The next election for governor is still 17 months away, but Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann is wasting no time moving around the state in an attempt to garner name recognition.
Schoemann paid a visit to Shawano County Republicans on June 5 to introduce himself to local GOP members and explain why he’s running for the seat currently occupied by Tony Evers, who has not announced whether he’s running for a third term. Schoemann is the only Republican who has thrown his hat into the ring so far.
His goal is to reach out to as many voters as possible, as he explained in an interview with NEW Media prior to a Q&A session at the GOP’s Shawano headquarters, but his plan if he gets to be governor will be to keep people from leaving the state. Schoemann said he’s seeing far to many people fleeing for other states.
“It’s people, especially our kids, leaving our state for opportunities elsewhere,” Schoemann said. “Our retirees are leaving because our taxes are too high. I hear all the time from retirees going to Florida, Texas, Arizona and Tennessee to get out of Wisconsin for six months and one day. Too many of our kids leave the state, whether it’s for different colleges and universities or just different job opportunities. If you look at the next 25 years, that’s a real problem for us with the demographics we have here.”
Schoemann said his goal to is to make Wisconsinites happy to be here, not just biding their time. The existing tax system is problematic to that goal, he said, with state income taxes almost double the flat tax that Illinois has.
“Putting ourselves on a flat tax on a trajectory to eliminate it is a high priority,” Schoemann said.
When it comes to youths staying in the state, Schoemann wants to see improvements in public schools and universities, as well as create innovation in workforce development. He also wants to bring down the cost of housing, pointing out it is almost impossible for young families to buy a home.
“Pretty much everybody throughout the state that I talk to talks about how difficult it is for young people to buy a house and how expensive the old starter home of yesteryear — an 1,100-square-foot house on a quarter-acre lot — is unachievable for most people,” Schoemann said. “I think those are some things that we can work toward some reform and changes, something we’ve done in Washington County.”
Schoemann has worked for Washington County for 12 years, five of them as the executive. He noted that the county’s tax rate is the same as it was before World War I. Washington County’s property tax rate is 1.22%, lower than Shawano County’s 1.58% rate and Oconto County’s 1.5% rate.
Schoemann putting his hat in so far out from the November 2026 gubernatorial race is becoming a trend across the country, he said. Name identification is one reason for starting the campaign so early, according to Schoemann, but the other factor is money.
“I was just talking to folks out in the hall (at Shawano’s GOP headquarters), and my advisers tell me the average candidate needs to raise about $30 million-$40 million,” Schoemann said. “Both candidates combined will spend about $100 million, and all outside parties combined will spend about a quarter-billion dollars. I’m not an independently wealthy person. There might be other candidates that are wealthy and might have other things, but no one’s going to outwork me, and that means I need to start early.”
Schoemann said he hopes to restore some harmony in Madison if elected governor. He expressed disappointment about the current budget talks between Evers and the Wisconsin Legislature breaking down and said the talks should have started six months ago.
“It’s been headline news the last two or three weeks that, goodness gracious, the governor and the legislative leaders are actually meeting and talking to each other,” Schoemann said. “Of course, yesterday it was, ‘Just kidding. We can’t get along, so we’re going to go off on our own.’ I mean, that’s not what leaders do.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Schoemann makes gubernatorial case in Shawano
