Right now on Upfront, the new maps. Governor Tony Evers making it official this weekend. Lawmakers scrambling new lines, new moves and new races all ahead of November. Wisconsin is not a red state. It is not a blue state. Wisconsin is a purple state ballot bill backlash. Hopefully they'll come to their senses. The bill to allow election officials. To process absentee ballots a day early is dead. I hope it does not fuel, you know, speculation about, you know, whether there's anything going on that shouldn't be in the city of Milwaukee. There will not be the Senate's top Republican breaking the news right. Here last week. Now, the chair of the Senate Elections Committee is here. Senator Dan Kernodle, one on one. Why he's not bringing the bill to a vote. And the big decision he's made with the new maps and Democratic State Senator LaTonya Johnson, then he's in. Are you ready to restore the American dream? Republican Eric Hovde launching his campaign for US Senate. The race intensifying this weekend. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler on the road ahead. And major announcement. We feel it's historic for the state's largest network of private schools, unveiling a multi-million dollar investment after the increase in state funding to school choice as part of the Shared Revenue New Deal. The details being revealed right here. This is Upfront with Gerron Jordan and political director Matt Smith. Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us. A race to the finish. The state legislative session coming to an end. Just as Democratic Governor Tony Evers signed his new legislative maps into law, upending this fall's legislative. Races. And for the first time in years, giving Democrats a more competitive edge. We have a ton to get to. From the maps to ballots in new amber alert changes, we begin with state Senator Dan Kernodle, chair of the Senate Elections Committee. Senator, welcome back to the show. Good to see you. Thank you, gentlemen, for having me. Glad to be here. Let's start with the maps in the in the new pairings, you were paired with Senator Duey Stroebel in this past week. You made the decision not to seek reelection, at least in the current district. Walk me through that. Why that decision was made, correct? That is the way that it has come to be. So. So Senator Strobel and I have had discussions over time and expecting this to be the case, and he has every initiative, the drive this wants to continue in it. And I've got 16 years in. I'll have I'm in a good place that I could exit it, but still not completely ruling out running in some capacity. I have not. I've looked at since the maps have come out. I've now looked back in the Senate district, and particularly we have a number of Assembly maps that have changed quite dramatically as well. One, it leaves no incumbent, a wide open one in Washington County, as I could consider my property that I own in the 98th. And now 98th Assembly District could be my residence. Let's talk about the Monday processing bill that would allow election officials to start processing ballots the day before Election day. Senator LeMahieu was here a week ago, told us the bill essentially is dead in the Senate in these final days of this session. Why aren't you going to bring this for a vote in your committee that it has been a personal decision that I've looked at the bill, we've had the hearing, I had the hearing. Milwaukee appeared, and I appreciate that. We had many issues in 2020, particularly. I believe they're working through those issues. The 2022 election fall was very well run. Didn't have too many issues, if any. So. But I still need to see another cycle to run, to have the confidence that Milwaukee has got their central count in order and just not the right time to add a new process. A whole new day to process the ballots in. In a presidential election cycle, particularly the legislation passed the Assembly with bipartisan support. And since then, we've heard Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson respond. We've heard the governor respond as well. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos also responded this past week. Let's take a listen to his remarks. All right. I think if you look at what happened in the Assembly, it was a good vote. It was one that I think increases transparency and it makes sure people have more faith in the system. I have no idea why my senators would not want to solve the problem of these late night ballot dumps. Hopefully they'll come to their senses and they could get the vote in the March floor period. I know the main opponent of it is Representative Brandtjen, and I didn't think she had as much influence in the Senate as as the fear. She must. But hopefully we have the ability to have people come to their common senses and not listen to people who are on the fringe end of the spectrum. So not only your reaction to those comments, but do you think that there's any scenario that this does come for a vote? Sure. Well, I would question the speaker's opinion that we don't have common sense in the Senate. I'm full of feel confident about my common sense and in place and where I where I take opinion from comes from the hearing. Any scenario, you'll bring this for a vote or is it 100% done this session? It is done from my end of things as the chair of the committee generally, that's the way we operate in the Senate. However, the the majority leaders, Senate president, there are avenues that they could bring something to the floor if they feel it's of such importance. I don't I don't know of those measures. Do you anticipate that happening? I do not if there are late night counts and this goes with the presidential election into the middle of the night, are you our Senate Republicans? Then, to blame for that? Absolutely not. The resources are there for Milwaukee to put in place equipment, supplies and staffing. That is their responsibility. So now we need to see them again. First, process your one day election Iron process. Process it well and then we can talk about it another day. A sprint to the end. State Senator Dan Kernodle, Senator, thank you so much for your time. Like always. Thank you. This weekend, the Prince Act is awaiting the governor's signature. The bipartisan bill reforms the state's Amber alert system to include more children who currently don't meet the criteria. The bill, named after five year old Prince McCree from Milwaukee, who went missing last October and was later found dead inside a dumpster and also ten year old Lily Peters, who went missing two years ago in Chippewa Falls and was later found dead there. Circumstances did not qualify for an Amber alert. Democratic state senator LaTonya Johnson, one of the bill's authors, is here. Senator, good to see you. Thank you for having me. Of course, this looked uncertain in the Assembly for a minute last week, but it did pass on Thursday. What happened? There were issues, um, in the Assembly regarding the name. Some individuals didn't like the name. And so that caused a lot of discussion. But in the end, we got it. We got it passed, but we were all really nervous. Um, for, for a while. What was the issue over the name that I don't know. You'll have to ask the other side. When we look at this bill and it now sits on Governor Tony Evers desk, how important is this? Oh my God, this bill is extremely important because as we know, the Amber alert is only for abducted children. You have to be under the age of 18 and have either a suspect or a vehicle description. So. So that makes the majority of children ineligible for that alert. I think there's been like 61 since 2003. Um, and on average, 78 kids go missing a year. So this bill is extremely important. This alert sent us that notification to your wireless, um, emergency outlet system so people will get a text at least within five miles of where that child was last located. And before those services were not provided. And this is statewide. While you're here, I want to ask you about the Monday processing bill. Senator LeMahieu told us last week the bill is dead. It's not going to happen. Senator Kernodle was just on the show moments ago and told us, listen, Milwaukee and central Count need to get their act together before he would consider bringing that to a committee vote. As a representative of Milwaukee, your reaction to the fact that the Senate is not going to be able to vote on this? It's not shocking because cause it involves Milwaukee and we all know the sentiment towards Milwaukee at time is not favorable. Um, which is a huge concern because it makes you think if there was any other county, things would be different if the governor signed the new maps into law this past week, was that the right decision? That was his decision. Um, I have to say this, that Governor Evers was elected to represent the state for a reason. So whatever decision that he makes, I'm sure it's in the benefit of the state. So I don't feel that I have the right to comment on whether that was the right decision or not. It was his decision. You told us about a week ago that you didn't trust Republicans. Has any of that trust been restored? No, I still don't trust them because they had ample opportunity to do what was right even before this lawsuit. And they did not budge. The fact that they chose those maps, in my opinion, it was because it was more favorable to them. And so that's always caused for concern for me. Senator, as you look at the Amber alert law, and we always talk a lot about the division within that building in the Capitol, bringing you behind the scenes just a little bit in terms of the bipartisan work that had to go in to getting this to the governor's desk. You know, people believe in that building sometimes that rural areas and urban areas have absolutely nothing in common. This bill proves that they do. Not only that, I'll just say it, Lily, a Caucasian little girl. Prince, an African- American little boy that says a lot when those two children that people believe have so much not in common can bring an entire state together to vote for this bill. And I think that that's the beauty of the Prince Act is because both him and Lily played a part and I think it's a lesson for us, um, especially as elected officials, that we have more in common than we realize. And that we should just get it together and be forced to do more together to actually get things done. And I hope everybody's proud of this bill, because I'm proud as hell. State Senator LaTonya Johnson, thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Up next, he's in Republican Eric Hovde, making i