanks, Fred.