Students featured on local TV news coverage ahead of Wisconsin primary election

The Ripon College Center for Politics and the People hosted a panel discussion about the future of the Republican Party last night. Seeing that the discussion took place on the eve of a hotly contested primary election in the state of Wisconsin and in the proclaimed “Birthplace of the Republican Party,” the event was ripe for media coverage.

Jeff Simon, a producer for CNN covering national politics and elections, interviewed students ahead of the discussion; and Green Bay television stations WBAY, the ABC affiliate, and WLUK, the FOX affiliate, both covered last night’s panel.

The panelists included State Representative Joan Ballweg, 41st Assembly District; Bob Welch of The Welch Group, Madison, a 1992 Ripon alumnus and a former Wisconsin State Representative and Senator; Jerry Podair, Robert S. French Professor of American Studies and professor of history at Lawrence University; Steve Sorenson, J.D., attorney and adjunct professor of politics and government at Ripon College; and Austin Borchardt ’18, Rubicon, Wisconsin, representing the Ripon College Republicans.

MSNBC was also in Ripon last week to record a piece about the Birthplace of the Republican Party.