Jason Cregier: The Wisconsin 1st Congressional District race between Republican four term incumbent Bryan Steil and Democratic challenger Mitchell Berman is a competitive contest that not only is drawing attention statewide, but also nationally.
Joining us today to discuss that race, as well as general voting information around Wisconsin, is Neil Johnson – news editor for the Janesville Gazette.
Neil, as mentioned up top, why is this 1st Congressional District race in Wisconsin so competitive?
Neil Johnson (NJ): Mitchell Berman has spent a lot of time campaigning in Rock County, with more than half a dozen public and private appearances here within the last month alone.
The cost of living and affordability is a key issue in this race for voters. Representative Steil is a corporate lawyer from Janesville who has been in congress now for four terms.
He thinks cost of living and inflation issues can be righted by the expansion of domestic energy production. Steil mentions ideas like natural gas expansions to ease what we’ve seen with skyrocketing energy and utility costs over the past several months.
Berman tied back to middle class pain felt by blanket tariffs under President Trump's administration, and how Berman wants those tariffs repealed. He argues that even with the potential for some middle-class tax cuts, that some Republicans like Steil lean in on, Berman says the impacts of those tariffs on the middle class have consumers still going backward.
I think that's the big bipartisan issue we see where fault lines are between candidates is that both conservative and democrat voters are feeling the same pain with costs.
(JC) Let’s piggyback onto that real quick Neil. How engaged are voters in Rock County feeling about this 1st Congressional race?
(NJ) Where we track voter turnout is hard to pinpoint. However, if turnout from the last midterm election is any indicator, we saw 70% voter turnout. That means about 70,000 of the 100,000 or so registered voters in Rock County cast a ballot. That turnout makes Rock County one of several counties in southern Wisconsin that’s regarded as key areas where voter turnout could sway this election.
There is a caveat though; early absentee mail in ballots in Janesville have not been returned at a rate that local municipal clerks had expected. For instance, In Janesville we have seen about 55% of mail in votes ordered by voters come back to the clerk’s office.
(JC) Let’s discuss the race for the governorship of Wisconsin. Tony Evers is not seeking a third term in office, so Milwaukee Executive David Crowley is representing Democrats in that race and Wisconsin 7th Congressional Representative Tom Tiffany is running opposite Crowley for Republicans.
Neil, what do we need to know about the governor’s race in Wisconsin?
(NJ) If you believe the latest polls, this will be a close race decided by a few percentage points.
These two candidates have really made their rounds in the southern part of Wisconsin, Rock County being part of that.
Southern Wisconsin was a fairly democratic voting area, but now it has shifted much more purple than it was in the past. We have now seen that trend over the past three or four election cycles. If you believe in these polls, it could be a very close gubernatorial race.
(JC) That is Neil Johnson, news editor for the Janesville Gazette. Neil broke down some of the key races to watch in Wisconsin ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Neil Johnson, thanks for joining us.
(NJ) Thanks for having me.
