>> Everybody is talking about it with bated breath.

With just over two weeks until Election Day.

Will the midterms be a Democratic wave or a whimper?

Will the Wisconsin legislature flip, or will Republicans maintain control?

We put these questions and more to our political panelists.

Republican Bill McCoshen and Democrat Scot Ross.

Thanks for being here.

>> Thanks for having us.

>> So I want to start out by quoting Chuck Schumer, who asked this will the unprecedented tsunami of Republican money defeat the massive Democratic advantage in political climate?

Do you think it will, both at that level and across Wisconsin?

>> We don't have a we don't have a Senate race here in Wisconsin.

But it's very clear that the minority leader is looking at Wisconsin because what we basically have is three billionaires versus 3.7 million voters.

The investment by Diane Hendrix and the U. Lines, Dick and Liz is.

It's unfathomable.

They have put something in the neighborhood of $50 million into direct campaign contributions by funneling through the Democrat or through the Republican Party to not just Tom Tiffany, but also the state Senate and the state Assembly.

They are they represent 90% of the fundraising by Tom Tiffany and every single candidate in the state, state legislature for the Republicans.

>> So, Bill, do you think this will mean a win?

>> It's kept Republicans in the game for sure, particularly Tom Tiffany.

He's defying gravity political gravity right now.

It's a good year for Democrats.

No question about that.

Will it be a great year?

It remains to be seen.

I you know, is it a red undertone where people are just fed up with broken promises that particularly on the Iran war?

Or will it be a blue wave?

The polling says voters are not very happy with Democrats either.

So midterms generally go against the party in the white House.

That's Republicans this time around.

But I think there'll be some surprises across the board.

>> What's your gut and info on Blue wave or no blue wave?

>> Oh, I mean, this election is about two things.

It is about costs and it is about corruption.

And the Republicans on both have failed us.

Prices are through the roof on gas, groceries.

People can't buy homes.

Meanwhile, the corruption that you see coming out of Washington, D.C.

and here in the state of Wisconsin with Donald Trump and, you know, the the $2 billion for January 6th, terrorist insurrectionists he tried Tom Tiffany's voted with him 100% of the time, that Tom Tiffany can't point a single thing that he disagrees with with Donald Trump on except, sorry, the renaming of Lake Ontario.

That's the only thing he has disagreed with Trump on.

And that's why Republicans, since he's leading ticket, are going to wash him, wash them out.

back a little bit from some of what Trump has said and done.

Tom, Tiffany, how hard is that for him to to run this line?

>> I think he's seeing candidates across the country, depending on what the climate is in their particular state, taking similar positions.

Ashley Hinson in Iowa would be another good example, but I think Tiffany's done a pretty good job of walking this line.

Let's not forget Donald Trump got more votes in the state of Wisconsin than any statewide candidate in history.

Roughly 1.7 million.

The only one who has come close to him was Barack Obama in 2008.

There won't be 3 million plus voters in a in a midterm election.

It will be probably around 2.7 million means.

Tom Tiffany needs 1.3, 1.34 somewhere in that neighborhood to win.

And I would tell you, he has the best grassroots organization I've ever seen built in the state of Wisconsin on either side.

So I think there's an opportunity here for Tom Tiffany to overcome all the obstacles and still win.

>> How does David Crowley overcome the obstacle of the money imbalance?

>> Well, the thing is, is that David Crowley is remaining competitive with fundraising.

And I think that the fact that three billionaires are trying to finance this race for Tom Tiffany has drawn out national fundraising and in-state fundraising.

I think he is definitely closing the gap.

But when you have three people who can write checks because you're willing to deliver for them, the biggest tax cuts in world history, when you're able to cut taxes in the in the state legislature, as he did in order, you know, and fund that for them by making the largest cuts to public education in state history.

That's where you're on the wrong side of things.

You know, listen, bring Donald Trump here.

If Donald Trump got the most votes ever in 2024, you bring him here, we'd be.

>> Pumped for your for your viewers 2015 act 117 allowed for unlimited contributions to go directly to parties that then can be transferred to candidates.

Democrats have used this tool for ten years.

Very successfully.

>> They bought Tom Tiffany.

>> They bought the Supreme Court.

They now had the majority on the Supreme Court using that loophole.

>> All right, let's move to the legislature.

What do you think is going to happen there?

>> I think Democrats have a pretty good shot to flip the majority in the Senate.

It's they need three out of four seats to get there.

They've got good candidates.

They're running good campaigns.

They started early, which is a recipe for success.

But I think the Republicans hang on in the Assembly.

They probably lose a couple of seats.

They have five to give to lose the majority.

But I think they hold on.

And part of it is they've got a significant money advantage.

They've got great candidates, and in most cases they've got incumbents running.

And it's always tough to beat an incumbent.

>> There's that money again.

But what do you think about what's going to happen in the legislature?

gone.

I mean, they've all but given up.

For instance, on the on the fifth Senate district, which was always a battleground district if it wasn't controlled by Republicans, it was a battleground.

But here's the thing.

These are the second you know, the second elections we're having with actual fair maps.

And we saw the unprecedented wave that that Democrats had in 2024 in a in a place where Donald Trump got the most votes in history with these fair maps, with the environment being so bad for Republicans because of their failures up and down the up and down the stream.

This is I think it's going to be a big night for Democrats here in the state of Wisconsin.

You know, again, you're seeing races where 90% of the money for the Republicans is coming out of out of.

Diane Hendrix, Liz Uihlein and Dick Ullin's wallets.

You know, this is the most it's the most unproductive legislature ever that we've ever had.

And they're too lazy to even raise money off of people, you know, building that grassroots.

>> Support.

>> Building that grassroots support is about moving people up to volunteer ladder.

You look on the Democratic side, you see candidates with 50, $2,500 donations from people in the district.

You see none of that from Republicans.

>> Part of what's driving the money is Democrats talking about a trifecta that is driving donors on our side to contribute to the Assembly, in particular, because they view them as the goalie, the place where they can stop the trifecta.

So I think the more you talk about a trifecta, the more money we're going to be able to raise on this.

>> I am not using the T word, but I will say is this is that since Tom Tiffany was in the legislature, since he was a state senator for Dick, and Liz Uihlein properties up in Manitowish waters, he has been in the tank for them.

They have a 12 year long relationship.

It's why they have chosen not to create their own independent groups, but to give that money directly through the party.

With the loophole authored by Tom Tiffany back in 2015.

>> I want to ask you, Bill, why the national Republicans are putting money into Bryan Steil in the first.

>> Well, because Democrats are coming after him.

And part of that has to do more with 2028 than it has to do with 2026.

Bryan Steil is a leader on the Republican side in the Congress.

He's raised $7 million.

He's a hard worker.

He's back in the district all the time, working from Kenosha to to Janesville, his hometown.

Democrats view him as a threat in 2028 for a U.S.

Senate seat.

If Ron Johnson decides not to seek reelection.

So they're trying to take Bryan Steil out this cycle.

>> Well, I think what's happened is that the party, the powers that be on Bill's side out in D.C.

have been reading Derrick Van Norton's tweets and are like, we this guy's going down.

We're going to try and save.

We're going to try and save Bryan Steil, who, incidentally, was under the fundraising that Mitchell Berman has.

His his opponent had.

And according to the polling that's out there, Mitchell Berman is currently ahead in this race, which is was unimaginable a year, a year and a half ago.

>> He's not ahead.

Bryan Steil is going to win.

>> All right.

We'll we'll find out.

Bill McCoshen Scot Ross, thanks so much.

Donald Trump is not on the ballot this fall, but he is