Tim Michels is making national headlines in the worst way this week after admitting he would undermine the will of Wisconsin voters in future elections.
“Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor,” Michels was caught saying at a campaign event on Monday.
Watch coverage from the Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell here.
Meanwhile, Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed over a dozen bills that would have restricted Wisconsin voters’ ability to cast their ballots.
Here’s what people are saying about Michels’ admission:
- Washington Post: “Hinting at his plans to overhaul how elections are run, the Republican running for governor of Wisconsin this week said his party would permanently control the state if he wins.”
- HuffPost: “Tim Michels, the Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin, promised a group of supporters this week that the GOP would seize permanent control of the state if he is elected in next week’s midterms.”
- Business Insider: “Wisconsin GOP candidate Tim Michels said Republicans would never lose a race in the state should he become governor, concerning opponents that he would take steps to alter election results once in office.”
- MSNBC: “The candidate’s candor did not seem accidental. It was not a slip of the tongue. As a video clip from the event shows, Michels appeared quite sincere … This was clearly an instance in which a gubernatorial candidate was referring to state elections administration — a key issue in Wisconsin — and assuring voters that he intends to create a system that ensures his party has a built-in advantage.”
- The Guardian: “Michels, a construction company owner, is endorsed by Donald Trump. He has repeated the former president’s lie that his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 was the result of electoral fraud, and refused to say if he would certify results in a presidential election if he was governor and a Democrat won Wisconsin. In a debate with Evers last month, Michels did not say he would accept the result of his own election.”
- Associated Press: “Michels, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has said that ‘maybe’ the 2020 election was stolen, giving credence to baseless claims of election fraud. Michels has also been unclear about whether he would accept 2024 results, wants to do away with the state’s bipartisan elections commission and has promised to sign a raft of bills Evers vetoed that would make it more difficult to vote absentee.”
- Hillary Clinton: “They’re looking to impose one-party rule with zero accountability to voters, and they’re not being subtle about it.”
- The Republican Accountability Project: “He’s saying the quiet part out loud.”
- Bill Kristol: “Today’s Republican Party—anti-democratic and un-American.”
- MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell: “He is promising that the next presidential election will not be fair, and he’s promising that no election in the state of Wisconsin will ever be fair again if he is elected governor. That is what is at stake in this election. To say that Republicans like [Michels] do not believe in democracy is to understate their feelings. They are actively opposed to democracy. They are enemies of democracy. They are trying to kill democracy.”
“Tim Michels finally said the quiet part out loud and admitted he’s scheming to undermine the will of Wisconsin voters to get the election results he wants,” said DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy. “There’s no longer any doubt that Michels would destroy democracy in Wisconsin.”
