WASHINGTON — There’s a strong potential for a Democratic wave this November, said former Milwaukee mayor and Democratic congressman Tom Barrett.

But he had a caveat: “I have never seen the amount of money in Wisconsin that’s pouring in from the outside. It’s unbelievable… The winds are clearly blowing in the Democrats’ favor, but I don’t know that they’ll be able to survive that type of money that’s coming in. We’ll see.” 

Barrett and former Republican Senator Cory Gardner from Colorado were at Marquette University’s Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to discuss the midterm elections. They were joined on the panel by Robert Gebelhoff, a Washington Post editorial writer.

When asked by moderator Wendy Reimann, a professor at The George Washington University, which party will control Congress after the November elections, Gardner said midterm elections are “always tough for the party in power when it shares the same party as the White House.” 

But he, too, had a caveat: “In 2018, during the first Trump administration, Donald Trump in the Senate, at least, was able to defy 70-plus years worth of history, and the Senate actually grew the Republican majority… Donald Trump led the defying of history in that first term. See if they can do it again.” 

Gardner now leads NCTA, a trade association for the cable industry. The President and CEO of Charter Communications, Spectrum News’ parent company, is the chairman of NCTA. 

Gebelhoff said he feels a “big democratic wave coming.” 

“But what do I know?” he added with a laugh. 

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany is running for Wisconsin governor against Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. 

Despite Tiffany spending millions of dollars against Crowley, Barrett said voters are talking about issues that weigh “so heavily against Tom Tiffany.” 

“What are you going to hear for the next six weeks? Gas prices, gas prices, gas prices, gas prices, tariffs, cost of living, diesel fuel,” Barrett said. “No sitting Wisconsin congressman has ever been elected governor. There have been three individuals – for those of you from Wisconsin: La Follette, Rusk, and Washbourn – who were all in Congress, but they left Congress and then later ran for governor. But no sitting congressman has ever been elected governor in the city of Wisconsin.” 

Gardner reflected on an experience he had in 2016. He said the sentiment was, “Ron Johnson was going to lose. Period. End of story.” 

“But he won, right? And I remember going with him in August out to Wisconsin, campaigning across the state, the level of energy, the level of enthusiasm, the candidate energy, the candidate enthusiasm,” Gardner said. “I walked back to Mitch McConnell’s office in September of 2016, when we came back from the August break, and I said, ‘I don’t care what the polls say. I don’t care what your consultants are telling you. Ron Johnson’s going to win this race. You can feel it.’ … This is going to be a tough race, a very close race. But from what I see and hear, I think you got a great candidate in Tom Tiffany as well.”

Barrett described the candidates in the race for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District as “incredibly diverse.” Congressman Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, is running for re-election against Democrat Rebecca Cooke. They ran against each other two years ago. 

“Van Orden has strong support from people who love his style, which is, some would argue, a very abrasive style, in-your-face style, and he’s proud of that. He’s very proud of that. I think she brings a much different approach and has been relentless and has never stopped running,” Barrett said. “It is the most purple district in the state of Wisconsin… If it’s a Democratic year, it flips. If the wave stops, or if the money is so tremendous, he could hold on. But I would not bet my life savings on him winning.”