From WisPolitics …
— Reince Priebus, former chief of staff to Donald Trump and ex-chairman of the Republican National Committee, says he’ll be involved but won’t get ”too much in the matrix” during the second Trump administration.
“I’ll be involved in things here and there,” president and chief strategist for the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich told WISN’s “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “But I’ve got a good life outside the White House, and I’m happy with what I’m doing. But I’m also always involved. You could say I try to keep a balance.”
Priebus praised Trump’s decision to name Susie Wiles his incoming chief of staff.
“It’s a tough job,” he said. “I mean, obviously Donald Trump is a force in nature, but Susie is up to it. I think she’s a great pick for this job. I think it’s a little different, too. Donald Trump’s been through it already. I mean, we put together a team in 2016 really quickly. It was sort of like a team of rivals, which is kind of a complicated thing to do.”
Priebus said Trump won because of undecided voters who swung for Biden in 2020 and now for Trump in 2024.
“People aren’t stupid,” he said when asked about what could have been campaign missteps in the final days of the campaign. “They know that this comedian at Madison Square Garden was foolish for making such comments, that it wasn’t Donald Trump making the comments.
“So look, I think people aren’t dumb,” he added. “They know what the truth is and what’s not. And it turns out that a lot of these people go to the grocery store and buy groceries. And it turns out that a lot of these people put gas in their car, so that actually these things matter to people.”
Priebus said Trump’s first 100 days will be “a little bit more orderly” than in 2017.
“I think it’s going to start with immediately shutting down the border,” Priebus said. “They’ve got the 2025 tax cuts that they need to renew, which is going to take up almost the entire legislative process, at least to probably start that in the House, and then they’ve got the confirmations in the Senate. So you know, as far as the deportations, the one thing that you can count on is Donald Trump is going to follow through on his promises. And the other thing is, I hope people aren’t going to be surprised by this. This was a central theme of Donald Trump’s campaign.”
— Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, says the party must find ways to “show up and speak to voters where they are.”
“What went wrong in Wisconsin was less than what went wrong just about everywhere else,” Wikler told “UpFront.” “There was a national shift of about 6 percentage points towards Trump. Wisconsin had the smallest shift of any of the battleground states. It was a shift of 1.5 percentage points.
“I think people were most of all frustrated about prices and inflation and took that out against the incumbent parties, whether they were on the left or on the right,” Wikler added. “Now, that said, clearly we came up short, and we’ve got to figure out how to reach more voters in more places, people that maybe we aren’t talking to yet.”
Trump’s campaign focused in the final weeks on podcasts targeting male voters and less on traditional media sources.
“If you look at the big picture, showing up in more places for years would have absolutely made a difference,” Wikler said when asked if Harris should have appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast like Trump did. “The question of would that have flipped an election that shifted six points to the right? Hard to say that, you would have to get 125,000 people to switch from Trump to Harris across the blue wall states.
“And I’m sure the debate will begin now about all the things that could have been done differently along the way, and the small picture and big picture. That’s a really important debate. In the context of a campaign, you’re working with the information you have. I think going forward Democrats should find ways to show up and speak to voters where they are, where they’re getting information and build ways to get information out to people and to connect with them.”
— After Trump’s win, Republican strategist Bill McCoshen issued a warning to Republicans.
“Here’s what I would caution Republicans,” he told “UpFront.” “This wasn’t necessarily a red wave. It was a Trump wave. So if you ran this cycle as a Senate candidate and won, or you ran for reelection as a congressional candidate or as a new candidate, in Tony Wied’s case, you ran on Donald Trump’s agenda. Now it’s up to you to deliver on that agenda. If you want this to be a durable majority going forward, you have to deliver the agenda over the next two years.
“Listen, they’re way far ahead of where most new administrations are,” McCoshen said looking ahead to the first 100 days. “He’s already been president once. They’ve been working on the transition since they left here in Milwaukee from the RNC in July. So I expect them to have a full complement of appointments ready to go on day one, and I think he will have a stronger team that understands this is a one-and-done term, and he got elected to produce very specific results. And I think the entire cabinet, the entire administration will be focused on that in Congress.”
Meanwhile, Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki says Dems need to act immediately ahead of the inauguration.
“I think during the transition we need to confirm as many judges as we can,” he said. “There are probably some things the Biden administration can do to try to make it a little tougher for a Trump administration to unwind some of the progress we’ve made. That may well happen, and I think some of it should. The open question is still who is going to control the House of Representatives? It’s probably going to be Republicans, but there is a path where it is Democrats. And if that’s the case, and if you have divided government, it’s going to be a lot harder for Donald Trump to implement that fast and furious 100 day agenda.”
Zepecki says Democrats can also look to several key wins including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
“Tammy Baldwin is an incredible United States senator,” he said. ‘She’s a first ballot hall of famer, put her on Mount Rushmore of Wisconsin politicians. As far as I’m concerned, because against those economic headwinds, she got over the top. How? Because she’s a really good United States senator.”
See more from the show.
— U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, are endorsing state GOP Chair Brian Schimming for another two-year term.
WisPolitics reported last month that Schimming had told the party’s executive committee that he planned to seek another term when leadership elections are held in December.
Yesterday, Johnson on X praised the work of Schimming, the state GOP, local officials and volunteers for Donald Trump’s win in Wisconsin.
“With Supreme Court, gubernatorial and other key battles ahead, I fully support his continued efforts and reelection as we work to save Wisconsin and America,” Johnson wrote.
Steil responded to Johnson’s post that he agrees.
“After the big win on Nov. 5, it’s time to keep the team together that led us to victory,” Steil wrote.
— The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today on whether an 1849 law bans abortion or only applies to feticide.
A Dane County judge found the statute doesn’t apply to consensual abortions, and Sheboygan County DA Joel Urmanki appeared the ruling. The Supreme Court granted a petition to bypass the appeals court and hear the case.
— Today is Veterans Day, a federal holiday. A 10 a.m. event is scheduled at the Wisconsin Capitol.
TOP HEADLINES
After an intense election season, the political focus shifts to state races in WI
… next state Supreme Court race is in just five months, and elections over the next two years will decide which party controls the Legislature and Governor’s Office. … [RPW chair] Schimming on Wednesday said Democrats’ “braggadocio” about their ground game and work in the field fell flat with Harris’ defeat. … [after WisDems chair] Wikler had touted the party’s phone banks and volunteer canvassers, suggesting Democrats would come out on top in the general election because of their vaunted ground game. … [Schimming] dismissed the notion that [Hovde’s loss] and losses in the state Legislature were evidence of a successful Democratic ground operation. … “Every incumbent political party around the world got shellacked this year,” said [Dem strategist] Zepecki … [preview Crawford-Schimel for Supreme Court] … “if they want to go and believe the saliency of the abortion issue alone is an automatic default winner for them,” Schimming said, “they might want to go and look at their research a bit more carefully.” … “It’s going to be a huge issue in the Supreme Court race,” [involved Dem strategist] said of abortion, claiming Schimel has an “extreme” record on the issue. … Republicans keep control of the Legislature despite Democratic gains … even though Democrats picked up 10 seats. “They only focused on abortion in almost every race that we ran,” Vos said, claiming the focus “didn’t resonate” with voters. … “(Vos) should ask Duey Stroebel whether abortion worked as an issue,” Zepecki said. “Because what was on the air was Duey was on defense there late … If the takeaway from that is Vos thinks they’re just fine, well, OK.” … Leader Tyler August [said] maps were drawn to give Democrats control but that Republicans were “able to fight against that.” … “Dems flipped all four targeted state Senate seats,” Wikler wrote [on X], “ending the GOP’s supermajority and putting Democrats on track for a majority in 2026.” … One of the biggest questions hanging over Democrats is whether Evers will run for a third term as governor. … have what one top party official described as a “rock solid bench” [Kaul, Crowley, Johnson, Godlewski, Rodriguez] … potential [GOP] contenders include [Hovde, Tiffany, Kleefisch, Schoemann, Berrien] … [Tiffany would] “make that decision after the Supreme Court race” in April … [Schimming] warning Republicans to avoid harsh primary races [prefers non-attacking, self-funder] … “Now we have the benefit of history,” Schimming said.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/11/political-focus-shifts-from-national-to-state-elections-in-wisconsin/76110441007/
Trump rebuilds Dems’ ‘blue wall’ states with red bricks. Especially PA
… Trump has won Pennsylvania in two out of three tries, after Republicans had lost six straight presidential elections there. Something similar happened in the other “blue wall” states of Michigan and Wisconsin … after losing in 2020. Still, Democrats held on in key Senate races in Wisconsin and Michigan, if just barely, and the results played out differently in each state. … Republican victories were most pronounced in Pennsylvania … [Franklin & Marshall prof. Yost] said Democrats had a lot working against them among swing voters: their deteriorating personal finances, fueled by inflation, and the sense that many blamed Biden. … “The mood of the electorate was so negative, they took it out on the incumbent party,” Yost said. … Democrats had a much better night in Wisconsin than in the other “blue wall” states, despite Trump’s victory. … buoyed by [Baldwin’s] narrow victory … [on new maps] gains in both the state Senate and Assembly, shrinking the Republican Senate supermajority to a simple majority. More on PA, MI.
* RPW chair Schimming: “There were a lot of people who didn’t think we could do this. That blue brick in that blue wall is now red in Wisconsin.”
https://apnews.com/211cf863c602028d80c54bceb237bb2f
Trump-Tammy Baldwin split election explained
… [Baldwin] outperformed … Harris, across most of Wisconsin, but especially in smaller counties where former President Donald Trump made his biggest gains and in election wards with lower incomes and lower rates of college education. Does that mean that there were a lot of Baldwin-Trump voters in Trump Country? … Fewer than 2 percentage points and 60,000 votes separated the outcomes of these two races. … According to exit polls, 4% of Trump voters in Wisconsin voted for Baldwin, and 3% of [Harris] voters … voted for [Hovde]. … Hovde got about 54,000 fewer votes than Trump [voters voted 3rd party, Baldwin or did not vote] … [Baldwin] got about 4,500 more votes statewide than Harris. … [MU fellow Johnson analysis found] Baldwin did three points better than Harris [lost by smaller margins] in wards with lower rates of college education. … out-performed Harris the most in lower-income places and performed no better than Harris in places with the highest incomes … performed slightly better than Harris in majority-white wards … edge over Harris was the biggest in majority Latino wards, which shifted significantly toward Trump in this election. … Baldwin outperformed Harris a little bit more in wards with younger populations [which] voted heavily Democratic but saw a bigger shift toward Trump (about three points) than wards with older populations. … counties where Baldwin outperformed Harris the most [5-8 points] (and where Hovde lagged Trump the most), were small counties like Lafayette, Crawford and Buffalo in western Wisconsin and Ashland and Forrest and Clark in northern Wisconsin. … [Van Orden] ran well behind Trump in the region. … counties where Baldwin did not outperform Harris and Hovde did not lag behind Trump [Menominee reservation, WOW] look a lot different. … Ticket-splitting did not make a big comeback in this election. But when elections are this close, it takes very little ticket-splitting to produce a split outcome. … [MI, NV, maybe AZ also went Trump but Dem for Senate].
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/08/wisconsins-donald-trump-tammy-baldwin-split-election-explained/76110249007/
More Democrats fear the party’s image isn’t just damaged – it’s broken
… [Trump winning wider margins] after two impeachments, the riot at the Capitol and his felony convictions [left Dems ]less in disbelief than in a tailspin … In interviews with 16 elected officials, party leaders and strategists, Democrats from both wings of the party agreed they have stopped knowing how to talk to the working class, once the very core of their identity. But they were deeply divided on where to place the blame — and what to do about it. … Democrats have come across as too erudite, to the point that working-class voters feel like they’re being talked down to. … [progressive and populist Dems] argue that Harris trying to woo soft Republicans proved worthless, blamed moderates for torpedoing liberal priorities like the expanded child tax credit. … Some moderate Democrats … say [party] has drifted too far to the left, arguing … immigration reform, transgender rights and abortion access hamstrung them in swing areas.
* CPC Chair Jayapal: “The Democratic Party needs to be rebuilt. We have become a party of elites, whether we abandoned working-class people, whether they abandoned us, whether it’s some combination of all of the above,” would “love to see somebody like a Ben Wikler” as DNC chair. NJ Gov. Murphy, MN Dem chair Martin are also rumored potential candidates.
* Rep. Cuellar won TX border district that also went Trump, cited “undercurrent of tension” among district Latinos frustrated by fed support for undocumented immigrants, “the dam busted here where all of a sudden people said enough is enough” and voted for Trump. “Some of us have been talking about border security for a long time.”
* new CPC chair Casar: “Donald Trump lied and said that immigrants were to blame. The Democratic message moving forward needs to be house prices are up not because of immigrants, but because of Wall Street, and that your health care is worsening not because of immigrants, but because of Big Pharma.”
* suburban NV Rep Lee sees “hierarchy of needs” when people’s “paycheck can’t last for months and they can’t feed their kids and pay their rent.”
* PA Rep. DeLuzio: “I’ve been talking about corporate power and its impact on how much you pay for stuff, how it hurts small businesses. You’ve got to have a strong economic program to win.”
* CA Rep. Swalwell: “If we talk to people like we’re trying to win a Harvard Law Moot Court competition, we could have the best ideas in the world and it doesn’t resonate,” cited AZ Rep. Gallego who attended boxing matches, NASCAR races, “integrated himself into the rodeo culture.”
* strategist McDonald: “A party based on championing and identifying with the working class can run and win everywhere. A party based on championing and identifying with subgroups cannot win everywhere, and even does worse with the subgroups they rightfully champion.”
* ex-DNC chair Brazile: “With Hillary’s defeat, we said, the majority of us voted against that, and we felt like we could resist. … the American people rejected normalcy, decency, morality and they chose Trump. Let’s sit with that.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/10/democratic-party-crisis-mode-00188547
WI Supreme Court to hear arguments on 1849 feticide law
… scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. [today] … [Urmanski] case is one of two in the state … Urmanski has said he believes the 1849 law applies to abortion [JUdge Schlipper said no] … [AG] Kaul said Schlipper’s ruling is currently the only legal ruling on the matter and abortion providers in Wisconsin are operating under that guidance. “Right now we have a decision from the Circuit Court in Dane County, the only court that has addressed this issue, and it found that the 1849 law does not apply to consensual abortions,” Kaul said. “Right now that’s the guiding principle that we have in the law.”
https://madison.com/3a823928-9d21-11ef-b7eb-476e1e4d98c4.html
AG Josh Kaul commits to defend all Wisconsinites following Trump win
… Friday’s press event outlined Kaul’s hopes to work together to help fund programs facing severe cuts, both at the state and federal level, such as the Office of School Safety, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories and the Office of Crime Victim Services. Kaul also said the Department of Justice would be meeting with the state Supreme Court Monday to argue for the overturning of the state’s 1849 abortion ban. … [noted] Trump has distanced himself from [Project 2025] … shared other policies that Trump has since walked back: namely a national abortion ban, repealing the Affordable Care Act. … warned that there are “justified concerns” that Trump could still take a different path. … confirmed [WDOJ] is investigating [racist] texts … in Wisconsin and beyond. … widely viewed as being a potential Democratic contender in the 2026 governor’s race, although when asked about future election … “The last thing that most Wisconsinites are focused on right now is future elections,” Kaul said.
* Kaul concluded, “Let me say that if the new administration infringes upon the freedoms of Wisconsinites or attempts to use our system of justice as a tool for vengeance, we will act. We will act to protect the best interests of the people of the state of Wisconsin. We’ll act to uphold equal justice under the law, and we will act to defend Wisconsinites’ freedoms.”
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2024/11/08/wisconsin-ag-vows-to-act-if-trump-administration-infringes-on-rights/76128885007/
Racist texts target Black UW-Madison students after presidential election
… part of a nationwide wave … [UWPD] confirmed some Black students received the messages but wasn’t able to quantify how many. … messages varied but generally followed the same script, summoning the recipient to pick cotton on a plantation and ordering them to show up at a specific time to be picked up by slave handlers. … messages have been reported across the country, including many universities. … elderly … Even a 12-year-old Milwaukee girl received the message … FBI “aware” and coordinating with USDOJ. MPD, UWM unaware.
* AG Kaul: “Anybody sending harassing or threatening text messages is completely unacceptable and anyone making racist statements, bigoted statements in text messages is something we cannot tolerate.”
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2024/11/08/racist-texts-to-black-wisconsin-college-studepart-of-national-trend-after-presidential-election-ends/76136835007/
WEEK AHEAD
https://www.wispolitics.com/events/list/
Monday, Nov. 11
– 9:15 a.m.: WDVA Veterans Day program. State Capitol.
Tuesday, Nov. 12
– No events listed.
Wednesday, Nov. 13
– 7:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.: Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium. Keynote speaker is Erik Iverson, chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
– 10 a.m.: Joint Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes
– 10 a.m.: Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations
– 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Wisconsin Policy Forum Salute to Local Government. Keynote speaker is Milwaukee 7 Senior Vice President and Executive Director Jim Paetsch.
– 11:45 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Newsmaker Luncheon with Marquette University Law School pollster Charles Franklin
– 6:30 p.m.: Thompson Center: “Building Wealth, Building Communities: The Vital Role of CDFIs” with community development financial institution leader Arlo Washington.
Thursday, Nov. 14
– 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium
Friday, Nov. 15
– No events listed.
