Jason Cregier: We are going to take some time to discuss some big contests in Wisconsin’s midterm election. Here to break that down for us is Tim Sullivan, Regional News Editor for Adams Multimedia.
Tim, we spoke last week about Wisconsin’s 1st congressional race and how it could end up being close. And it was. 4-term incumbent Republican Bryan Steil was defeated by Democratic challenger Mitchell Bermann by roughly four percentage points.
Tim, what do you think ultimately led voters to go a different direction from Steil?
Tim Sullivan: This was a legitimate wave election. Many voters that occupy Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district were turning away from the party that had been in power the past two years and had done a lot that didn’t help people’s pocketbooks, and I think that was a big factor in Steil’s defeat.
Steil is the sort of candidate who is associated you could say, not necessarily with the policies associated with President Trump, but with scare quotes of “big business” sort of cohort of the Republican Party. When you look at the type of people that occupy eastern Rock County, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha counties, those are the sorts of people that look at somebody like Bryan Steil and his history and track record and maybe see him as the type of candidate not looking out for their pocketbooks during this election cycle.
(JC): Do you think this was kind of surprising that the 4-term incumbent fell?
(TS): Yeah, I do think so. When you look at how he fell it is even more interesting. Steil basically spent his whole life in Rock County and was pretty roundly defeated.
I think it was close to 65% votes in favor of Mitchell Berman in the portion of Rock County that is part of the 1st congressional district. That is what is most surprising.
(JC): So, let us shift over to another big race, Wisconsin Democrats will keep the keys to the Governor's Mansion for another 4 years, with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowly edging out Republican Challenger, 7th congressional district congressman Tom Tiffany. Were you surprised by this result Tim? Crowley’s predecessor Tony Evers, certainly faced his share of critics over his 8 years as governor.
(TS): Yeah, I think when you look at what Evers was able to do as governor, it was accepting a lot of that criticism while still going out and winning elections every time that he was on the ballot.
How his endorsement affected David Crowley was some of his “Evers magic dust” got sprinkled on him. Regardless of what a narrative might say, the real narrative that matters is what happens at the ballot box, and that is what Evers was able to do. I do not want to say Crowley was able to coattail that, but certainly he was able to follow that same sort of game plan.
The campaign became very negative on both sides in the past few weeks between Crowley and Tiffany. I think Crowley was able to land some body blows in terms of Tom Tiffany’s votes in terms of some of those economic policies that have hurt people in not just Rock, Walworth, Racine, Kenosha and southern Milwaukee counties, but across the entire state.
Even nationally you are seeing what the current Republican Party represents, certainly specific to Tiffany, every rubber stamp that has been negative to family finances. Crowley was able to jump on that, and Tiffany was almost swinging wildly in the past week and a half with some bizarre attempts to land any sort of negative attack on Crowley.
I think Tiffany was trying to go all out to stay relevant in the race, and I think that is a reason why the last week and a half played out the way it did.
(JC): Tim, thank you so much for sharing. That is Tim Sulivan, Regional News Editor for Adams Multimedia, which includes the Janesville Gazette and Beloit Daily News.
Tim, thanks for joining us to discuss some big election results across the state of Wisconsin.
(TS): Thank you so much for having me.
