While he’s unlikely to support either of the candidates, Governor Scott Walker says he’s happy to see Democrats focusing their attention on Wisconsin tonight.
The party’s presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, will meet tonight at 8 p.m., in a debate being hosted by the PBS News Hour. Clinton and Sanders are locked in a tight race, after she narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and Sanders took New Hampshire’s primary earlier this week.
Walker, a Republican, says he was pleased that both parties chose to host events this election cycle in Wisconsin, after the GOP field came to Milwaukee in November. “I think the fact that, in both parties, they chose a location here in the state of Wisconsin shows that, potentially, this will be a competitive state come November.”
The Republican governor thinks the fields for both parties are still wide open, and the debates will have an impact on the eventual nominees.
Walker, who abandoned his presidential bid last fall, has previously expressed a desire to see a Republican other than frontrunner Donald Trump as the GOP nominee. Trump had a strong finish in Iowa and won New Hampshire this week.
If he is the eventual nominee, Walker does believe he can win Wisconsin for Republicans, who have not had a presidential candidate take Wisconsin since 1984. “There’s no doubt it will be a challenge though” Walker admits.