Former GOP Gov. Scott Walker says young independent voters are the “wild card” this November and could swing toward candidates like Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist from Madison who received the most support in the most recent Marquette Law School poll.

Walker told WISN 12’s “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics, that polling by the Young America’s Foundation shows there are more liberals than conservatives among young people, but the most frequent answer from college students is that they’re moderates.

“What they appreciate, regardless of party, more than anything is authenticity and fairness. That’s why I think on the left and on the right, to young people, you can find candidates that maybe seem like they’re contradictory but who have passion, who are pumped up. I think Rep. Hong affects that. I think part of what I hope to see more of from Tom Tiffany is that same sort of passion with his plan, particularly when it comes to things like housing and healthcare and other things.”

Walker said, though, it’s not a guarantee.

“I think people think, as they did with Mandela Barnes against Ron Johnson years ago, that somehow just being radical is enough to beat them,” Walker said. “And there’s elements of that, particularly amongst older voters, but with younger voters, there’s a direct appeal to passion. It’s why some of the people you saw with Bernie Sanders years ago ended up going for Donald Trump. How do you explain that? Ideologically, it makes no sense other than they thought they were both authentic and had passion.”

Hong and Barnes are part of a crowded Dem primary field. Tiffany, the outgoing 7th CD congressman, is the presumptive Republican nominee for governor. The primaries are in August.

Walker conceded the midterms will be challenging for Republicans, given the historical nature of which party occupies the White House. The economy and surging gas prices don’t currently help.

“The closer we get to end of summer, as you head into Labor Day, that’s when really people look at gas prices, food prices, if they’re renting or they’re paying a mortgage and looking for a home, particularly for a lot of young people I talk to, they don’t see a home purchase anywhere in the horizon for them,” Walker said. “Those are the sorts of things that not only have to change, but particularly for Tiffany and for other candidates on the Democratic side, they’ve got to talk about real, real solutions.”

Walker also called to eliminate Wisconsin’s nonpartisan spring elections after the most recent Supreme Court results, when liberal-backed Justice-elect Chris Taylor beat Maria Lazar by 20 points.

“The facade that somehow these are nonpartisan positions, we see particularly on the Supreme Court, it is clear conservatives get behind one candidate, liberals versus the other, just lay it out there,” Walker said. “Bring it to November when the most people in the state turn out, not only for the courts, for school boards, for every election, have a higher turnout, get more people involved.”

In another segment, Appeals Court Judge Pedro Colón calls Wisconsin “a progressive state,” when asked about being one of two liberal-backed candidates who have already entered the 2027 state Supreme Court race.

“Justices of the Supreme Court are the firewall when there’s overreach by other branches of government, whether that be in elections, whether that be in voting, whether that be police or police powers coming with administrative warrants that have never gone before a judge or a neutral,” Colón, a former lawmaker, told “UpFront.” “And so there are all these rights that are embedded into our daily existence.”

The winner of next April’s election will replace retiring conservative Justice Annette Ziegler. If a liberal candidate wins, it would expand the court’s liberal majority to 6-1. No conservative-backed candidates have entered the race yet.

“Every race to the Supreme Court is supremely important,” Colón said. “It’s seven votes. It takes four to make a majority, and we have to decide all of these issues that are coming at us very quickly and going to define us not only as we make those decisions that are coming before us around gerrymandering, around voting rights, around abortion, the Fourth Amendment, increasingly being subjected to tech and large technological issues.”

Meanwhile, Clark County Judge Lyndsey Brunette, who’s also entered the race, says “the stakes are still high” despite control of the court not being in play.

“We have a majority that has now been secured, but it’s not that long ago in our history that the balance was at risk,” Brunette told “UpFront.” “And when the balance was at risk, we saw some very scary challenges to our democracy. We saw an election that hung in the balance by one vote, so we need to continue to build our majorities so we have that security in those systems and the protections for those citizens of Wisconsin.”

Justice-elect Chris Taylor, who just beat Maria Lazar by 20 points last month, endorsed Colón a day after he launched his campaign.

“I think that Judge Colón has worked really hard as a legislator for many years, and he’ll have friends that are going to come out and support him,” Brunette said. “And I’m just happy to focus on me as a candidate and the reasons why my endorsements matter, as well, and why I worked really hard for them.”

Brunette said she anticipates continuing to see “attacks on our democracy.”

“We are going to continue to have to fight for those rights of people to vote in our elections,” Brunette, a former prosecutor, said. “We have to continue to find representation that is also fair and balanced across the state of Wisconsin, and we’ll see healthcare rights and challenges to those at the forefront as well.”

Brian Dorow, the former Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary who now runs a private security firm, says he’s making changes after the recent incident  in Washington, D.C.

“It’s high,” Dorow told “UpFront” when asked what the threat level is for top politicians. “We do protect various politicians, and the threats they get nowadays are unbelievable, deliberate threats. …The unfortunate thing is now we have an extension to family members, personal households, personal vehicles. It’s taken out of the public realm, and now it’s part of their well-being.

“We are adding resources,” Dorow added. “We’re minimizing open public places when you can’t control the environment entirely. That’s where you see that vulnerability perhaps present itself.”

Dorow said campaigning ahead of the midterms and the 2028 presidential election may look different.

“That’s under discussion,” he said. “I think candidates have to be careful.”

The Center for Black Excellence and Culture in Madison will host its grand opening Wednesday, and the center’s founder is pushing for a statewide impact.

“As I’ve looked at the horrible racial disparities between Blacks and whites in the state of Wisconsin, and how that’s resulted in a great exodus of Black families to other parts of the country, leaving Wisconsin with a great Black brain drain,” the Rev. Dr. Alex Gee told “UpFront.” “I started asking what would make Madison feel like home to people in Dane County and in Wisconsin?”

Gee said he had listening sessions with over 800 Black people, and community members said they want to feel like they belong. 

“This is a place that not only helps us to look forward based upon our experiences, but it’s a place where we create a brighter future together,” Gee said. “So it’s meant to create nooks and crannies and spaces and classrooms and performing spaces and lounges and senior spaces and libraries, so we could lean in and create associations and gatherings and conferences and discussions and write papers. But it’s meant to motivate us to build upon the strength of our community.”

Gee said one of his goals for the center is to help facilitate economic growth within the greater Madison area as well to help the city become a better place for Black families to live.

“We’re experiencing the greatest migration of Black folks from the north to the south in American history,” Gee said. “Then all of the companies that are trying to create world-class institutions with members that are in with an inclusive business, they’re not going to be able to be relevant for their global business if their staff is not more inclusive.”

See more from the show.