Congressman Tony Wied Speaks to College Republicans of UW-Madison
Wied is the newest member of Wisconsin's congressional delegation
Congressman Tony Wied was hosted by the College Republicans of the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 6 to discuss current events and campus issues.
Wied emphasized how brave it is for college students to be outwardly conservative at UW-Madison. “I think we’re obviously in the minority here in the school,” he said. “It’s really important at your age, of course, that you are interested.”
Wied is fairly new to politics and has represented Wisconsin’s 8th district since November 2024. He discussed his experience campaigning and getting used to the political climate of Wisconsin. He was not originally a politician, but he has long been interested in politics. He said his primary election was “very difficult,” noting he was not used to the negative ads running against him on TV. Despite this, Wied won both the primary and general election.
Wied is originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin and is a graduate of St. Norbert College. He owned a chain of gas stations in northeastern Wisconsin, but he sold them and pursued politics.
As a member of Congress, “Every day is kind of different, but it’s actually a lot of fun,” Wied said. “I’m basically touring the district.” He said one day he would be in Appleton, and the next day he is at hospitals, schools or businesses to meet with many different types of people.
After Wied spoke on his background and personal experience, he took questions from UW-Madison students on various topics.
The War in Iran
Wied was supportive of the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, and he believed this “very decisive action” was needed and the best way to keep our country safe. “There is no question that Iran has been a problem for a long time,” he said. “It’s been around 47 years since the Mullahs took over, and they’ve been a state sponsor of terror for a long time.”
“There’s been a lot of war, and I think people are fatigued with it,” he said. “The president is not interested in forever wars, either.”
Wied said his “hope is that it’s over sooner than later.”
Social Issues
Wied ran his first race against OB-GYN Kristin Lyerly, who specializes in abortion. He said that Lyerly tried very hard to portray him as anti-abortion in an attempt to win the election, but it didn’t help her beat Wied. “I’m very much pro life,” Wied said. “I think having children is the greatest joy in my life.” However, he said that he is “not going to make that decision” because abortion “is a state issue.”
The other major social issue he discussed was LGBT rights. “I don’t believe that a man should go into a girl’s bathroom, and I don’t think that boys should play in girl sports,” Wied said. “I have friends that are gay … I think there’s absolutely no problem with that. People are people, and you should love everybody.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re male, female, what God you believe in, what your ethnicity is,” he said. “I think it’s character, and so I think that’s important that we talk about that too.”
Immigration
The open border was a “clear problem during the Biden administration” according to Wied. He said that millions of people came across the border in four years, but within a year of Trump’s administration, the problem is nearly solved.
“I think the border was the biggest issue in the election in ’24,” Wied said. “That got more people to vote.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement are now apprehending illegal immigrants and focusing on those that were committing crimes. Wied said that the Obama administration also used ICE and deported millions of people without incidents or protests.
“What happened in Minnesota, obviously, was a big deal,” he said. Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have both criticized ICE, which added to the polarization. “We had all of the protests and people all around as they were doing their missions, where normally local police kind of helps with that,” Wied said. “They provide crowd control, but there normally isn’t an incident.”
“It was definitely, I think, caused a lot by the politicians, and it is a very political issue,” he said.
Affordability and Cost of Living
Wied said affordability is currently the number one issue for the upcoming midterm elections. “Ultimately, the reason we have rising prices and the reason that we have inflation at all, like what we’ve had, is because we spend more than we bring in,” he said.
“I think we should have a balanced budget amendment,” he said. However, “it’s going to be very difficult.”
The U.S. hasn’t had a balanced budget since the Clinton administration, and around 70 percent of government spending is on welfare programs, like Medicaid. “That’s very scary, so that’s unsustainable,” Wied said.
Republicans had a “great tax policy this year,” which “puts more money back into people’s pockets.” People are receiving tax returns now because of No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime and the child taxpayer credit. Because of this, people are getting “thousands of dollars more of refunds, and you’re not withholding as much on your payroll this year.”
“It’s really difficult to drive costs down” and “bring deflation.” Wied said this difficulty is due to the “disastrous policies for the last four years under the Biden administration.”
Polarization
Lastly, Wied discussed polarization and how he handles differing political opinions. He believes that “Trump derangement syndrome is real” and “it’s never really the policy.” Democrats “just don’t like him, and just don’t like his approach.”
“I think people want more bipartisanship. They want us working together more, but no matter what we bring up right now, on the Democrat side, they’re just against it.”
Despite political differences, Wied said he has a lot of friends on the Democrat side in Congress. “I think it’s better to have really good relationships with people, but if you’re arguing, it should just be on the policy.”
Wied worked with Tammy Baldwin on a community funding project for the Green Bay Fire Station. “Neither of us agree on anything, but we agree on this,” he said. He emphasized the importance of “continuing to reach across the aisle on issues that matter to the public.”