Wisconsin Legislature's Leadership Reflect on 2024 Successes

Frederica Freyberg:
The new year always brings the opportunity to look ahead, but we wanted to take one more opportunity to look back. A year ago, at the end of 2023, Here & Now senior political reporter Zac Schultz sat down with legislative leaders and asked them to define what success would look like for them in the coming year. Remember, this was before the Wisconsin Supreme Court had declared we would have new legislative maps. Joe Biden was the Democratic nominee for president, and some Republicans were trying to find an alternative to Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. So as 2024 came to a close, we asked the legislative leaders to reassess their vision of success.

Zac Schultz:
End of year interviews typically have the same format. Ask the politician to wrap up the old year and what do they want to achieve in the new year? But in December of ’23, it was clear 2024 could bring in some big changes and we wanted to know what Wisconsin’s legislative leaders would call success. A year from now, how will you determine success? What will be the criteria that we use to judge whether you had a successful year-end campaign going into next winter?

Greta Neubauer:
Yeah. So in terms of our work inside of the Capitol, I would say we as Assembly Democrats really have three priorities. We protect the governor’s veto and we prevent far right legislation from moving forward in Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:
A year ago, Representative Greta Neubauer was looking in two directions as the Democratic minority leader in the Assembly. With only 35 members, she had to make sure everyone was present on the floor days to prevent Republicans from having the two-thirds majority needed to overturn Governor Evers’ vetoes. And with a redistricting case in front of a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, she was looking at recruiting candidates to run for office in 2024.

Greta Neubauer:
We are again recruiting candidates and building our infrastructure so that we are in a great position regardless of what happens in the court, but particularly if there are fair maps to be able to compete for the majority.

Zac Schultz:
Democrats did prevent any Republican veto overrides from occurring, and they picked up ten seats in the Assembly in November. In December, I asked her to reassess her vision of success.

Greta Neubauer:
On the campaign side, of course, we’re always going for the majority. We didn’t quite get there this year, but again, in a tough year for Democrats, we’re really pleased with the gains that we did make this cycle, and we’ve got folks who are set up really well for two years from now. In many of these districts, we didn’t have competitive Assembly races for over a decade. Now, we’ve got grassroots infrastructure. We’ve got experienced candidates. We’ve got, you know, local folks who are mobilized and excited to participate in those competitive elections. And I think we’ve learned a lot about how to run in this new environment.

Zac Schultz:
In the Senate, last year the minority leader was Melissa Agard, but she left to run for Dane County executive. How will you define success one year from now?

Melissa Agard:
You know, I think that success a year from now is going to continue ensuring that everyone knows that their vote does matter and that it is safe and secure here in the state of Wisconsin. I think that having success here in Wisconsin is picking up more seats for Democrats in the Senate and in the Assembly and being able to have the governor’s back.

Zac Schultz:
Senator Diane Hesselbein is now the Democratic minority leader. They picked up four seats in the Senate, putting them in position to compete for the majority in 2026.

Diane Hesselbein:
She got an A+. Yeah, I think those were great things to be aspirational. I think she did just that.

Zac Schultz:
A year ago, Republicans weren’t sure what new legislative maps would mean for Speaker Robin Vos’s large majority. And Republicans were divided on whether Donald Trump should be the nominee for president. One year from now, how will you judge success?

Robin Vos:
Coming back with a good, strong majority is a good way. Boy, if we have a Republican president, that would be a big success and better for the country. Hopefully we would be fighting inflation. We’d actually have a world that looks at America with respect and most importantly, we’d have a budget that is affordable for the next generation, not driving us into bankruptcy with inflation. I also feel like we will hopefully at the time, have the ability to help — hopefully have a good, strong budget to be able to move forward. So I think the number one thing, of course, is looking at what happens in the elections. That’s how we always judge where we are. But we’ve had so many successes this time we’ll have to kind of work on what’s going to happen in the next session.

Zac Schultz:
Republicans lost seats but won enough of the swing districts to maintain their majority. And Vos will continue his run as the longest serving Assembly speaker in state history. How would you grade your predictions?

Robin Vos:
I guess that’s pretty good, actually. I’m glad I did that. I mean, obviously we have a GOP president. That’s good for the country. We kept the majority. The Democrats were certain that if they had new maps, they would be able to get the majority. What I’ve said for really the entire time I’ve been elected is we have better candidates, a better message, and people who work harder. We proved that correct. That’s great. Inflation, that’s what we’re going to — that’s our last step in the equation, because I really thought that those tax cuts would have already taken effect. Here we are where Governor Evers kept the money in the treasury. We’re still going to have a chance to correct that one last thing, and maybe I’ll get all three right.

Zac Schultz:
Reporting from Madison, I’m Zac Schultz for Here & Now.