Trump Boosts Michels Over Kleefisch

This November Wisconsin voters will have a choice between Republicans Tim Michels and Ron Johnson and Democrats Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes.

Michels beat former lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch Tuesday for the Republican nomination for governor. With approximately 83% of votes counted he was up 47.1% to 42.6%.

The wealthy construction executive will now square off against incumbent Tony Evers on Nov. 8.

Michels, who entered the race in April, received the backing of Donald Trump in late July and held a rally with the former president last Friday.

“It was a tremendous validation of our meteoric rise in this campaign,” said Michels at a campaign rally Tuesday evening. “He sees a lot of similarities. He didn’t have to run for president. I don’t have to run for governor. He wanted to drain the swamp. We found out it’s a really big swamp.”

The nominee said he was drawn to the race after deciding the country was sliding towards socialism.

“We are going to do everything we can to stand in the way of the tearing down of America,” said Michels, a vice president with his family’s firm Michels Corp, one of the country’s largest infrastructure contractors and a large government contractor.

“From my first day in office to my last day as governor, jobs and the economy are going to be my number one priority,” said Michels

Michels ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2004 against Russ Feingold.  He admitted that since 2013 he has lived part-time in New York City and Connecticut where his family owns a penthouse and a $17 million suburban home.

The nominee said he would work with Mayor Cavalier Johnson and County Executive David Crowley. “The people of Milwaukee are suffering so badly. We have to reduce crime in Milwaukee and we have to make education better,” said Michels. The city and county face significant fiscal issues triggered by state restrictions on raising revenue.

Evers has previously pledged to help, but the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Legislature has blocked a proposed sales tax. Another Trump-backed candidate, Adam Steen, narrowly lost in his primary challenge to incumbent Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

Lasst year Vos hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to conduct a 2020 election review and has repeatedly defended Gableman, only to see Gableman appear with Trump and Steen and endorse the latter. On election night, Vos said his handpicked investigator was an “embarrassment to this state.” Taxpayers continue to pay both Gableman and legal fees associated with the investigation.

New Running Mates

Gubernatorial candidates do not pick their lieutenant running mates, nor can current lieutenant governor Barnes run for both offices. First-time assembly representative Sara Rodriguez won a Democratic primary with 76% of the vote (at the time of publication) to join Evers on the ticket. State senator Roger Roth, with 31% of the vote, won a much more competitive Republican race.

Evers is expected to substantially ramp up his re-election campaign Wednesday morning. The first-time governor previously served as the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction and spent his entire career in public education.

“After a scorched earth primary that’s seen constant attacks and a dizzying race to the radical right, the Republican Party has chosen the most extreme and divisive nominee possible, one that will tell Donald Trump anything just to keep his endorsement. From abortion and voting rights, to gun safety and public education — Tim Michels has staked out the most extreme positions possible, with the goal of dividing our state and pitting neighbors against one another,” said Evers’ campaign manager in a statement Tuesday night.

Senate Race

Barnes will challenge Johnson, the 12-year incumbent. He announced his campaign more than a year ago and has long focused his campaign on Johnson.

The Democratic challenger easily won his primary Tuesday after his three leading challengers dropped out in recent weeks.

He focused his victory speech on protecting rights, including the right to vote and abortion rights. “Together arm and arm we will all move forward to ensure that every person, regardless of their ZIP code, gets a shot at the American dream,” said Barnes. “Unfortunately we still have one senator while still wants to take us backward.”

Kleefisch’s Downfall

It was all going exactly how Rebecca Kleefisch drew it up.

After the lieutenant governor was on the losing side of the 2018 election against Evers and Barnes, she began laying the groundwork to run against Evers in 2022 as governor.

For quite some time it looked like things were going according to plan, she had competition but was the clear frontrunner. Then Michels got into the campaign, and Trump came to his aid. Trump’s vice president Mike Pence endorsed Kleefisch.

But not even an all-out campaign by her former running mate Scott Walker could save Kleefisch’s campaign. She lost by more than 30,000 votes despite winning Republican-stronghold Waukesha County by 5,000 votes and Milwaukee County, the state’s most populous county, by 2,200 votes.

While many Republican races lately have continued to focus on overturning the 2020 presidential election, Kleefisch conceded her gubernatorial bid.

“The fight now is truly against Tony Evers, and the liberals who want to take away our way of life,” she told supporters at a campaign event.

The Republican Attorney General’s race was too close to call at the time of publication, with Eric Toney maintaining a lead over Adam Jarchow.