- Announcer: The following program is part of our Here and Now Wisconsin Vote election coverage.

[percussive music] - Kathy Bissen: Hello, I'm Kathy Bissen, acting director of PBS Wisconsin.

One of the most important things that we do is to bring you timely information.

That's especially critical during election years.

Again, this year, we are offering this platform for political candidates to speak directly to the people of Wisconsin.

We've invited all statewide candidates who will be on the November 3 ballot in Wisconsin to make an unedited, pre-taped statement on the topics of their choice.

We've invited candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and state treasurer to participate.

The order of appearance was determined randomly.

And if you would like more information about any of the candidates running for office in Wisconsin, visit our election website, WisconsinVote.org.

Remember to vote on Tuesday, November 3, and thank you for watching PBS Wisconsin.

[percussive music] - Tom Tiffany: This is Tom Tiffany, and I am running to be your next governor.

I'm a lifelong Wisconsinite who wants the very best for our state because this is where my roots are, where I raised my family, and where I want future generations to build their lives.

I grew up on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin, worked my way through UW-River Falls, and built a small business in the Northwoods with my wife, Chris, while raising our three daughters.

Those experiences taught me the value of hard work, personal responsibility, and making every dollar count.

And I believe state government should operate by those same principles.

Today, too many Wisconsin families are being squeezed by rising costs.

Property taxes are climbing, utility rates are going up, and it is becoming harder to afford a home, raise a family, or start a business.

As governor, my top priority will be making Wisconsin more affordable.

We will end the 400-year property tax increase, return the $3 billion state surplus to taxpayers, and cut income taxes by 10% for working families.

We will hold the Public Service Commission accountable for rising utility rates, embrace nuclear energy, and protect our farmland from industrial-scale wind and solar projects and massive data centers.

We will increase healthcare price transparency, cut the red tape that drives up housing costs, and root out waste, fraud, and abuse in state government so your hard-earned money is treated with the respect it deserves.

One of my favorite sayings is, "None of us is as good as all of us."

Unlocking Wisconsin's full potential will take care-- unlocking Wisconsin's full potential will take all of us.

Most importantly, it will take a state government in Madison that works for the people.

That is how we make Wisconsin more affordable, create more opportunity, and build a state where the next generation wants to stay, work, farm, start a business, and raise a family.

[percussive music] [percussive music] - Sarah Godlewski: Hello, Wisconsin.

My name is Sarah Godlewski, and I'm your secretary of state.

I'm a fifth-generation Wisconsinite, daughter of two public school teachers, wife, and a mom to a six-year-old, and I'm running to be your next lieutenant governor alongside of David Crowley.

I grew up in Eau Claire in a union family that believed in a simple promise-- not a guarantee, but a promise that if you worked hard, if you played by the rules, if you took responsibility, you could build a good life here in Wisconsin.

You could buy a home, you could raise a family, and you could retire with dignity.

My grandparents worked on the assembly line, my parents were public school teachers, and the union made a middle class life possible for my family.

I attended public schools, which together gave me the foundation I have today.

That's the Wisconsin that I grew up in, and that's the Wisconsin that I'm fighting for.

Because right now, that promise is slipping away.

Wherever I go across our state, from the Chippewa Valley to Milwaukee, from Door County to the Driftless, I hear the same thing from families.

Grocery, housing, child care, gas-- all of it is costing more.

And families now are working harder than ever before, and they're getting less in return.

And that is not our Wisconsin.

And it didn't happen by accident.

This is a man-made affordability crisis.

Wisconsin Republicans handed out $2 billion in tax breaks to some of the wealthiest corporations in the world, while saying no to expanding Medicaid that would cover more than 90,000 Wisconsinites, and while also refusing affordable child care while turning their backs on working families who were counting on them.

And in Washington, Congressman Tom Tiffany has voted 100% of the time with Donald Trump-- 100%.

He has supported this extreme spending bill that cut $1 trillion from healthcare while delivering massive tax breaks to billionaires.

He's helped drive up gas prices and grocery costs by voting to support the senseless war with Iran and reckless tariffs with Canada that Wisconsin farmers and families are paying for every single day.

Wisconsinites can't afford this.

And that's why I got into public service, because I believe we can do better.

When I ran for state treasurer in 2018, I was a political nobody from Eau Claire.

Yet I crisscrossed this state, I showed up in every community, and I talked to everyone, and I flipped nine counties, outperforming the top of the ticket, because regardless of party, elected officials should be showing up, listening, and working for you.

And then when Republicans tried to sideline me in my office, turning off my Wi-Fi and handing me a pay-as-you-go flip phone, I still delivered.

I invested in Wisconsin and delivered record-breaking distributions to Wisconsin's public schools year after year.

I created a foreclosure prevention fund to keep families in their homes, and I overturned a Republican gag order on climate change and invested in renewable energy.

And I didn't fight for these things because they were easy.

I fought for them because Wisconsinites are worth fighting for, and that's what I'll do as your next lieutenant governor.

And let me tell you what David Crowley and I will fight for together.

We're gonna fight to make sure corporations pay their fair share.

We're gonna fight to make housing affordable.

We're gonna fight to fully fund our public schools.

We're gonna fight to make sure healthcare is accessible and affordable for every Wisconsinite.

And we're gonna fight to bring down the cost of childcare, and we're going to make sure we protect our environment.

And we're ready to get to work.

David has spent six years balancing budgets, lowering property taxes, and bringing people together in Milwaukee County to solve real problems.

And I've spent my career proving that statewide elected officials can deliver for Wisconsin by refusing to back down.

This election is a choice about what kind of Wisconsin we want to be.

Do we want a Wisconsin where hard work is rewarded?

Do we want a Wisconsin where every family can afford to live, work, and raise a family?

And do we want leaders who show up everywhere and fight for everyone?

I know which Wisconsin I believe in, and that's the Wisconsin David and I are going to fight for.

If that's the Wisconsin you believe in too, I humbly ask for your vote on November 3.

Thank you, Wisconsin, and let's get to work.

[percussive music] [percussive music] - Eric Toney: I'm Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, and I'm running to be Wisconsin's attorney general.

And for me, that goes back to 2023, when I learned at 39 years old that I needed to have open-heart surgery because I was born with a defective heart valve.

And I learned on a Monday that I needed that surgery and that it would be the next week, Wednesday, November 15.

And I did what a lot of us would do when you're looking at a surgery like that.

I reflected on my life, and I love what I get to do as a district attorney where I was born and raised, where my dad was a police officer, and my grandfather lived the American dream, starting a small business with no college degree.

It's such a special opportunity to get to keep my community safe.

And as I reflected on my life, I didn't have any regrets.

I wasn't wishing I had done something else or had a different job.

I love what I get to do.

I love what we've been able to do as a team in Fond du Lac County, working with our local law enforcement to protect our community, that I've been able to do as the president of our District Attorneys Association, helping deliver bipartisan public safety results, adding more resources for prosecutors and public defenders across Wisconsin.

It's a special feeling when you know you've lived a life that mattered, and that made it so calming going into that surgery, trusting God through the hands of my medical team.

And I knew that if that surgery went well, that I'd wanna take some of those great things that we've done as a team in Fond du Lac County with our DAs association to our Department of Justice in Madison.

And I'm happy to say that surgery went incredibly well.

I was back to work part-time in about two weeks.

I ran a 5K six weeks afterwards and did a murder trial eight weeks after surgery.

And I'm excited to be in this race for attorney general because, unfortunately, we've seen broken promise after broken promise from our attorney general.

He made commitments to fix forensic testing, he made commitments to go after drug and fentanyl dealers, and he made commitments that we shouldn't have such a partisan Department of Justice.

And he's broken promise after promise and had nearly eight years to fix these, and it's time to make a change at our Department of Justice.

That's why I've got bipartisan support from over 75% of our sheriffs across Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Police Association, the Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Police.

It's the people we trust the most to keep us safe that are trusting me to lead our Department of Justice, to make sure that they've got a partner to help support and make sure they've got the resources needed to protect our communities.

Because our attorney general made promises on forensic testing.

He made commitments on rape kits to get convictions for survivors.

And anytime we get a conviction for a survivor, that's important.

But Wisconsin spent over $9 million testing over 4,000 of those kits, and in nearly eight years, Josh Kaul got less than 15 of those convictions, and he promised more.

We heard Josh Kaul promise that he was gonna fix forensic testing at our crime lab, saying it was gonna get faster.

Well, the results are in, and nearly eight years, Josh Kaul is taking, on average, over twice as long as his predecessor testing DNA, despite Josh Kaul having more analysts, better technology, and testing less.

He's taking longer, nearly twice as long in other categories as well.

And what did Josh Kaul do?

Well, he removed the reports for the crime lab from his website and has started to delay the release of these reports so that it gets past Election Day for him, trying to hide his failure from Wisconsin.

And the impact on this, we have victims with justice being denied.

We have defendants and criminals on our streets longer than they should be, some of which are committing new crimes and new victims, while that original victim's waiting for justice because we have an attorney general that put his personal politics over your public safety.

We learned that Josh Kaul put a hiring freeze in place at our Department of Justice, limiting these great analyst positions' ability to be filled.

I actually, as the president of our District Attorneys Association, helped Josh Kaul get more crime lab resources, and over a year later, a nonpartisan audit showed he hadn't filled them.

So, while Josh Kaul passes the buck, we'll make sure there's never a hiring freeze in place, have formal performance metrics in place, and no work-from-home policies to support those great analysts.

We'll also restore the drug investigator positions that Josh Kaul eliminated, that Nicole Boyd, at the State of the Tribes address this year said was causing unnecessary deaths in Wisconsin.

As a DA, I've sat across from too many moms and dads that have buried their children.

And we wanna continue to see these crime statistics go down, but we need an attorney general that's gonna maximize the resources they have to protect Wisconsin families and communities and make sure that we're putting public safety over politics.

Because Josh Kaul has a history of delay, whether it's crime lab results, failing to release the Missing Women and Indigenous Children report, failing to release the faith-based leader report, and the city of Eau Claire waiting over a year and a half for results from Josh Kaul.

Wisconsin cannot afford another eight years of these failures and broken promises, and that's why law enforcement is standing with me to make a change and have an attorney general that stands with all of Wisconsin, and I'd be honored to have your support as our next attorney general in this November 3 election.

- Josh Kaul: Hi, I'm Josh Kaul.

For more than seven years, I've had the privilege of serving as Wisconsin's attorney general.

My administration has taken on tough fights, and we've gotten real results for Wisconsinites.

I'm proud of the progress that we're making, and I wanna build on that progress.

I want to keep Wisconsin moving forward.

One area we've seen real progress is on public safety.

My administration has investigated and prosecuted serious criminal activity.

I fought to get our sexual assault kit laws reformed and helped get legislation passed that will help Wisconsin-- prevent Wisconsin from having a future backlog of untested sexual assault kits.

My administration also launched a kit tracking system that allows for the tracking of sexual assault kits as they go through the process.

My administration has worked to get accountability from companies and others that allegedly contributed to the opioid epidemic as well.

We've helped to secure the recovery of over $800 million.

And I fought for additional funding for crime victim service programs in Wisconsin.

And we're seeing real results.

Last year, Wisconsin had the lowest number of violent crimes that it's had in any year since 2011.

On the opioid epidemic, from 2023 to 2024, opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin dropped by over 40%.

But while we're making progress, I know there's more work to do as well.

We've also done important work to keep our kids safe in Wisconsin.

My administration, through the Department of Justice, oversees the Wisconsin ICAC Task Force.

That task force has helped put child predators behind bars.

We've also fought to keep our schools safe, including by fighting for funding for the Office of School Safety, which has had innovative programming like launching a 24/7 tip line that anybody with a concern about a school safety issue can contact.

My administration also helped hold accountable the world's largest social media company, Meta, and it's going to be required to make changes that put our kids' mental health ahead of its profits.

When it comes to protecting our environment and consumers in Wisconsin, we've had real results as well.

My administration has held polluters accountable.

We've held scammers accountable.

And when companies have unlawfully jacked up prices in a way that impacts Wisconsin consumers, we've taken action.

My administration was one of the states involved in holding Live Nation and Ticketmaster accountable.

We also held John Deere accountable and helped to ensure that farmers will be able to repair their own equipment or take their equipment to get repairs done at independent dealerships if they have Deere products.

We've also worked to hold accountable drug companies.

We've alleged that prescription drug companies conspired to raise the price of generic prescription drugs for consumers.

When it comes to standing up for your rights, we've done important work as well.

My administration defended the outcome of the 2020 election in court, and we succeeded.

My administration joined with other states in standing up to the Trump administration's attack on mail-in voting.

We succeeded there as well.

And when Roe v. Wade was overturned, I announced a lawsuit challenging the enforceability of a law dating back to the mid 1800s in Wisconsin.

A lot of folks argued that that law was a broad, sweeping ban on abortion in Wisconsin, but we argued that it couldn't be enforced as an abortion ban.

My opponent in the AG's race, Eric Toney, attacked me for that case.

He called it a political stunt and a farce and said I should-- it should be dismissed immediately.

Well, now the Wisconsin Supreme Court has weighed in on that issue, and last year, they agreed with our argument and made clear that access to safe and legal abortion is available for the first 20 weeks of pregnancy in Wisconsin.

My administration has also repeatedly stood up to the Trump administration when it has violated the Constitution or federal laws.

A lot of those cases involve efforts by the Trump administration to put illegal conditions or to cut or to freeze federal funds for critical programs that help Wisconsinites.

That's included funding for the transportation budget, funding for public health, funding for our schools, funding for the AmeriCorps program.

My administration has stood up again and again, and we have gotten wins again and again.

We've also challenged federal government actions that would restrict access to affordable healthcare.

We've challenged federal rollbacks when it comes to protecting our environments, and efforts by the federal government to get access to data that, under federal law, should be kept confidential from the federal government.

I'm proud of the results that we have had, and we need to keep having an AG who's gonna stand up for the best interests of Wisconsinites.

We have a record of real success on public safety.

I am proud to be an AG who has put the interests of Wisconsinites ahead of the interests of special interests and the Trump administration.

We need to keep having AG who's gonna do that.

I'd be proud this fall to have your support.

Thank you.

[percussive music] - Jocasta Zamarripa: Hi, I'm Jocasta Zamarripa, your Democratic nominee for Wisconsin secretary of state.

I'm running because Wisconsin deserves elected officials who will uphold our democracy, protect the right to vote, and keep partisan politics out of everyday governing decisions.

I believe deeply in the power of democracy and in the people who make it work, and because I have seen what happens when the people in power decide that some communities don't deserve to be a part of it.

That is exactly what is at stake this November.

My opponent is a self-proclaimed MAGA activist.

He wants to throw out Wisconsin's nonpartisan Elections Commission, personally take over how our state runs its elections, and govern by kooky conspiracy theory.

He has proudly said that if he had been in charge, he would have refused to certify the 2020 presidential election right here in Wisconsin.

And he's not running alone.

Tom Tiffany sits at the top of the ticket, a man who already tried to overturn the 2020 election as well, with the help of his billionaire backers.

If the two of them win, we will have election deniers in charge of our democracy in Wisconsin just as we prepare for the 2028 presidential election.

And they will answer to Donald Trump and his corrupt billionaire backers, not to you.

We cannot let this happen.

I'm in this race to stand in their way.

And for me, this work is personal.

I served a decade in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and now, as an alderperson, I have continued to deliver for the community that helped to raise me.

And when our immigrant neighbors needed somebody to stand up for them, I didn't sit around and wait for permission.

I took action.

On the Common Council, we required Milwaukee police to work unmasked and with visible ID so that every neighbor could tell a local police officer from a federal agent.

We banned ICE from staging on city-owned properties, and we put Milwaukee officially on record against mass deportation, because in the great state of Wisconsin, we protect our people.

Here is what my opponent will never tell you.

He is a MAGA activist who wants to use this office to rig our elections for Trump, Tom Tiffany, and his corrupt billionaire backers.

He's not thinking about you.

He's not thinking about the price of groceries or the way the rent keeps climbing, or the childcare bill that swallows a whole paycheck.

He's only thinking about protecting his corrupt billionaire backers who are funding his election.

That is the real difference in this race.

While they chase conspiracy theories and serve the billionaires at the top, I am thinking about you.

I have shown up all over the state, from Kenosha to Superior, because I know we win when we organize everywhere, from our biggest cities to our smallest towns.

Now, as one of Wisconsin's few Latina elected officials, I carry with me a tremendous passion and a great responsibility to turn out Latino voters like never before.

We know the path to statewide victory runs through communities all across Wisconsin, where Latino families are growing and ready to be organized.

We are going to turn out Latino voters like this state has never seen.

And I hear from my Latino voters the same thing I hear from all Wisconsin voters.

They want good schools, affordable healthcare, housing they can afford, and leaders they can depend upon to deliver results.

I want to be one of those leaders for every single community that's ever felt underestimated or ignored.

And make no mistake, this office matters.

The secretary of state does real, meaningful work for Wisconsin families.

This is the office that authenticates international paperwork so a family can finalize an adoption and bring their baby home.

It verifies documents from our courts so our laws can be upheld, and it helps our community secure the loans they need to build roads, schools, and libraries.

That work should be done by somebody who answers to you and not their own partisan agenda.

My opponent wants to turn this office into a megaphone for conspiracy theories.

I want to use it to serve you.

On November 3, I am asking you to vote for our whole Democratic ticket and for me, Jocasta Zamarripa, as your next secretary of state.

Thank you.

[percussive music] [percussive music] - John Lieber: Hi there.

I'm John Lieber, Wisconsin state treasurer, and I'm running for reelection.

Now, one of the most important parts of my job is to serve on what's called the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.

That's a mouthful.

We usually just say BCPL.

Now, what that does is manage a $1.6 billion trust fund called the Common School Fund.

And what we do with that fund is invest it, and every single dollar we make, we give to school districts around the state.

Now, this last year, we gave out a record amount, $73.5 million.

In fact, over each of my four years in office, the amount we've given has gone up for a combined total of over $250 million.

And I think that's a great thing we can do for the people of Wisconsin to help with the affordability issue, because every dollar we give to school districts is a dollar that does not have to come off your property taxes.

Now, one of the other responsibilities of the treasurer's office is to promote the unclaimed property program.

Unclaimed property is, say, missing checks or bank accounts that got lost or a rebate that never arrived.

Right now, the state holds over $900 million of your money, and we're trying to give it back.

The great news, though, is that we've been giving it back every single year.

This year alone, we've given back $55 million.

That's a record-high amount given back to the people of Wisconsin.

Now, I'm asking for your support this November 3 so I can keep making record investments for the people of Wisconsin, keep giving back their money to them and serving the state of Wisconsin, which it has been my honor to do so for the last four years.

Thank you.

My name, again, is John Lieber.

- Yee Leng Xiong: My name is Yee Leng Xiong, and I'm running to be your Wisconsin state treasurer.

I've spent my entire life serving this great state, the state that I love, as a member of the DC Everest School Board, as a member of the Marathon County Board of Supervisor, as a member of the Village of Weston Board of Trustees, and as a nonprofit leader.

In every role, I've learned that public dollars must be managed openly, carefully, and for the people they're meant to serve.

Most people aren't sure what the state treasurer does, and that's one of the reasons why this office matters.

In 2018, Wisconsin voters chose to keep this office.

They want an independent voice looking out for their interests and asking questions about how public dollars is being managed.

The treasurer helps oversee the Common School Funds that support public education, and the trust fund loan program that helps communities invest in their local projects and their infrastructure.

The office also has a role in returning unclaimed money to its rightful owners.

This work may happen out of sight, but its impact is felt across the state of Wisconsin.

I know what it means to be accountable for every dollar.

I was born in Wausau to Hmong refugee parents who fled persecution in southeast Asia.

On their journey to America and then to safety, my family lost my aunt and my brother.

My parents worked factory jobs, and my dad eventually joined a local union.

We lived paycheck to paycheck and learned to stretch what we had.

That upbringing taught me to give back.

I began my career with local nonprofits, delivering food, supporting our seniors and individuals with disabilities, helping survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking, and connecting immigrant and refugee families with healthcare and other resources.

I saw how much dependable services matters when a family is trying to get by.

That work led me to public service.

In 2014, I became the first Hmong American elected official to the DC Everest School Board.

Today, I serve as its treasurer.

I've seen how funding decisions reach classrooms, shaping the books, technology, and support our students need.

As a Marathon County supervisor, I've served on the finance committees, chaired the social services board, and helped overseeing transportation funding for our seniors and neighbors with disabilities.

Those responsibilities calls for careful choices that respects both taxpayers and people who relies on services.

As a Village of Weston Board of Trustee, I pushed for transparent meetings and accountable spending.

I've seen what that same stewardship can accomplish outside of government.

When I became the executive director of a small nonprofit organization in central Wisconsin, it was at risk of closing.

We helped grow its budget in that organization to a budget of $1.9 million and expanded services for families across the region.

I want to bring that experience to the treasurer's office.

I'll focus on protecting Wisconsin's school trust funds and support transparent decisions that will benefit public education.

I'll work to ensure the trust fund loan program will invest in communities of every size, from rural towns to growing cities.

I'll also be a watchdog for taxpayers.

When the numbers don't add up, Wisconsinites deserve someone willing to ask questions and speak plainly.

And when the state holds unclaimed monies that belongs to Wisconsinites, I want to help more people learn about it and return that money back to them.

Financial security matters at home too.

As a member of the governor's financial literacy council, I've worked to help families build the knowledge to save, build credit, and plan ahead.

I'll bring that commitment to this office and work with communities across the state to address the affordability challenges and crisis that families face.

I'm running because I believe that this office can do more for you.

Together, we can bring transparency to this job, protect the resources we share, and make money work for Wisconsin families.

Vote for Yee Leng Xiong on November 3.

[percussive music] - In addition to the candidate statements you've just seen, PBS Wisconsin will continue to provide a forum for political news and analysis on our Friday night news and public affairs program, Here and Now.

If you would like more information about any of the candidates running for office in Wisconsin, visit our election website, WisconsinVote.org.

Remember to vote on Tuesday, November 3, and thank you for watching PBS Wisconsin.

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