Republican Brad Schimel says he won’t be requesting a recount in the AG race after the county canvasses showed him falling to Dem rival Josh Kaul by 17,190 votes.
That gap, Schimel said in a statement this morning, “is definitive,” and he added he accepts “the verdict of the electorate.”
The 17,190-vote margin is 0.65 percent of the more than 2.6 million votes cast in the AG’s race — within the margin allowable under state law to request a recount, though Schimel would have had to cover the costs.
Schimel in his statement says while the campaign “could have raised the funds” to cover the cost of the recount, “the odds of finding enough votes were too narrow to justify” requesting one.
“The people of Wisconsin are good, God is great, and I accept the verdict of the electorate,” he said. “It has been an honor and privilege to serve as Wisconsin’s Attorney General.”
Kaul thanked Schimel for his service in a statement.
He also pledged to work with Gov.-elect Tony Evers to withdraw the state from its involvement in a lawsuit looking to overturn the Affordable Care Act, advocate for gun safety legislation, protect the environment and consumers and “make sure that all DNA matches that resulted from the testing of the kits in Wisconsin’s rape-kit backlog are fully investigated.”
“As your AG, I will be an advocate for all Wisconsinites,” he said.
