LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Voters in Wisconsin are keeping Republican Ron Johnson in the Senate and keeping Democrat Tony Evers as governor. This suggests at least some Wisconsin voters split their tickets dramatically.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Evers has battled the entrenched Republican legislature in his state. Ron Johnson said the January 6 attack on the Capitol was, by and large, peaceful protests. Text messages show one of his aides was involved in promoting fake presidential electors.
FADEL: And once again, both represent Wisconsin, whose voters include Nessah Jones.
NESSAH JONES: Maybe it is a good thing that it's split. Maybe it'll give them an opportunity to show that they can work together. Maybe. Or it is all going to just blow up (laughter).
FADEL: Eric Carlson also has doubts.
ERIC CARLSON: No, all they'll do is gaslight everybody and tell everybody we're going to do this. And either party never does anything. And then at the end of the day, everybody just gets mad at each other. All they do is divide the people.
FADEL: But Taryn Schuster told NPR's David Schaper she's mostly optimistic.
TARYN SCHUSTER: With Gen Z coming up, you know, we're going to all - the younger crowds are going to get everybody on the same page. But also pessimistic because it's like, well, we haven't been able to do it so far. What says we're going to do it in the future?
DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: It's fair to say you're more optimistic about your generation than you are mine?
SCHUSTER: (Laughter) Maybe a little bit. I'm hopeful. Yeah, I guess I'm hopeful.
INSKEEP: Some Wisconsin voters after this week's election.
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