State GOP Chair Brian Schimming says a top-tier U.S. Senate candidate will enter the race before the end of the year to take on Dem U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
“I think you’ll see things happen in the next 30 to 60 days, potential candidates,” Schimming said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “The fact of the matter is Tammy Baldwin is vulnerable.”
Schimming appeared alongside state Dem Party Chair Ben Wikler, looking ahead to 2024.
“Every time I hear some business about ‘Oh, I’m not sure if folks can beat Tammy Baldwin,’ I say, have you seen U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold around lately because Russ Feingold was in better shape from a polling perspective when he ran both times than Tammy Baldwin is right now, so I hope Democrats are over-confident,” Schimming said.
Schimming said the state GOP, in coordination with the Republican National Committee, is preparing a major push to encourage Republicans to vote early ahead of the November election.
“The reception has been very good, better than I thought it was going to be, actually,” Schimming said. “The reception has been very, very good on early voting, and so we’re going to have a massive early voting drive in this state that Democrats have not seen before.”
Meanwhile, Wikler says Dems must not take anything for granted.
“For Democrats, our job is to always lose sleep over the fact that we are the home of the nail-biter,” Wikler said. “The core idea is that Democrats don’t take any voter for granted, and they don’t take any voter off the table. We’re going to be organizing in deep red rural areas and the brightest blue spots across the state, across generation, geography, race, ethnicity, tribe. Every Wisconsinite, we want to make sure hears our message.”
The party said it launched more than 400 canvass operations in 115 municipalities over the weekend, including appearances by Baldwin.
“Tammy Baldwin knows you have to work in every corner of Wisconsin to show up for people,” Wikler said. “This is Wisconsin, and last year’s Senate election was a 1% point margin matter, so Tammy Baldwin and all who support her are not taking this for granted by any means, even though the most compelling Republicans shied away from actually challenging her.”
Wikler dismissed Dem primary challenges to President Biden and any impact in Wisconsin, including Minnesota U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who recently entered the race.
“Rep. Phillips is entitled to make his own decisions as anybody is, but that doesn’t mean someone who people are maybe learning about for the first time at this very moment as we discuss him, is a major factor in the presidential election,” Wikler said. “President Biden has been a tremendous success. President Biden is working every day to deliver for folks, and Democrats have President Biden’s back.”
Foxconn told “UpFront” it is open to the possibility of selling more of its land to other corporations interested in developing part of its Mount Pleasant campus, like what was recently acquired by Microsoft.
But the Taiwan-based company also reaffirmed its commitment to Wisconsin.
“As it pertains to other future partnerships with non-Foxconn entities who may want to call this area of the park home, the company is open to discussions,” said Robert Schlaeger, Foxconn’s chief of staff to the vice chairman. “It’s just simply a matter of transactions, mechanics weighed against potential opportunities, what Foxconn is currently doing here within our area of the park and what our future plans are for the park in response to those market demands, and simply the company’s perspective that this area of Wisconsin is a key strategic asset to respond to market demand.”
The company gave “UpFront” and WISN cameras access to its manufacturing floor for the first time ever, where Schlaeger said about 1,000 employees are making data servers.
Foxconn once promised 13,000 jobs and a $10 billion investment in Wisconsin.
“Market conditions have changed as to the original scope of what Foxconn wanted to do in 2017 and 2018,” Schlaeger said. “But what hasn’t changed, what hasn’t changed is Foxconn’s continued efforts to find business opportunities that can succeed.”
To that, Schlaeger said Foxconn is continuing to look at electric vehicle opportunities, including in Wisconsin.
“As the chairman and as Foxconn takes a look at opportunities in the United States, which is where we are and where we want to grow in response to market opportunities, the company is taking a look at electric vehicles and electric vehicle-related verticals and how it can apply at our various different campuses, which include Wisconsin,” Schlaeger said. “It is a possibility as we weigh the economics, customer demand and all the mechanics that go into making those type of production and operations successful.”
Foxconn will learn next month whether it qualifies for a third year of tax credits after a renegotiated contract with Gov. Tony Evers’ administration after Evers beat former Gov. Scott Walker.
“I think it was one of the best steps we made to renegotiate that, to focus on the reality that exists down there,” Evers said Wednesday. “I think it’s worked out alright for Foxconn, too. Certainly, it was oversold by the previous administration, and we needed to renew and review that deal. They have the deal that every other company has in the state of Wisconsin that has a deal from WEDC. And Microsoft is a huge addition down there, and I think we have good momentum going forward that we’re going to be able to fill that land.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos praised the recent Microsoft deal and indicated more development may come soon.
“We know that the site has become one of the best in the entire country for new businesses to look at, so there are lots of exciting announcements that I think will happen in the next several years,” Vos said.
When asked whether the company is successful in the state, he said, “Nowhere near as much as we had hoped, but I would say if they would have come and said we were bringing 1,000 jobs, people would have applauded that and said how fantastic is that? They came and over-promised and under-delivered.”
See more from the show:
https://www.wisn.com/upfront
