While national attention has been focused on the upcoming midterm elections for U.S. House and Senate, many have overlooked state races like the Wisconsin gubernatorial election, which has been described as the most important in the nation. Republican candidate Tim Michels is surging in the polls against current Governor Tony Evers and has recently drawn level with Governor Evers in the RealClearPolitics average after trailing in recent months.
Source: RealClearPolitics
Tim Michels’ personal qualities and pro-business background provide a stark contrast to the incumbent Governor Evers. While Governor Evers spent his entire career in the public sector, Michels served for 12 years as an Army Ranger and has helped grow his family’s construction firm to more than 8,000 employees, building its new headquarters in one of the previously neglected downtown harbors of Milwaukee. However, the main reason people are flocking to Michels is because the Governor has presided over a series of failures in the state, largely resulting from his woefully inadequate response to the COVID pandemic.
In the early days of COVID, Wisconsin’s unemployment system was unable to cope and broke down completely. The education system suffered and is still suffering as a result of the lockdown, which the Governor sought to keep in place. Had it not been for the Republican-controlled legislature, the lockdown would likely still be in place. Currently, ”[w]ith respect to K-12 performance, Wisconsin ranks in the bottom 11 in reading when compared equally, is tied for last in history and civics education, and is last in math for black students.”
However, it is the increasing crime on the incumbent Democrat Governor’s watch that marks his greatest failure.
Tony Evers fanned the flames of violence, blamed police, and turned down help in Kenosha. He played politics with your lives. It can never happen again.
— Tim Michels (@michelsforgov) October 11, 2022
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As Jake Curtis describes in a recent issue of The Federalist, the incumbent’s inability to solve the problem of crime is “the defining issue in the race:”
The images of Kenosha burning following riots over the justified police shooting of Jacob Blake will be forever seared into the minds of Wisconsinites. Despite some describing it as a “dead issue,” two years later, parts of Kenosha remain boarded up. Milwaukee featured the fourth-highest murder rate increase in the country this year and is on pace to shatter last year’s record-setting murder total. Just last week a young pastor, driving to his downtown Milwaukee church at 9:00 in the morning, was killed when an out-of-control driver slammed into his vehicle. A 12-year-old girl was shot in the chest while helping her mom unload groceries in the early evening.
Cities across the state have experienced similar increases. Cities like Wausau in rural central Wisconsin have experienced a 71 percent increase in violent crime since 2010.
Even worse, violent criminals are being released under the state’s old parole statute. According to a recent report, the list of released offenders includes more than 270 murderers and attempted murderers and 44 child rapists.”
This morning I joined Meg Ellefson on WSAU to talk about the abject failures of the Evers administration's soft-on-crime and early release policies that have led to additional victims here in Wisconsin.
— Roger Roth (@Roth4Wisconsin) October 24, 2022
https://t.co/dLnkF7TjW8
The rampant crime in Wisconsin is unacceptable. It is time to bring a fresh approach and competence to the Governor’s Mansion.
To learn how you can get more involved, join RNLA’s Wisconsin Chapter for a cocktail reception in Madison with Eric Toney, Republican Nominee for Attorney General, on Tuesday, October 25th. RSVP here.