Tim Michels, a Construction executive who also has the backing of former President Donald Trump, managed to win the Republican nomination for the Governor’s office in Wisconsin and is now slated to go up against Democrat Governor Tony Evers, the current incumbent, in the November midterms.
Michels managed to take the victory over Rebecca Kleefisch, the former Lt. Governor of the state, along with another State Assemblyman, Tim Ramthun.
The race was officially called by the Associated Press with over 75% of the total vote finally in at 10:35 p.m. CDT. Michels was solidly in the lead by well over 20,000 votes with 47% of the overall vote. Second place was held by Kleefisch with a solid 43%, and this left 5.5% for Ramthun.
Michels showed strong performances all over the states, which were even stronger in rural areas, all while Kleefisch seemingly did a bit better in the more suburban areas such as Milwaukee and Dane counties, though Michels still performed quite competitively in those areas.
“I am running for governor because I am very concerned about the direction that the country is heading and extremely concerned about the lack of leadership from Governor Evers here in Wisconsin,” explained Michels when questioned about why he was making the gubernatorial run.
Michels was able to secure endorsements from both former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson and former President Donald Trump. Kleefisch, his main opponent, came into the race with the endorsements of former Governor Scott Walker, former Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
“Wisconsin needs a Governor who will Stop Inflation, Uphold the Rule of Law, strengthen our Borders (we had the strongest borders in history just two years ago, now we have the weakest!) and End the well-documented Fraud in our Elections,” explained Trump concerning his endorsement. “Tim is an America First Conservative who Supports our Second Amendment, Honors our Brave Law Enforcement and First Responders, and Stands Strongly against the Woke Mob trying to destroy our Country.”
Michels is an Army veteran of 12 years, who left the service as a major, and has stated that the company that he runs, Michel’s Corporation, currently employs roughly 8,000 people. He has also stated that he was quite honored to be able to secure the endorsement from Trump.
“People are tired with politics as usual, tired of career politicians, they want an outsider, they want a businessman,” Michels explained back in July. “That’s what I bring to this race.”
Throughout the campaign, Michels has claimed that he will turn Madison “upside down,” uphold the 1849 abortion ban for the state, decrease the influence of lobbying on state politics, end the Wisconsin Election Commission, and end “unmanned Ballot Boxes.” While at the debate last month, he also claimed that he would throw support behind paid family leave, which itself is a unique policy for any Republican politician.
The upcoming midterms in November as expected to be tight and this particular gubernatorial race has been marked as a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report.
