The Capitol Report, produced by WisPolitics.com — a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics — provides a weekly analysis of issues being debated in Wisconsin state government. It is underwritten by the WNA and produced exclusively for its members. WisPolitics.com President Jeff Mayers is a former editor and reporter for the Associated Press and a former political writer for the Wisconsin State Journal.
• Download this column as a Word document
• Download the WisPolitics.com logo
With early voting underway and Election Day nearing, national surrogates are flooding into Wisconsin to drive turnout for nationally important governor and U.S. Senate races.
The biggest name: former Democratic President Obama, who was due in Milwaukee on Oct. 29, to help Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, Evers’ lieutenant governor.
No word as of Oct. 26 as to whether Donald Trump will come back to Wisconsin for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels. Trump boosted the construction executive to a GOP primary victory in August with a late campaign rally.
Other high-profile Democrats set to appear in Wisconsin: U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, to be in Madison on Oct. 28, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, officially a Vermont independent, who has set rallies in Madison, Eau Claire and La Crosse on Nov. 4 and in Oshkosh on Nov. 5.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin at a rally for Michels on Oct. 26 said the governor’s race will have “dire consequences” for the state if Evers is reelected, calling Evers and other Democrats “agents of chaos.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ripped Michels at a Madison rally the same day and accused Michels of having “crawled into bed” with election deniers and conspiracy theorists.
In Waukesha, Youngkin spoke alongside U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, and Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, as well as state Senate candidate Rob Hutton.
“At this time in the nation, the whole country is standing up and recognizing that Tony Evers, that Joe Biden, that Nancy Pelosi — they are agents of chaos,” Youngkin said. “They are agents of chaos. Everything they touch, they make worse.”
RELATED: Read more Capitol Report columns from WisPolitics.com
Youngkin cited issues such as crime, inflation, border security and fentanyl spreading through communities.
Evers spokesperson Sam Roecker slammed Youngkin and Michels as “two East Coast, radical politicians that are out of step with Wisconsinites” on issues such as funding public education and abortion.
“Instead of coming up with common-sense solutions for the challenges facing Wisconsin, Michels is continuing to campaign with divisive politicians whose radical ideas mirror his own,” Roecker said. “Wisconsinites want a leader who will bring people together — Michels’ agenda for Wisconsin would only further divide our state.”
Youngkin said while Democrats might think an Evers’ win is in the bag, they will eventually realize it isn’t and “bring everything they’ve got” against Michels.
“That’s when your work has to be the toughest. You got to knock doors, you got to make phone calls. Every head should have a hat, every yard should have a sign, every car should have a bumper sticker,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin called on Michels’ supporters to find 10 friends and make them promise to vote, an effort he called “10 for Tim.”
“It is not about Republicans versus Democrats, this is about Wisconsin’s future coming together, coming together to elect Tim your next governor,” Youngkin said.
Michels in his remarks slammed Evers’ record on crime and education.
Crime has been a key issue in the governor’s race as Michels has repeatedly criticized Evers for his response to the Kenosha protests in 2020 and paroles by the state Parole Commission.
“Joe Biden and his liberal cronies in Washington, D.C., Tony Evers’ little cronies in Madison, they want to coddle criminals and I believe that they like having weak law enforcement,” Michels said.
On education, Michels blamed Evers’ for test scores he said aren’t where they should be and said he would put parents in charge of their children’s education.
“He’s been an educational leader his entire life. If he can’t do education well, I maintain he can’t do anything well and it’s time to fire him as governor,” Michels said.
At a rally on the UW-Madison campus, Warren blasted Michels and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, as “extremists.”
The Massachusetts Democrat touted Evers as a defender of democracy, access to abortion, the planet and the economy before laying into his opponent. She called this election a “monumental fight for the future of Wisconsin and the future of our nation.”
“Wisconsin, America turns to you,” she said. “And when there is this much at stake, we can whimper, we can whine, or we can fight back. Me, I’m in this to fight back.”
She blasted Michels for voicing support for the state’s 1849 abortion ban and Republican-authored election bills Evers vetoed last session.
“Tim Michels crawled into bed with the election deniers, and the conspiracy theorists, and offered to use his office to undermine our democracy,” she said.
Evers, his running mate Rep. Sara Rodriguez, D-Brookfield, Attorney General Josh Kaul, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Madison-area U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, and state Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, spoke ahead of Warren.
Warren also slammed Johnson for co-sponsoring federal abortion bans, voting against capping insulin costs and proposing to switch Social Security and Medicare from mandatory to discretionary spending.
“Ron Johnson is for Ron Johnson and for extremist Republicans, and he wants a partner in the governor’s office,” she said.
Evers knocked Michels on abortion and election issues before criticizing his stance on laws.
“Michels does not believe in any sort of gun safety issues, whether it’s red flag laws or universal background checks,” he said. “He wants to actually sign a bill to allow people to carry a loaded gun on a public school playground.”
For more, go to www.wispolitics.com
The Capitol Report is written by the editorial staff at WisPolitics.com, a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics, and is distributed for publication by members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
Copyright © WisPolitics.com
