Jay Weber Show transcript 4-15-25
Hey- you folks in the audience have had at least 14 days to ‘not think’ about the next election-and so, by all means, let’s leap to next year’s governor’s race immediately.
Uggh...
The relentless nature of modern-era politicking is probably the reason that so many of us have been ‘driven away’ from trying to follow along and keep up with things.
But yes- Ben Wickler announced he doesn’t want to continue to be the Democrat’s State Party Leader anymore. He’d clearly like to run for office, himself, at some point-
Maybe he’s thinking gov Evers won’t run again in 2026-but Evers is heavily pressured to do so-because incumbents have significant advantages...and..... Ever’s approval ratings are remarkably good for such a ‘do nothing’ governor.
And-on our side- I knew the jockeying for the GOP position would start early-but i didn’t think it would be this early.
Yesterday morning, JR Ross broke the news that a New Berlin businessman is forming a political action committee and is-clearly- looking to run for governor as the GOP nominee.
His name is Bill Berrien and he’s the CEO of Liberty Precision in New Berlin. It sounds like he lives in Whitefish Bay. I’m not going to pretend to know much about him-
But he’s a former Navy seal. Runs successful companies. So, he’s certainly worth a look.
He started a Pac-which is always a tipoff-
It’s the never out of fight Pac’....
And his press release certainly made it sound like he had already decided to run.
“I am concerned about the rapid erosion of trust in the [election] system that allows us to sort out and determine winners and losers,” she wrote. “Many Wisconsinites harbor doubt about the integrity of our elections, and the worst outcome for America is that those doubts cause voters to stop participating in elections.”
And no, I don’t want to start handicapping the 2026 governor’s race now- over a year before the party primaries. No.
But I will tell you what I find interesting on the GOP side: that there won’t be a clear ‘frontrunner’ in the race. I know of several people who are considering running-and this could be a larger field than you’d expect- and include a few businessmen. A few current office holders. A few past office holders.
On the GOP side- we are going to be legitimately ‘wide open’ next year, and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
And before I go through a list of ‘possible’ candidates here, i want to put out the ‘big thought’ that all sorts of Wisconsinites are going to have: will it be Sean Duffy? What about Sean Duffy?
Folks- Sean Duffy hasn’t even been trump’s transportation secretary for a full three months yet. Even if he ‘had’ designs on some eventual run for office in Wisconsin again (and i don’t think he does)- he wouldn’t screw over trump and abandon a cabinet position to start forming an election team this summer or this fall.
Moreover- i think we, as Wisconsinites, need to come to grips with the fact that ‘the Duffy’s are dc’s now’. At least for the foreseeable future.
His wife is climbing the rungs at Fox News-and it’s a cushy, well-paying gig. It puts both ‘closer to national political power’. It means Sean can ‘write his own ticket’ for the future, either in politics or in the media. Maybe at some point he wants to run for governor or senator back here-
But having seen enough of these young political families, it will likely be after most of the kids are older and out of school etc.
I don’t see Duffy’s rushing to get back to Wisconsin to try to ‘win’ a job that pays a fraction of what both make now.
It doesn’t put either of them in a better political situation, professional situation, or personal situation.
So-forget about Sean Duffy.
The possible contenders could include-Eric Hovde. He’s a Madison businessman who ran for the senate and narrowly lost to Tammy Baldwin. I haven’t spoken to him. but maybe...he feels that he’s spent all sorts of time and money on ‘statewide name recognition’ now...and it would benefit him in a gubernatorial run. I don’t know if he wants to be governor. His focus seemed to be Washington-
But Hovde has-noticeably-remained somewhat politically active. And is posting videos to keep up a social media profile- so- maybe Hovde.
I’ll also say that-just based on how he’s acted over the last six months or more-I’d be shocked if Washington County Executive Josh Shoeman didn’t run. My perception is that he’s made attempts to raise his political and media profile. I know he’s interested in that governor’s job. I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t run.
As far as other elected leaders go: I am certain that congressman tom tiffany is at least ‘looking at it’. He’s simply shown too much interest in ‘in-state’ news over the last year or so...not to be considering it.
And what I mean is- chiming in on, and taking positions on, events going on in Madison. It’s always a ‘tip off’ when lawmakers start to show a larger interest in issues and things that ‘aren’t in their lane’.
Tiffany is a US congressman. Why feel the need to chime in on...the state budget process. For example?
Shoeman has done the same thing: I’ll call it...looking into the other lane.
Both tiffany and Schoemann have done enough of it that i think they are running.
There’s been talk of Mary Felzkoshi, the senate president in Madison. Rumblings about senator Pat Testing.
There might be another business exec or two whose names are tossed around.
Conventional wisdom would be that -maybe? Hovde? -has an advantage here? Due to his razor-thin loss to Tammy Baldwin and the fact that he’s got statewide name recognition with voters?
But I’m also sensing-among republican voters in Wisconsin- that they don’t want ‘past losers’ and they might even be giving up on ‘white men’. Yes. On the GOP side. Frustrated voters might be more inclined to reject those who have run and lost before-and white men-
Which presents a very interesting, possible dark horse: former three-time ticket winner- one-time primary loser- Rebecca Kleefisch.
I have lost sight of the Kleefisch? Klayfi?
I have no idea where Rebecca is or whether she’s interested...but...after several prominent white men losing the most recent statewide races- voters might be more ready for a female candidate in 28.
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here > Candidates for WI Governor are already lining up