This is a special presentation from Civic Media News.
From our Civic Media Studios in Madison and across the state of Wisconsin,
this is special coverage of Wisconsin Decides 2024.
Here are your hosts, Todd Alba and Pat Critello.
Welcome back to Mississippi World Headquarters to block off the campus square here in Madison,
Wisconsin, right across the overture center, right on State Street, Pat Critello.
So, you know, if it goes into the wee hours of the, of the morning,
Wisconsin State Street, so famous for, you know, late-night celebrations around Halloween.
When I was younger, yes. Right now, there's a nap involved when this is all over with.
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Now, just nine o'clock, nine o'clock, Pat Critello.
And if we look at the national scene right now,
Donald Trump lead in the Electoral College at last check.
178 to 99 polls in Wisconsin are closed.
We haven't really heard. I don't think if anybody's still standing in line that we know of.
That doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. If you happen to be in line or know somebody,
stay there. You still have the right to vote.
But now, as they used to say, Pat, it's all over but the shouting.
Yeah, I mean, they're moving. We're moving the scene from the voting booths.
You know, past the counting facilities into the parties.
You know, everybody's called a victory party.
Most people are heading toward the parties. Some are not based on reporting here.
General Sentinel reporter Mary Spakusa was blocked from attending the election night party
for Republican Senate candidate Eric Havdi.
I've always covered election night parties. She told Havdi Flak.
I've never gotten kicked out of one in 15 years of covering this stuff.
Oh, but wait, there's more Wisconsin Public Radio reporter.
Hope Kerwin was told she could not cover Republican Congressman Derek Van Orden's election night party.
So we have some more, uh, shall we say, Trumpian behavior from both Eric Havdi and Derek Van Orden
in keeping out select members of the media.
And Pat, you and I have known those two individuals a long time.
They are respected journalists. They do not come with any sort of a bias.
They're great individuals, great journalists and to not allow them into a victory party.
I don't know the last time.
If ever I heard of that, I never had, but I also grew up in a time when you also didn't skip things like public forms and debates.
And now we have Republicans skipping that all the time as well.
It's, uh, when you have your own media ecosystem, you can live in your bubble.
Oh, Pat, we're so silly talking about democracy night.
Not really.
Glad to have you along with us here.
We're going to keep following this great reporting.
Pat, appreciate that. We'll continue to follow all these races all evening long.
Can tell you that right now a 31% of the votes in or should say counted thus far in the state of Wisconsin.
Uh, the, uh, let's go back here.
It is a Donald Trump with 49.9% of the vote and Democrat Kamala Harris with 48.6% of the vote.
We heard from Trinkley Olson, uh, the senior advisor at the Lincoln Project at the end of last hour, Pat.
Good thing I brought a fresh pot of one-state coffee.
Whereas it's, whereas I'm keeping hydrated and brought along my Roy Kent mug from Ted Lasso.
Because I can't use Roy Kent's lingo here, but I can at least have him represented on the coffee mug.
We're not just following things in Wisconsin.
We're following things around the country.
And that includes many of the states.
The swing states were courier newsroom parent company of up north news has outlets, including in Michigan.
Uh, that would be the gander and from the gander joining us now is Sean kitchen.
Uh, one of our colleagues.
I'm sorry that this not the gander.
This is Pennsylvania, the keystone in Pennsylvania.
I got my time zones mixed up in my maps over here.
Sean kitchen joining us from Pennsylvania.
Now Sean, uh, where in the keystone state are you?
Um, I am out in the Harrisburg area.
I'm actually out of the election party right now.
Um, with, um, G4, Janelle Stelson.
She is the Democrat that is running against, um, Scott Perry in Pennsylvania's 10 congressional district.
Okay.
So one of many that are being followed because, again, Republicans only had the slimmest majority in the House of Representatives and proved to be absolutely dysfunctional with it.
Uh, so you're following that race.
What are some of the other, uh, races that are important around Pennsylvania that could help us determine whether Democrats or Republicans are going to be ruling the Rooster DC?
Um, and well, the first of all, we have the Senate race here in Pennsylvania, which, uh, I know with how the you've had a lot of interesting stories happening out there here in Pennsylvania.
We have Dave McCormick, who is a hedge fund manager from Connecticut that is trying to run a percent against Bob Casey.
Um, that's going to be an important seat.
Casey has been a United States Senator for, um, since 2006 and comes from a very popular political family here in Pennsylvania.
Um, and then we have this race right here, which in all, Stelson, um, and then some important down ballot races.
Um, with for attorney general, either general and our treasure here.
But I suppose the big one would be the 19 electoral votes, which is why we think we're popular here in Wisconsin.
But it really was the Harris Walls ticket and the Trump Vance ticket that truly made the Keystone state their home over this final week of the campaign, it seems.
Yeah, no, it's definitely, it's been a long week.
Um, so like last night, I was down in Philadelphia for Harris's closing rally, which had like 30,000 people there.
Um, I did not get home until 2 30 in the morning and then was up and out, uh, doing election day work at 7 a.m. this morning.
So it's been a long couple of days here in Pennsylvania.
But I mean, it just highlights how much attention the two campaigns have, uh, put on the state within the past, uh, within the closing weeks.
Uh, I recall four years ago, uh, that Pennsylvania was what, uh, helped to put Joe Biden over the top.
And it was on a Saturday morning.
I believe it was we were actually, we had just crossed the state line into Pennsylvania.
We were, we were on a trip to my daughters at that point.
And Pennsylvania was just, you know, just the center of attention, uh, you know, days after the election.
Is there a concern that it's going to take that long again?
Um, I don't think so.
Uh, the counties have been a lot faster at counting their ballots over the past couple of years, um, especially since 2000 or 2020 will make the pandemic.
And also the counties have invested.
And that was our first time we've ever voted by mail and that we, the counties have updated their machinery.
So we might get a result as early as tomorrow.
Um, you know, if everything goes according to plan.
Very good.
Thank you very much for taking some time with us.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you and have a good night.
Yep.
You as well.
Pat Christlo, so breaking news from CBS news at this hour that many people may find interesting.
If not disturbing in some cases, the state of Florida, according to CBS news, has rejected adding a state constitutional amendment.
Guarantine access to abortion, falling just short of the 60% vote it needed to pass CBS news projecting that the, uh, vote will be, well, I just went off the screen there.
But again, uh, Florida rejecting adding that state constitutional amendment, which is something a lot of people were watching.
But again, much like, you know, in the Senate, meeting 60 votes to break a filibuster, you know, you have again, majority support for something.
You have majority support for abortion rights in Florida, but because of where they've sent the benchmark.
This might be the, the first instance where a state measure, uh, to, uh, enshrine or protect abortion rights was defeated.
Absolutely.
We, uh, checked in earlier with, uh, the race of our pat was talking about this race of Derek Van Orton in the third congressional district.
Another big key race tonight out in Western Wisconsin, it goes from the kind of the Wisconsin kind of, but actually the Mississippi River Illinois state line in South Central Wisconsin.
All the way up to, uh, the river falls area where Trivia Olsen is from the entire length of Western Wisconsin and then tails off into picking up Steven's point in Central Wisconsin.
And our very own James Kelly, uh, news reporter from the Great Chippewa Valley area, Pat Cratello's home area is at the Rebecca Cook victory party.
James, thank you for joining us. What's the room feel like? What have you got for us tonight?
Well, right now, there's a lot of waiting around. I know people out here, you've realized that this is going to be a tight race all the way down to the wire, even just standing here.
You know, listening to you guys do a fantastic open to this hour, by the way. The lead has changed stands a couple of times.
Really back and forth in the well, you have you got latest and I don't have in front of my screen right now, general, the latest numbers in the third James.
Yeah, right now, we're a little over 30% voting total in, uh, oh, Claire and lacrosse are both around 70% each. Those are both going to cook right now.
Uh, in total, there's been about 130,000 votes. It's in even split, you know, less than a percentage point, separating the two candidates right now.
Let's keep in mind that it was in the third congressional district, you know, two years ago when Derek Van Orden was elected.
And it looked like he was going to win by a wider margin than he actually did. It turned out to be a rather narrow margin, which is why Democrats have invested so heavily in this race for back a cook.
But again, I think it's going to be down to the wire to see the results. There seems to be a trend here, James.
Things are going to be really, really tight. Surprise, surprise. It was constant.
Yeah, real shocker. It's only a swing state after all. Yeah. Uh, give us just another 30 to 60 seconds, James on these issues up there.
You follow this a lot in the Chippewa Valley area. Healthcare up there has been a big driver, at least a little, a clear area.
Yeah, the HSHS closures earlier this year, certainly through a wrench into the healthcare scene in the Chippewa Valley as a whole.
The number of clinics in addition to the two hospitals, as far as the congressional rates, that's really more of an issue on the state level state assembly candidates have really been campaigning on that hard out here trying to flip the assembly blue so that they can kind of get an even number on the joint finance committee and try to push that funding through on a state level though.
That are on a federal level. Rebecca Cook has pushed for healthcare reform here as well.
Yeah, and I know Maggie Don's going to be making her way back to the desk here in just a moment.
But Pat and James talk because you both live in this area, the Chippewa Valley area, give listeners across the state a sense of this Derek Van Orton is a guy who again has this legacy of going after teenagers, the latest one, of course, was in the Senate,
the set of pages in the United States Capitol, Rebecca Cook, a waitress.
Oh, there was even more more recently than that when Darren Van Orton from the farmers union was in his office and he, you know, he blew up at him.
And then he had a reason to parents on Channel 5 in the Twin Cities where he did not.
He looked disoriented. I guess it would be a kind way of putting it. He has been a blood pressure drug.
He has been central to this issue because while he has this kindly grandfatherly Navy Seal persona that he's trying to convey, there are also dozens if not hundreds of social media posts where he's constantly insulting the little leaner picking fights with people.
It certainly got in the way of him getting anything done as we have a farm bill still now over a year overdue. James, you're on the ground there as well, just talk to people, the grocery stores, what not.
What do you think is the driver to who to vote for this third congressional race?
Well, I think it's really up in the air. A lot of the problems here are economic and they're really not pushing too many different economic plans.
Rebecca Cook has a big focus on the middle class here and Derek and Orton also claims to have that same focus on the middle class.
I think the big difference is really going to be just the engagement in the campaign. Rebecca Cook has run a really strong ground game connecting with voters at their doorstep and Derek Van Orton simply hasn't done that.
Thank you very much, James Kelly, our great reporter up at WCFW, our great station up there in Chippewa Valley area. Thank you, my friend. You do a great job. We'll check in with you a little bit later on tonight.
All right, thanks guys.
Always a pleasure. James Kelly there at WCFW up in Chippewa Falls, Pat again, this trend, you know, I think there are people out there myself included that thought that the margins might have been wider going into tonight because of women's reproductive issues on there.
We've seen record high voter turnouts, but as Trinkby's talked about, Trump seems to be doing better in some of the smaller towns. Harris might be doing better in some of the more urban areas and it's balancing out.
Well, for now there it is until the numbers are final. We don't know that for sure, but there is that factor that we haven't talked as much about. Yes, there are people motivated to vote maybe for the first time because they've finally seen and heard enough of Donald Trump.
But there are also people who've never voted before because they never had somebody who had their view of the world until Donald Trump came along and say what you will about that particular view of the world.
But it definitely connects with some folks in a way that is somewhat disturbing to see some of the personal displays and people's lawns that are, you know, bordering on a cult of personality, but he certainly has tapped into something.
And so we're going to see these close races continue into the night until we maybe see some separation when voters in the larger cities have their votes counted.
Thank you, Donald. The Maggie Don show our great legal analyst. Great host is here with us at the desk. Now Maggie just hang on and want to check in. If we have joy and crew lots, our news director out at WRCO in Richland Center.
If she is on the line, I know Joanne. You're doing a yoga. It's work following a lot of races to Southwest Wisconsin, but also check in with us very quickly. Joanne, what are you seeing in numbers and trends out in Southwest Wisconsin in the Richland Center area?
I'm seeing that the Joanne is not on the line. Thanks. The past classes are fantastic. Mine need to be replaced very quickly, but you know who is here is Maggie Don. Maggie, thanks for coming back at the desk. I can't see that. I can see three feet from my eyes.
I'm here. I'm here, Todd. I'm with your fabulous glasses, by the way.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, they're great. Pick up a little bit on what Pat was saying there. Again, as we look at these numbers as someone who's really talks about your show with patriotic millionaires,
there's economic issues, whether it's what was reproductive issues, anything that you're seeing in the results tonight and jump out to you.
Yeah, I think some of these early returns in both Ozaki and Waukeshaw County are absolutely fascinating.
As we see some of these numbers come in again, that 40% mark being the Holy Grail can Kamala Harris exceed Biden margins in either Ozaki or Waukeshaw County.
And the relationship to these kitchen table issues as the punditry likes to call them about how is your pocketbook doing?
And not only that, not just what your feeling is about that, work candidates able to connect the feeling that people have about their pocketbooks and these kitchen table issues with actual policy ideas.
And did all of that make sense at a very intuitive level? Listen, I'm a trial lawyer.
But I know what I get before a jury is this, if the story doesn't make sense, they won't go with your argument.
And here I think in the absolute closing days, not only was there a clear and market style difference, I also think there was a difference between does this make sense at a very basic level.
And so if you look up and down these congressional races in a state like Wisconsin, where we've got three new congressional districts at play and you look at the presidential race.
I think you're seeing some interesting movement towards Kamala Harris in some of these collar counties around Milwaukee County that are clear bellweathers that show that maybe the does it make sense at the end of the day was connecting with different kinds of voters.
Again, the pundits, you know, we just guess the rest of it is up to the voters here.
Let's go to the state director of all voting is local. That is Sam Liebert. Sam is on the phone. Thank you very much for joining us Sam.
Looking at the results tonight, picking up all Maggie just said anything from the results that you're seeing tonight stands out to you.
Yeah, I mean, the the turnout appears to be extremely high. The voter enthusiasm is there throughout the day. We saw on campuses and cities and towns and villages alike, people's, you know, lines forming, no one likes to stand in lines, but usually it's also a good indicator of, you know, what is expected to be a high turnout night.
And probably a long night waiting for those results to come in, especially in Milwaukee County tonight.
And Sam tell folks that might not know a little bit about your organization, all voting is local. What do you folks do there and what's your mission?
Yeah, certainly. So I'm the state director for all voting is local. Before I came here, I was actually a municipal clerk. I've run probably about a dozen elections before joining all voting is local.
We're nonpartisan nonprofit. We're in eight states across the country. And we work to break down barriers to the ballot box for traditionally historically disenfranchised voters.
We're talking about black and brown voters, young voters, first generation voters, native voters, and sort of what's in our name, all voting is local as we really look to work with local election officials in Wisconsin.
We have 1800 and 50 municipalities. And so we have 1800 and 50 municipal clerks who run elections. And so we work with them to to lift them up to whether it's working with their boards to pass ordinances and resolutions.
To increase protections to them or looking to help recruit poll workers or find new ways like electronic poll books, badger books in Wisconsin to streamline voter check in and voter registration.
And we've had a very busy season election. I feel like we're always an election season in Wisconsin. As soon as we're done with this election, we're already thinking about April of 2025.
This is true. Yeah. Sam, very quickly, you brought up something. I don't want to, this is not Todd's story time, but I left Republican Party in 2011 because I was witness to voter suppression issues in Milwaukee and our college campus against black and brown folks in the state. Have you seen any of those voter suppression issues come to fruition today or during this election cycle that gave you any pause, or do you feel confident?
We always see it, unfortunately, right in voter intimidation or suppression tactics. I mean, ultimately at the end of the day, you know, we had this issue in Milwaukee where they had to sort of hit the reset button at central counts and begin counting all over again.
You know, unfortunately, you know, it takes a long time to count 100 plus thousand absentee ballots. And this past legislative session, the assembly passed it, but unfortunately died in the Senate. There was a bill called a Monday pre-processing bill, which would have allowed our election officials to begin this work yesterday.
And so I think we would have had all of this done already, and we would only be counting the in-person votes really for today. And so that's really a form of voter suppression and intimidation. And, you know, right now, I just left Central Cut in Milwaukee where we saw Senator Johnson and Bob Spindell, the fake electorate who's on our elections commission, spouting, you know, more lies and sewing distrust in the system.
And that's not what we need right now. We need to be supporting those election workers to make sure that every vote is counted and done correctly.
Sam Library State Director of all voting is welcome. We appreciate what you do, sir. Thank you for taking time for us. We'll check back in with you as the evening progresses. Thanks so much for being with us. Thanks, guys.
Our pleasure Pat Critello here at a desk where it is now just 20 minutes after the hour of 9 o'clock, you're listening to Civic Media's Wisconsin Decides 2024. And Pat Critello, nobody knows Wisconsin politics, like our next guest.
Well, that would be Joseph Pecky who will get to in just a moment. Let me share, though, first from in terms of election results from JR Ross over at West Politics is looking at one of the many key races. And I know Dan Schaefer is going to talk more about this throughout the course of the evening.
That would be the state Senate race in the eighth state Senate district where Democrat Jody Haberseniken is going up against incumbent Republican, Dewey Strobel.
He's the incumbent Republican, but the district's been drawn in such a way that it's not nearly as red as it used to be. And so far with just about 60% of the vote in, Jody Haberseniken has a very slim lead over Dewey Strobel 51 to 49%.
This race has already cost more than $10 million. And just to give you something to compare that to when I want my state Senate race in 2006, it was one of the first to top $200,000.
The point to this race is at 10.2 million dollars for one state Senate seat 10.2 million dollars pack right low for a job that pays what?
60 grand, not quite 60 grand. Yeah, yeah. But again, look at what position gets to do. I mean, if nothing else between Scott Walker and act 10 and other things that this legislature's done over the past decade or so.
I don't understand the importance of these races, the power that it has, the way it can either help or cripple our schools, help or cripple things like, you know, passenger rail in Wisconsin.
And so there are groups willing to put substantial sums of money into it to get their way.
Political analyst, political strategist, Joe is the peckie always has a take. He always is spot on and he joins us now.
Does he still does not? If Todd could read it, I know, I'm going back and I go back and forth. See, Pat is better at his screens than I am.
Well, it's that old IFB thing, you know, that that anchors used to wear. Now, did want to note that that CBS is reporting a gender gap that is very similar to 2020.
Men for Trump, women for Harris, the women are making up 53% of the vote compared to 47 for men. In 2020, the break was 52, 48 women to men.
Trump made an appeal to younger men and men ages 18 to 29 are currently divided in their support. That's a group that Biden won by 11 points four years ago.
Harris has a big lead among young women under 30 in line with what Biden's lead was in 2020.
Sounds good. I believe now we have the phone at the RCO in Richland Center in Southwest Wisconsin news director, Joanne crew last Joanne about a minute and a half here before we have to take a break, but give us the update.
Anything you're seeing in Southwest Wisconsin that you think our statewide listeners might find interesting.
Well, both the Senate race, you know, Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hubdiam, sure. I haven't been able to keep up on everything, but it was last I saw was tied at 49%.
I, the, you know, the other one that first I looked in.
Van Orden was winning, but now then the last time I look cook was leading another one that's close is Joan Ballwig and Sarah Kiesci are tied at 50%.
So there's some close races.
That's very interesting that Baldwin Kiesci race that again could help shape the legislature moving forward. Joanne, appreciate that update.
We're going to check back in with you a little bit later. Great home station pack, right?
Low RCO Richland Center. If you do say so yourself.
But again, that could be a very big race in the state Senate.
This is civic media special coverage of Wisconsin decides 2024. Once again, Todd Alba and Pat Crite Low.
And welcome back to the world headquarters here to block off the capital square of downtown Madison state street.
We're going to have a train drizzle out there and the coffee pot is unpacked. Crite Low is it's going to be a long one.
You're seriously caffeinating up right now. Oh, I have 130 shares in. Absolutely.
Okay. It's going to be a long one. We're going to have a phone. All right.
Great. Everybody along with us. Check the national tallies quickly thus far Donald Trump at 198 electoral votes thus far projected and vice president Kamala Harris at 112 Colorado, the state of Colorado.
But called projected for vice president Harris, along with Illinois, the state of New York and others.
Again, Pat Crite Low thus far, not a lot of huge surprises in the official projections.
No, Tim Cain just projected to retake his Senate seat in Virginia. Recall he was on Saturday night live this weekend.
Nobody remembers him anymore as Hillary Clinton's running mate. Josh Hollywood's re-election in Arkansas.
These are the kinds of things that we talk about on upfront news radio on Thursday mornings with our good friend and Democratic strategist Joe Zipekki who is with us now.
Joe, good evening. How are you?
I'm all right. How are you guys? You look great. I got to say I love that.
So what? So do you. This is a lot better than, you know, 630 in the morning. This is this is definitely Pat and Joe after dark and I appreciate that very much.
What are you what are you making? You you can start from a state or a national level. What are your what are your first impressions?
My first impression is that the polling turns out to have been right more right than I thought.
This is a deeply, deeply divided country and there is just no outcome that we're going to get that is going to really change the division that we see in our politics.
You know, I believe that Kamala Harris means it when she said she will be a president for all Americans and I'm not sure that the scenario where that happens tonight or in the days ahead is enough to sort of break the fever within the Republican party that has been increasingly taken over by the mega ultra right.
And that is that's a sad reality, but we have to face it and we have to try to figure out a way to come together as a country. Now in terms of the raw politics of this, you know, North Carolina is off the board.
Georgia is probably the next one to get called if there can be a call that is heading for a photo finish, but the other five battleground states are still looking good.
Lots left to go hours and hours if not days left to go in some of them, but we're seeing sort of two competing stories.
One is that in the reddest rural communities in this country, Donald Trump and the right are gaining a little bit of ground in larger suburbs, Kamala Harris is improving and building on what Joe Biden did four years ago.
And so those cross pressures are ultimately going to come down to math. We know that there are more small towns and rural communities than there are suburbs, but the suburbs are bigger.
And so how that math shakes out is ultimately going to determine not just Wisconsin, but some of these other states that have yet to be called and what I want to counsel everybody is patience.
We are not watching the back and forth of the basketball game where we don't know if somebody's going to make a late run.
This game has largely already been played, save for those courageous heroes on college campuses in Wisconsin, still standing in line to vote at this hour.
But the points have evolved and scored for the most part. We just don't know who's going to end up with the most of them. And that's how I'm thinking about tonight.
Joe, this is Todd. Let's go back to what you said earlier a little bit in terms of the suburban areas, particularly here in Wisconsin.
I think Donald Trump nationally won in 2016 by picking up some of those suburban areas that lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by Biden picking up some of those suburban areas.
How much of the suburbs in Wisconsin and nationally going to play, it will ultimately wins this decision.
I mean, it probably will be determinative. And so for example, here in Wisconsin, we're seeing there's sort of a magic number.
No Democrat for my lifetime has ever gotten 40% in Waukesha, which is the third largest county in the state.
You know, Democrats long said, hey, even though we're losing that 70, 30 or 75, 25, we were still getting the third largest number of raw votes out of that county.
It looks like with what's been back and reported so far, both Kamala Harris and Tammy Baldwin could hit that magic 40% threshold.
That's even more impressive than Joe Biden did four years ago. The question again becomes, that's great.
But is there enough in the rural communities for Trump that is going to offset those additional gains? And we're just not going to know for a couple hours.
No, and that's where we've got to be patient about this. And I have a feeling we're going to be talking about this a little bit more in the coming days here with our friend Joseph Pecky.
Absolutely. Thank you, Joe. Really appreciate your time. We'll check back over to you a little bit later.
Sounds good. Thanks, guys.
All right. Thank you, Joseph Pecky, everybody.
Now another one of our regular check ins on up north news radio is my colleague, Christina Laurie, who is our community editor, puts together our daily newsletter that you can subscribe to over at up north newswi.com.
Click subscribe up in the top banner. Christina is based here in Madison and has been following the voter turnout around the UW Madison campus along with so many other stories that she's been covering for us. Christina, good evening. How are you?
I'm good. How are you, Pat?
Very good. Let's talk for a bit about the big 10 challenge. Let's just on a lighter note here, because turnout has been so strong.
And sometimes in a competitive way. Can you tell us more about that?
Yes. So we're actually, you know, better sports haven't given us a whole lot to cheer about lately.
This is something we can all get behind that Wisconsin has a really good winning record at. We don't obviously have any numbers this year, but every major election cycle, all big 10 universities participate in what's called the big 10 challenge where they basically battle it out to see which campus can have the higher voter highest voter turnout.
And last two elections, Wisconsin has won. So of course, this time where we have four additional schools with the expansion of the big 10. So it'll be interesting to see if Wisconsin can still hold on.
But considering none of those schools are in battleground states, I'd say we have pretty good odds and judging by the long lines along campus polling places that I was walking past today and just the energy that's been palpable on campus for the past.
Pretty much two or three months really ever since Kamala Harris announced her campaign. There has been this really giant effort on campus and energy and excitement from first time voters or, you know, maybe this is their second election, but that first one was during COVID. So didn't feel super real to those students.
It'll be really interesting to see what those final numbers come out to be.
How about from an issue standpoint, they were excited about Kamala Harris being on the ticket. This is also a generation that saw how the pandemic was handled. This is a generation that has seen an endless parade, unfortunately, of school shootings and they've seen the lack of action on that.
Were there other issues that they brought up? Was it about democracy? What are they? What are they getting? Why are they as enthused as they are to finally have their voices be heard?
This generation, a lot of them that I talk to, they're really just upset that they have less rights than their parents and grandparents.
And it's not just women who are feeling that way. A lot of the young men that I talk to on campus were equally fired up about reproductive freedom and getting that back.
And it's just, you know, people don't like having anything taken away from them. And that has been a large part of this here.
That was probably the number one issue that I've heard brought up, but equally of concern are the attack on LGBTQ rights.
I think that's the fear that that could be next now that Roe fell and also concerns about the environment, which is always a big topic of discussion here in Madison, of course, you know, with the campus anchored between two lakes.
And a lot of environmental projects going on. So I would say those are the top three issues among most college voters here at Wisconsin.
And yet true to form. And it also motivates some folks on the other side of those issues, unfortunately, but again, a very strong student turnout.
I'm sure not just in Madison and the other big 10 schools, but the other campuses around Wisconsin as well. Christina Laurie's the community editor at up north news. Christina, thanks so much for checking in. Have a great evening.
You do.
Thank you, Christina, always a pleasure. And Pat, I know you have this tough way pretty soon here to do a couple of responsibilities for your other organization. So we're going to let you do that.
And we'll check back with you in a minute. You've got to fill the Roy Kent mug.
I appreciate that Pat Krylov of North news radio. Always a pleasure. We do have a projection of civic media news projection. And let's go to that now.
And we can tell you that ABC News has projected the state of Iowa will go for Donald J Trump, the former president, Republican.
Again, Iowa is being put into the Trump column according to ABC News. And again, I don't think it's a huge surprise. That's what Donald Trump carried that state last time fairly handily.
What may be of interest of people is that the Seltzer poll came out the Du Bois and register poll over the weekend, which showed the Kamala Harris had a 3% lead in Iowa.
Now, I think if you talk to people like Drinking Oles to the Lincoln Project and others, I'm not sure that anybody really expected Kamala Harris to carry Iowa in the polls.
But it was thought to be perhaps an indicator of un-miss or miss people on electorate, particularly women who might have gone under reported in some of these other polls.
But despite all of that, ABC is projected Iowa. It will be in Donald J Trump's column this evening. Let's go now to one of our great other reporters that we're just there.
Tribune I and our statewide tour this week up to your beautiful green Bay Wisconsin home with the Packers and our great station up there.
WGBW and Lisa Hale are news director up there at WGBW. Lisa, thanks for joining us this evening. What do you have for us from the Fox Valley?
Well, I'm telling you, we are at the Tony weed watch party here in Ash Gwabanan at the legacy hotel and there are hundreds, I would say at least a hundred people smashed into the small area to celebrate this election night.
They're all very positive. So it's interesting to see how this is going to turn tonight.
It really is. And I go, I know this is a race that many people have been watching closely, including us. Of course, the incumbent up there deciding not to seek reelection, the Republican incumbent.
And so it's an open seat. And so you have Tony weed, the Trump indoors candidate. Tell us a little about me. We literally put Trump's name ahead of his own on his signs.
And of course, on the Democratic side, you have the OBGYN doctor, Kristen Lierley in that race.
Exactly. And what what we did his whole campaign was, I'm the Trump endorsed candidate, Trump endorsed candidate, Tony, we he really hit on that his entire campaign even back from the Republican primary times.
And he's kept it up, you know, when it taught when he talks about the economy or when he talks about inflation.
Of course, he is taking that Trump line of blaming the Biden Harris administration for inflation and saying that tax cuts are what are going to cure it.
So this is the type of stuff that we've been hearing in the eighth congressional district from Tony weed.
But then there will be that person, I really on the other side who is really not thinking about the economy so much as she is women's reproductive rights and accessibility to affordable health care.
Any other races that you're watching up there, legislative races, Lisa in the Fox Valley.
I'm watching a lot of them. I'm watching the 54 time watching the 53rd assembly districts because they're where I live.
So I'm watching those. I'm also watching the sixth congressional district, which is in Oshkosh area.
So we're watching that one very closely as well.
Sounds great. That was great to be up there. Are you watching the Packers, by the way, because I was at that game on Sunday and my goodness gracious. You know, it was a fun time.
But we need to find an offense after this election is over.
I think that's a good thing to be putting our efforts and our emotions towards after this election is over, don't you?
We need to bring people together. Forget about red and blue. We need green and gold after this, right?
Lisa Hale, a great news director at WGBW. Thank you. So very much for your outstanding work. We'll be checking back in with you a little bit later on. Thank you Lisa.
Really appreciate you.
You're welcome.
And listening to continuing coverage of Wisconsin decides 2024 here on the Civic Media Radio Network also on the Civic Media app.
You can download it at your Apple or Android device. And also you can watch this on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, all the platforms, as they say.
And of course, you can listen to as she rejoins us here at the desk, the wonderful Maggie Dawn of the Maggie Dawn show every afternoon from two until four on those same platforms.
Make you welcome back to the desk before we go to you. Let's go to a couple more projections here at the Civic Media News desk.
And Civic Media can tell you now that the Associated Press is projecting the state of Kansas going for Donald Trump again.
Some of the polling there looked like it could be tight and might end up being a tight race, but the projections are in Kansas going in the Republican column for Donald Trump.
Also according to the Associated Press, Colorado voters have approved a state constitutional amendment in shining protections for abortion.
The measure appeals a ban on state and local funding for abortions and allows Medicaid and other government programs to cover abortion.
So on we had the case in Florida where that kind of I don't want to call it weird. That's editorializing, but it was in my opinion, usual threshold to get to 60% in Florida.
And that was rejected narrowly, but now out in Colorado, you have this voters going to the polls and saying, no, we're going to enshrine a woman's health care.
And by far the outcome in the majority of states by a clip that have actually placed such a referendum on their ballots, even in very conservative leaning states.
We saw that in Kansas and in other locations. So clearly Florida with its super majority threshold, a little bit high of a bar.
Interesting to note, I don't think that'll be the last time we see that on a Florida referendum.
Yeah, I think you're right. It'll probably go back there fairly soon, wouldn't you say?
Yes, I think women and men that love women, a little ticked off about that.
Speaking of men that love women, I very own Dom Selvia.
Come on over here.
Nice. Thank you for the introduction.
Always a pleasure to Dom with the Dom Selvia.
I mean, look at the entire afternoon right here, noon to two, two to four, or two to four to four to six.
Dom Selvia, four to six every afternoon on the civic media media network.
Dom always great to have you here, always great to work with you, my friend.
What are you seeing for the results tonight? What jumps out to you?
No surprises yet.
So I remain, you know, I'm optimistic, you know, the other side, I am on this.
But some of the news I did say this, if you guys didn't know this, I'm thinking about what comes in, what do we know?
Josh Stein, the North Carolina Attorney General defeated Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson in their gubernatorial race.
So there are some, I think, given the circumstances of that particular race, there's some good news out there.
And I like that one.
No, absolutely. I want to get asked Maggie this question because we have this just coming in from a pack right lowly.
I think that's why the desk is still working, according to reports, that's right.
According reports at University of Wisconsin, white water in white water, the line is still there.
I mean, we are now just shy of two hours since the polls closed in Wisconsin.
And students are waiting four to five hours this evening.
And Maggie, to your point earlier, as an attorney, those folks have a right to cast their vote.
You stay in line. You will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.
So folks, if you're out there, if you happen to be listening, if you know folks in line, you're texting your friends.
You're all excited.
Tell them to stay in line.
You have a right to cast your vote.
The franchise here in the United States, America.
This is how democracy works.
Lengthy, though, it may be painstaking it is and very much counting all of the beans two or three times.
Also get there.
Also, this just in from up north news reporter Elizabeth Maplero, who was on the program earlier,
great reporting here at Milwaukee Central County there.
Milwaukee initial count, according to Elizabeth, could be could be done as early as midnight tonight.
Excellent.
80,000 of 107,000 absentee ballots have been processed.
Dom, you're from that area as well as Maggie Don.
Tell us a little bit about what this means.
The folks in Milwaukee County.
I think outstate Milwaukee is bashed a little bit, but they have really stepped up.
They've improved their process.
That would be a big change from a couple of years.
Well, that would be a big change.
And of course, earlier today, they had to recount 30,000 ballots because of a parent door problem.
They were concerned about it.
They went back and redid it.
The Trump campaign right away out there complaining about a large Trump also complaining about it.
Milwaukee's back in the national news again, but to your point, they've gotten through that.
The process and looks like they're well in their way.
It's not going to be a three o'clock in the morning.
Dump.
Thankfully.
And I think that again, just reinforces, I think all three of us have had people by partisan group of Republicans and Democrats come on our shows in the weeks leading up to this election to say,
look, voters of the state can be secure in the process of voting in Wisconsin.
And to your point, Dom, there never were any quoted quote, dumps where people just showed up.
Yes, ballot showed up because it took so long to process them.
Right.
And they have an opportunity to do that.
I suggest that the legislature take that up and address that we wouldn't have these conversations.
It'd be nice if they could actually start perhaps on Monday process.
In both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
And as we sit here right now, Todd and Dom, it appears that this is coming down to the blue wall.
Yeah.
In other words, you know, sometimes the prognostication might actually get it somewhat right.
Here we are, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, both with this counting procedure where any mail-in or absentee or early vote cannot literally be open or processed until the morning of the election.
Of course, that is a more timely process in your most densely populated center.
So, you know, we're looking at various projections in Pennsylvania.
A lot of hand-ringing going on there.
Same thing in Wisconsin in both Dane and Milwaukee counties.
I suggest to everybody.
Have a cup of tea.
I'm talking about you.
Yeah.
A little chamomile.
Keep it going.
Try to relax.
There is a long evening.
And I'm really glad to see that my former colleagues in Milwaukee County.
Listen, this is largely a person power question.
It's a lot of ballots to open if you think about opening hundreds of thousands of envelopes.
And then the verification process that has to occur, of course.
Again, it takes a little bit of time.
It seems like Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee have staffed up that's helping that process move along.
And listen, I've heard that criticism from folks before that, hey, why don't you get some more personnel?
Well, there was also this little ballot measure, excuse me, legislation that made it very hard to temporarily deputize people to do this.
So we had these issues.
Anyways, it looks like they've got the right amount of work.
And when those ballots do eventually get processed, there's no nefarious.
As statistically speaking, the folks in Milwaukee County are going to vote more for the Democrats.
It's really a matter of degree.
And we know more 50% over 50% of those will be for the Democratic candidate.
And traditionally, Republicans have jumped on that and complain about that fact.
But that's just what it is.
Very quickly, civic media has a projection for you.
We can now tell you that civic media, according to the associate of press projects that Republican representative Tom Tiffany has been reelected to the 7th congressional district in Northern Wisconsin.
And folks, this one, not a huge surprise.
Tom Tiffany is not drinking any coffee.
He's definitely on the camera.
And she has no tea tray.
Yes, absolutely.
But Tom Tiffany, the first congressional race I've seen so far called in Wisconsin.
That is a Republican hole.
No pick up the loss there for Republicans in the Wisconsin congressional delegation.
We have our entire team, of course, spread out across Wisconsin.
Watching again, the 3rd congressional district in the western part of the state, the 8th in the Fox Valley.
And then again, in Southeast Wisconsin, guys, you have the Tom Barrett and Brian style race there again.
Peter Barker.
What do I say?
Tom Barrett.
Oh, well, all that must die hard.
Thank you.
That's what I'm here for.
Clearly.
Clearly, Becky, I need more.
Get in the double list.
Yes, thank you.
And Peter Barker, pardon me, Secretary Barker was on the show about five hours ago,
but but that race again in your neck of the woods.
Yeah, it's a fascinating one.
Listen, you and I have known Peter and Tom Barrett for many, many years.
And Peter is one of those candidates who has a long history of really across the aisle bipartisanship.
It's an interesting race to me on a very personal level because you hear voters say all the time, I want to see collaboration.
I want to see people reaching across the aisle to get things done.
Peter Barker presents himself and his record, I think, demonstrates he's that kind of a candidate.
We'll see what shakes out in that first congressional district.
Of course, anytime you're running against an incumbent, that's a little bit of a hill to climb.
If anybody's going to do it, I thought Peter Barker, again, long and demonstrated history of bipartisanship,
even handsome endorsements from Republicans.
So that is one to watch for sure.
Now, not only Tom Tiffany, he will join Scott Fitzgerald.
AP has called Fitzgerald for Wisconsin's fifth congressional district as well.
Well, there you go.
But again, no surprise.
No surprises.
But we shall see it.
It's a bit of trend, guys.
In these places where we do do know there's a contest, it's tight.
It's tight.
Flat news flash.
Yes, news flash.
It's a very close race.
