Transcript
Breaking: Trump Says He Won’t Fund Food Assistance (Hour 1)
The Todd Allbaugh Show · Tue Nov 4, 2025
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election
day
across America.
And while there are no statewide contests here in Wisconsin, the effects of what happens elsewhere will almost certainly shape what happens in the Badger State in 2026.
We'll talk live with Wisconsin political reporter, Wisconsin Watch political reporter, that is, Brittany Carloni about what lies ahead as Wisconsin decides.
Constitutional crisis.
Late this morning, President Trump announced via his social media platform he intends to defy court orders.
Saying his administration is required to pay SNAP benefits to millions of Americans, including some 700,000 Wisconsin residents.
And here to break it all down, two-time chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and attorney Matt Flynn.
And the man regarded as the most influential vice president in history with ties to Wisconsin, Dick Cheney has died.
He was 84.
All that, your calls, and what's worse, a special edition of the Todd Albaugh Show starts right now.
Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Ta-da!
Along with Mr. Aaron Zummers, our producer and engineer, it is seven minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Tuesday, November 4th, 2025.
It is a great day to be Wisconsinite.
Welcome, everybody, to the World Headquarters of Civic Media, downtown Madison.
Sky is partly sunny.
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Enjoy it today and tomorrow as a forecast.
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That is the best way to go We're gonna get to Matt Flynn in just a minute But the breaking news late this morning this according to Midas touch news comm has also been confirmed other news sources CBS NBC CNN Associated Press and others in a stunning escalation of the standoff over federal
food aid, President Donald Trump announced that he will refuse to comply with the federal court order requiring his administration to release emergency funds for the supplemental nutritional assistance program, otherwise known as SNAP, potentially cutting off all food benefits to millions of Americans.
The Defiance follows a ruling from U.S.
District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island who last week ordered the administration to unlock billions in emergency USDA funds to keep SNAP operational amid the ongoing government shutdown.
The judge's decision was hailed as a lifeline for one in eight Americans who rely on the program, but the White House's latest reversal now threatens to plunge those families back into crisis.
Here to break it all down, as the late great Judge Weisman was fond of saying, to put it down there where the chickens could get at it, our friend and ongoing contributor, two-time chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and attorney and author Matt Flynn.
Matt, thanks for joining us on short notice on a busy
I really appreciate coming on because look you and I are you know, we like to have Animated I'll say that partisan up political debates or not know so much between you and I but just we like to hear ourselves talk We get together and there's a lot of fun to that nothing wrong with that but this is pretty serious stuff Matt and and
I guess your initial reaction as an attorney, I'm going to start right off.
Are we in, is it too soon to say, or are we about to be in potentially a constitutional crisis?
And you might define a constitutional crisis as ultimately if he defies a U.S.
Supreme Court order.
But to find any federal court order is a constitutional crisis.
And as I talked to you a little while ago, the way to handle this, but then I'm going to lay out quickly what the impediment is, is very, very hard to hold a president in contempt for a couple of reasons.
He's the head guy.
The Supreme Court has said that he is immunity and so forth.
But what a court can do is hold a subordinate person in contempt.
For instance, the Secretary of Agriculture.
So one remedy I think that they should do is grab her into court.
order her to pay if she won't do it, for whatever reason, put her in jail.
Put her in jail for contempt.
One night in a woman's prison, I think, will change her attitude.
One problem with that that everybody should keep in mind is that Donald Trump, quite frankly, is an enemy of the country.
What he will do, he's pardoned people who are criminals.
What if he pardons her and sets her free, then you're going to have a clash
between the police and ICE agents and FBI.
And what he has done is he's corrupted the FBI, he's corrupted the CIA, corrupted Homeland Security.
And basically, if he controls force, he can do what he wants.
That's the constitutional crisis.
I'm going to read folks that might not have seen it.
We're talking with Matt Flynn, two-time chair of the Democratic Party, also an attorney who is an ongoing contributor here on the show.
And I'm gonna re I'm gonna I'm gonna skip over the partisan just hyperbole stuff where he attacks Joe Biden and things like that This is from Donald Trump.
He calls it his truth social platform his own social media platform Here's the main line of what we're talking about
today and it says uh due to the fact that they were haphazardly uh handed to anyone the snap benefits as opposed to asking for those in need which is supposed to be the purpose of snap it will only be given when the radical left democrats open up government which they can easily do and not before thank you for your attention this matter president donald j trump unquote that is a direct quote from from president trump so i want to be careful matt on my part
Because look, it can be fun to dive into this from a partisan political standpoint and score political points, right?
As a person who comes on and you know, you're trying to get ratings, right?
Trying to get people to listen.
But I want to be really careful on my part that we're not, that I'm not just kind of diving into this for political purposes.
Is there a difference, Matt Flynn, from a legal perspective of Donald Trump putting a true social post out saying this is not going to happen?
And then his administration
actually not doing it.
Are those two different things from a legal perspective?
And frequently what he will do is he'll just say something that's false and he is a threat.
For instance, the 10% tariffs on Canada haven't been put into effect yet.
So he's very capable of shooting his mouth off.
However, in this case, it would be contempt of court if he did that.
And Rollins, the agriculture secretary, should be the one the court puts in jail.
Having said all of that, he frequently backs down.
He frequently backs down.
And when the people in Wall Street and the people in the tech industry say, what the hell you're doing, he is capable of influence.
So I don't take at face value anything, he says.
But when he's the president, you've got to take it seriously, at least.
And in this case, what he said is, I will not let any SNAP benefits go out.
And he said that.
And so we take it for what he's going to do until we see differently.
You brought up agricultural secretary Brooke Rollins according to CBS News.
She said this morning on X formerly Twitter that her agency sent that guidance to states this morning.
but warned the guidance from the courts from yesterday saying they had to pay this out, but then warned that it would be, quote, a cumbersome process, unquote, that could result in a weeks-long delay in food stamp payments going out to recipients, quote, from Rollins.
If the government opens, families get their full benefits much more quickly, unquote.
CBS News has asked the White House for clarification about what the president's post means
for the contingency funds and as of about a half an hour ago, the White House had not yet responded.
So again, Matt, to me as a non-attorney, just someone out there, you're looking out for Wisconsinites, it seems to be just more political partisanship here on one hand, but on the other hand, you know, I have conversations with friends, Matt, you and I have talked offline about, you know,
should I come on this show and quote unquote call it like you're, you're watching a football game and you're in the, you know, middle of the third quarter, fourth quarter.
And you're like, we're down by two touchdowns.
I'm calling this game's over.
You know, I have not come on the airwaves and quote unquote called it for democracy because by and large, the courts have held and the Trump administration by and large, not fully has acquiesced.
But this seems to be a, uh,
a crack in the armor, if you will, to that where he's openly now and defiantly sane, at least, he plans to defy a court order.
Well, he's also said that he is now the speaker of the House.
He's defied Congress and their chicken.
They're not going to go up against them because they're afraid of primaries and death threats.
So what you have left is the court.
Now, the six tarantulas, who is what I call them on the Supreme Court,
What will they do?
I do not think that they can, in good faith, say that he does not have to obey a court order.
So what is he really saying?
Is this more engendering doubt?
In other words, Roland says it's going to take weeks and blah, blah, blah.
And he goes, yeah, we won't do it.
And they dribble out, dribble out, dribble out.
The judge is going to have to say, I want Rollins in here every day.
Every day at 10 in the morning.
and tell me what she's done, because you can't say I'm going to obey a court order and not do it in a sneaky way.
In other words, just say, well, there are pediments and all that.
Some point you have to put her in
jail.
And we've seen that in Chicago.
Have we not, Matt Flynn, where this judge in Chicago has ordered in the regional head of ICE because he's defined her orders?
And then the Seventh Circuit quashed that part of the opinion saying he didn't have to go in every day.
But the more people that impose injunctions on Trump, and he tells them, well, you know, it's going to be hard and this and that, at some point, sneakiness can be enjoined.
Sneakiness can be punished with jail.
A great article that came out in the Isthmus here in Madison.
It's a paper publication.
It can also be found online.
Great reporter.
I'm sure you know him.
Matt, Steve Walters, formerly of the Journal Sentinel, then Wisconsin Eye and now also writes for the Isthmus, has a great article entitled, Statistics Show Reliance of Wisconsin Residents on Food Stamps and Obamacare.
And I want to come back and talk with you about this, because I think a lot of people believe my former party, which I left in 2011, the Republican narrative, that all, you know, you've only got the quote unquote, lazy people on these programs.
But according to Walter's report, one in nine, one in nine Wisconsin residents rely on food stamps to feed their families, officially called Food Share Program, and provided 115 million in Wisconsin benefits in September, one in 20.
Wisconsin residents are enrolled in Obamacare, and yes, that's the same thing as the Affordable Care Act.
So what does this, these gamesmanship in Washington, what does that really mean for us here in Wisconsin?
We'll discuss it and ask our colleague and our friend here on this show, Matt Flynn, two-time chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and attorney also happens to be a Navy veteran and author.
Matt Flynn and Todd on the other side on the Civic Media Radio.
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Welcome back to the title show of the incentive video.
We're gonna be here a little Johnny Cash and particularly that song, you know that Matt Flynn can't be far behind.
He's a two-time chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and an attorney and an author.
He joins us via StreamYard from his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
And Matt, I got this text from my former boss Dale Schultz is trying to listen in.
He says, quote, your radio show is all screwed up.
Unquote, which
a lot of people would say that.
But for those trying to listen over the air, we understand there's been some major, we don't know whether it's internet snafus or what our engineering department is working on it.
So if you're trying to listen over the air, we know things are all screwed up.
Yes, Dale, we know, but thank you for the text.
Download the Civic Media app.
Check us out on the Civic Media app.
because going to the MDX, AUK, the first 10 stations, last I checked about five minutes ago, it was still coming across the Civic Media app.
So apologize for the technical difficulties, as they say.
But Matt, you're a professional.
We're going to press on here talking about this announcement from President Trump a little while ago on his social media platform saying that he intends to defy...
The court order saying that his administration must pay out snap benefits even while the federal government remains shut down and now the longest governmental shutdown in the nation's history surpassing Trump's own record and and Steve Walter has has Steve Walters is this great article on isthmus where he points out that
The way this affects us here in Wisconsin, that one in nine Wisconsin residents rely on food stamps or or SNAP benefits and one in 20 are enrolled in Obamacare.
And just another reminder, only U.S.
citizens and legal immigrants can qualify for food stamps.
Matt, this political partisanship, this gamesmanship in D.C.
has some very real effects on those of us here in Wisconsin.
And one possible and simple solution is that the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate get together in a grana budget that includes the subsidies for Obamacare and includes food stamps and passes it.
Trump would veto it and 67 senators can overrule it.
But it's important to point out that the Republican Congress is as complicit as Trump in all this.
There's complicit as Trump.
If Obamacare goes away because the premiums get to, you know, 40 grand a year or something, let me just give you an example.
Green County.
Green County, I'd say most of the old age homes there are, their people aren't going to be able to afford them to have to go back and move in with their kids.
I mean, this is going to have a real impact on a lot of folks, including Republicans.
I couldn't agree more, and Steve Walters in the ISMS points this out.
According to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau, they said in a report that a single person with an annual income in Wisconsin of $37,650, annual income paid $125 per month for a second level silver plan for the ACA or Obamacare.
But Insurance Commissioner Wisconsin Nathan Hudick gave the example of how Obamacare premiums would increase.
if Congress doesn't extend these tax credits.
That same 26-year-old making just over 37 grand paid $125 a month, Matt Flynn, that would increase by a hundred, pardon me, $1,437 more a year in Milwaukee County and more than 1,500 bucks in Dane County.
And for a lot of young people, they're gonna have to decide between healthcare and food, are they not?
Yeah, they couldn't afford it and there are some that have gone up to for a family in some areas 40,000 a year They can't for the premiums, right?
They can't afford it and the real fear is that Trump Frequently will impound money the Congress told him to spend and so one of the problems is he could say I'm gonna pay snap benefits and I'm gonna pay this and then not do it right and then he sits back and he is contemptuous
A speed round here, Matt, about two and a half minutes left.
Number one, when should we, the non-attorney public without law degrees, what action is going to happen or potentially happen in which we say, holy crap, this is a real constitutional crisis when it comes to Trump not obeying the courts?
is the Supreme Court hasn't backed him up.
Getting to the Supreme Court takes a little time.
But I think that right now, if I were the federal judge here, I would hold the agriculture secretary in contempt, order her into court, and put her in jail for contempt.
Then if Trump pardons her, that's got to go up to the Supreme Court.
The problem is Pam Bondi won't take it to the Supreme Court because she's for Trump.
That means that there's going to have to be
I shouldn't say extra judicial.
It's going to have to be the federal court itself in a very, very unusual action, puts special counsel in and sends it up to the Supreme Court.
Matt Flynn, a minute and a half left for Vice President Dick Cheney with ties to Wisconsin.
Complex character in some ways, certainly arguably one of the most and not the most influential vice president in our nation's history.
Passes away today at the age of 84.
Thoughts.
I'll simply say this, you never speak ill of the dead, so I'm going to say something nice about him.
He stood by his daughter, Liz Cheney, who is a hero, stood up for democracy.
He went on the floor of the house with her to give her support, and I liked that.
And the second thing, as bad as he was, especially fomenting the Iraq war, the fact is that no one back then thought that he was for the Russians.
No one back then thought that he, well, you know, this is a basic thing.
He was for NATO.
He was for Ukraine.
So in retrospect, he looks good, even though, quite frankly, what he did with the Iraq war is terrible.
And at the last, one of the last things he did politically was endorse Kamala Harris for president and called Trump by the single greatest dangers the United States of America.
Not saying it absolves him, but I mean, you know, I guess people at the end change.
I don't know.
better.
While still living.
Well, Matt Flynn, I appreciate you taking the time.
You always make the complicated seem understandable from the legal standpoint.
I appreciate you.
My friend will talk to you soon.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
Matt Flynn, two time chair of the Democratic Party and an attorney.
Always a pleasure to have him.
Stay tuned.
We'll talk Wisconsin decides five things to watch with Wisconsin Watch.
Stay with us.
Welcome back to the title show of the Civic Media.
We're going to work 35 now past the hour of three o'clock.
Glider, two o'clock.
Believe me.
Believe me, the first half hour felt like an hour.
Welcome back to this show on a Tuesday, November 4th, 2025.
Zombers on the board play a little of Bruce Springsteen there in honor of the playlist here of our next guest.
She is the political reporter at Wisconsin Watch.
You can read all of her reporting at WisconsinWatch.org.
that's wisconsinwatch.org.
Brittany Carloni joins us here in the studio.
We love it when that happens.
Brittany, welcome back.
Thank you so much.
Excited to be back.
Now you went to the Bruce Springsteen biopic here recently.
Yeah, I went with my mom and my sister and my brother and my sister-in-law.
And we all really, really liked it.
My mom, big Bruce Springsteen fan, if you're listening, mom.
Hi.
I'm a big Bruce, years and years ago.
Before Phi at the Bradley Center, I went
and saw
Bruce Springsteen with my dad.
Did you go at the Bradley Center in the 20s?
I went with my mom and my sister.
We might have been in the same place.
Probably
were.
Didn't even realize that was a
great concert.
It was such a good hour.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, that's too funny.
Yeah,
that's
super cool.
Um, well, you didn't come to talk
about music, but
it's fine.
It's
fine.
Uh, give us a little breaking news, Brittany, because we've talked to this program not necessarily with you, but with other folks in this program about, uh, Department of Public Instruction, uh, Superintendent Jill Underly, who skipped out on a Wisconsin assembly committee hearing about a week ago,
go to Indianapolis or Indiana.
rather to accept a alumni award.
And they
had another hearing today, and by golly, it sounds like she showed up.
So yeah, before the Senate Committee, Dr. Underly and the Department of Public Instruction, they had a press conference this morning, but yes, she is sitting before the, I believe it's the Senate Committee on Education, and she's been taking questions from senators since...
Probably about one o'clock.
So she is there.
She is there.
I
know you're a straight line reporter,
but
as an opinion person, I will give her credit because I've been pretty hard on her for not appearing before elected officials as the elected head of that agency.
So props to Dr. Underleaf for showing up today.
Be interested to see what comes of that and what our answers are to those questions.
You are coming today to talk about this great new article, important article at Wisconsin Watch.
.org entitled five things to watch over the next year as Wisconsin's election cycle begins now today is election day for many places like the mayor of New York City the governorship of New Jersey
Virginia and of course the big
Prop 50 bill, or not a bill, I guess, but proposition.
We
don't have those in Wisconsin,
but out in California.
But no big statewide races today.
If people
are
listening, they don't have to worry
that you're missing.
Yeah, don't worry about going to the polls.
Not today.
There's, the calendar needs to hit 2026 for Wisconsinites to get out to the polls.
And that's what your entire article here is about.
And it's not gonna be long.
I bet you another week or so.
And the first race in your article here,
There's yet another race for Wisconsin's Supreme Court.
I know.
Obviously, the Supreme Court race earlier this year really grabbed a lot of headlines in the state, of course, and even across the country.
But there's another Supreme Court race literally around the corner.
It's looking like that race will probably be Maria Lazar, a former Waukesha County circuit court judge.
between her and Chris Taylor, who, I believe, a former Dane County Circuit Court judge, they're both on the Court of Appeals, but they're very much political opposites.
And that race would be in April.
There's gonna be a lot, I'm hoping, to write about that, even though it's not likely going to be a race where we're going to see the spending numbers that we saw earlier this year.
You don't think so.
I don't think so.
And some of the folks that I talked to say, especially because that race is...
is not for a majority on the court at this point.
It's kind of a sense of, does the progressive side expand the wing of that court, or do the conservatives kind of come back a little bit there?
But that's a race that I think is probably not gonna draw as much attention necessarily, even though Supreme Court races are very important in this state.
And the vacancy has occurred because Rebecca Bradley, this is my opinion, not yours, I call her the bad Bradley.
I got that, because we had Anne Walsh Bradley from my home.
and
you
had Rebecca Bradley, so there's the good and the bad.
I got that from that Flynn.
But Rebecca Bradley decided not to seek re-election, so it's an open seat, but
to your
point, even if Lazar would win the conservative candidate, it would be still five-four liberal on the court.
So you think that
will tamp down the spending?
That's what I'm hearing from folks that I've been talking to, where the last couple of years, that...
that really big draw of trying to gain a majority for either side of the court.
That's something where people wanted to spend money, whether it's Elon Musk or other types of people.
They wanted to spend money to make sure that a certain side would be victorious.
And in the last couple of years, it's been the more progressive candidates.
I happened to hear Judge Lazar on another program today.
And for my money, I think she's going to be the toughest candidate for conservatives at a long time.
And they've been putting up people like Gabelman, who's straight out, you're too young, but straight out of the Three Stooges.
I mean, all he's doing is, look at the gross.
That's the only thing that Gabelman's missing.
But to me, Lazar, she seems like a legit candidate.
And I think it's going to give conservatives a real.
chance to pick up the seat.
I'm not
making
predictions.
I'm just saying I don't think this is going to be one of these races where the liberal is the clear favorite.
Yeah, I think this will be interesting, especially because she's really put on her campaign website.
Judges are she's indicated and really pushed very hard the messaging of I am.
I am a judge.
I am not.
I don't lean toward either party.
And that could be something where Chris Taylor with the experience in the legislature that.
That could end up being, I can see that being a big messaging point from her campaign.
Agreed, I think they've got the messaging down better than previous, more recent conservative candidates
for
Wisconsin Supreme Court.
We're talking with Brittany Carloni, who is the political reporter at Wisconsin Watch.
You can find her new article, which is outlining these important races and five things we need to watch going into 2026.
All right, Brittany, next up is Will Democrats flip the Senate
Will Republicans maintain the assembly majority?
Yeah, everything that I've been hearing since I started this job back in September, people are really, really focused in on whether Democrats will win that Senate majority.
And I think if you look back to 2024, which seems very long ago, but if you look back to 2024 elections, Democrats in both the assembly and in the Senate made gains in both chambers and specifically Senate.
Democrats really see the seats that they were able to gain last year as a way for them to really compete for that majority.
And I think that would be, I think that would be a big deal because I think I indicated looking back at all the good blue book lists.
The Republicans have controlled both chambers since 2011.
And so for that to change up, I think would
I'm not sure what that would do, but I think it would change some things in the building to the north of us.
Is that where it is?
Yeah, absolutely.
You write your article here at Wisconsin Watch.
The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee is ironed three districts
currently
held by Republicans in portions of the state where they have these new legislative maps over being tested for the first time.
It includes the fifth
district
by Representative or pardon me Senator Rob Hutton Republican of Brookfield the 17th district held by State Senator Howard Markline Republican of Spring Green and the 21st district held by State Senator Van Wongard Republican of Racine and then Democrats running those districts include Rob a representative Robin Vining of the 5th representative John Jacobson in the 17th and Racine Transit and Mobility Director Trevor Jung in the
21st.
I'm especially interested in those southeastern Wisconsin seats, especially because some of those suburban communities over the years have gone further.
When I was growing up, they were deep, deep red.
And as the years have gone by and I think more people have moved into those areas, they haven't.
They're not quite what they were when I was a kid.
And those elections were very, very solid for Republicans.
And State Senator Van Juan Guard, there was a guy at me, he was beaten once and he came back to the state Senate.
So, I mean, he's been down that road before.
The 17th in Southwest Wisconsin where I'm obviously, I shouldn't say obviously, but for
those
listeners, that's where I grew up and worked for former State Senator Dale Schultz, that
was his
district.
That's really changed to pick up
from the Mississippi River, now all the way into portions of Dane County.
So that certainly has become more blue.
Howard is going to have to, he does not currently live in the district that he represents,
and
he would have to move if he won.
Yeah, but I have heard, Senator Mark Line, I've heard from people that he really works his butt off when it comes to campaigning.
And so,
We'll have to see.
Who's to say?
He goes around and
has listening sessions, but doesn't take any
questions.
Well, that's good to
know.
I've seen it in person,
so
I can give you a report.
First hand reporting.
All right.
And let's get into the governor's race.
We've
got time here.
Who will be the gubernatorial nominees?
I ask you, Brittany Carloni.
Wow.
I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you.
But I think at this point, if you look at the Marquette University Law School
from last week, I think there are a lot of people that are really undecided.
They're either undecided or they don't know enough like this far in advance.
And so, I think on the Republican side, it's kind of a question right now whether...
Josh Oman stays in terribly long.
And I think I spoke to somebody last week who mentioned that, especially for Tom Tiffany, with the fact that he has a congressional district that includes 700,000 plus people, that already gives him a base that is hard for somebody else to compete with.
So I think it's very likely that Tom Tiffany is the front runner on the Republican side at this point.
For the Democrats, that is a very large field.
There's a lot of time until primaries.
August and there are those outstanding question marks like if Mandela Barnes jumps in
right you write your article in Wisconsin watch you talk to a former Tommy Thompson as
a part of
commerce secretary Bill McCosch and who's also Republican operative of the state and he put this quote in from a caution quote Republicans did a lot of damage to themselves in the 2022 primary and weren't able to put the whole house back together in time for the general McCosch and said there are a lot of Republicans who sadly did not vote for the
2022 Republican, uh, commutatorial nominee Tim Michaels, and we have, we can't have a repeat of that.
So to your point,
it
sounds like the Republicans are really trying to get their ducks in a row, so to speak, and have this thing sewn up in terms of the nomination
before the
first of the year.
I mean, that could be something that really benefits Republicans if they do that, because then Democrats leading up to the August primary are all trying to push each other out of the way to see who gets, who gets that nomination.
Yeah.
On the Democratic side.
You're right.
It's a huge field.
You write your article at Wisconsin watch Milwaukee County executive David Crowley Madison State rep Francesca Hong former Weedick Leader Missy Hughes former Madison State rep Brett Halsey lieutenant governor Sarah Rodriguez and Madison State Senator Keller Royce and beer vendor Ryan Sturnaad are all in Based on money what we saw from campaign reports.
It would appear that lieutenant governor Rodriguez is
the clear favorite there in
terms
of just money right
now.
Yeah, I think I remember reading somewhere that the National Lieutenant Governor's Organization has given her.
A two million, I think.
in a field like that, money to get your name out there and let people know who you are.
That matters.
That really does matter.
Don't hold me to it.
I think our own political reporter, Dan Schaefer, said that I think Tony Evers won the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial race with a huge field as well
for
like six or eight hundred thousand total.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That
could be different.
Money, as
they say, the mother is milk of all politics.
We'll come back and talk more with a political reporter at Wisconsin Watch, Brittany
after this.
You're listening to the Town Hall Bowl show across the state of Wisconsin on a Tuesday on the Civic Media.
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Welcome back to the title ball show on the Civic Media Network, the haunting sounds of
Springsteen from his Nebraska album.
Our guest currently here at the table here at the studios, Brittany Carloni, political reporter for Wisconsin Watch, just saw the Bruce Springsteen biopics.
That's why we let our guest pick the music
when
we kid, and that's off of the album Nebraska
that that film
was based on,
correct?
Yeah, Jeremy Ellen White, the actor who plays Bruce Springsteen, I think he does a really good job.
He seems to do really well in dark movies and TV shows like The Bear.
He's always very depressed in The
Bear.
I believe I should channel the
bear more often.
Maybe,
maybe.
Well, Brittany is here to talk to Wisconsin politics.
We appreciate that.
By the way, Ross, listening in Crawford County under the RCO says, do you know the sound coming out of the station is distorted?
Yes, thank you, Ross.
We appreciate it.
And to all of our listeners, I apologize for the show today in terms of the sound.
There's lots of technical things going on beyond our control.
engineering team is working on it.
So as they say, stand by.
on it you can also I did check the civic media app so if you don't have it download it on your Apple or Android device the civic media app open it up the first ten stations are the ones that we are on and I believe at last check that was working oh
good
good I made just I may at three o'clock I may just call it and I'll go out and watch the Bruce Springsteen as bombers will just play the album and that would that would be fine don't you think
Uh, you know,
I think that that may be frowned upon.
Maybe, maybe.
Uh, also, I have great segues, Amherst, because, uh, I, you're reporting Brittany at Wisconsin Watch on the 2026 Wisconsin gubernatorial race.
It sounds like there may be some Democrats who are frowning upon another run by the former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes in the Democratic primary, but a lot of signals are being sent that he intends to run.
What did you learn?
I, uh,
I think if you've seen some of the reporting in recent weeks from, I think it was the New York Times and even a black paper in Milwaukee, there's been some questions of whether Mandela Barnes can win in a...
in another statewide race after losing the Senate, narrowly losing the Senate campaign in 2022.
But I think some recent polling, and I think one of his pack, or his pack, even last week had
out numbers that said that people would support him.
And I think of, if you look at the Marquette poll, the candidates right now don't have a lot of name recognition, so he might have some poll there.
It'll have to be something
to take a closer look at if he makes any big decisions between now and the end of the year.
I
think the Marquette poll was very revealing on a lot of fronts, which
is
most Wisconsinites don't give a crap about politics
right now, right?
Yeah.
I mean, there's plenty of things on people's plates in this between now and the end of the year.
And the next time they have to think about that, about the governor's race is really when they start heading to the polls in August.
Exactly.
I mean, they got gun deer season coming up, which
is essentially
Wisconsin holidays.
You got Thanksgiving.
You got Hanukkah.
You got Christmas.
You got
Kwanzaa.
You got all the things.
And you got the Packers.
I mean, you know.
That's the challenge too, is in the coming months, some of these candidates could decide they don't want to do this anymore.
I mean, even earlier.
In September, if you go to early September, Bill Barion was in the Republican primary.
He's no longer there.
Well, Bill Barion got caught doing some things that were hypocritical.
Speaking of that, you've got Derek Van Orden, the incumbent in the third congressional district, Republican there in Western Wisconsin.
And you write about the headline, sub-headline, will there be a congressional shakeup in the third
district?
And I don't know if people...
know this, you and I probably know this, but before Derek Van Orden won that seat a couple of years ago, that was a Democratic congressional seat.
And he won re-election.
2024 by, I think, maybe three percentage
I noticed that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already, earlier this year, put that as another targeted potential flip opportunity.
Around the country, as redistricting discussions are happening in various states, and there's a big question of who will control the House next year, I think there's going to be a lot of attention on the Third District seat.
Also in the seventh congressional district, you mentioned incumbent Tom Tiffany, not going to seek reelection there because
of course
he's running for governor
in
the Republican primary.
Lots of folks getting in on the Republican side on the Democratic side.
guy that I got to know in my time at the state capitol, former state representative Fred Clark, who's a big conservationist, Hunter.
And now he's moved up there, subsequently kind of retired, but looks like he's going to run on the Democratic side
the Republican side.
You have at least three people.
You've got.
Jesse Eben or Eben, Ashlyn attorney Paul Wasgren and Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of US transportation secretary and former MTV star, Sean Duffy.
Yeah.
You
see the videos from his time?
I have not.
He's running around
in his underpants.
Oh, OK.
And now he's the secretary of transportation.
You can
do anything.
So I'm
thinking that we may see Michael Alfonso in his underwear.
I don't know
what to say
to that.
I'm sorry.
But in all seriousness, I think he's just playing on his father-laws, you know, and probably Trump's going to put the stamp on him and say he's the guy.
It'll be a...
I definitely think, and I already saw yesterday, I think Brian Stile already got an endorsement from President Trump for his reelection campaign.
I think that does matter a lot to people still, even though- On the Republican side.
Yeah, on the Republican side, even though President Trump won't be on the ballot next year.
that, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how he plays into that race.
Well, interested in your reporting, Brittany Cologne, and we have less than a minute left here, but I'm hearing that Brian's style may have more of a problem down there than some people are talking about.
That may be a surprise problem for Republicans.
I mean, it's something we'll have to watch, but I think from folks that I've been talking to...
Most people are looking at what happens in the third district as opposed to his.
Brittany Carloni, a political reporter at Wisconsin Watch.
You can find all her work at WisconsinWatch.org.
Yeah, I appreciate you being here on
this wacky day.
Absolutely.
Love a wacky day.
Come on back.
We'll try for hours to after this on
the Civic Media Radio Network.
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