PHOTO: (Harm Venhuizen/AP, via WashPost.com)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/11/evers-wisconsin-governor-trump/
Opinion In Wisconsin, Tony Evers made a virtue of being dull
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November 11, 2022 at 4:26 p.m. EST
Gov. Tony Evers, center, celebrates his win with supporters in Madison, Wis., on Wednesday. (Harm Venhuizen/AP)
MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) won reelection Tuesday by 3.4 points. That’s a landslide in a state where four of the past six presidential contests were decided by less than one point and the first time since 1990 that a Badger State governor was reelected from the same party that controlled the White House. For a Democrat, it’s the first time since 1962.
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Evers, a former schoolteacher who derives pleasure from euchre and polka music, was rewarded by independents for his stalwart defense of voting and abortion rights. “As it turns out,” Evers said in his victory speech, “boring wins.”
The race was a bit more complicated than that. Republican challenger Tim Michels, who won the August primary because of an endorsement from former president Donald Trump, promised to abolish the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission, sign nearly 20 restrictive voting bills that Evers had vetoed and opened the door to not certifying the 2024 presidential results. “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor,” Michels declared at a campaign stop on Oct. 31.
Evers said some Democratic strategists suggested that he not talk about democracy on the trail because the term is too broad and abstract, but he emphasized voting rights anyway. “I think Wisconsinites get it,” he said. The governor ran as a check and balance on GOP extremism, boasting that he vetoed a record 126 bills over the past two years, and warned that Michels would be a rubber stamp for a Republican legislature.
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Independents made up 30 percent of the electorate, according to exit polling, and Evers won them by six points. Several said during interviews that they are uncomfortable with one-party rule at the federal or state level. Gerrymandering has made it virtually impossible for Democrats to win control of the state Assembly or Senate.
Abortion also mattered: An 1849 state law banning the procedure was dormant until the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June. With providers fleeing to Illinois, Evers offered clemency to anyone convicted of providing care and called special sessions to (unsuccessfully) pressure Republicans to update the law. Michels said he was unapologetically pro-life and that the 1849 ban mirrored his position. Later, he suggested he would sign a bill to add exemptions for rape and incest.
This issue drove a massive turnout spike in liberal Dane County, home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Evers won about 16,000 more votes from the county than in 2018.
Statewide, about one-third of voters identified abortion as their top issue, and Evers won 84 percent of them. According to exit polls, only 8 percent of the electorate said abortion should be illegal in all cases while 62 percent said it should be legal in most or all cases. Evers won women by 13 points.
Democrats benefited from Trump fatigue. While nearly 54 percent of voters disapproved of Biden, 58 percent held an unfavorable view of the former president. In fact, exit polling shows about 30 percent said opposing Trump was a reason for their vote, which is stunning when you consider that he hasn’t been president for two years.
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As Courtside readers know, I’m a big fan of dynamic, energetic candidates. But, whatever works in a particular situation! Tony has the right formula for rescuing a state in peril of reactionary, anti-democracy one-party rule!
Sadly, we can’t give Badgerland voters too much credit. Incredibly, they narrowly returned disingenuous, leading conspiracy theorist (https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/politics/ron-johnson-wisconsin-reelection/index.html) science-denier, babbler of nonsense, and notorious “Magamoron,” incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Conspiracyland), to the Senate over a far, far superior candidate, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. Go figure!
🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!
PWS
11-15-22