Here and Now
Candidates for Governor Make Their Case to The Parties
Clip: Season 2400 Episode 2449 | 5m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
Candidates running for governor made their appeals at the annual party conventions.
Democratic candidates made their appeals to be the next governor of Wisconsin at the annual WisDems convention and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany accepted Republican endorsement at the state GOP convention.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Here and Now is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Here and Now
Candidates for Governor Make Their Case to The Parties
Clip: Season 2400 Episode 2449 | 5m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
Democratic candidates made their appeals to be the next governor of Wisconsin at the annual WisDems convention and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany accepted Republican endorsement at the state GOP convention.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Where to Watch Here and Now
Here and Now is available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS app.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship>> All right.
Jason Stein, thank you very much.
>> My pleasure.
Thank you.
>> Campaigns for governor ahead of the August primary.
Head into high gear with some Democrats in the field getting a boost after the party's state convention.
A straw poll of party activists put Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez on top with state Representative Francesca Hong in second and state Senator Kelda Roys coming in third.
Here's a glimpse of candidates speeches at the convention.
>> Does the job I'm asking you for starts with showing up and then standing up.
Here's what I hear out there.
Our neighbors are scared.
They are angry because even if they are doing everything right, they cannot make ends meet.
They work hard and want a paycheck that covers the rent or mortgage before it's gone.
They need a health insurance premium that they can afford.
So when they get sick, they have the care that they need.
They need public schools that are fully funded for their kids so they don't have to go to referendum.
>> We've seen this before in Wisconsin.
Scott Walker ran this con for eight years.
Divide and conquer got the public sector hollow out schools, attack workers and treat government like the enemy.
When Tony Evers asked me to serve as his top cabinet official, we inherited a mess.
Depleted reserves, structural deficits, teachers, state employees, and working people who had been treated like a punching bag for eight years.
So we rolled up our sleeves and we got to work.
We constructed responsible budgets that returned us to Wisconsin values.
>> I do want to be honest, because as I travel, people always ask me, David, can a Black candidate become governor?
Hell yeah.
If it's a candidate with a track record of delivering results and winning and not just talking about them?
Yes.
If it's a candidate that has a plan that's built on proven public policy, not whatever the latest poll says, it's popular, then yes, the answer is simple, y'all.
Yes.
And I am that candidate.
I've built a strong coalition in the state's largest county while earning support from our rural, suburban urban communities alike.
>> I am running for governor to raise wages, lower costs, deliver great public schools, and protect our freedoms from this authoritarian regime.
We will lower the cost of the biggest ticket items, from housing to health care, child care to utilities.
I don't just have bullet points, I have bills.
I don't just have social posts, I have plans.
And we know this is possible because we've done it before, right?
As the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, I helped pass the first pro-choice law in 30 years through an anti-choice Republican Assembly.
>> We have been failed by the status quo for far too long.
And it's not just enough to be anti-Trump.
It's not enough to just be a Democrat.
If you're going to cave to corporate interests, we need a governor who rejects the Washington way of rampant corruption and corporate running for governor to do things the Wisconsin way.
That means taxing the rich.
That means freezing the rates.
That means keeping our community safe.
And in the AI schemes that rig the system, fully funding our public schools, passing universal child care, and delivering health care to every single person in this state, and standing up to those monopolies that continue to bankrupt our family farms and raise our utility bills.
I am asking for your support in August, and I'm asking you to organize with me all the way through November to take back with me.
>> I am running on a platform of permanent affordability, not as a slogan.
Not as a slogan, but as a practice.
I am the only candidate in this race who has called for a moratorium on the construction of AI data centers.
I will not meekly accept the sellout of Wisconsin to millionaires, billionaires and big tech.
I am the only candidate in this race with a plan for free childcare.
I am the only candidate in this race who has even considered what AI will do, what it means for our workers and our civil rights.
>> The first thing I had to do as Secretary of Economic Development was clean up Foxconn.
No problem.
I had three children under the age of two.
I know how to clean up a mess.
So I cleaned up Donald Trump and Scott Walker's mess and saved the state and Wisconsinites billions of dollars.
And then Covid hit.
Covid hit.
And let me tell you, that's not a great time to be in charge of the state's economy.
But we rolled up our sleeves and we got to work.
>> On the Republican side, current seventh congressional U.S.
representative Tom Tiffany got his party's endorsement in his run for governor at their convention.
>> We're going to take a shovel to waste and fraud.
We're going to root out corruption.
And we're going to bring common sense back to Madison.
Because I refuse to accept failure.
I refuse to accept decline, and I refuse to see the state of Wisconsin fall
Dane County Returns 165 Acres to the Ho-Chunk Nation
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2449 | 5m 55s | The Ho-Chunk Nation will receive 165 acres in a land transfer funded by Dane County. (5m 55s)
Here & Now opening for June 19, 2026
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2449 | 1m 8s | The introduction to the June 19, 2026 episode of Here & Now. (1m 8s)
Iranians in Wisconsin React to US-Iran Peace Negotiations
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2449 | 5m 56s | Iranians in Wisconsin discuss the Iranian government in light of announced peace talks. (5m 56s)
Jason Stein on Budget Headwinds Facing Milwaukee
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2449 | 5m 18s | Jason Stein on a $50 million dollar deficit in one year in the Milwaukee County budget. (5m 18s)
Wisconsin Senators on The Memorandum of Understanding
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2449 | 1m 33s | Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson on the announced peace talks to end the Iran war. (1m 33s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
New Episode- News and Public Affairs

Top journalists deliver compelling original analysis of the hour's headlines.
New Episode- News and Public Affairs

Today's top journalists discuss Washington's current political events and public affairs.
New Episode
New Episode
New Episode
New Episode


New Episode
New Episode
New Episode
Support for PBS provided by:
Here and Now is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin




