1 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist 2 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,640 Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior elections correspondent at the 3 00:00:24,679 --> 00:00:29,359 Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's Quest for Knowledge. 4 00:00:29,879 --> 00:00:32,359 As always, you can email the show at radio at 5 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:37,000 the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at FDR LST, 6 00:00:37,719 --> 00:00:40,560 make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and 7 00:00:40,759 --> 00:00:44,200 of course to the premium version of our website as well. 8 00:00:44,759 --> 00:00:49,039 Our guest today is Brian Shimming, chairman of the Republican 9 00:00:49,079 --> 00:00:54,520 Party of Wisconsin. Yes, that Wisconsin, That Wisconsin that put 10 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,280 Donald Trump over the top of the electoral vote count 11 00:00:58,759 --> 00:01:02,719 to secure his turn to the White House. This gentleman, 12 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,599 Brian Shimming, had a good deal to do with the 13 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,200 winning in Wisconsin. He joins us on the Federalist Radio. Hello, Sarah, 14 00:01:11,239 --> 00:01:11,959 thanks for being here. 15 00:01:12,719 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 2: Hey Matt, thanks for having me. 16 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: Wow, we have so much to get into. We have 17 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,959 a crazy election night, of course, and you can't have 18 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,040 an election in Wisconsin without having a crazy night in Milwaukee. 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,519 We're going to get into that. We're going to get 20 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,000 into the ground game, We're going to get into all 21 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,519 that had to go into this election. But let me 22 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,359 ask you this question. First, Have you had time to 23 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:43,000 relax at all since late Tuesday night early Wednesday morning? 24 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 2: Well, it depends on your definition of relax. Of course, 25 00:01:47,439 --> 00:01:51,200 if relax means occasionally fall asleep, then I bet some time. 26 00:01:51,319 --> 00:01:55,040 But to be candid, there hasn't been a lot for 27 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,719 a couple of reasons. Number one, the canvas for the 28 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:03,480 state vote actually occurs this week, and that the any 29 00:02:03,599 --> 00:02:06,560 candidates who want to seek a recount have three business 30 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,560 days to do that. So we've been watching that. We've 31 00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:13,479 been cleaning up on election integrity issues as well, and 32 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,680 frankly looking forward because as the clock took down to 33 00:02:17,719 --> 00:02:21,639 eight o'clock on Tuesday night, another clock started, and that 34 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:26,599 was towards our spring Supreme Court races, and so no 35 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,360 clocks have stopped. Listen to that. 36 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,159 Speaker 1: Way, no rest for the weary. We'll talk about that 37 00:02:32,199 --> 00:02:35,120 in a minute. All eyes will be on Wisconsin because 38 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,120 the Supreme Court election, well, we're learning this week how 39 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,919 critical that Supreme Court election is in life issues, you know, 40 00:02:43,039 --> 00:02:47,719 basic basic life, liberty, pursuit of happiness issues in the 41 00:02:47,759 --> 00:02:50,919 state of Wisconsin going on before a leftist led Supreme 42 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,840 Court this week. Let's talk about canvassing next steps such 43 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,639 a razor thin margin in the US Senate race in 44 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,639 the state of Wisconsin, so close to having yet another 45 00:03:04,759 --> 00:03:10,199 conservative voice in Washington, d C. Two Republican senators in 46 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,680 the state of Wisconsin would have been Eric Hovedy, the 47 00:03:13,719 --> 00:03:19,240 Madison businessman, joining Senator Ron Johnson. Senior Senator of the 48 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,360 state of Wisconsin. Leftist Tammy Baldwin eeks out, a very 49 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:29,360 narrow victory is from what you're hearing is the Hovedy campaign, 50 00:03:29,719 --> 00:03:33,479 Are they considering a recount because it is so very close. 51 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,599 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're holding their options open for recount. As I 52 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,360 say this week, we've got the deadliner, We've got the 53 00:03:41,479 --> 00:03:46,560 canvas what's called the statewide canvas being done, and then 54 00:03:46,639 --> 00:03:52,479 those results are reported to the state Elections Commission. Candidates 55 00:03:52,599 --> 00:03:57,560 have three business days after that report to review that 56 00:03:57,719 --> 00:04:04,120 report and de file for a recount. And so that's, 57 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,479 you know, something that's not up for us to decide. 58 00:04:06,479 --> 00:04:08,560 That's for Eric. How do you decide on his race? 59 00:04:08,599 --> 00:04:13,280 There aren't really any other races, But I have not 60 00:04:13,639 --> 00:04:19,879 heard our attorneys and our election integrity staff, so we'll 61 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,399 see what happens. Ordinarily, thirty thousand votes is not necessarily 62 00:04:24,439 --> 00:04:28,000 in recount range, but I've seen stranger things happen. I 63 00:04:28,079 --> 00:04:31,439 was on the President's President Trump's recount team four years 64 00:04:31,439 --> 00:04:35,120 ago here in Wisconsin. I've done some others statewide and 65 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,800 certainly local recounts. So don't you know, I never say 66 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,839 never until it's really done. So I'll be interested to 67 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,240 see what the canvas looks like. I know there was 68 00:04:44,759 --> 00:04:47,120 a lot of talk about late night ballot dumps and 69 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:53,920 the concern about Milwaukee County. Election night led Ron Johnson 70 00:04:53,959 --> 00:04:56,639 and I to a trip down to Central County in 71 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:01,000 downtown Milwaukee, which did not go that well. What's the 72 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,040 liberals that run Milwaukee elections? 73 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,319 Speaker 1: No, but extremely important, as I wrote about at the 74 00:05:07,399 --> 00:05:11,439 Federalist kind of chronicled your journey down there. I remember 75 00:05:12,079 --> 00:05:15,519 being on the radio at WISN in Milwaukee with the 76 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,079 election night team Dan O'Donnell, Dave and Jerry and Ben 77 00:05:21,199 --> 00:05:24,319 the rest of the crew, and they had you and 78 00:05:24,399 --> 00:05:28,360 Senator Johnson on. You were in your car having heard 79 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:33,040 that there were some problems once again in Milwaukee, and 80 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:38,439 some very serious problems, quite frankly, with election integrity. You 81 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,360 went down there, you surveyed, you asked some very pointed questions. 82 00:05:42,399 --> 00:05:45,399 Take me through that if you would, because Milwaukee has 83 00:05:45,519 --> 00:05:50,759 long been an area of question when it comes to 84 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:51,759 election integrity. 85 00:05:52,439 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, it has, and one that we watch, as you know, Matt, 86 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:02,680 we put together in Wisconsin. By way a brief background, 87 00:06:03,319 --> 00:06:09,879 Wisconsin state parties have to submit their list of poll watchers, 88 00:06:09,959 --> 00:06:12,680 that is to say, the people who actually literally work 89 00:06:12,759 --> 00:06:15,800 for the local clerks, are partisan, but work for the 90 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,920 local clerks in the run up to and during election 91 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,319 day and afterwards. We put together one with six thousand 92 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,759 those people last year by the statutory deadline in November 93 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,519 of volunteer shifts covered this year for old watchers, and 94 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,639 then of course a couple hundred attorneys to help take 95 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,079 care of issues. So during the day we had a 96 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,480 report back that essentially the latches on the back of 97 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:48,480 the tabulators. We don't have voting machines in Wisconsin. Well 98 00:06:48,519 --> 00:06:51,920 we do. People still vote on paper ballots, which is 99 00:06:51,959 --> 00:06:56,199 the way I prefer, but they are tabulated, that is 100 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:00,680 to say, they are run through huge machines that are 101 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,279 and as it turns out, thirteen of those machines at 102 00:07:05,319 --> 00:07:09,360 one of the central count locations in Milwaukee had not 103 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,160 been secured in back on this latch on the back. 104 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,279 So we find out during the day that that had 105 00:07:16,319 --> 00:07:20,480 not occurred. Somebody sent pictures of them to us, and 106 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,000 then all of a sudden, Milwaukee County clerk and Ann Jacobs, 107 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,240 the Democrat off the state Elections Commission tweeting out that, 108 00:07:28,399 --> 00:07:31,720 oh gee, we had counted over thirty thousand votes, but 109 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,519 we will now recount them because of the lack of 110 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,959 security on that latch. So we're hearing this all basically 111 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:43,160 in the afternoon on election Day, Tuesday afternoon. And so 112 00:07:43,319 --> 00:07:48,040 after discussions with staff out at our war room out 113 00:07:48,079 --> 00:07:51,160 in Milwaukee, Ron and I made the Senator Johnson and 114 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:52,920 I made the decision we're going to go down there 115 00:07:52,959 --> 00:07:55,759 and look for ourselves. So we've loaded up the car 116 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:01,879 and down with some of our staff, and as you 117 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,120 pointed out, we called into w I A Sun's election 118 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,360 night coverage, which was great to say, hey, we're in 119 00:08:08,399 --> 00:08:11,040 downtown to get a look. We did. We got there, 120 00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:15,560 there was a massive media sprom there that surrounded us. 121 00:08:15,759 --> 00:08:20,000 We actually met had to sign in as election observers. 122 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,240 So when we went upstairs, we literally are you know, 123 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,120 you know, with big pens, were signing in as official 124 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,000 election observers. That is to say, we could walk around 125 00:08:30,079 --> 00:08:33,080 the floor and observe what was going on. 126 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:36,039 Speaker 1: So you definitely were doing that. You were observing, There's. 127 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 2: No you were observing, no doubt about that. And so 128 00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:42,879 here you got a member of the United States Senate 129 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,840 and the state chairman of the party rolling in to 130 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,360 Central Count, which is an experience they had not had before. 131 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,639 And and it lit up X lit up Twitter that 132 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,039 we were there, and so we we kind of did 133 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,320 we kind of talked to the press when we walked in, 134 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,879 walked around, asked a lot of questions, did not get 135 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,720 in the way of any count or any part of 136 00:09:07,759 --> 00:09:11,720 the operation of Central Count that night, which was still 137 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,960 going on as we were there. So we spent well 138 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,360 over half an hour forty five minutes there, and then 139 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,159 some did some media on the way out the door too. 140 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,799 And I had said to someone from Fox on the 141 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,840 way in. They said, you know, to sum it up. 142 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,480 On the way in, They're like, what do you expect 143 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,240 to find here? What do you think the problem is? 144 00:09:33,799 --> 00:09:38,720 And my response to that reporter was they had one job, 145 00:09:39,519 --> 00:09:42,919 and you know, it's like, come on here, you know, 146 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:44,919 they've had two years to get ready for this thing. 147 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:50,080 So to have thirteen tabulating machines that weren't totally secured 148 00:09:50,759 --> 00:09:53,960 is ridiculous. So when we got questions afterwards from the 149 00:09:54,039 --> 00:09:57,679 local and state and national media there, you know, my 150 00:09:57,799 --> 00:10:00,720 point was, Look, we weren't down here because we had 151 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:01,840 nothing else to do. 152 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: Today. 153 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,279 Speaker 2: We have plenty to do today. We are down here 154 00:10:06,399 --> 00:10:12,120 because officials with the City of Milwaukee election operation did 155 00:10:12,159 --> 00:10:18,039 not secure these machines. So, frankly, I didn't want to 156 00:10:18,159 --> 00:10:22,759 hear folks with the city copying an attitude with us, going, oh, 157 00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:24,360 what are you guys doing here? We told you we 158 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,759 were recounting them. Frankly, that's not acceptable. So that's why 159 00:10:28,799 --> 00:10:32,600 we went down frankly as there was interestingly, Matt We 160 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,879 left there around eight o'clock or so, so in the 161 00:10:35,879 --> 00:10:40,600 post closed, we did more media and then left, and 162 00:10:40,879 --> 00:10:43,799 all of a sudden, an email goes out from the 163 00:10:44,279 --> 00:10:49,240 head of the operation to city employees begging city employees 164 00:10:49,279 --> 00:10:50,879 to come in and help them. 165 00:10:50,759 --> 00:10:56,799 Speaker 1: Count right firefighters and eyes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 166 00:10:57,039 --> 00:11:00,399 Speaker 2: So I think you know, the effect of us there, 167 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:02,840 number one is for us to learn more about how 168 00:11:02,879 --> 00:11:06,159 that operation was working and in this case was not working. 169 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,159 But also the city or somebody went into panic mode 170 00:11:10,159 --> 00:11:12,159 and all of a sudden they're sending emails out to 171 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,759 hundreds of city employees coming with saying, will you please 172 00:11:15,799 --> 00:11:19,159 come down and help us count and help run Central 173 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,000 count Well, why did it have to get to that, 174 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,639 I mean, it's ridiculous. It is not to that point. 175 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:28,519 They actually made our point for us by begging other 176 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:29,919 people to come in and help them. 177 00:11:30,159 --> 00:11:31,799 Speaker 1: They did. And I want to ask you this because 178 00:11:31,799 --> 00:11:33,120 I didn't have a chance to ask you this the 179 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,360 other day. I think it's important. In twenty twenty remarkable year, 180 00:11:37,639 --> 00:11:41,720 no doubt about it, pandemic COVID, and we know that 181 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,639 the left in this country, and in Wisconsin Milhawkee in particular, 182 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:53,039 they used COVID as a cover to be able to 183 00:11:54,480 --> 00:12:00,039 expand laws beyond their breaking point. They used it to 184 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,559 do things that were not in the purview of what 185 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,919 they were supposed to be doing. We know that I'm 186 00:12:07,919 --> 00:12:11,720 not getting into you know, who won, who lost, and 187 00:12:11,759 --> 00:12:13,960 that sort of thing, but it is clear we've seen 188 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,559 the audits, we've seen the reports we've investigated this that 189 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,639 there were a lot of irregularities and there were laws 190 00:12:20,799 --> 00:12:24,960 election laws that were broken. Can you imagine though, because 191 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,879 it didn't happen this way in twenty twenty, can you 192 00:12:28,919 --> 00:12:31,759 imagine heading down there in two thousand? Do you think 193 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,799 that might have made a difference? Because you and Senator 194 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,879 Johnson your eyes and then you this is what I 195 00:12:40,919 --> 00:12:45,519 really want to get into. You had teams of lawyers there, 196 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,000 you had observers, you had Republicans in place. Still, you 197 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,799 know in Milwaukee you're going to have in terms of 198 00:12:54,279 --> 00:12:58,559 observers and poll workers, you're going to have Democrats outnumbering Republicans. 199 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,480 That's just the reality. But you folks were prepared this time, 200 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,639 and that was not the case in twenty twenty. 201 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:09,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's why we made this really was a 202 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,240 national emphasis, but certainly here in Wisconsin. And I was 203 00:13:13,279 --> 00:13:17,519 committed when I became chairman, well now about two years 204 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:22,200 ago to putting together a massive election integrity operation. I mean, 205 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,440 we only had it was in twenty twenty we only 206 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,320 had one thousand observe I'm sorry, twenty twenty two, we 207 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:34,360 only had a thousand observers statewide. And now we had 208 00:13:34,519 --> 00:13:38,000 you know, you know, almost six thousand poll workers, I 209 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,080 should say, and then had shifted a couple thousand pole 210 00:13:42,159 --> 00:13:44,000 watchers and we had to do that too because you 211 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,600 had the early vote campaign, which we also kind of championed, 212 00:13:47,639 --> 00:13:49,919 and so we knew this was going to be very, 213 00:13:50,039 --> 00:13:56,320 very intense. And Mike Wadley, the RNC chair, has told 214 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,799 me numerous times that the President was like, look i'll 215 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:04,080 President Trump was like, look, I'll help you with your turnout, 216 00:14:04,519 --> 00:14:07,440 but I really need you, folks. The parties to focus 217 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,159 on is election integrity. And thank god that happened because 218 00:14:11,399 --> 00:14:16,480 we between the observers, the poll workers as well that 219 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:21,519 worked for local clerks, we had a massive, massive operation 220 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,039 go on that we were a pretty big operation two 221 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,679 years ago, and I think that helped you Johnston myself, 222 00:14:28,879 --> 00:14:32,159 that helped cut down on a lot of different issues. 223 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,360 But I was just on a zoom actually where our 224 00:14:35,399 --> 00:14:39,240 election integrity, our top guy said, in our warm. So 225 00:14:39,279 --> 00:14:42,480 we had a warrem that day election day just to 226 00:14:42,559 --> 00:14:47,240 handle complaints or concerns by our poll workers and poll watchers. 227 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:54,919 We processed over eleven hundred calls and emails on election day, 228 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,159 and some of it was just kind of dogs and chaots, 229 00:14:57,279 --> 00:15:01,000 general question about operations and things like that. Those of 230 00:15:01,039 --> 00:15:04,879 them were more serious. But as I said to folks 231 00:15:04,919 --> 00:15:08,879 on that call, those types of those that type of 232 00:15:08,919 --> 00:15:11,240 input that we got in the warm an election day 233 00:15:11,879 --> 00:15:14,639 that those weren't get back to me next week. Calls. 234 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,639 Those were not okay, let me know when you got something. 235 00:15:17,679 --> 00:15:20,879 Calls they were like, we have an issue right now 236 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,480 and we want it solved right now. Sometimes they were 237 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,120 very easy, other times they were were we were stepping 238 00:15:28,159 --> 00:15:30,960 in going okay, if this isn't fixed, we're going to 239 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,320 be in the coureum within the hour. And that was 240 00:15:34,399 --> 00:15:37,320 kind of my three legged stool that I have said 241 00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:43,759 literally since I became chairman, and the three legged stool was, 242 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:45,960 you know, number one leg is we want to work 243 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,879 with local clerks. We think for the most part, local 244 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,919 clerks aren't just trying to run the election, and that's 245 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:56,639 what they do. I know lots of myself, they're just 246 00:15:56,679 --> 00:15:59,600 trying to run the election. Secondly, if we noticed an 247 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,000 issue either pre election or election day, we would flag 248 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,720 it for them to get corrected in the appropriate amount 249 00:16:06,759 --> 00:16:09,519 of time. But then number three, the third leg on 250 00:16:09,559 --> 00:16:13,960 that stool is if you do not get that issue 251 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,679 addressed that is a matter of state law or local ordinance, 252 00:16:17,799 --> 00:16:20,039 we will see you down in the hall down the 253 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,039 Hall in the courtroom period, and I wanted to send 254 00:16:24,039 --> 00:16:27,080 that signal for two reasons. Number one, so they would 255 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,360 be assured that we would get cooperation, or we could 256 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,759 be assured we would get cooperation. So just to be candid, 257 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,559 it was to send a warning shot out to other 258 00:16:37,679 --> 00:16:41,720 clerks or people around the state that we want to 259 00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:45,159 work together, we will work together, but if you don't 260 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,720 correct issues, we will take you to court end of story. 261 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,120 And I thought that that message needs to get sent 262 00:16:54,559 --> 00:16:57,399 very plainly from me as a state party leader, but 263 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,799 also from our local people. We had a massive, massive, 264 00:17:01,919 --> 00:17:08,000 massive operation going on in hundreds of trainings of local volunteers. 265 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:11,440 I mean staggeringly large. But that's what you got to do. 266 00:17:11,519 --> 00:17:13,440 And that's frankly where I wanted to kind of take 267 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,039 the party. And you know, Matt, some of the issues 268 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:21,079 were essentially by state law for pole workers, you need 269 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:24,119 to have parody plus one right. That is to say, 270 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:30,799 clerks are to hire and utilize essentially the equal number 271 00:17:30,839 --> 00:17:34,400 of Democrats and Republicans. Well, if that didn't happen or 272 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,240 it was obviously lopsided towards Democrats, we went after them. 273 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,680 We didn't mess around. It was it was like, look, 274 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,000 there is a state law that is super clear on 275 00:17:45,079 --> 00:17:48,680 this issue, and we want you to follow it. And 276 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,960 if you are not going to, we'll put this phone 277 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,519 down and call the lawyer on the other one. 278 00:17:54,839 --> 00:17:57,759 Speaker 1: And it's interesting that that continues to happen though, that 279 00:17:57,799 --> 00:17:59,640 you have to continue to have those fights, But I 280 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:04,480 think unbelievable. Yeah, but what happened in response to twenty 281 00:18:04,559 --> 00:18:07,880 twenty in twenty twenty two was an absolute turnaround when 282 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:12,279 it came to fighting for election integrity in the state 283 00:18:12,279 --> 00:18:15,720 of Wisconsin, and I think across the battleground states and 284 00:18:15,799 --> 00:18:19,400 this country. Our guest today is Brian Shimming on this 285 00:18:19,559 --> 00:18:22,759 edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. Brian as chairman of 286 00:18:22,759 --> 00:18:25,920 the Republican Party of Wisconsin that played such a pivotal 287 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,559 role in the big victories racked up for President Donald 288 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:36,880 Trump across the battleground states and across the country three 289 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:41,359 hundred and twelve electoral votes, and of course Wisconsin offered 290 00:18:41,799 --> 00:18:47,079 ten of those electoral votes and put the President elect 291 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,279 now we say it, President elect Trump over the top. 292 00:18:51,599 --> 00:18:55,759 What is the secret to success in Wisconsin? If you 293 00:18:55,839 --> 00:19:00,559 look back in November of twenty twenty awarding to the 294 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:06,319 vote count Donald Trump. President Donald Trump lost Wisconsin to 295 00:19:06,839 --> 00:19:11,480 Democrat Joe Biden by less than twenty one thousand votes, 296 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:17,519 a fraction of the millions cast. Of course, there were challenges, 297 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:21,480 there were recounts in Milwaukee County and in Dane County 298 00:19:21,519 --> 00:19:28,319 to liberal enclaves. But it stood what changed? What was 299 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:30,839 the secret sauce this time around? Or was it a 300 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,000 combination of all of these things? Election integrity and as 301 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,759 you mentioned before, get out the vote. 302 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,079 Speaker 2: Yeah, probably a combination of things. Number one, having the 303 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:43,240 right candidate, right. I mean, I've been reading various stories 304 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,440 that in some ways we had a mini realignment in 305 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:51,480 this cycle, and I think there's some treasure to that. 306 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,799 I think, you know, for as much as President Trump, 307 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,039 you know, can get attacked sometimes the Republicans who don't 308 00:19:58,079 --> 00:20:02,400 like him or whatever, he helped a mini realignment, not 309 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:06,160 only nationally, but certainly in Wisconsin as well. Well. We're 310 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,039 doing much better in some areas of the state than 311 00:20:09,079 --> 00:20:12,079 we have ever done before. So I think not only 312 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,319 President Trump is the candidate and jd. Vance, of course 313 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:21,000 it's just been lights out great, but also the fact 314 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:23,599 that they came here. I mean, there was a massive 315 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,839 as you know, Matt I mean, you were practically running 316 00:20:26,839 --> 00:20:30,680 into Donald Trump or JD. Of the Quick Trip Intoma. 317 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: It reminded me of my days in Platteville as a 318 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,920 kid when the Bears used to come to town. 319 00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:39,160 Speaker 2: I remember that this is going. 320 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,400 Speaker 1: To be a bone of contention for we packer fans. 321 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,599 But for a time, the city of Plattville. I literally 322 00:20:47,759 --> 00:20:51,440 was at Quick Trip seeing William the refrigerator, Perry buying 323 00:20:51,599 --> 00:20:57,480 susie ces. So Donald Trump was in Wisconsin so much. 324 00:20:57,559 --> 00:21:01,640 I can certainly understand where people got to know Donald 325 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,160 Trump even better than they thought they did. 326 00:21:05,519 --> 00:21:07,519 Speaker 2: You don't want to do is coming into the Quick 327 00:21:07,559 --> 00:21:09,920 Trip after the fridge was there. 328 00:21:10,039 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: No, particularly in the quick bathroom as I. 329 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 2: Can attest, still repainting the walls there. 330 00:21:20,599 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, they are. 331 00:21:24,519 --> 00:21:28,039 Speaker 2: So till. Part of it was their commitment to be here. 332 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:31,319 Part of it was our partnership with the Trump Campaigne's 333 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,000 just was phenomenal. I mean, as I always and I 334 00:21:35,079 --> 00:21:37,720 think I talked about when you and I last talked, 335 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,480 there weren't fifty states this year. There were seven, and 336 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,839 so the concentration of Donald Trump JD. Vance surrogates as 337 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:51,160 well coming in like RFK. You know, Kennedy, like, you know, 338 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,640 all these other surrogates we had in very very important 339 00:21:55,799 --> 00:22:00,079 I would say early vote. I spent you know, I 340 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,279 kind of a little bit stapled my chairmanship under the 341 00:22:04,319 --> 00:22:06,400 early vote push. It's all I talked about it. I 342 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,000 talk about it in every media interview I've done. I 343 00:22:09,039 --> 00:22:12,119 spoke about it almost every time I spoke in public, 344 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:16,079 which is now hundreds of times being chairman. And I 345 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,640 felt like I had to go take that message to 346 00:22:19,759 --> 00:22:24,480 Republicans around the state. And the message essentially was you 347 00:22:24,599 --> 00:22:28,240 got a change to win. And the truth of the 348 00:22:28,279 --> 00:22:31,559 matter is early vote, whether you or I or anybody 349 00:22:31,599 --> 00:22:34,200 else likes it or not, is on the books. And 350 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:39,279 I think when people as we went through COVID, we 351 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,880 needed to cross the bridge on that issue. So and 352 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,200 it made it, frankly, to be candid about it. Here. 353 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,480 It was easier to push early vote because we had 354 00:22:51,519 --> 00:22:54,680 so much election integrity. We had such a huge election 355 00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:58,119 integrity program, and we could reassure people that if they 356 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,480 did early vote that that vot would count. So there 357 00:23:01,559 --> 00:23:03,279 was kind of a part to be candid. There was 358 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,200 kind of a partnership there between those two issues, because 359 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,359 people were much more likely to vote early if they 360 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,960 believed that they could that their early vote would count, right, 361 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:18,119 So that was a bigger part of it that maybe 362 00:23:18,319 --> 00:23:23,079 was playing publicly, but that I know we'll see as 363 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:26,960 we examine the numbers. But I'm thanking God that we 364 00:23:27,039 --> 00:23:29,480 started that early vote campaign. We were the first state 365 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,680 in the country to roll out an early vote campaign 366 00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:36,599 on a statewide level, the Banker Vote program, something that 367 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:42,119 I pushed almost full time since. But if you think 368 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,839 what might have happened, Matt had we not done that, 369 00:23:46,799 --> 00:23:49,359 what would have happened election, I think we might be 370 00:23:49,839 --> 00:23:51,839 at the risk of whatever here. I think we might 371 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:55,240 be looking at a different result. And the importance of 372 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,960 the early vote thing was number one to get Republicans 373 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,200 to go along with early vote and to get their 374 00:24:01,279 --> 00:24:05,279 votes banked. But also it allowed us to talk to 375 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:11,200 voters early. You know, voters people had voted before. We 376 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,079 weren't waiting until June or something to start sending mail. 377 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,119 We were sending a mail late last year encouraging them 378 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:23,480 to early vote for April. And so it actually ended 379 00:24:23,559 --> 00:24:27,559 up being handled to talk to people much earlier than 380 00:24:27,599 --> 00:24:31,279 we otherwise would to get them to vote early for 381 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:36,680 last April's election. Where we passed two anti Zuckerbucks referendum, 382 00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:40,200 a bunch of local races, knocked off the Democrat mayor 383 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:45,079 of Wassaw. So there was, you know, there was some 384 00:24:45,279 --> 00:24:47,599 reason to what we were doing, but it because it 385 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,480 allowed us to talk to votes earlier, talk to voters earlier, 386 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,920 and allowed them to sign up for multiple elections, not 387 00:24:55,039 --> 00:24:58,599 just one, but they could early vote in multiple elections. 388 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,200 So I think we we helped drag that across the 389 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,440 bridge here in Wisconsin. And maybe I'll never know the 390 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:07,920 exact answer, but I thank God that we did it, 391 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,640 because we might well have lost the election otherwise. So 392 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,880 I think Donald Trump and JD prioritizing the state good partnership, 393 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,920 frankly the right issues. I never you know, at the 394 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,200 risk of being too general, I never thought that Kamala Harris, 395 00:25:23,319 --> 00:25:25,640 you know, she we always say we had kind of 396 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,400 the Harris honeymoon. Right when she got put on the ticket. 397 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,559 They pushed old Joe off to the side. She es, 398 00:25:32,799 --> 00:25:37,519 oh yeah, yeah, and she I remember leaving the convention, 399 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,319 I thought, oh, that's Sunday. The day after I left Milwaukee, 400 00:25:40,319 --> 00:25:42,400 I was like, you know, I'm finally going to be 401 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,960 able to watch a ballgame or whatever, and was dressed 402 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,680 to do that in shorge to Polo and a backwards 403 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,400 baseball cap on that Sunday following the convention, and then 404 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,000 my phone blows up that that Biden's getting out of 405 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,000 the race. So I'm running around doing TV interviews dressed 406 00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:02,559 like that. Unfortunately, had a come in the car, you know, 407 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,599 and talking about Okay, there's a new reality, and that 408 00:26:05,799 --> 00:26:08,200 is that Kamala Harris was going to be the presidential 409 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,920 candidate because the Democrats muscled her in as the nominee. 410 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,880 State party chairs on the other side were muscling their 411 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:20,000 delegates to vote for her. So she had that honeymoon, right, 412 00:26:20,039 --> 00:26:23,400 She had that little honeymoon from the dem convention. 413 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: On sure it was a post coup honeymoon. 414 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:33,319 Speaker 2: It really was a post coup honeymoon. Ironically, it was 415 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:38,640 a post coup honeymoon. And so she, you know, she 416 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,480 ends up the new candidate. Then there's the Waltz pick, 417 00:26:41,559 --> 00:26:44,359 which ended up being the worst pick in history and 418 00:26:44,599 --> 00:26:48,759 for other reasons. And then the convention. So she hit 419 00:26:48,839 --> 00:26:51,799 about a five or six week holding honeymoon. But as 420 00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:55,480 I said to people back then, not unlike other honeymoons 421 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:57,920 at some point you check out of the hotel and 422 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:02,319 go home, and voters checked out of the honeymoon hotel 423 00:27:02,559 --> 00:27:05,000 and started to get more realistic. It was about a 424 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,359 month ago that her poll numbers or favorables went upside 425 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,440 down and people more people at a negative attitude towards 426 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,759 or less unfavorable view than favorable because of that honeymoon 427 00:27:17,319 --> 00:27:21,039 and so a lot of things came together. The issues 428 00:27:21,079 --> 00:27:26,079 came together. The Trump campaign was pre disciplined operation. They 429 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,559 spent their time in the seven states. We had pushed 430 00:27:29,599 --> 00:27:33,559 hard on early vote. We had coalition groups in the 431 00:27:33,599 --> 00:27:37,920 state that were pushing hard and talking to low propensity 432 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:43,000 and other voters. It was really this pile of different 433 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:47,279 things that came together. As I'd always say, we had 434 00:27:47,319 --> 00:27:50,519 twelve races in twenty four years in Wisconsin that were 435 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,680 within thirty thousand votes, and now between Trump and of 436 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,480 course how deep We've had fourteen races in twenty six 437 00:27:56,599 --> 00:28:04,319 years within within thirty thousand votes. So as as you know, 438 00:28:04,799 --> 00:28:08,039 Victory has a lot of fathers, right, and some of 439 00:28:08,079 --> 00:28:10,400 the fathers out there claiming they're the father. I'm thinking 440 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,079 about applying a maternity test. 441 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,480 Speaker 1: Well. As as you said, Brian, one of the Big 442 00:28:17,519 --> 00:28:22,240 Fathers is a mother, well at least a stepmother, and 443 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:26,279 that's Kamala Harris. I mean that that is a big issue. 444 00:28:26,279 --> 00:28:28,880 And I and again, yeah, I know you're exactly what 445 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,440 you're saying. You're not discounting that the events, the times, 446 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:37,640 what people were really going through and the fact that 447 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:42,119 the left in this country, that the Democrat Party, the 448 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:47,759 Harris Walls campaign tried to explain to the American people 449 00:28:47,839 --> 00:28:50,519 it was voter explaining. You know, we hear all this 450 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,559 talk about man's plaining. This was voters planning. Oh, you 451 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:59,960 just don't understand poor middle class American things. You should 452 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,400 look at the numbers from our experts. They're actually a 453 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:04,319 lot better than you think it is. 454 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 2: Had a convincing argument. 455 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: No, no, it wasn't a convincing argument at all, obviously, 456 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,920 and that's I think made a big difference. But you 457 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:19,000 don't get there without, in particular the election integrity stuff. 458 00:29:19,039 --> 00:29:23,000 I think that you're talking about that early vote, absentee 459 00:29:23,039 --> 00:29:29,480 ballot stuff. How difficult was that to talk to grassroots 460 00:29:29,519 --> 00:29:32,799 conservatives convince them make that argument, and make that argument 461 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:39,640 rather quickly when their leader, when the former president of 462 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,559 the United States and understandably so, because he had been 463 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,960 burned by election and integrity early vote issues, by the scores. 464 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,640 You know, he has had spent a long time saying 465 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,920 we need to vote on election day and election day 466 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,319 only in the early voting that's where everything gets rigged. 467 00:29:59,319 --> 00:30:02,079 And there's the problem. He had to have a change 468 00:30:02,079 --> 00:30:06,359 of heart. So how did you go about convincing And 469 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,319 I think you mentioned this with a voter integrity issues, 470 00:30:09,319 --> 00:30:13,680 But how do you make that argument when your candidate 471 00:30:14,039 --> 00:30:16,079 is not making that argument for a long time. 472 00:30:16,559 --> 00:30:19,519 Speaker 2: Well, I think his campaign apparatus, you know, spent a 473 00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:21,599 lot of time talking to him about the issue and 474 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,160 the reality of where we are at early vote. I 475 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,039 talked to him about it a couple of times face 476 00:30:26,119 --> 00:30:29,559 to face, and I knew that we kind of crossed 477 00:30:29,559 --> 00:30:33,359 the bridge, you know, or earlier than it became a parent. 478 00:30:33,559 --> 00:30:38,279 But I was kind of one of the regular warmon 479 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,359 backs for him when he flew into the state. And 480 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:44,799 I'll never forget. I forget this thing locked in my 481 00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:47,039 mind for whatever reason. But when we did the rally 482 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,240 in Dodge County, had about ten thousand people at the 483 00:30:50,279 --> 00:30:54,720 Dodge County Airport and Juno was outside Junia Wisconsin, and 484 00:30:54,759 --> 00:30:58,240 I walked into the rally site of my spirited guys 485 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:00,160 walking me around kind of giving me the layup out 486 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,079 of the place for when I spoke at the rally, 487 00:31:02,519 --> 00:31:08,000 and the biggest banner at that rally was vote early, 488 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,119 and I remember I was sitting to stage right of 489 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,960 the President and that rot that banner was stage left, 490 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,599 and he got up on stage after I did my 491 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,240 warm up and others did, and spoke passionately about early 492 00:31:22,319 --> 00:31:26,759 vote and did not qualify it. Did not say, well, 493 00:31:26,799 --> 00:31:28,960 I really wish it was paper ballots and really wish 494 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,799 it all election day and all that he didn't qualify it, 495 00:31:31,839 --> 00:31:34,160 and that was late. I mean, the truth is that 496 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:35,960 was laid into the race. But I had talked to 497 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,480 the President about early vote in Wisconsin before, not that 498 00:31:39,559 --> 00:31:42,640 I necessarily commisced him of anything, but I reassured him. 499 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,880 He knew that I was the first chair in the 500 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,160 country to go out and push it as hard as 501 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:53,200 I did. And so, well, you know what was that rally. 502 00:31:53,279 --> 00:31:56,480 I don't know it all runs together now, but you 503 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,680 know that helped. But frankly, you know, to be candidate 504 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,599 also help. Not just that I was pushing up Ron Johnson, 505 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,200 Brian Style, Tom Tiffany, other members of Congress said, you 506 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,079 know what, we got to do this right. And so 507 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:13,359 to have those voices of reason out there people, you know, 508 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,480 folks that people trust on the Republican side going please 509 00:32:16,519 --> 00:32:18,880 do this. I mean, Ron Johnson made a video of 510 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:24,240 himself early voting, and so part of it was okay voters, 511 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,759 you know, people that leaders that people trust saying look 512 00:32:28,279 --> 00:32:32,240 as the saying goes, it's okay, vote this way. And 513 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,720 so that really really helped me and the party get 514 00:32:38,759 --> 00:32:41,839 people there. So you look at the uptick and early 515 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,960 vote numbers in Republican areas across this press of the state 516 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,880 read dramatic overall. I won't be able to quantify it 517 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,359 until we get a more deeper dive on the numbers. 518 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,039 But as I say, I shudder to think what would 519 00:32:55,039 --> 00:32:58,000 have happened had we not done that. And when we 520 00:32:58,039 --> 00:33:01,279 win by less than thirty thousand votes, uh, you know, 521 00:33:01,359 --> 00:33:06,400 we're basically three point four million votes were cast. 522 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,599 Speaker 3: Did you know eight out of the last eleven created 523 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,119 jobs never really existed? Watched Out on Wall Street Podcast 524 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,119 with Chris Markowski. Every day, Chris helps unpack the connection 525 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,119 between politics and the economy and how it. 526 00:33:28,039 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: Affects your wallet. 527 00:33:29,119 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 3: Over the course of the past year, the Labor Department 528 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,759 has revised the Jobs report by over a million jobs. 529 00:33:34,799 --> 00:33:37,400 In case you forgot, the Federal Reserve was using this 530 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,559 info and making their policy decisions. Whether it's happening in 531 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,039 DC or down on Wall Street, it's affecting you financially. 532 00:33:43,079 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 2: Be informed. 533 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:45,559 Speaker 3: Check out the Watch Dot on Wall Street podcast with 534 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:50,119 Chris Markowski on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 535 00:33:53,759 --> 00:33:56,519 Speaker 1: And I think the party nationally got that idea. I 536 00:33:56,559 --> 00:33:59,720 think the campaign yeah, got that idea, as you mentioned, 537 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:06,160 and the grassroots were very engaged, very active in that 538 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,199 so active. Of course, we're seeing the numbers out of Pennsylvania, 539 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:17,280 you know, places like Ohio and Virginia. You know, like 540 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:21,119 in Ohio's a deep red state, Virginia's been blue for 541 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:24,039 a long time. But how close was the election for 542 00:34:24,119 --> 00:34:27,679 a long time until you got to that monolith of 543 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:32,719 Democrats support around DC. But you know, Trump was making 544 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,519 inroads in a lot of different areas, and as you 545 00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:39,920 talked about before, it was a redefining election. I mean, 546 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,960 look how many Hispanic voters turned out Black men voting 547 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:50,360 for Donald Trump absolutely absolute sea change that went on 548 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:55,199 in this election. Let's talk a little bit about the 549 00:34:55,239 --> 00:35:00,880 Senate Republican control. Looks like Republicans are in good shape 550 00:35:01,199 --> 00:35:04,199 for the House of Representatives, even if that turns out 551 00:35:04,199 --> 00:35:07,280 to be a narrow margin. There's counting to continue as 552 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:12,880 always in California, but pretty good shape. I know that 553 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:19,000 you would also like to have Eric Covedy heading to Washington, DC, 554 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:23,000 or preparing to do so right now. But I guess 555 00:35:23,159 --> 00:35:25,559 let me ask you this, as a state party chair, 556 00:35:25,599 --> 00:35:28,440 as you work with all of these folks, do you 557 00:35:28,599 --> 00:35:35,559 expect do you expect the resistance movement to pop up 558 00:35:35,599 --> 00:35:37,960 again like we saw in sixteen? 559 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,960 Speaker 2: Well? Interesting about that, And actually I was literally just 560 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:47,119 thinking about that this morning because I'm an elector for 561 00:35:47,199 --> 00:35:50,559 the state of Wisconsin and for the Republicans, and I 562 00:35:50,639 --> 00:35:54,920 remember being at the electors meeting in twenty sixteen when 563 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,079 a bunch of Liberals came into the meeting and literally 564 00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:01,119 tried to get them to stop from casting their electoral. 565 00:36:01,039 --> 00:36:04,199 Speaker 1: Isn't that interesting? Now? Was there? Let me ask you this, 566 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,800 was there a massive federal investigation into that. 567 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,079 Speaker 2: No, there wasn't. Isn't that amazing? It really is just 568 00:36:12,119 --> 00:36:14,840 really well impact. I was reminded of it the other 569 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,920 day in part of this part I didn't experience myself, 570 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,519 but our electors, including a very close lifelong friend of 571 00:36:21,559 --> 00:36:25,920 mine who was an elector, got thousands of email not 572 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:31,079 not a couple thousands, multiple thousands of emails and letters 573 00:36:31,119 --> 00:36:34,719 and phone calls telling them not to vote for Donald Trump. 574 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,039 Whateverone was telling me here a couple of weeks ago. 575 00:36:37,159 --> 00:36:40,880 It we stumbled into the conversation. But that he managed 576 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,400 he amounted to having what was a mail cart from 577 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,199 the post office full of this stuff, not you know 578 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,079 those fiberglass hand ones that you carry when you got 579 00:36:51,119 --> 00:36:55,239 a little too many packages, a full sized mail cart 580 00:36:56,559 --> 00:36:59,719 full of mail. And then also the emails and things 581 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:00,079 like that. 582 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,280 Speaker 1: So they some hate mail, I would imagine, too, right. 583 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 2: I would, I would think. So he learned a few 584 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:10,480 new words going through some of that, and so I 585 00:37:10,519 --> 00:37:13,280 don't know that they will try to stop it or not. 586 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,800 What I would say is the fact that you know 587 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,239 there's no recount in the presidential race in the office 588 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:25,320 here helps, but look it's the Madison, Wisconsin left. So 589 00:37:25,519 --> 00:37:28,360 I suspect that when we have the electors meeting, which 590 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,559 is somebody told me today was in around December sixteenth sometimes, 591 00:37:33,079 --> 00:37:35,239 you know, that's held at the state Capitol and we 592 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,920 have a habit of getting visitors there from the Madison left. 593 00:37:38,119 --> 00:37:42,440 So I, you know, I imagined that we will get called 594 00:37:42,559 --> 00:37:45,599 all manner of names for being electors for Donald Trump. 595 00:37:45,639 --> 00:37:49,199 But it's nothing worse that I've heard in my career 596 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:54,440 or going to family reunions. So what more can they say? 597 00:37:54,519 --> 00:37:57,000 Speaker 1: You know, Thanksgiving is going to be fun once again. 598 00:37:57,079 --> 00:38:00,639 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, isn't that now? So I don't you know, 599 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,280 you know what's interesting about that, Matt is so what 600 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,280 was the discussion a year ago? Oh, the Republican Party 601 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,960 captured by Donald Trump? There was no real primary or 602 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,679 caucuss season because he swept everyone away and and all 603 00:38:14,679 --> 00:38:17,400 that stuff. What are they talking about now? They're taught 604 00:38:17,519 --> 00:38:20,880 Now they're talking about the mess within the Democratic Party 605 00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:24,239 because of the way this whole thing has been handled 606 00:38:24,559 --> 00:38:27,760 and the way that the modern left who runs this 607 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,880 party now, the modern left, this party yanks around to 608 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,400 the call of the modern left, and so the problem 609 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,199 is on the other side now because of this, at 610 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:45,159 least many realignment that we saw on election night Tuesday night, 611 00:38:45,679 --> 00:38:48,679 the Democratic Party has a lot of soul searching to do, 612 00:38:49,119 --> 00:38:51,559 and that is not one of the favorite things they 613 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:52,800 like to do. 614 00:38:54,119 --> 00:38:54,760 Speaker 1: They don't. 615 00:38:55,159 --> 00:38:57,239 Speaker 2: But the left, you know, the old you know, we 616 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,519 always kind of say, the old Harry Truman, Fdr Johina Kennedy. 617 00:39:00,599 --> 00:39:06,000 Whatever Democratic Party is gone, it's gone. And to the 618 00:39:06,039 --> 00:39:09,559 extent that remnants are still there, they're afraid to speak up. 619 00:39:09,639 --> 00:39:13,400 And so the left gets their way every time because 620 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,760 they drag the party around on all this crazy crap. 621 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:20,039 I mean, it gets your point before about oh gee, 622 00:39:20,199 --> 00:39:22,679 you know, the Democrats, they would roll out, you know, 623 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:25,719 the latest inflation numbers, or they thought, you know, some 624 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,639 you know report about how everyone thinks the economy is 625 00:39:30,679 --> 00:39:33,320 getting better. And I always say, there's a grocery store 626 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,639 test on everything, because people would listen to all that 627 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:39,119 nonsense on one of the liberal news outlets in the 628 00:39:39,159 --> 00:39:42,360 morning and then go to the grocery store and reality 629 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:47,039 hit them upside the ad usually right, and so there, 630 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:51,199 I think the Democratic Party, through their kind of faculty 631 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:55,440 lounge arrogance, you know, kind of their limousine liberal arrogance, 632 00:39:55,840 --> 00:40:02,599 completely misread the electorate and they spent all their time 633 00:40:02,639 --> 00:40:07,760 sticking pins in their Donald Trump doll and meanwhile Donald 634 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:11,800 Trump ran around them and ran the table. This in 635 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:13,760 many ways, was not a close election. 636 00:40:15,119 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about that. I think that's well put 637 00:40:19,199 --> 00:40:22,360 really badly, and we're going to talk about this for 638 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,760 a long time. How badly the Democrats read this election. 639 00:40:26,039 --> 00:40:31,280 It happens to both parties over time, but this one 640 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,840 was a doozy. You've been extremely generous with your time, 641 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:38,000 because I know you're extremely busy. Just a few minutes left, 642 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,320 but I did. I'd be remiss if I didn't bring 643 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,280 us back to what we talked about earlier. There's no 644 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,360 rest for the weary. There's no rest for Brian Schenning 645 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,000 in the Republican Party of Wisconsin because right as you 646 00:40:50,119 --> 00:40:53,920 got the results the day after the election, they came 647 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,679 in confirming big victories for Republicans. Now you got to 648 00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:00,239 think spring, and you got to think two thousand in 649 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,239 twenty six, what's next in battleground Wisconsin. 650 00:41:04,039 --> 00:41:08,239 Speaker 2: Well, totally. I so election and I were in the 651 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:11,519 war room. We let out the war because we literally 652 00:41:11,559 --> 00:41:14,760 thought Alaska was going to get reported first. Well, Wisconsin 653 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,000 gets declared first, and that pushes Trump over two seventy. 654 00:41:18,519 --> 00:41:22,039 So we're all excited, I asked our lead data guys, Okay, 655 00:41:22,159 --> 00:41:26,559 do all of you agree that Wisconsin is going for Trump? 656 00:41:26,599 --> 00:41:29,760 Because we are not going out on that stage and 657 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:34,039 I have to eat a pilot whatever later. And so 658 00:41:34,119 --> 00:41:36,800 they all independently agreed, and I said, let's go out 659 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:41,000 declare victory, which we did. But literally, you remind me 660 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:42,960 of it, because as I was on the stage, you know, 661 00:41:43,039 --> 00:41:46,639 in this almost surreal moment, literally honestly it was almost 662 00:41:46,679 --> 00:41:52,320 surreal moment, I'm also thinking about what's next and how 663 00:41:52,519 --> 00:41:55,079 this cry. A couple hundred people in front of me, 664 00:41:55,119 --> 00:41:58,280 everybody's chairing, Ron Johnson, and I and Glen Grothman are 665 00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,840 on stage, and so I savoring the moment, but also 666 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:06,480 going what do we keep these people involved for what's 667 00:42:06,519 --> 00:42:08,800 to come in April? Which is the majority of the 668 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:12,559 State Supreme Court, and you don't have to be a 669 00:42:12,639 --> 00:42:18,400 lawyer to appreciate that issue. In this respect, this court 670 00:42:18,599 --> 00:42:21,199 is going to decide and the court that will be 671 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:25,800 in place, which again just one seat on the seven 672 00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:30,239 member court, it's the liberal conservative ratio on that court. 673 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,639 This court will decide whether Act ten survives. This court 674 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:40,719 will decide whether school choice on the South Side of 675 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:43,400 Milwaukee and statewide survives. 676 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:46,960 Speaker 1: And for those and for those who who don't know 677 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,920 about Act ten because it's been around forever, that is, 678 00:42:50,679 --> 00:42:54,639 that's the reform bill that the Republicans fought like hell 679 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:59,480 for in twenty eleven. That almost got Scott Walker, the 680 00:42:59,519 --> 00:43:02,679 governor who came in recalled in this state. There were 681 00:43:02,679 --> 00:43:06,199 a number of recalls of legislators. But it reformed collective 682 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:10,199 bargaining in the public sector. Collective bargaining by the way, 683 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:16,039 in the public sector that totally throw taxpayers out of 684 00:43:16,079 --> 00:43:22,199 the room when it came to negotiating very generous contracts 685 00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:26,159 for public sector workers. That all changed in twenty eleven, 686 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:30,760 and it's been a huge, huge, huge savings for the 687 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:32,039 taxpayers of Wisconsin. 688 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:36,320 Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it's at risk. I mean, there's zero doubt 689 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:39,039 that all of those if you have a liberal court. 690 00:43:39,159 --> 00:43:42,880 That is to say, if the liberals saved the seat 691 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:48,360 Justice aand Walsh Bradley's seat liberal retiring, if we replaced 692 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:53,079 her with another Liberal, it will be till twoenty twenty eight, 693 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:57,400 three years past this April, that we will have the 694 00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:00,000 opportunity to take the court back. Well, I'm telling you 695 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,639 have liberals a four to three majority liberal court on 696 00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:08,079 the Supreme Court, and I'm telling you those things are 697 00:44:08,079 --> 00:44:11,760 gone and it is just going to happen because this isn't, 698 00:44:12,119 --> 00:44:14,239 by the way, this I mean, I've been around court 699 00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:17,000 politics for thirty years. This isn't the old court where 700 00:44:17,039 --> 00:44:21,400 you'd have traditional old white haired Democrats. You know, who 701 00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:24,159 are you know? They were definitely Democrat and didn't always 702 00:44:24,199 --> 00:44:27,079 vote with us, but they weren't crazy. This court is crazy. 703 00:44:27,559 --> 00:44:34,280 And you look hard hard for leftists now on this 704 00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:39,199 Supreme Court who will damn the torpedoes and will say 705 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:42,639 we're going to take these votes. My suspicion is they 706 00:44:42,679 --> 00:44:47,800 won't take some of these votes before April to get 707 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,960 people genned up. But if you value school of choice, 708 00:44:51,119 --> 00:44:56,199 if you value the labor reforms and the reforms that 709 00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:59,599 we got under Act ten under Scott Walker, I mean, 710 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,440 I don't know how many dozen laws going clear back 711 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:05,760 to Tommy Thompson that will be on the chopping block, 712 00:45:06,199 --> 00:45:08,760 not because they're on the chopping block and the legislature 713 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,880 where these issues be decided, but we will have a 714 00:45:12,039 --> 00:45:15,519 second legislature over in the other wing of the Capitol 715 00:45:15,599 --> 00:45:18,960 called the Wisconsin Supreme Court. And if people aren't worried 716 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:20,679 about that, they need to get worried. 717 00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:25,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've already seen that court in action since 718 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:29,920 August of last year, when, by the way, the left 719 00:45:30,119 --> 00:45:35,280 dropped the most the mountain of money. I mean, this 720 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:39,960 was record breaking, unprecedented amount of money for a state 721 00:45:40,039 --> 00:45:43,760 Supreme Court race, any court race in the history of 722 00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:50,119 this country. I am seeing a bigger expenditure coming up 723 00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:51,960 as we moved toward April. 724 00:45:52,119 --> 00:45:55,599 Speaker 2: So I was in DC last month and talked to 725 00:45:55,639 --> 00:46:00,920 a group of conservatives who meet every Wednesday at Grover 726 00:46:01,039 --> 00:46:06,039 Norquest Wednesdate group, a center right group, and I used 727 00:46:06,079 --> 00:46:08,239 to be the chair of that group here in Wisconsin, 728 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:12,119 and I gave them a very blunt warning about what's 729 00:46:12,199 --> 00:46:15,760 coming in this state all and frankly there was is 730 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:21,239 you know, Matt, there's a school choice Scott Walker's reforms 731 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:24,960 with that that was not something that got done here 732 00:46:25,039 --> 00:46:28,199 in stayed here that those are reforms in Wisconsin that 733 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,039 got used and modeled in other states exactly. So the 734 00:46:33,199 --> 00:46:36,679 risk here is extremely high, and I am going to 735 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:43,440 be spending an extrordinary amount of time going out in 736 00:46:43,599 --> 00:46:47,519 oververe fashion all over the state saying to folks, look 737 00:46:47,679 --> 00:46:50,840 this it's up to us, so. 738 00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:55,800 Speaker 1: Not so many football games then. 739 00:46:55,159 --> 00:46:57,599 Speaker 2: Will not be I will not be. I'll be what 740 00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,559 little football and baseball I'll be watching, will probably be 741 00:47:00,599 --> 00:47:04,840 in quick for your parking lots on my laptop something 742 00:47:05,199 --> 00:47:05,519 like that. 743 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:08,960 Speaker 1: Well, say hi to the fridge for me. I will 744 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:10,280 I really hear there. 745 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:12,719 Speaker 2: If I see him pull in, believe me, I'll run 746 00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:14,719 in ahead of them to make sure there's something left. 747 00:47:15,079 --> 00:47:17,599 Speaker 1: You bet, he's got, He's got all the sus E cues. 748 00:47:17,679 --> 00:47:19,519 Just don't get behind him in line for the bathroom. 749 00:47:19,559 --> 00:47:25,360 As we noted before, well man, what a performance on 750 00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:30,119 election night? See change. Maybe that doesn't even say enough. 751 00:47:30,599 --> 00:47:33,159 It's it's I know it's a big term, it's all encompassing, 752 00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:36,360 but a lot of things changed, a lot of things 753 00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:40,239 went right for conservatives, but it was a lot of 754 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:44,159 work that went into getting that done. I want to 755 00:47:44,159 --> 00:47:47,639 thank our guest today, Brian Shimming, chairman of the Republican 756 00:47:47,679 --> 00:47:51,159 Party of Wisconsin, joining us on this edition of the 757 00:47:51,199 --> 00:47:53,320 Federalist Radio R. Thank you, sir, I appreciate it. 758 00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:58,880 Speaker 2: Thanks Matt. Great to be with you, you. 759 00:47:56,639 --> 00:47:59,760 Speaker 1: Bet, and we will do it again soon. I hope 760 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:03,599 you will enjoy it and join us. You've been listening 761 00:48:03,639 --> 00:48:06,880 to another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, 762 00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,960 senior correspondent at the Federalist. We'll be back soon with more. 763 00:48:11,119 --> 00:48:14,920 Until then, stay lovers of freedom and anxious for the 764 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:28,320 fray