MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Tim Michels, a wealthy businessman backed by former President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary for governor of Wisconsin on Tuesday and will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a contest that could reshape the battlefield elections.
Michels defeated former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence and had the support of establishment Republicans, including the former governor. 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 only wants to focus on social issues.”
“As governor, my number one priority is taking care of the working people of Wisconsin,” Michels said.
The Evers campaign called Michels “the most extreme and divisive candidate possible, one who will say anything to Donald Trump just to keep his support.”
Both Michels and Kleefisch falsely claimed that 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 fraud allegations were also roundly rejected by the courts, including Trump-appointed judges.
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 supported opposing candidates in other swing states as they try to push the GOP in different directions. Tuesday’s results added to Trump’s winning record, following victories by his preferred candidates last week in Arizona’s governor and Senate races.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who backed Trump’s second impeachment, conceded defeat in his Washington state congressional district after being edged out in late voting by an endorsed GOP challenger by the former president. And on next Tuesday’s slate of contests, Rep. Liz Cheney, who also backed Trump’s impeachment and is the vice chair of the House panel investigating his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising 2021, faces a challenging primary race.
Those developments, combined with a 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 showdown is one of the last to be set before November’s general election, when control of the currently split 50-50 Senate is up for grabs and Democrats see Wisconsin as one of their best chances 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 pressure from the former president to decertify the 2020 results. Vos said his victory showed “you don’t have to be a sick dog of what Donald Trump says.”
Tuesday’s results have far-reaching consequences beyond Wisconsin, a state that is nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and where 2022 will be seen as a springboard for the 2024 presidential race. he will be in office for the presidential election this fall and will be able to sign or veto changes to election laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The next US governor and senator can also influence decisions on issues from abortion to education to 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 determine the course of the nation in the coming years.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday, a Trump-backed candidate won the Republican Senate primary in Connecticut, a state that has long been home to the Republican establishment. Republican National Committeewoman Leora Levy, who Trump endorsed last week, will face two-term Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal after defeating former state Minority Leader Themis Klarides, who had the support of of the state party.
Voters in Vermont, the only state that has never had a woman in its congressional delegation, chose a woman, Becca Balint, as the Democratic nominee for the state’s only 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 the retiring Patrick Leahy. And Minnesota Republicans picked Dr. Scott Jensen, a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic endorsed by the state’s GOP, to run against Gov. Tim Walz.
But the most watched races were in Wisconsin, where Trump has continued his lobbying campaign to cancel out Biden’s victory in 2020. Biden won the state by nearly 21,000 votes, four years after Trump won the state by roughly the same margin. The 2020 result 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 the election a focus of his own campaign, telling voters he is the only candidate who will stand up for democracy and “we are so 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 elections in Wisconsin and support a ban on voters having someone else deliver their absentee ballots, as well as ballot boxes located anywhere other than staffed secretarial offices.
Michels co-owns Wisconsin’s largest construction company and has promoted his work to build his family’s business. He lost his 2004 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, and has been a major donor to Republican politicians.
At a rally on Friday, Trump praised Michels as an “incredible success story.” He blasted Kleefisch as part of the “failed establishment” and also took aim at Vos. He told supporters that Michels was the best choice to defeat Evers.
Michels promised that “we will have electoral integrity here in Wisconsin.” He also said he will bring back “law and order” to Wisconsin, criticized Evers’ handling of schools and blamed Biden for rising prices.
GOP State Rep. Tim Ramthun also made a long-term bid for governor.
In his concession speech, Kleefisch said, “The fight now is really 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 labeling Johnson “self-serving” and “an out-of-touch politician” who only cares about special interests and the wealthy donors
“It’s time for a change, everybody,” said Barnes, who would be Wisconsin’s first black senator if elected. “It’s time we were represented by someone who shares our experiences.”
Johnson said Barnes was the “most radical left-wing candidate” Democrats could have chosen.
“This is a contest between radical left socialism against freedom and prosperity,” he said.
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Burnett reported from Chicago. Reporter Gretchen Ehlke contributed from Thiensville, Wis.