Wisconsin voters could see the major party candidates for governor side by side in October at a UW-Milwaukee venue.
TMJ4 is planning an unprecedented town hall debate for Wisconsin's gubernatorial candidates, partnering with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of Milwaukee County to give voters a chance to hear directly from the nominees on issues affecting local government.
The proposed debate is scheduled for Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Zelazo Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — pending confirmation from the candidates.
The ICC, made up of all 19 village presidents and mayors in Milwaukee County plus the county executive, approved the proposed debate at its monthly meeting Monday.
Watch: TMJ4 plans unprecedented gubernatorial town hall debate in partnership with Milwaukee County municipal leaders
Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy helped lead the effort and reached out to TMJ4 to moderate the debate between the Republican and Democratic nominees.
"It was really important that we create a forum where questions could be asked of the candidates for governor about their understanding of local government," Kennedy said.
It marks a first for the ICC, a body of Milwaukee County municipality leaders that has existed for decades. The group meets to share ideas on how to save money or work together to provide services. A central concern for its members is the growing demand on local services and property taxpayers as state revenue sharing fails to keep up with rising costs.
"We have to do something. We're up against state mandates. We have the state expenditure program. We have the levy caps that are in place, and those have to be looked at. And the state has not done that in 19 years," said Dan Besson, Hales Corners Village President.
The format will differ from previous TMJ4 debates. It will feature the station's team of reporters covering stories across eight southeast Wisconsin counties. TV partner NBC26 in Green Bay will also carry the debate, giving it a statewide audience representing rural, suburban and city voters.
Kennedy said the issues facing local governments are not unique to the Milwaukee area.
"Shared revenue, property tax, initiatives that they try to, that, they've basically placed mandates on us at a local level are the same in Rusk County and La Crosse County as they are in Milwaukee County."
UW-Milwaukee has agreed to host the event. TMJ4 will continue to provide updates as the debate plans develop.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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