Beyond granting clemency to doctors in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers says more executive action is possible in the wake of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban now in effect.

“This is a big deal for our state,” Evers said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “We’re going to do whatever we can, whether it’s executive action, whether it’s legal action, you name it. We’re going to be there.”

Evers said his administration remained briefed throughout the weekend on protests and said he received no intelligence of any violent protests planned in Wisconsin in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“I’m sure people are going to voice their way,” Evers said. “They should. But at the end of the day, I always say that violence doesn’t solve any problems, and I anticipate the people that do protest will do it peacefully.”

Evers also blasted U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. The Oshkosh Republican came under heavy criticism from Democrats this past week for being named by the Jan. 6 committee at the center of a plan to deliver a slate of false Republican electors from Wisconsin and Michigan to Vice President Pence.

Evers said he was completely unaware Wisconsin’s Republican electors privately met at the state Capitol the same day the governor and Democratic electors certified the official results.

“If I would have known that, I would have went down there and told them to get the hell out of the Capitol,” Evers said. “No idea. I have no idea how they got in, have no idea why they did what they did other than for them to frankly break the law. And no, if I had known, I would have went down there and stopped it personally.”

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Kleefisch says she doesn’t specifically support adding exceptions for rape or incest to the state’s 1849 abortion ban.

“I will stand with the 1849 law that includes the exception for the health of the mother and allow health care professionals and moms to determine what that actually looks like,” Kleefisch said.

The former lieutenant governor added she wouldn’t back calls to eliminate the sole exception in the state’s law.

“No, I think we stay with the 1849 law as it stands, which includes the exception for the life of the mother,” Kleefisch said.

The latest Marquette University Law School Poll showed Kleefisch and Tim Michels in a two-way primary battle with Michels backed by 27 percent of voters and Kleefisch 26 percent.

“Here a man running as a Republican has lobbied for years not only against us on prevailing wage reform and against us on right to work but for the exact same thing that Tony Evers stands for — indexing the gas tax to inflation,” Kleefish said referring to Michels and calling him “gas tax Michels.”

Don Millis, the new Republican chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, says he “reluctantly” agreed to return to the commission, adding “confidence in our elections seems to be at an all-time low.”

Millis, though, wouldn’t affirmatively say former President Trump lost the 2020 election in Wisconsin like his predecessor Dean Knudson said when he resigned.

“I do think there were things that occurred that shouldn’t have occurred,” Millis said. “Did that make a difference in the election? I’m not going to make any public statements about that or make any decision on that until we get to that point. I’m skeptical that the elections commission has a role in adjudicating anymore of the 2020 election, but I think for the value of maintaining confidence in the election, I think it would be unwise for me to say one way or another conclusively what I think of that in my role as the chairperson of the elections commission.”

Millis says as chair he will “do what the law requires” in certifying the 2022 results.

“The certification is a complicated process,” Millis said. “I’ve done it before. I certified the results of the 2000 presidential election, the Bush v. Gore election. That was a close election in Wisconsin. I felt it was important that all the I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed. And that’s exactly what we’ll do here. Certifying the election means that you certify the winner, and I’m not going to certify an election, a winner that I think is not the winner.”

See more from the show here.

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