entrepreneurship

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson hinted at an evening speaking spot at the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Monday in Chicago. “It’s still pretty dynamic, so we’ll see what happens,” Johnson said on WISN’s ‘UPFRONT’ which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “If it were to happen, the fact that Milwaukee is being recognized nationally and even globally, especially after hosting the Republican National Convention, shining additional spotlight on our city, I think that’s really, really important. That’s what my whole desire was with bringing the RNC here in the first place was to elevate Milwaukee.”During the convention Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will hold a rally in Milwaukee. A source familiar with the planning says the rally will happen at Fiserv Forum. “I’m excited she’s coming back to Milwaukee,” Johnson said. “I think it’s important. Democrats have been making early and often investments in this state, working to reach every single voter and not taking any votes for granted.” Johnson said ahead of the DNC he’s spoken with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson just a month after Milwaukee hosted the Republican National Convention. “It’s about some of the things that we went through with planning the convention,” Johnson said. “One of the pieces of advice that I gave to the mayor and to the Chicago media was that it’s probably really useful to host those early morning news conferences like I did each and every single day of the convention so folks know what’s going on, what to expect. So we’ll see if Chicago picks up on that.”Tony Wied, the Trump-backed candidate in the 8th Congressional District, said he spoke with former President Donald Trump after his primary victory last week. “He was gracious,” Wied said. “He called me on Tuesday night to congratulate me and he was very confident in his decision to endorse me. He knows that I’ll be an ally for him, that I am all in and supporting President Trump and the ‘America First’ policies.”Wied, a businessman and political newcomer, beat Roger Roth and Andre Jacque in Tuesday’s primary. “Both Andre Jacque and Roger Roth called me that night and we discussed we are united as a Republican Party,” Wied said. “They are supportive of me, and I thank them for that. I also thank them for the spirited debate throughout this process of the last five months, and we each fought hard for what we believed in. The voters ultimately made the call. But again, we are united.” Wied faces Democrat Kristin Lyerly in November. Lyerly’s campaign challenged Wied to a debate calling him ‘Phony Tony’ in a statement after Tuesday’s results. “I’m looking forward to a spirited debate with my opponent,” Wied said. “I’d absolutely be open to it. That’s the process. And I think people need to understand who I am and who we are and make that decision on what is best for this country right now.” Jessica Taylor, the senate and governors editor for The Cook Political Report, says Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race is the only one in key swing states that has tightened since its last poll. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin had a 7-point lead over Republican challenger Eric Hovde in its latest survey out last week, down from a 12-point lead in May. “We’ve seen a lot of money poured into this race,” Taylor said. “Baldwin in other polls, we didn’t test favorability, but in a recent Marquette survey, she still remains sort of about 1-to-1. And we’ve really seen Hovde’s negatives go up since he entered the race, still largely more undefined than Baldwin is.””This is a race that when I talk with national Republicans that look at it, it’s certainly a race that’s going to be competitive,” Taylor added. “But it’s not up there with the most competitive Senate races. I think that goes to Montana and Ohio for sure and then probably even Michigan or Pennsylvania or Nevada might be ahead of Wisconsin at this juncture.” Taylor said the latest survey found the potential for higher-than-usual split-ticket voters in swing states with U.S. Senate races. “We’ve seen that particularly voters still, even with the switch that’s happened just over the past three-and-a-half weeks, they still think that Trump is going to win,” Taylor said. “So these voters are telling us that they want to elect a Democratic Senate to be a check on a Trump administration.” Taylor noted a lot can still change ahead of Election Day in Wisconsin. “I’m watching to see if this becomes a race about Hovde or about Baldwin,” she said. “I think right now Democrats have made it more of a referendum on Hovde, a lot of the things he said about people in nursing homes. Actually when I was there in Milwaukee for the convention our Uber driver brought up unpromoted that she was repeating one of the Democrats’ ads that Hovde wanted to make obese people pay more for healthcare, and she didn’t like that. So I think Democrats, they really sort of set the tone. Hovde needs to shift this race to make it more about Baldwin.”