Dems Won Big Yesterday, But They Can’t Get Cocky (Hour 1)

Transcript

Dems Won Big Yesterday, But They Can’t Get Cocky (Hour 1)

The Todd Allbaugh Show · Wed Nov 5, 2025

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

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From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead,

Here's your host, Todd Albaugh.

Todd Allbaugh

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Wednesday, November 5, 2025.

It is a great day to be in Wisconsinite, and it is... Pump day!

That's right.

We made it to the middle of the week.

Mr. Zommers, how the heck are you?

Doing well,

you know.

It's pretty nice outside still.

It's beautiful.

Todd Allbaugh

I'll take a quick look at the old Sam Davidson Street Cam at the intersection of State and Fairchild in downtown Madison.

Look at that.

It is beautiful.

Blue skies out there.

Get out.

Enjoy that beautiful fall weather because the time is they are changing.

some snow, some light snow at least across parts of Wisconsin this weekend in the forecast.

So get out there and enjoy it today.

Hump day, we say.

Hump day and was listening to our old friend, Kristen Brie and her colleague, Steve Scafini, this morning on their show, because they use it as well.

They use the hump day thing.

And Steve's like, we're the only place it does it.

And Kristen goes, no.

And he goes, what?

Other shows do it?

She goes, yeah.

He goes, who?

Somebody I like?

And she goes, well, you know, Todd Alba.

Todd uses it?

And she said, yeah.

He goes,

Oh, he's a good guy.

He's a good broadcaster.

So, I mean, wow, how nice was that?

First defeating to shout us out.

He didn't have to do that.

We got the stamp of approval, I guess.

Todd Allbaugh

Right?

Yeah, so, you know, all great shows use the guy called Camel.

Many

people are saying

Todd Allbaugh

before we get into our regular midweek fair.

I want to get this out there quickly.

We might dive into it more.

This is coming to us from WKBT television in La Crosse right now.

The sister station of the CBS affiliate here in Madison.

This is important if you have a kid who is in high school sports.

The Wisconsin Inter Scholastic Athletic Association WIAA.

is warning schools and student athletes about a fake Instagram account that is pretending to be the organization and trying to get personal information and payments.

The fake account using the name at

W I a W I sports has been contacting Wisconsin schools, photographers and student athletes while sharing fake live stream and ticket links online.

According to a Facebook post this morning, W I a officials to the Facebook face said the account rather is fake and not.

connected to the organization and told the public to be careful when dealing with social media accounts that claim to represent the association.

The association only has four official accounts.

They are on Instagram at wiaawi on X. It's at wiaawi.

and W I A W I state and on Facebook, it's simply Wisconsin Inter Scholastic Athletic Association.

So if you have a kid who plays Wisconsin sports, just make sure you give them the heads up.

Make sure parents know across the state.

There is a scam going around on on Instagram.

The at W I I W I A W I sports account is the fake one.

We'll talk more on that later.

But sad when you got to be worried about that kind of stuff at nine.

is past the hour of two o'clock.

He's never faked, always sincere, always real.

You can catch him every morning from Lake Wissota across this network from six until nine.

The host of up pardon me.

The host of morning to Pat Crite low almost had it.

Pat Crite low Patrick R.

Pat Kreitlow

I'm sorry.

I'm actually not real here today.

Todd Allbaugh

Tom

Pat Kreitlow

Brady had me cloned and so the real me is hanging out with Tom Brady's cloned dog.

But as a clone, I'm happy to be here.

I know it's the real you with the clones dog.

Todd Allbaugh

50 grand Pat.

I mean, I don't know anybody's got

Pat Kreitlow

50 grand of cloned dog.

It's what I said, you know, he went through that divorce with Giselle and divorced dads.

They they'll do almost anything to impress the kids.

I don't know that bringing fluffy back from the dead is the way to do it.

Speaking

Todd Allbaugh

of people that might have 50 grand laying around a cloned dog, our next guest, Trigvie Olson, joins us from Washington, D.C., the senior advisor of the Lincoln Project.

Now you love your kids, love the dog, Trigvie.

I have an issue to pick with you, Todd.

What's that?

That is a great show and he doesn't use the camel.

Todd Allbaugh

Oh,

thank you.

Todd Allbaugh

He's a priest.

All right, he does have a good show.

Great show.

Great

Todd Allbaugh

show.

Yeah.

All right.

All

Todd Allbaugh

right.

We love

each other.

I don't think you have to use the camel to have a great show.

And no, I don't have 50 grand laying around to clone my dog.

Todd Allbaugh

If your girl said, are we going to clone Chloe, would you do it?

No, but if you said that we needed 50 grand of clone Pat I might come up with a

Pat Kreitlow

great hair like Pat has but I I I wish I could have told that to the clerk the other day They asked me to run for governor.

I said oh here my clone can do that, you know

Todd Allbaugh

Speaking of elections at the bottom of this hour.

We're going to be joined by state senator Kelder Royce of

of the 26th district here in the Madison area.

She is also a candidate for the governor of the state of Wisconsin in the Democratic primary.

She's going to join us to give us her reflections of election results across the country last night and what it might mean in particular for Democrats, but those running for office of governor in the state of Wisconsin.

But right now I want to turn to our guests to get their reaction last night.

Of course, nothing really on the ballot statewide here, but big results last night.

The night saw two kinds of Democrats win.

from opposite sides of the party, Mikey Sherrill and Abigail Spanbauer, both moderates, won the governor's ships in New Jersey and Virginia, while on the far left, Democratic Socialist Zoran Mondami prevailed in his race for New York mayor in the state's moderate ex-governor, Andrew Cuomo, who ran as independent, was beat out by Mondami.

And of course, out in California, they saw the proposition to say, yes,

passed overwhelmingly, which made it to allow the state legislators to redistrict throughout California, which is, of course, a reaction to what Republicans in Texas did to help Donald Trump pack quite low former state senator of the state of Wisconsin thoughts.

Pat Kreitlow

I kind of feel like we're seeing a bit of a passing of the torch.

You are seeing generations younger than mine that have watched the elders, if you will, and they're looking instead at somebody like Zoran Mamdani who is actually

not just talking about affordability, but actually seems to mean it, and they want to see results.

They're tired of the politics as usual, and they're willing to try something different.

California voters would normally not have said, well, let's change our maps, but they see what else is going on, and they too, they want results, and they're willing to play a role in it.

In Pennsylvania, voters saw that one billionaire was trying to

unseat five progressive state supreme court justices and they made that an issue we're like no we're not going to let a billionaire buy our state supreme court look what just happened in wisconsin they were probably saying and so i i feel like there's this

higher level of civic engagement, born of wanting to see results and not wanting to see politics as usual.

I will completely admit that that can be an accusation of having rose-colored glasses, or in this case blue tinted glasses after the election, but I'm always encouraged when people look around them and say,

No, no, no.

This is not what we want.

And they pick a new direction.

And I'm very happy to see that that many people got it.

The last time a mayoral candidate got a million votes in New York City was 1969.

So there there is definitely something underfoot here.

Todd Allbaugh

Trivia Olson, a former Republican like myself.

Now I see your advisor, Lincoln Project has worked on campaigns such as John McCain's and others nationally.

You're out in DC.

What what do you make the results trick me?

Well, I'm not sure I take the same lessons as Pat.

I think it was a good night for Democrats.

In fact, in Virginia, it was a good old-fashioned thumping.

I don't think the mayor's race in New York City, if you look at both the New Jersey governor's race and the Virginia governor's race, and Spanburger got 57%, which is...

I mean unheard of.

She was winning areas of the state that would be the Trempelow counties, right?

Or the Sock counties.

You had relatively centerist common sense.

I would say it isn't even so much centerist.

It was common sense, women candidates of a certain generation who really demonstrated an ability to appeal in places where Democrats haven't appealed.

You know, I mean the the Republicans are going to make the new mayor of New York the poster child for what the Democratic Party is, but

What the Democratic

Party, the lesson of the Democratic Party is don't run him for governor of Wisconsin.

We're on a common sense woman who's sort of left of center as your candidate for Wisconsin.

Now I can't think of one who that might be at the moment.

Maybe one will show up later today on the show.

But I think that was the lesson.

And I mean, I can't tell you what a thumping it was in Virginia and and to a pretty much an equal degree in New Jersey.

Pat Kreitlow

I mean,

every

Pat Kreitlow

single county in Virginia trend swung blue.

And like you said,

so

Pat Kreitlow

many counties in Virginia are ruby red, except in northern Virginia.

It was and then you look at Colorado, voters approved two different ballot measures to make sure that all kids got free lunch, give raises to cafeteria workers and let local farmers get grants to, you know,

have their products go to local schools.

These are the kinds of practical things that people look at and go, this is what politics is supposed to be about, taking our tax dollars and using them resourcefully.

giving them to billionaires

Todd Allbaugh

and to your point pat i mean it's just those financial issues those livability issues and trig me to something you've talked about this show both in in new jersey and in virginia republicans tried to run the same trope of of anti trans ads against these two women in those they lost spectacularly just didn't work didn't take

uh a five go ahead

Todd Allbaugh

quick

but it's because they responded directly i mean both spanburger and charo went on and said we're moms give me a

break, like directly to camera responded, like Tammy Baldwin did, like Rosen did, like Gallego did, like Slotkin

Todd Allbaugh

did.

And it's not surprising that Slotkin and Spanberger and Sherrill were all roommates when they were in Congress.

855-752-4842.

Let's go

Todd Allbaugh

quickly to the phone.

Cindy in Appleton listening to WISS and Oshkosh.

Cindy, if you can make it quick, go ahead, please.

Yep, well I showed this on Jane show this morning.

I'm gonna say it again I hope that this blue wave does not go to the heads of the Democrats and they get cocky Because in the state of Wisconsin it doesn't seem like too many people have turned against Trump and the Republicans yet So we still have our work cut out for us here in Wisconsin.

Todd Allbaugh

Cindy.

Thank you so very much Pat I share those concerns happy for those wins But my dummy still has to deal with the legislature if he wants to get some of this stuff done a governor who's up for reelection It's not just one person that could do all this stuff is not

Pat Kreitlow

I don't want Democrats to get cocky at all, but I do want them to know this was a day of reckoning for them as much as Republicans that politics as usual is dead and that you'd better be a little different, a little better plugged into the people that you want to serve, speak their language, get on their social media platforms and talk to them about what you're going to do for them, not the same old tropes about trans athletes and all of that.

And then you at least get the chance to make your platform happen.

Yeah, I mean, I agree with that.

And listen, the truth is Democrats ran candidates who were in sync with the constituencies where they were up for election.

And that's true of the judges in Pennsylvania.

I wouldn't go so far as to say, I mean, he wasn't just recalling the two progressive judges that would be more progressive.

He was trying to recall.

mainline straight Democrats and it blew up spectacularly in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania might actually be a better bellwether of the entire thing because if you look at the returns there even in the red counties people were like this is ridiculous.

Also

Todd Allbaugh

in Ohio, Vice President J.D.

Vance's half-brother tried to knock off the Democratic incumbent mayor there in Cincinnati, or Cleveland or Cincinnati, I believe, and lost spectacularly.

It'll be interesting to see what all the returns come in, what happened there.

It appears that many voters simply stayed home and sat on the couch.

We'll come back and talk more with Pat Krightlow and Trig V. Olsen on the other side.

Don't go anywhere.

It's the title of all show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media.

Pat Kreitlow

You're

Kathryn Lake

listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

Todd Allbaugh

started.

My friend Floresy Kohler, birthday today at the anniversary of her 49th birthday.

We're celebrating tonight at Bar Coralini.

So we had a choice of either the 830 reservation or the 445 at our age.

Yes, we're going to the 445.

So I'm going immediately after the show to that.

Joining us as they do every every Wednesday afternoon, the senior advisor to the Lincoln Project, Trig V. Olson, a former former Republican like myself joins us from outside of Washington, D.C.

And from the beautiful Lake West soda studios, you can hear him every morning from six until nine across this very network on morning.

of Pat Critello, the 2010 Wisconsin Towns Association Legislator of the Year, Pat Critello.

I put

Pat Kreitlow

that award.

I put it someplace.

Oh,

Todd Allbaugh

I was showing off the award.

Yes.

Yes.

That was fantastic because we've all, for either you, Pat, we're a state senator, Trivian, I worked and in my, in my

former boss Dale Schultz says he used to have this huge, he was in office for 30 years and we called it the I love myself wall and it was all the all the Wisconsin corn growers and and look they're they're they're great nice awards but you were

Pat Kreitlow

you were there but when you're when you're all done you at some point you look at and see them in a box and you go

What am I supposed to do with these?

So I'm in what I call my, you know, there's that management theory that's called touch it once, like if you touch a piece of mail.

deal with it and don't just put it in another pile.

I'm in that now with with the things downstairs and boxes.

It's like, touch it, look at it one last time and then get rid of it.

Otherwise, your kids are going to have to get the dumpster and you you should do it instead.

So the Wisconsin Towns Association, the Builders Association, all the Corn Growers Association.

I love every one of them.

I cherish all my memories as a legislator.

But the acrylic ear of corn just

doesn't have a purpose in

Todd Allbaugh

my current decor.

Pat Kreitlow

Your kids don't

Todd Allbaugh

want to use that someday.

It's

Pat Kreitlow

not in their decorating.

Ooh,

Todd Allbaugh

I

Pat Kreitlow

guess.

Todd Allbaugh

Yeah.

Talking about election results across the country, I want to go quickly because I do want to touch a little bit on this great article in TrigVeens, a sub-stack this week entitled Empowerment or Exploitation, the Real Battle Behind AI.

Let's quickly go to the phone lines, 855-752-4842.

Tom in McFarland, listening on WMDX here in Madison.

Tom, if you could be brief, please go ahead.

Not

a problem.

I think that New York City is actually the outlier in terms of the bellwether Because of New York City you had Eric Adams and that entire scandal that made him and he was dead But then you had Kumo coming in and he is just as tainted as Adams was and how often do you often hear in elections?

It's a choice of lesser of two evils and how people do not like that Well, I think in New York City you had a very clear choice

You have your scandal-ridden corrupt politician Cuomo, or your newcomer who, as, you know, for lack of a better term, the White Knight.

Yeah, he's gonna win every single time.

Todd Allbaugh

Thanks, Tom.

I appreciate it.

Do you think

Todd Allbaugh

that's... Yep, unique

Pat Kreitlow

circumstances for sure.

Quickly on that, Pat.

Yeah, no, that's that's a very fair comment to make this was not by any means It did not when I say a million people voted for him I do not mean a million people in New York have suddenly adopted the label democratic socialist But they're also not running in fear of it and they want to say all right guy, let's see what you got We can always turn you out tune you out later

Todd Allbaugh

Yeah, absolutely.

I agree with that.

Look, we promote this.

I want to mention it.

I think we'll definitely get more into this next week.

But, Trig V, you wrote a great sub-stack this week, our last week, I thought, on AI.

And you write in this quote, today AI is our generation's industrial revolution.

Data is the new oil.

Algorithms are the new assembly line.

And cognitive capital is the ability to shape how we think in the new monopoly.

I thought this was a great analogy.

Tell us a little bit how you came to write this article.

Are you there, Trigby?

He's there.

He's working.

He can do AI, but not his microphone.

Here he

Todd Allbaugh

comes.

Here he comes.

He's still working on it.

Pat, we've seen this explosion of data centers.

I know it's a little bit different in Wisconsin, but this is a new world.

And I think there's a lot of validity to what Trigby wrote that how we manage this, the genies out of the bottle, is going to be really

Pat Kreitlow

important.

There was another parallel by somebody else who wrote, and I don't have it in front of me because I didn't prep for this.

And it said, there was one being planned for somewhere up on the North Shore and said that the data centers are the new taconite plants.

And as they learned the hard way, the taconite tailings that were dumped into Lake Superior and poisoned the water in the lakeshore and part of that area for years and years just to grow some jobs because they didn't ask enough questions.

And I will say as the outlier,

I'm not saying there can't be data centers because we're going to need data.

We're going to use AI for whatever purposes, probably just to learn how to play poker better, but I hope

cure

Pat Kreitlow

cancer.

But just again, like the sand mines here, ask all the questions and don't believe all the hype.

Get whatever you can upfront in terms of promises and regulations and try to benefit from a wave and don't let it own you.

Todd Allbaugh

Are you back,

Pat Kreitlow

Trigby?

I'm

back.

All right, go ahead.

It was like pioneer at bar time.

All of a sudden, Ulo was calling me, fishing, and the dark was playing on my headphones.

I couldn't stop it.

About a

Todd Allbaugh

minute, a little bit more.

Just quickly, Trigby.

Yeah, I mean, the point of the piece really was to get into, there's two ways that this goes.

You know, the business model of the internet period, which is tantamount to the Industrial Revolution,

has entirely been based on people giving their data for free and in return they get free stuff like Gmail or whatever and AI is either going to go that way in which you're going to have a few people who are enriched and a lot of people who aren't.

Or it's going to go the way where it actually creates tools that empowers human beings to get along better with each other and to do things that they have never done in the past, like cure cancer.

Pat Kreitlow

This is, this is cool.

You know, people ought to go to searching for hope from Trigvielsen at Substack and read this stuff.

Don't you think, Todd?

Thank

Todd Allbaugh

you.

I think, thank you for the shout out Pat.

Yeah, I really do.

And we'll get more into this next week.

We have a special guest.

So the state center in Colorado is going to be here next.

So that's why we're putting this on the back.

but welcome back to this next week.

So, yes, check Trigvielsen out at Substack and check Pat Critello out on mornings of Pat Critello every morning from six until nine on the Civic Media Ready Network and also powered by Up North News and the

Career Newsroom.

Todd Allbaugh

Absolutely.

Thanks, Pat.

We appreciate you having a great deal like Masota.

Come on back, Trigvielsen, along with State Senator Kelvin Royce on the inside.

Welcome back.

With a ton of all show on the Civic Media Rated Network 35 minutes now, past the hour at 2 o'clock on Wednesday, November 5, 2025.

Mr. Aaron Zommer's on the board.

Could have been a DJ last night, either Virginia or New Jersey last night, Zomers, because people were partying like it was, I guess, that wrong song, but 1999.

That

they were, although I can't take the credit for that one, because that was Trig V. Olsen suggesting that we play that

too.

And that would be partying like it's 1979.

My

birthday

came out.

A great year.

Todd Allbaugh

Here at the desk joining us, we always love it when that happens.

State Senator Kelder Royce from the 26th.

here in Dane County.

She also happens to be a candidate for the governor of the state of Wisconsin in the Democratic primaries who joins us here live along with our ongoing contributor and friend former Republican like myself.

Now a senior advisor at the Lincoln Project joins us from the great state of Virginia outside of Washington DC.

Earlier in the show we talked big night, of course, for Democrats last night.

Kind of...

People hailing from opposite sides of the party, Mikey Sherrill and Abigail Spanbauer, Spanburger, pardon me, both moderates won the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia.

While on the further left, Democratic Socialist Zora Mondami prevailed in his race for New York City mayor over the state's moderate ex-governor, Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after Mondami beat him in the primary in a course in California.

Voters said yes to Proposition 50, which will allow the state legislators to

district before the midterm elections.

And here to discuss it more with us, once again, is State Senator Kelly Royce.

Senator, thanks so much for taking time to be with us.

Happy to be with you on this great day.

Todd Allbaugh

Before we get into those election results, just give us an update.

You've been travel around the state.

We appreciate it when you came on this show to help announce your race.

How's it going so far as you campaign for governor?

It's been going great.

I'm having a ball.

I love traveling the state.

I've done it throughout my whole career.

But, you know, the conversations you get to have with people, it's just been a treat.

You know, I was up in Ladysmith at a bar, Trigby, you would like this.

And they had the back rooms were filled with Democrats.

And I think I got every Democratic voter in that bar.

And then I actually went to order a drink for myself and started chatting with the folks at the bar and, you know, made some friends and it got some voters.

And I don't think they expected that they were going to be talking to a Democratic candidate for governor, much less agreeing to vote for one.

But that's how you do it, vote by vote.

Well, that's what you said, Trigby, right?

You

got to go where the people are.

Yeah, and I mean here's the thing is that The the vast majority of people and this was true in the Virginia race that they're looking for common sense

more than

anything else and You know, I I was watching Spanburger and the thing about Abby is you know There was a time like with Christy Todd Whitman where she probably would have run as a Republican given her background and everything else and you know and

her home is in the Democratic Party now, but she went to places and won in places that Democrats just don't win, and she pulled 15 state legislators with her.

There is a hunger out there for authentic candidates who get things done.

Getting things done, to me, that is the takeaway here, is people want our politicians not to talk a good game, but to actually get things done.

about ideology as much as it is about effectiveness, right?

And so there's competence, there's experience, which, you know, Mikey Sherrill and Abigail Spanbauer have in spades.

They are moms who get stuff done, and they know how to do it, and I think voters rewarded that.

Todd Allbaugh

Talk to us a little bit about this, Senator Royce, a little bit more.

To me, the...

the male race in New York was an outlier for several reasons.

We had a caller, you know, you had a former Democrat, which was really the opposition to the Democratic nominee.

It wasn't the Republican.

To me, and you're running for governor, and Trigby brought this up earlier, those two races in Virginia and New Jersey.

What was fascinating is I watched the results come in.

is that constituencies, particularly the Hispanic wards and cities in New Jersey, but in somewhat Virginia, where they had moved away last year, a year ago, and voted more for Trump than Harris, those folks have now swung back those voters.

Our traditional constituencies in Wisconsin, as you look to your race, is there a correlation or no?

I mean, I think there is.

If you look at the maps with all the little arrows showing the shift, what you see is that

all demographic groups are shifting back, and that's because, you know, to my prior point, Trump hasn't delivered, right?

He promised one thing, and then he came in and did the exact opposite.

He promised to help us with the high prices, and he came in and proceeded to line his own pockets at our expense and force Costco even higher with his chaos and his corruption and the tariffs.

And I think voters said, well, that's not what we wanted.

We better go back to the Democrats who are at least, you know,

care about us and not just wealthy people and the billionaires.

Todd Allbaugh

If you look at your race for Governor again, and we actually had a caller call in Cindy from Appleton when Pat was still on and of course he's a former Democratic state senator here in Wisconsin.

And this individual, I'm not, she's identified herself as a Democrat before.

Cindy, but she said, because I hope to quote her, keep me honest, Trivi, I think she said, I hope Democrats in Wisconsin don't get cocky after

this.

Oh, 100%.

I mean, that's exactly right.

You know, what you see in all of these elections, and I'm talking about in Georgia, in Pennsylvania, where they retained, you know, three Supreme Court justices, it's not ideology.

Let's not learn the wrong lesson here.

You gotta run candidates that are of the places they wanna represent, right, that have the experience and the profile to do the job that they're running for.

And, you know, Mom Donnie is an incredibly talented candidate, very inspiring, and I love watching his videos.

I think he's got so much energy, but Wisconsin ain't New York City, right?

And he would not be the candidate to run for governor in Wisconsin.

You know, he might be a candidate to run for...

Mayor of Madison, but I don't know, you know, it is that's a very different context, right?

And so it just matters to have the right candidates With the right message for the location where you are, you know It matters who you are and where you

Todd Allbaugh

are but we heard my dummy I'm on dummy and I want senator your take and then trigger yours on this to me set aside the the very New York things of free bus service I mean those are to me localized issues right to me what

impressed me and I think connected with his particular voters is

A, he spoke to the needs of that constituency at that moment.

And also, he just ran a hell of a great campaign.

His social media was great.

He was out there amongst the people.

He was a populist.

Absolutely.

He was a populist, and he's likable, right?

You know, I mean, in every video, see, he's smiling.

He's interacting with different people.

He's listening.

And these are kind of, you know, our politics has become so divisive and so hectoring and yelling and fighting.

And it wasn't fun, you know?

like you have this feeling of dread when you think about politics and you know I don't think people want to feel that way right we want to feel joy we want to feel hope we want to feel like we're coming together for something good for the common good and I think you know mom Donnie brought that but I I give a lot of credit to Spanburger and Cheryl as well because they built really strong powerful campaigns that completely outperformed expectations

true to who those candidates are and who they are as leaders and true to the states that they wanted to lead.

Trivielson.

Yeah, I mean, I think he hit the nail on the head.

Ultimately, there is candidates fit where they're trying to lead.

And people usually know when someone's trying to be something they're not.

I mean, that was one of Winston and Earl Sears's problems.

She

was

trying to be something that she wasn't.

So to that to that degree, I don't know if he could be even be could be mayor of Madison at this point.

But, you know, one of the things is the the right is making this case.

We've never had a socialist mayor anywhere.

Milwaukee had multiple.

Yeah.

It's like, let's open a history book there.

What they're talking

about.

So there's that.

But yeah, they ran campaigns that were true to themselves and that were about solving problems.

And there is a real hunger for that.

I mean, Todd and I have been talking about that a long time.

To me, it's less about the kinds of things you want to do and more about, do you really care about trying to

bring

people together to solve problems?

Right.

I think one of the things that's frustrated so many people about Democrats, and I mean,

frustrated Dems about Dems is the perception that we don't actually care about getting power or using power.

Now, I think it really matters who's in office because it's life or death if you've got health insurance or not.

If your kid goes to a good school or an underfunded school where the teachers are leaving, right?

That matters to your life.

And if Democrats believe that, then we shouldn't be afraid to use our power to make people's lives better.

And at the end of the day, voters

don't care what you say they care about the results and they want to reward political leaders who care about delivering results and it's not that you have to win every fight but you have to be willing to go to the mat you have to be willing to take that fight and use your power and not just issue a press release and say well you know

too bad who couldn't get this done, but this is what I think.

Todd Allbaugh

You're listening to the title of all show across civic media.

Our guest right now at state center, Kelder Royce Democrat here in the Madison area of the 26 district.

She also is a candidate for the governor of the state of Wisconsin now under.

a year away.

How

about that?

How about

Todd Allbaugh

us in a year?

And also the senior advisor at the Lincoln Project, Trigvie Olsen, who joins us via StreamYard from his home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Zabers.

I'm producing in real time here.

I sent you a cut like yesterday of Derek Van Orton from Heartland Signal, where he was saying, you know, if we don't do our part, we shouldn't get reelected.

If we could look for that, because I want to play that for the audience and get Trigvie's and the center's reaction to that if we have it.

But in the meantime, first, Trigvie, to you, and then

Senator to you.

Let's talk a little bit about what happened in California this prop 50 and and redistricting trivia I'd like to have you talk about this from just a strategy standpoint and senator from from a policy or a campaign standpoint Look what Newsom did out there in California is a result or a reaction to what what governor Abbott and Republicans and quite frankly Trump did in in Texas is this gonna continue on for

And is that kind of, if we move now into 2026 election cycle, is this going to matter?

Use your crystal ball, Trigvie, or is it really going to continue to be a referendum on Trump and Trumpism?

Well, you know, there's, I mean, a couple of things.

I'm not a huge fan of the whole tit for tat.

Let's start redistricting.

And it started in Texas.

And I understand why in California, they're on the Democratic side, there was this, you know, a desire to respond in kind.

That is.

the cycle towards that it's not a good cycle to be in the middle of that being said the truth of the matter is when you start redistricting like that to add seats you actually make some of the seats more marginal

And the reality is, you know, Donald Trump's approval ratings at 37% in the last CNN poll, right?

Like if he's sitting there and you have a result like you had last night, there is the potential that on the Republican side, they may be the dog that catches the bus because they may end up inadvertently.

The law of unintended consequences may lead them to actually exposing more of their seats, not less of their seats.

So there's that.

The key thing is, you know, when people are saying, oh, the elections might be rigged or whatever, bottom line is, from my experiences around the world, you just got to go out and beat them.

I mean, Senator Royce, go

Todd Allbaugh

ahead and

drink.

No, just realize, you know, to that point, people aren't on, they don't, they're not liking what they're getting.

Maybe

Todd Allbaugh

a fair question.

Do you, Senator Royce?

You're in a Democratic primary.

You got to win that first before

you go

Todd Allbaugh

to the general, obviously.

But there's been a feeling among some Democrats, I'm not either party, but some Democrats are really ticked off that Democrats aren't fighting more.

Is what Newsom did in California, is that an indication of what your party, your primary voters want this fight?

I mean, that's what I am hearing everywhere I go.

And I think that's why I am getting...

so much support as I go talk to people because they want Democrats who are telling the truth about what the Trump regime is doing and are going to stand up and fight against the ways in which it's harming Wisconsin families.

You know, and that's, that's what I'm going to do.

It's a differentiator for me in this primary.

Todd Allbaugh

When we come back, go to play some audio.

Zalmers is the best of the business.

He has found it.

Derek Van Orton was shooting his mouth off not too long ago and said, if we don't get the job done, throw us out.

Well, we'll do, Derek.

A lot of people might say yes to that.

We'll come back.

We'll play it for you.

Can't wait to play it for you.

Trevy Olson, State Senator, Kelvin Royce.

Come on back.

It's the all-most show in the Civic Media already

Kathryn Lake

now.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

Todd Allbaugh

civicmedia.us.

Also, being played in the Speaker of the House's office out in Washington, D.C., people are starving.

Snap benefits cut off.

But Mike Johnson, Donald Trump.

That's the way they like it.

Welcome back to the title ball

show.

AKA a little Johnson, not big

Todd Allbaugh

Johnson.

Exactly.

Little Johnson.

Welcome back.

He's a short man.

That's what we say is short man.

Welcome back to the title

ball show

Todd Allbaugh

across the state of Wisconsin.

That's the voice of Trig V. Olson, senior advisor to Lincoln Project.

Check out his sub stack.

Great sub stack this week on AI.

We're going to talk about that more next week.

I think it's really important in this state with data centers.

Also joining us here at the table, state center, Keldor Royce of the.

Senate District here in Dane County, also a candidate for governor of the state of Wisconsin.

This came out from Heartland Signal online, and I am told it is from the John Frederick Show.

This is from almost a year ago, December of 2024.

Incumbent for Congress on the western part of Wisconsin, Republican Derek Van Oort and DVO had this to say about what will happen when Republicans took control.

When we have unified government, I'll be very clear about this.

When we have unified government, if we cannot get our 12 appropriations bills through in a budget, then we don't deserve to be in the majority any longer.

We don't.

You know, I don't sugarcoat anything.

And I'll take the paint off anybody that is talking smack about these sorts of things.

That includes members of my own party.

So a lot of the reasons you got to understand that we didn't get a lot of things done was because of members of the Republican Party.

Some of our far right guys held things up in the rules committee.

They voted against rules if the rule passed and they prevented a lot of these measures getting through.

So that's true.

The other side of the coin is anything we do has to get through the Senate, which was controlled by Chuck Schumer.

It still is until we get through January.

So I'll say that again real clear.

When we have unified government, if we can't get our 12 appropriations bills through and a budget passed,

then we do not deserve to be in the majority, period.

Todd Allbaugh

Republican Derek Van Orton, Congressman of Western Wisconsin on the John Frederick Show in December of 2024, State Senator Keldo Royce, candidate for governor.

What do

you think now?

Well, for once, I agree with Derek Van Orton.

I think, you know, he said it pretty clearly.

Listen, if you're if you're in the majority, you should be able to pass a budget.

And it's

There is one reason why the federal government has been shut down.

It is Republicans.

There is one reason why families are going hungry and worrying about where their next meal is going to come from.

And that is Republicans in Washington.

Todd Allbaugh

Trini talks about this all the time.

I want your comments, first senator on this.

To me, this just is a great and simple and easy to understand narrative for people like you running in the state of Wisconsin in 2026.

Those guys said they'd fix it.

People, farmers, we had farmers on this show from Richland County, beef farmers whose kids used Affordable Care Act for their health insurance and this, and they said they'd fix all this and they're not.

Well, not only they're not fixing it, they're making it way worse.

I mean, that's the thing.

It's not just that they didn't fix the toys, just they took everything else and they broke it.

And it's going to get worse and worse and worse because they delayed the effects of a lot of the worst aspects of their budget till after the midterms.

How cynical.

They knew, they knew what was going to hurt you and your family.

Forced rural hospitals to close.

You know, keep kids from getting the medical care, the food, the education that they need.

And they decided, let's wait until we can get reelection so we don't lose the Congress in the midterms.

Yeah, I mean, I would just say this, the other piece of it is,

I have always believed that the best solutions are at the local level and the state level, not the federal level.

And if you think about things like the University of Wisconsin, whether it's my home where I went to school at Eau Claire or Platteville where you went or the University of Wisconsin, right?

You now have the federal government, which they were always against saying.

you can do this, you can't do that, and you've got state Republicans going along with it.

Why are they not standing for what they've claimed for years, state's rights?

They claim, as Derek Van Odd, one does in that.

If we control everything, we're going to get appropriations bills.

He hasn't done anything to get appropriations bills, and I haven't heard him calling on Mike Johnson to put the Congress back in session.

What's the

drop?

They're not even trying.

They're not even trying.

They won't even go to work.

I mean, they won't seat Adelida Grahava six weeks after the election.

He's terrified.

Johnson is terrified of his members actually being in Washington and going to work.

Yeah.

Are they being paid, by the way?

Oh, they are, yeah.

Oh, they are.

Oh,

Todd Allbaugh

the little Brian style, I think, introduced a Bill and Tony weird one.

Weed, I'm sorry.

And Glenn growthman.

came out of his den and signed on to it to say, don't pay us, don't pay us.

We like Glenn though, because Glenn had the courage to come on with us, Todd.

That's true,

Todd Allbaugh

he did at least sit down.

He likes

Todd Allbaugh

us.

Brian Stile just kept walking past.

He didn't.

Yeah, Brian

Stile

Todd Allbaugh

refused to come on.

Senator Royce, a couple of minutes left here.

I want to give you the floor.

I love the campaign for governor here, and I love you sitting down and talking to real people.

Just tell us a little bit more.

What have you learned so far and what do you intend to do in these months ahead running for the governor of the state of Wisconsin?

Well, I think the most important thing I can do is continue traveling around the state and listening to people and reflecting the concerns that they share with me into my priorities as governor.

We see very clearly that Wisconsin is a place where families are struggling to make ends meet.

Young people are having a hard time envisioning

a future life here where they're thriving.

And that is our fault.

We need to do so much more to make Wisconsin a place where people can afford to live, not just to get by, but to build a life where they have the freedom.

to live the life they want.

And that means investing in health care.

It means opening up the state health insurance and the state pension system that public employees have that are so great to every individual, every business, right?

As a small business owner myself, that could be transformational for our state.

We got to raise wages for people.

It is not fair that we've got, you know, half of the state that is making less than a living wage.

for full-time work.

That is not sustainable.

And we've got to invest in our public education system.

These are the things that I'm hearing from people.

You know, and last night, I was meeting with a group of students on a UW campus, and I actually met with a young woman from Medford.

So a small world, that's my hometown, Medford, in Taylor County.

She was like, you've probably never heard of it.

And I was like, oh, I have.

And we're just talking about can she build a future here?

I want young women

like her to be able to make their future in Wisconsin.

Todd Allbaugh

Calderoy State Senator hopes to be your governor next good look of campaign trail senator and hope to see you soon.

Absolutely.

Trigby Olson from DC always a pleasure my friend go pack go.

I told Trigby we need new packer owners he said what about a new kicker?

Kathryn Lake

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