Michels wins Wisconsin GOP governor primary, will face Evers

Aug 8, 2022, 9:05 PM | Updated: Aug 11, 2022, 9:45 am
Karen Ruiz fills out her ballot in the Wisconsin partisan primary election during a visit with her ...

Karen Ruiz fills out her ballot in the Wisconsin partisan primary election during a visit with her son, Grabiel, to her polling place at Steamfitters Local 601 in Madison, Wis. Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

(John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Tim Michels, a wealthy businessman endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary for Wisconsin governor on Tuesday and will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a contest that could reshape elections in the marquee battleground.

Michels defeated former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence and had backing from establishment Republicans, including ex-Gov. Scott Walker.

In his victory speech, Michels promised to focus on jobs and the economy and said he would stand up for people who “have been left behind by the Democratic Party that just wants to focus on the social issues.”

“As governor, my number one priority is to take care of the hardworking people of Wisconsin,” Michels said.

Evers’ campaign called Michels “the most extreme and divisive nominee possible, one that will tell Donald Trump anything just to keep his endorsement.”

Both Michels and Kleefisch falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged, a lie Trump has pushed in an effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden. Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

Michels said decertifying the results of the 2020 contest was not a priority but said “everything will be on the table.” He supports other changes to voting and elections, including dismantling the bipartisan commission that runs Wisconsin elections.

The governor’s race was the latest proxy war between Trump and Pence, one-time partners who have backed opposing candidates in other swing states as they try to push the GOP in different directions. The results Tuesday added to Trump’s record of wins, following victories for his preferred candidates last week in closely watched races for governor and Senate in Arizona.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who supported Trump’s second impeachment, conceded defeat in her Washington state congressional district after being overtaken in late vote tallies by a GOP challenger endorsed by the former president. And in next Tuesday’s slate of contests, Rep. Liz Cheney, who also backed Trump’s impeachment and is the vice chair of the House panel probing his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, faces a challenging primary race.

Those developments, combined with the rush of support from Republicans after the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Florida estate on Monday, were fresh reminders of the former president’s enduring grip on the GOP.

Back in Wisconsin, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes won the Democratic nomination to face Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters. The matchup is among the last to be set before the November general election, when control of the currently 50-50 split Senate is up for grabs, and Democrats see Wisconsin as one of their best opportunities to flip a seat.

Wisconsin’s most powerful Republican, state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, held off a Trump-backed challenger. Trump endorsed Adam Steen after Vos rejected the former president’s pressure to decertify the 2020 results. Vos said his victory showed “you don’t have to be a lapdog to whatever Donald Trump says.”

Tuesday’s outcomes have far-reaching consequences beyond Wisconsin, a state that is almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and where 2022 will be seen as a bellwether for the 2024 presidential race. The person elected governor this fall will be in office for the presidential election and will be able to sign or veto changes to election laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The next governor and U.S. senator also may sway decisions on issues from abortion to education and taxes.

“We’re a 50-50 state and so every race in Wisconsin, just by definition, is going to be decided by a few percentage points one way or another,” said former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. “And those few percentage points in Wisconsin may well determine what the course of the nation is in the coming years.”

Elsewhere Tuesday, a Trump-backed candidate won the GOP primary for Senate in Connecticut, a state that’s long been home to the Republican establishment. Republican National Committee member Leora Levy, whom Trump endorsed last week, will face two-term Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal after she defeated former state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, who had support from the state party.

Voters in Vermont — the only state to never have a woman in its congressional delegation — chose a woman, Becca Balint, as the Democratic nominee for the state’s lone House seat. She is favored in the race to replace Rep. Peter Welch, who won the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat long held by Patrick Leahy, who is retiring. And Minnesota Republicans chose Dr. Scott Jensen, a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic endorsed by the state GOP, to face Gov. Tim Walz.

But the most-watched races were in Wisconsin, where Trump has kept up his pressure campaign to cancel Biden’s 2020 victory. Biden won the state by nearly 21,000 votes, four years after Trump narrowly won the state by roughly the same margin. The 2020 outcome has been upheld in two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a review by a conservative law firm and multiple lawsuits.

Evers has made voting and elections a focus of his own campaign, telling voters he’s the only candidate who will defend democracy and “we are that close to not having our vote count in the state of Wisconsin.”

Both Michels and Kleefisch said overturning the 2020 election results was not a priority. But they said they would dismantle the bipartisan commission that runs Wisconsin elections and would support prohibitions on voters having someone else turn in their absentee ballots, as well as ballot drop boxes located anywhere other than staffed clerk offices.

Michels is co-owner of Wisconsin’s largest construction company and has touted his work to build his family’s business. He lost the 2004 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, and has been a major donor to GOP politicians.

At a rally on Friday, Trump praised Michels as an “incredible success story.” He criticized Kleefisch as part of the “failed establishment” and also took aim at Vos. He told supporters that Michels was the better choice to defeat Evers.

Michels pledged that “we are going to have election integrity here in Wisconsin.” He also said he will bring “law and order” back to Wisconsin, criticized Evers’ handling of schools and blamed Biden for rising prices.

GOP state Rep. Tim Ramthun also made a long-shot bid for governor.

In her concession speech, Kleefisch said, “The fight now is truly against Tony Evers and the liberals who want to take away our way of life.”

Barnes, in his victory speech in Milwaukee, emphasized his middle-class background and upbringing while casting Johnson as “self-serving” and “an out-of-touch politician” who cares only about special interests and wealthy donors.

“It is time for a change, everybody,” said Barnes, who would be Wisconsin’s first Black senator if elected. “It’s time for us to be represented by somebody who shares our experiences.”

Johnson called Barnes the “most radical left candidate” Democrats could have chosen.

“This is a contest between radical left socialism versus freedom and prosperity,” he said.

___

Burnett reported from Chicago. Reporter Gretchen Ehlke contributed from Thiensville, Wis.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

(Facebook Photo/City of San Luis, Arizona)...
Associated Press

San Luis authorities receive complaints about 911 calls going across border

Authorities in San Luis say they are receiving more complaints about 911 calls mistakenly going across the border.
2 days ago
(Pexels Photo)...
Associated Press

Daylight saving time begins in most of US this weekend

No time change is observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
10 days ago
Mexican army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamo...
Associated Press

How the 4 abducted Americans in Mexico were located

The anonymous tip that led Mexican authorities to a remote shack where four abducted Americans were held described armed men and blindfolds.
10 days ago
Tom Brundy points to a newly built irrigation canal on one of the fields at his farm Tuesday, Feb. ...
Associated Press

Southwest farmers reluctant to idle farmland to save water

There is a growing sense that fallowing will have to be part of the solution to the increasingly desperate drought in the West.
17 days ago
A young bison calf stands in a pond with its herd at Bull Hollow, Okla., on Sept. 27, 2022. The cal...
Associated Press

US aims to restore bison herds to Native American lands after near extinction

U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
17 days ago
Children play in a dried riverbed in Flassans-sur-Issole, southern France, Wednesday, March 1, 2023...
Associated Press

Italy, France confront 2nd year of western Europe drought

ROME (AP) — Bracing for Italy’s second consecutive year of drought for the first time in decades, Premier Giorgia Meloni huddled with ministers Wednesday to start mapping out an action plan Wednesday, joining France and other nations in western Europe grappling with scant winter rain and snow. Meloni and her ministers decided to appoint an […]
19 days ago

Sponsored Articles

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...
Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.
...
Quantum Fiber

How high-speed fiber internet edges out cable for everyday use

In a world where technology drives so much of our daily lives, a lack of high-speed internet can be a major issue.
(Desert Institute for Spine Care photo)...
DESERT INSTITUTE FOR SPINE CARE

Why DISC is world renowned for back and neck pain treatments

Fifty percent of Americans and 90% of people at least 50 years old have some level of degenerative disc disease.
Michels wins Wisconsin GOP governor primary, will face Evers