JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Governors have been key in opposing or promoting President Trump's agenda. Thirty-six states are holding elections for governor this year, including the state of Wisconsin. That state currently has a Democratic governor and may be home to one of the most competitive races in the country. We're joined now by Anya van Wagtendonk of Wisconsin Public Radio. Hi there.
ANYA VAN WAGTENDONK, BYLINE: Hey.
SUMMERS: Hey. Start by telling us about the governor's race in your state.
VAN WAGTENDONK: Yeah, so Democratic Governor Tony Evers is retiring, and the two contenders to replace him are Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley - he is the Democrat - and Congressman Tom Tiffany, the Republican. President Donald Trump has endorsed Tiffany, and Crowley wants voters to remember that.
SUMMERS: Let's listen to an example of an ad from Crowley's campaign.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMPAIGN AD)
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: In Washington, Tiffany's more loyal to Trump than he is to us. He voted for Trump's Iran war five times. It's costing you more at the pump. Tom Tiffany went to Washington, sold out Wisconsin.
TOM TIFFANY: You betcha.
VAN WAGTENDONK: But lately, Tiffany has expressed opposition to that war, and maybe most notably, he's broken with Trump on the issue of data centers. Trump supports them, and he said that communities that don't want them will end up, quote, "backwards." I asked Tiffany what he thought about that.
TIFFANY: One thing the president didn't say is he didn't say what conditions should be put on them. So we would put the appropriate conditions in place so that especially local people have a say in whether they're going to be billed (ph).
SUMMERS: And, Anya, if a Republican won, how might that change things in Wisconsin?
VAN WAGTENDONK: Yeah, potentially in huge ways - right now, there's a Republican-held legislature, and the current Democratic governor, Evers, has vetoed tons of their bills. So if Tiffany wins and Republicans hold on to the legislature, that is a Republican trifecta. The last time Wisconsin Republicans had that, they made big cuts to union rights and abortion rights. But the state legislature is also up for grabs, so there could be a Democratic trifecta or just more divided government.
SUMMERS: Let's zoom out about - a bit here. What else stands out to you as you're reporting on races across the country?
VAN WAGTENDONK: Yeah, you know, as much as there is a Trump factor this November, Robert Alexander, who teaches political science at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, told me that it's not just about the national issues.
ROBERT ALEXANDER: The candidates themselves, they matter, you know, sometimes more than the partisanship. So I think if we just look at this as a referendum on Trump, you're missing part of the picture.
VAN WAGTENDONK: So nearby me in Iowa, a big issue in that governor's race is about agricultural runoff and water contamination. In Oklahoma, candidates are divided over the construction of a huge aluminum smelting plant. There are pollution concerns there. But even that smelter issue, that is something that Trump has said he's in favor of. So like the data centers issue here in Wisconsin, it really can be a mix of these local and national issues.
SUMMERS: Right. And, Anya, we mentioned at the start of our conversation that governors have played this huge role in either blocking or promoting President Trump's agenda. Remind us how that all works.
VAN WAGTENDONK: Yeah, state law just governs our lives in so many ways. The Constitution gives states a lot of power. And right now there are 26 Republican governors, 24 Democrats. And so what we've seen in the last few years is they can try to support that agenda, or they can try to block it. So take immigration, for example. Governors can call up the National Guard, and many red states have done that, to assist with immigration enforcement. Republican governors have also signed laws requiring more local cooperation with ICE.
Then we've seen some Democratic governors signing laws limiting cooperation with ICE. We've also seen Democratic governors file suit against dozens of Trump policies like tariffs or federal funding cuts, and some of those lawsuits have changed Trump policy. And then, of course, it was governors in several Republican states that led the congressional redistricting that Trump called for, which could determine who controls the U.S. House.
SUMMERS: That is Anya van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio. Thanks so much.
VAN WAGTENDONK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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