CONTACT: Marina Dimitrijevic, (414)255-4009

Evers and Barnes are the candidates to get Wisconsin back to work for all of us

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Working Families Party today announced their endorsement for Tony Evers in his run to beat Governor Scott Walker and serve as a leader for all Wisconsinites, not just the wealthy and powerful. Along with Lt. Governor candidate Mandela Barnes — a Wisconsin WFP Steering Committee member who also serves on the Working Families National Committee — the WI WFP board recognizes that Evers is the best candidate to fight for issues that matter to everyday Wisconsinites, like providing healthcare to all residents, ensuring the safety of the immigrant community, tackling the climate crisis, reforming the criminal justice system, and raising wages and building worker power. The Party, which had previously endorsed Evers in his race for Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin, will bring its powerful coalition and winning program of grassroots field and digital organizing to the Evers/ Barnes ticket. Through a partnership with Our Wisconsin Revolution, Working Families Party is leading a grassroots effort that has already banked more than 50,000 pledged hours of volunteer action to put boots on the ground to defeat the Walker agenda.

 

“Together, Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes are a powerful and progressive pro-working families ticket and their election will begin a new day for Wisconsin,” said Marina Dimitrijevic, state director of Wisconsin Working Families Party. “Tony has the experience to steer our state government away from the greedy policies that have imperiled working families while Mandela has the progressive ideals to bring the ticket to victory. Tony’s plans to reverse the cruel Walker cuts to public education will ensure that every child has the resources needed to succeed. And his commitment to increasing wages for working families is exactly what we need in Wisconsin to get back on track.”

 

“Tony has a real plan to make Wisconsin healthy and deliver healthcare for all. As a nurse, I know it takes a strong team to improve our state’s health and that’s why we’re uniting behind Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes,” said Candice Owley, co-chair of the Wisconsin Working Families Party Board and president of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. “Scott Walker’s eight years in office have been a disaster for working families, students, public workers, and Wisconsinites overall. We cannot afford four more years of failure.”

 

WI Working Families Party has been organizing since late 2017 to raise up a candidate who can take on Scott Walker, his donors, and cronies. Along with Our Wisconsin Revolution, the Party formed the Wisconsin’s Choice campaign, engaging voters to take on the Walker agenda, helping voters discern between candidates in a crowded field, and centering values and key issues in the gubernatorial race. The campaign succeeded, building a diverse grassroots army of activists that has committed over 50,000 hours of volunteer action to challenge Scott Walker.

 

“I’m honored to receive the endorsement of the Working Families Party in Wisconsin, a grassroots group that wins,” said Tony Evers. “We’ve seen eight long years of divide and conquer politics, and while the wealthy have gotten richer, working families in Wisconsin are struggling just to make ends meet. We need a governor who will work to create good-paying, family-supporting jobs, who will fully invest in our kids and our public education system, and who will finally put people before wealthy campaign donors and political ambitions. Wisconsin is ready for a change and a governor who will work to build an economy that works for all of us, and I look forward to fighting for working families as the next governor of Wisconsin.”

 

Wisconsin Working Families Party recently scored significant victories for progressive candidates in the August 14 primaries, including Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee County sheriff candidate Earnell Lucas, Sarah Godlewski who is the Democratic nominee for state treasurer, and Randy Bryce, who won the Democratic nomination in Wisconsin’s first congressional district. The politically potent organization made strategic primary endorsements and worked to elect progressive champions to ensure that working families Democratic candidates would be on the general election ballot to challenge Republicans and win. Wisconsin Working Families is also supporting several candidates for the state legislature.

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