Ben Wikler, the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, will not run for governor in 2026.
The post Former state Democratic Party chair will not enter governor’s race appeared first on WPR.
Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Tuesday that he will not run for governor, opting instead to seek a third term as the state’s top law enforcement official.
The governor’s race is wide open after Democratic incumbent Tony Evers, 73, announced this summer that he won’t seek reelection. The race will be the highest-profile contest on the ballot, but it has even greater significance this cycle as Democrats look to hold the office and take control of the Legislature for the first time since 2010.
More than half a dozen Democrats have announced plans to run in the August primary. Kaul would have been the de facto front-runner had he joined, given his large base of support and two statewide election victories.
The most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary scramble include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, state Sen. Kelda Roys, state Rep. Francesca Hong and former Wisconsin Economic Development Commission leader Missy Hughes. Former lieutenant governor and 2022 U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes said Tuesday in the wake of Kaul’s decision that he’s “strongly considering” entering the race.
The most notable Republicans running are U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann.
Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he seriously considered running for governor but was worried the job would take him away from his two sons, ages 8 and 11. The state also needs leaders willing to push back against President Donald Trump’s administration, he said.
“It’s vitally important that we have folks who are going to stand up and protect our freedoms and rule of law,” he said.
Kaul is nearly three-quarters of the way through his second term. He defeated incumbent Republican Brad Schimel in 2018 and held off a challenge from Republican Eric Toney, Fond du Lac County’s district attorney, to win a second term in 2022.
Toney is expected to run for attorney general again in 2026. Asked for comment on the race Tuesday following Kaul’s announcement, he said only that he was focused on a homicide trial.
Kaul has been an advocate for liberal causes as attorney general. He has repeatedly called on Republican legislators to enact gun safety measures, to no avail. He successfully persuaded the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court to strike down the state’s abortion ban this year. Kaul has launched an investigation into clergy sex abuse in Wisconsin and has worked to expedite testing of sexual assault evidence kits.
Kaul also has worked to create multiple legal obstacles for Trump.
Last year, he filed felony charges against two attorneys and an aide who helped submit false papers to Congress claiming that Trump had won Wisconsin in 2020. Democrat Joe Biden won the state by less than a percentage point. The case Kaul brought against the fake electors is still pending.
Kaul has also joined more than two dozen multistate lawsuits challenging edicts from the current Trump administration. The filings challenge an array of proposals, including dismantling the federal volunteer agency AmeriCorps, withholding federal education funding from the states and capping research grant funding.
Republicans tried to curtail Kaul’s powers ahead of his first term, passing legislation in a lame duck session before he took office that required the Legislature’s GOP-controlled finance committee to approve any court settlements his office might broker. Kaul fought the statutes all the way to the state Supreme Court and ultimately won a ruling in June that the legislation was unconstitutional.
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Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul won’t run for governor, will seek reelection instead is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
The former state economic development director for Wisconsin, who previously worked as an executive at a dairy cooperative, announced Monday that she is running for governor as a Democrat, promising to reject “divisive politics.”
Missy Hughes joins an already crowded field of Democrats for the open seat in the battleground state. The primary is just under 11 months away. There are two prominent announced Republican candidates.
Hughes, an attorney, is pitching herself as “not a politician,” even though she spent the past six years leading the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation as part of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers administration. She quit that job on Sept. 19.
Evers is not seeking a third term and has not endorsed anyone in the governor’s race.
Prior to taking on the state economic development job, Hughes worked for 17 years at Organic Valley, a dairy cooperative that began in 1988 and consists of more than 1,600 family farms in 34 states and over 900 employees.
Hughes said as governor she would push for higher wages, improving public schools, affordable and accessible child care and health care and affordable housing.
“I’m not a politician, and that’s the point,” Hughes said in a statement. “To create a prosperous economy for the future in all 72 counties, we need a leader who knows what it takes to create jobs, support workers, and attract businesses – and who rejects divisive politics that leaves so many behind.”
Other Democrats in the race include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez; Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley; state Sen. Kelda Roys; and state Rep. Francesca Hong. Others considering getting in include Attorney General Josh Kaul and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann are running as Republicans.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Missy Hughes, former Wisconsin economic development head, joins governor’s race is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Former WEDC CEO Missy Hughes launched her campaign Monday to seek the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor. (Hughes campaign photo)
Missy Hughes, Wisconsin’s former top economic development official, says she offers a distinctive choice in the 2026 Democratic primary for governor — an effective non-politician with a strong economic track record.
“Listen, I’m not a politician. I’m different than other folks you’ve seen run for governor. That’s the point,” Hughes says in her launch video released Monday morning.
Hughes, a lawyer who served as Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) CEO and secretary for six years, becomes the seventh Democrat to join the field for the party’s nomination after Gov. Tony Evers announced in July that he will not seek a third term in 2026.
“I think right now, there’s a moment where we’re looking for a Democrat who understands the economy, who understands how to build the economy, who understands how to move Wisconsin forward, and so I happen to have the chance to meet that moment,” Hughes told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview Monday.
“As governor, I’ll create a Main Street economy that includes you and works for you,” Hughes says in the launch video. “Where we strengthen our Main Streets, make sure Wisconsinites have higher wages and housing they can afford, our families have child care and health care that doesn’t break the bank, and our public schools prepare our kids for the future.”
Hughes was an executive for 17 years at Organic Valley before Evers appointed her to lead the WEDC. In her campaign video, she says that the cooperative, which markets organic dairy products sourced from more than 1,800 farms across the U.S., topped $1 billion in revenue during her tenure.
She took the reins at the WEDC Oct. 1, 2019, where she headed Wisconsin’s negotiations with major employers expanding their operations or relocating to the state. She resigned Sept. 19, 10 days before launching her campaign.
During her tenure at the agency, “major companies like Milwaukee Tool, Microsoft, Eli Lilly, Kikkoman and more committed to invest over $10 billion and create 45,000 good-paying jobs across Wisconsin,” the Hughes campaign stated in a debut email.
Hughes also raised the department’s profile in small business and local community economic development. The WEDC oversaw many of the state’s COVID-19 relief programs, which focused heavily on small business recovery from the short but sharp economic hit brought on by the pandemic.
Among the highest profile efforts was the Main Street Bounceback, which directed $10,000 grants to more than 9,500 small businesses across Wisconsin.
The WEDC is also the lead state agency involved in Wisconsin’s successful application for federal support to establish a technology hub centered on the state’s biohealth sector.
Hughes is the second Democrat with an Evers administration background to seek the party’s nomination in the August 2026 primary. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez was the first to enter the race, declaring her candidacy less than 24 hours after Evers announced he was not running.
Other declared hopefuls are Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison). Milwaukee factory worker and baseball stadium beer vendor Ryan Strnad and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey are also seeking the nomination.
Hughes told the Wisconsin Examiner that economic concerns and how she’s addressed them in her career are central to her case.
“I think the economy is something that Wisconsinites think about day to day,” Hughes said. “No matter what, we know that folks are going to be thinking about those issues, those kitchen table issues that are really important to how they live their lives every day.”
Her campaign message that she’s “not a politician” aims to convey “that I’m in it to serve the people of Wisconsin and to support them as they go through their daily lives trying to make ends meet and have a little bit of fun at the same time,” Hughes said.
“I’m not someone who has spent a career working in politics and working to shout louder than the person standing next to me,” she said. From working with farmers to community economic development projects, “my job has always been about having economic impact and helping people to succeed.”
While centering an economic message, her campaign has also nodded broadly to themes of personal freedom and democracy that have been the foremost concerns of some voters.
In the video, over shots of the White House and then a gleaming urban office tower, Hughes says, “I’m not going to go looking for a fight, but I’ll stand up to anyone, from the White House to Wall Street, who comes after your rights or tries to make your life harder.”
Hughes reiterated that message in the interview, adding that she believes it’s possible to cut through political polarization.
“Certainly, folks are talking about what rights are on the table, how we’re interacting with each other and either supporting our rights or taking them away,” she said.
From her home community near Viroqua in Southwestern Wisconsin to her travels around the state, Hughes said people are yearning for greater harmony.
“Everyone is just so exhausted by the division and the ongoing fighting and they want someone who says, ‘Let’s come to the table. Let’s find common ground,’” Hughes said.
“I feel like there’s a complete path to victory that involves making sure that we’re building a strong economy, and at the same time, we’re bringing people together so they can talk about their differences, and they can work on projects and have an impact together.”
This report has been updated.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
A fierce loyalist of President Donald Trump who represents a broad swath of Wisconsin’s rural north woods in Congress entered the governor’s race in the battleground state on Tuesday, shaking up the Republican primary.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany becomes the front-runner over the two other announced Republican candidates who have less name recognition and support from key conservative donors.
Tiffany announced his bid for governor on “The Dan O’Donnell Show,” describing the decision as a “great challenge but also a great opportunity.”
“I have the experience both in the private sector and the public sector to be able to work from day one,” he said, when asked what differentiates him from the two other Republicans in the race.
“I give us the best chance to win in 2026,” he said.
The governor’s race is open for the first time in 16 years after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers decided against seeking a third term. Numerous Democrats are running, but there is no clear front-runner, and Evers hasn’t endorsed anyone.
Tiffany’s launch did not come with an immediate endorsement from Trump, which will be key in the GOP primary in August 2026.
But Tiffany has the inside track given his longtime support of the president. Another GOP candidate, businessman Bill Berrien, has faced fierce criticism on conservative talk radio after he backed former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary and said in August 2020 that he hadn’t decided whether to support Trump.
The third Republican in the race, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, has also tried to court Trump voters. He represents a suburban Milwaukee county that Trump won with 67% of the vote in 2024.
Reacting to Tiffany’s announcement, Schoemann said he looked forward to a primary “focused on ideas and winning back the governor’s office.”
Even if he lands a Trump endorsement, Tiffany faces hurdles. In the past 36 years, gubernatorial candidates who were the same party as the president in a midterm election have lost every time, except for Evers in 2022.
Tiffany has cruised to victory in the vast 7th Congressional District — which covers nearly 19,000 square miles encompassing all or part of 20 counties. Tiffany won a special election in 2020 after the resignation of Sean Duffy, who is now Trump’s transportation secretary. Tiffany won that race by 14 points and has won reelection by more than 20 points in each of his three reelections.
But candidates from deep-red rural northern Wisconsin have struggled to win statewide elections, largely because of the huge number of Democratic voters in the state’s two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison.
Prior to being elected to Congress, Tiffany served just over seven years in the state Legislature. During his tenure, he was a close ally of then-Gov. Scott Walker and voted to pass a law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.
Tiffany also voted in favor of legalizing concealed carry and angered environmentalists by trying to repeal a state mining moratorium to clear the way for an open-pit mine in northern Wisconsin.
In Congress, Tiffany has upset animal rights activists with his push to take the gray wolf off the endangered species list, which would open the door to wolf hunting seasons.
In 2020, Tiffany voted against accepting the electoral college votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania as part of an effort to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win. He was one of just 14 Republican House members in 2021 who voted against making Juneteenth a national holiday.
Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Devin Remiker called Tiffany a “bought and paid for stooge,” highlighting his support for Trump’s tariffs, his push to ban abortions around six weeks of pregnancy and his opposition to raising the minimum wage.
“We’re going to show Wisconsinites what a fraud he is and defeat him next November,” Remiker said.
Tiffany, 67, was born on a dairy farm and ran a tourist boat business for 20 years. He has played up his rural Wisconsin roots in past campaigns, which included ads featuring his elderly mother and one in which he slings cow manure to make a point about how he would work with Trump to clean up Washington.
The most prominent Democratic candidates for governor are Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez; Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley; state Sen. Kelda Roys and state Rep. Francesca Hong. Others considering getting in include Attorney General Josh Kaul, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and former state economic development director Missy Hughes.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Republican US Rep. Tom Tiffany enters Wisconsin governor’s race is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A Democratic state lawmaker who is promising to be a “wild card” joined Wisconsin’s open race for governor on Wednesday, saying she will focus on a progressive agenda to benefit the working class.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, who lives in the liberal capital city of Madison, is embracing her outsider status. In addition to serving in the state Assembly, Hong works as a bartender, dishwasher and line cook. As a single mother struggling with finding affordable housing, she said she is uniquely relatable as a candidate.
“I like considering myself the wild card,” Hong said. “Our campaign is going to look at strategies and movement building, making sure we are being creative when it comes to our digital strategies.”
Part of her goal will be to expand the electorate to include voters who haven’t been engaged in past elections, she said.
Hong, 36, joins a field that doesn’t have a clear front-runner. Other announced Democratic candidates including Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and state Sen. Kelda Roys. Additional Democrats are considering getting in, including Attorney General Josh Kaul.
On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and suburban Milwaukee business owner Bill Berrien are the only announced candidates. Other Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering running.
The race to replace Gov. Tony Evers, who is retiring after two terms, is open with no incumbent running for the first time since 2010.
Hong is the most outspoken Democrat to join the field. She is known to use profanity when trying to make a point, especially on social media.
Hong is one of four Democrats in the Wisconsin Assembly who also are members of the Socialist Caucus.
“We’re meeting a moment that requires a movement and not an establishment candidate,” she said.
She promised to make working class people the center of her campaign while embracing progressive policies. That includes backing universal child care, paid leave, lower health care costs, improving wages for in-home health care workers and adequately funding public schools.
Like other Democrats in the race, Hong is highly critical of President Donald Trump’s administration and policies.
“It’s important to refer to the administration not as an administration but authoritarians who aim to increase mass suffering and harm working class families across the state,” Hong said. “A lot of communities are scared for their families, for their communities, how they’re going to continue to make ends meet when they’re worried about health care and salaries.”
Hong was elected to the state Assembly in 2020 and ran unopposed in both 2022 and 2024.
The Democratic primary is 11 months away in August 2026, and the general election will follow in November.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Democrat Francesca Hong joins Wisconsin governor’s race, promises to be ‘wild card’ is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A Wisconsin state senator who came in third in the Democratic primary for governor in 2018 is running again, saying in her campaign launch video that “extremists” like President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk are putting the nation’s democracy at risk.
Kelda Roys, an attorney and small business owner who represents the liberal capital city of Madison in the state Senate, launched her campaign on Monday.
“We are in the fight of our lives for our democracy and our kids’ future,” Roys says in her campaign launch video. It shows people protesting along with images of Trump and Musk.
The two other highest-profile announced Democratic candidates are Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Several other Democrats are expected to join the race in coming days.
On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, 43, and suburban Milwaukee business owner Bill Berrien, 56, are the only announced candidates. Other Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering running.
Roys, 46, served in the state Assembly from 2009 until 2013. Roys ran for an open congressional seat in 2012, but was defeated by a fellow state lawmaker, Mark Pocan, by 50 points. She was elected to the state Senate in 2020.
As a lawmaker, Roys has been an outspoken defender of abortion rights and for union rights. In her launch video, Roys highlights her opposition to then-Gov. Scott Walker’s law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public workers in 2011.
“With everything on the line, Wisconsin needs a governor who’s been training for this moment her whole career and knows how to deliver,” she said.
Roys said she would work to improve public schools, make health care more affordable and create quality jobs.
The race to replace Gov. Tony Evers, who is retiring after two terms, is open with no incumbent running for the first time since 2010. Roys lost to Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial primary, coming in third out of eight candidates behind him and Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Wisconsin Democrat Kelda Roys launches run for governor is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
The top-elected official in Milwaukee County, who rose out of poverty in one of the state’s poorest neighborhoods, launched a bid for Wisconsin governor on Tuesday, saying his background and experience in office make him uniquely prepared for the job.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley joins the battleground state’s Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez as the two highest-profile Democratic candidates in the 2026 race to replace Gov. Tony Evers, who is retiring after two terms. The race is open with no incumbent running for the first time since 2010.
Crowley, 39, is vying to become the state’s first Black governor, while Rodriguez would be the first woman elected to the post. There are two announced Republicans, with several others in both parties considering getting in.
The primary is 11 months away in August.
Crowley told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that he wants to be a “governor for all of us,” focusing on lowering costs for families, affordable health care and housing and fully funding public schools.
“I understand the experiences of what many families are going through,” Crowley said. “It’s really about showing up for people and that’s what people want.”
Crowley grew up in the 53206 ZIP code, which a 2013 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study found was the most incarcerated ZIP code in the country, with a majority of men who lived there having spent time behind bars. The area is also known for high rates of poverty, a high concentration of vacant lots and poor health care.
Crowley leans into his background in his launch video, highlighting how his family was once homeless in Milwaukee but he rose to become a community organizer and was elected to the state Assembly in 2016 at age 30. He served until the middle of 2020, when he was elected as executive of Milwaukee County, the state’s largest county. He was the first Black person to hold that job and also the youngest at age 33.
Three years ago, Crowley started pursuing a college degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and graduated in December, all while serving as county executive.
“My upbringing has really given me the guiding principles of how I govern,” Crowley said. “That’s why I stress being the governor for all of us. I know what it’s like to struggle. I know what it’s like to be poor.”
Rodriguez tried to contrast herself with Crowley in a statement reacting to his candidacy, saying that she brings “a proven record of delivering results across all 72 counties.” Rodriguez, unlike Crowley, has won a statewide election. She won the 2022 primary for lieutenant governor.
Both Crowley and Rodriguez have also targeted President Donald Trump early in the governor’s race. In his launch video, Crowley said that Trump’s “chaos and cruelty means that the Wisconsin that we cherish will perish unless we unite and fight back.”
Rodriguez called Trump a “maniac” in her launch video.
Democrats are hoping to hold on to the governor’s office as they also eye flipping majority control of the state Legislature, which Republicans have held since 2011.
Crowley is one of several younger Democratic candidates looking at replacing Evers, who is 73.
Rodriguez is 50, and another likely candidate, state Sen. Kelda Roys, is 46. Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is also mulling a bid, is 38. Attorney General Josh Kaul, 44, is also considering a run.
On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, 43, and suburban Milwaukee businessman Bill Berrien, 56, are the only announced candidates. Others, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering running.
Tiffany has indicated that he will announce his decision later this month. Felzkowski said last week that she would not run if Tiffany gets into the race and she was undecided about a bid if he declined.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley joins the race for Wisconsin governor is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, announced Thursday that he will not seek a third term in 2026, creating the first open race for governor in the battleground state in 16 years.
It will be Wisconsin’s highest-profile race next year as Democrats also angle to take control of the Legislature thanks to redrawn election maps that are friendlier to the party. They are also targeting two congressional districts as Democrats nationwide try to retake the House.
The Legislature has been under Republican control since 2011, and some Democrats had hoped that Evers, 73, would run for a third term to give him a chance to potentially work with a Democratic-controlled one.
In a video announcing his decision, Evers said he was “damn proud” of working 50 years in public service. But he said it was time to focus on his family.
“For five decades, my family has sacrificed to give me the gift of service,” Evers said. “They’re my world and I owe it to them to focus on doing all the things we enjoy and love doing together.”
The open race is sure to attract several Democratic and Republican candidates. Democrats mentioned as potential candidates include Attorney General Josh Kaul, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, state Sen. Kelda Roys, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and suburban Milwaukee businessman Bill Berrien are running as Republicans. Others, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering it.
Berrien, in a statement reacting to Evers’ decision, said the governor was “too scared to run” on a “record of failure.”
“I’m going to spend the next 15 months making sure whoever the Madison liberals pick from their bench of radical career politicians learns the same lesson,” Berrien said.
Tiffany said in a statement that Evers “leaves behind a legacy of decline” and “it’s time we change course.” But he stopped short of saying whether he would run.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said whichever Republican wins the primary will be “too extreme for Wisconsin,” and she pledged to keep the office under Democratic control.
The last open race for governor was in 2010, when Democratic incumbent Jim Doyle, similar to Evers, opted not to seek a third term. Republican Scott Walker won that year and served two terms before Evers defeated him in 2018.
The only Wisconsin governor to be elected to a third four-year term was Republican Tommy Thompson, who served from 1987 to 2001. He resigned midway through his fourth term.
Evers won his first race by just over 1 percentage point in 2018. He won reelection by just over 3 points in 2022.
Before being elected governor, Evers worked for 10 years as state superintendent of public instruction after a career as a teacher and school administrator.
Evers has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump’s administration, and his tenure has been marked by his often contentious relationship with the Legislature.
Before Evers even took office, Republicans convened a lame-duck session to pass a package of laws to weaken his power.
Evers angered Republicans during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when he ordered schools and nonessential businesses to close, issued a statewide mask mandate and tried, unsuccessfully, to delay the state’s April presidential primary.
Republicans broke with tradition to reject 21 Evers appointees. They also blocked many of his proposals, including expanding Medicaid, legalizing marijuana and spending more on child care, K-12 schools and higher education.
Evers used his broad veto powers to stop Republicans from enacting a wide range of conservative priorities, including making voting requirements more strict, expanding gun rights, growing the private school voucher program and making abortions more difficult to obtain.
But Evers did work with Republicans to pass the most recent state budget, which included $1.5 billion in tax cuts prioritized by the GOP and more funding for both K-12 special education and the Universities of Wisconsin. Evers also worked with Republicans to keep the Brewers in Milwaukee and funnel more money to local governments.
Evers pushed for the redrawing of Wisconsin’s legislative boundary lines, which the state Supreme Court ordered after liberal justices gained a majority in 2023.
The maps drawn by Republicans, which had been in place for more than a decade, were widely regarded as among the most gerrymandered in the country. The new maps drawn by Evers are more favorable to Democrats and helped them pick up seats in last November’s election. Democrats are optimistic that they can win control of at least one legislative chamber next year.
Evers waited until after he signed the state budget before making his retirement announcement.
Evers positioned himself as a folksy governor who would sprinkle the occasional mild swear word into his comments and other Midwestern colloquialisms such as “holy mackerel” and “folks.” His mild-mannered demeanor stood in stark contrast to Trump and other political firebrands.
“I think he is the most quintessential Wisconsin politician I’ve ever seen,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who has been in elected office since 1991.
After winning reelection in 2022, Evers noted that he is frequently described as boring, but said: “As it turns out, boring wins.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers won’t seek third term is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
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