The outcome of the race between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican Tim Michels will have major implications for abortion rights, education and elections.
MADISON, Wis. — With Wisconsin’s gubernatorial election matchup set, the two main competitors immediately began honing their attacks on one another Wednesday, commencing a three-month sprint to November with mud-slinging in what promises to be one of the most consequential races in the country.
Just hours after Republican voters in the state chose construction executive Tim Michels as their nominee in the race, Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, kicked off a tour of the state by slamming his opponent as a puppet of former President Donald Trump who has misleadingly painted himself as a champion of blue-collar workers.
“He can wear a blue shirt so that he can have a blue collar. But at the end of the day, I’m not quite sure that someone of his status, with houses all across the country, can say 'I’m just one of you,'” Evers said at a campaign event Wednesday morning in Madison — the first of 10 across the state over the coming days. The remark was in reference to the fact that Michels owns a home in Connecticut, where he lives part of the year.
Evers also hit his opponent for his embrace of Trump, who endorsed Michels in June and held a rally for him last week.
“Trump owns him, he owns Trump,” Evers said. “That’s his problem, not mine.”
Meanwhile, the Michels camp attacked Evers for his “disastrous record” and tied him to President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings in the state have sunk since taking office.
“Tony Evers and Joe Biden are going to desperately attempt to do everything they can to distract the people of Wisconsin from their massive failures,” Michels campaign adviser Chris Walker told NBC News in a statement. “This race is about Tony Evers and his disastrous record.”
“People shouldn’t have to choose between filling up the gas tank or getting groceries, or see headlines of crime at 30-year highs, but in Tony Evers’ Wisconsin, that’s just what we have. He’s a failure, and he has to go,” Walker added.