Hey, everybody, it's Reed. Before we get started, I have to say thank you. Thank you to every one of you out there.

Not only have we passed two million downloads for July, but we've passed 22 million downloads since we started last February.

I cannot say thank you enough, but I need to ask you one more favor.

Share the podcast with your friends, your family, anybody who you think is interested and dedicated to preserving American democracy.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for all you do, and now on with the show.

Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I'm Rost, Reed Gailan.

Today, I'm joined by Trigviews, Senior Advisor to the Lincoln Project and President of Viking Strategies LLC,

a Washington, D.C. based public affairs and political consulting firm. Trigview, welcome back.

Thanks, Reed. It's good to be on.

And also back with us today is Jeff Timmer, another Senior Advisor to the Lincoln Project and former Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party.

Jeff, welcome back. I'm glad to be back, Reed.

So, Jen, the last time I had both of you on, we did a deep dive on the key 2022 midterm elections, and it wound up being a barn burner, a two-part mega episode,

and I have to say the feedback on it was incredible. So, I want to bring you both back together for an update on where we are in the lead-up to the midterms,

the existential threats we faced, the remaining primaries, and the other key races that pose the biggest threat to our nation's democracy.

So, let's get into it. Let's start with what we would call the existential threat races, places like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

You know, as we're recording this, the Michigan primary will be Tuesday, August 2nd. So, Trigview, why don't you lead us off from your home state of Wisconsin, and then Jeff, tell us about Michigan, and then we can pow out on Pennsylvania.

So, in Wisconsin, you know, the question becomes, who's Tony Evers going to face? Tony Evers will be the nominees running for reelection.

Poles have consistently showed him hovering right around 46, 47%, which is right about where his job approval ratings are.

The two most likely outcomes are either Tim Michaels, who's a businessman, a road builder. He is the guy with Trump's endorsement.

Interestingly, and in some ways, he kind of has more of the traditional establishment of the Republican Party behind him, because he's been a big money donor.

He ran for the US Senate back, I think, in 2002, 2004, something like that.

I mean, that's 20 years ago. Can't these guys find something else to do?

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