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Melissa Hughes: “You're going to see that pullback from community investment…”

Featuring: Melissa Hughes, Secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation

WI Gubernatorial Candidate Missy Huges Speaks at CoCo Dems Headquarters

Published May 17, 2026 | Video Starts at 36:56

Yeah. And I think that when you have any kind of an absentee owner, whether it's private equity or otherwise, You're going to see that pullback from community investment [with absentee owners]. I was just down in Monroe talking with the Greene County Executive, Economic Development, about how they've seen some of the companies just not investing back into the communities. (36:56–37:09)

CLAIM

Asserts that absentee ownership leads to reduced community investment.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Melissa Hughes

“We were able to renegotiate the agreement with Foxconn and save the taxpayers from about $2.85 billion worth of liability.”
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“Wisconsin was number one in the country for delivering federal dollars to businesses and for economic development.”
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“Over 70% of [businesses participating in the Main Street Bounce Back program] were women-owned businesses.”
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“They're investing in a new facility in Jefferson County, $600 million, and then expanding their Walworth county facility by $250 million.”
WI Gubernatorial Candidate Missy Huges Speaks at CoCo Dems Headquarters | Uploaded May 17, 2026 | 25:41-25:52
“Everybody [should be] on the ballot so that we can make those choices.”
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“For 17 years, I worked for Organic Valley.”
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“When I started there, it was about 500 farmers, a couple hundred employees.”
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“Governor Evers came and said, would you take your skills that you know about rural communities and about farming and agriculture and help…”
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“The very first day as secretary, they sat me down and said, great, now you have to clean up Foxconn.”
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“Donald Trump... is actually already impinging on our rights because electing is our power.”
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“We had over 9,500 businesses in all 72 counties go into empty spaces [through the Main Street Bounce Back program].”
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“We need to reinvest in things like research for Alzheimer's and our public schools.”
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“The best course of action is to expand Badger Care so that any Wisconsinite can buy into that.”
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“Fully funding our public schools and making sure that our public schools are the very first choice for parents.”
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“We need to be thinking about our education system as starting at age zero and including childcare as a public good.”
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“The shared revenue formula that we have today is really similar to what we have happening with public school funding of Frankenstein.”
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“We need to go back to the drawing board and understand the different needs of rural communities and urban communities.”
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“We can't be in a place where we're just turning to property taxes as the saving grace for when we need to provide services.”
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“The governor created the Office of Rural Prosperity and put it at WEDC.”
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“We had a Blue Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity.”
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“I'm not in favor of a moratorium [on data centers] because honestly, I feel like that's government kicking the can down the road.”
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“Owees was at the table saying, we need to protect the environment.”
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“Governor Everts has done tremendous, tremendous work for the state.”
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“Wisconsinites are struggling right now. People are paying a lot of money for gas.”
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“$300 million for special needs education is a bundle of money and desperately needed.”
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“We have an incredibly strong system with the decentralized system that we have.”
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“Tom Tiffany... didn't vote to certify the 2020 elections when he was in Congress.”
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“I would not turn over our voter rolls to the federal government.”
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“I want to legalize [marijuana]... by looking at other states and learning lessons from what they've done.”
WI Gubernatorial Candidate Missy Huges Speaks at CoCo Dems Headquarters | Uploaded May 17, 2026 | 33:00-33:06
“Minnesota took a tact that gave tribes a head start. And I think that's something that we should look at.”
WI Gubernatorial Candidate Missy Huges Speaks at CoCo Dems Headquarters | Uploaded May 17, 2026 | 33:22-33:30
“Undermining those individuals has really done such great damage to how our communities work.”
WI Gubernatorial Candidate Missy Huges Speaks at CoCo Dems Headquarters | Uploaded May 17, 2026 | 35:14-35:23
“Some of the companies just not investing back into the communities.”
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“One thing that we can do to help with that issue is to really deeply think about succession.”
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“We have an aging population, whether it's farmers or whether it's manufacturers.”
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“We don't have the workforce, we don't have the housing, we don't have the childcare.”
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“Economic development is always trying to look over the horizon.”
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“AI is a great example of how do we help our businesses be prepared for the future.”
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“Every community is dealing with a lack of both resources, financial and human.”
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“We were just about to launch what's called the Solar for All program, which would have been putting solar on homes and help businesses do…”
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“All of those resources got pulled back by the Trump administration.”
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“Kikkoman... have had a facility in Walworth county in Wisconsin for over 50 years.”
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“The last poll had 65% of people undecided.”
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“We have lots of events that are not at 2 o'clock on Thursday afternoon.”
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“There's a mindset that all farmers and all farms should be treated the same and you can't pick winners and losers.”
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“Small farms bring benefits in this way.”
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“Big farms are important for making sure we are feeding everybody and they have their own roles.”
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“How can we bring research out of UW Madison and make sure that they're using the most up to date, most highly useful and technological…”
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“A small farm might need a hub to be able to deliver their products and have everything brought together and then distributed out of there.”
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“There's so much that we've already invested in our schools and our universities and our tech colleges that we can leverage.”
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“We have a great slate of candidates and if everyone can get on the ballot and yeah, do we have a deep bench and that's great.”
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