“I’m voting for Governor Evers because I’m voting for our democracy, for our economy, and our country.”
MADISON, Wis. — In case you missed it, a bipartisan group of Wisconsin business leaders are out with an ad endorsing Governor Evers for protecting our democracy and our economy. While Tim Michels refuses to commit to accepting the results of the November election and certifying future elections, Governor Evers has pledged to always uphold our democratic ideals and respect election results.
Several of the business executives are Republicans, but have chosen to vote for the governor because they know that Gov. Evers is the only candidate who will protect the “sanctity of the vote.” One of the executives said, “We know that a vibrant economy needs a healthy democracy.”
Watch the full ad here and read more below about how business leaders trust Gov. Evers to uphold democracy in Wisconsin.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Business execs praise Evers for pledging to accept election results
A group of Wisconsin business executives is praising Gov. Tony Evers as the only candidate for governor who has pledged to accept the November election results — and certify the winner of the 2024 presidential election — after those results are verified.
A digital ad launched Thursday by Project Democracy PAC urging people to vote for Evers because he vowed to accept election results features Republican and Democratic business officials. They include: Anoop Prakash, an automotive industry executive, former George W. Bush appointee and U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Whitefish Bay; David Irwin, a technology industry executive from Brookfield; Elizabeth “Betsy” Brenner, the former president and publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and John Florsheim, a footwear industry executive from Shorewood.
“We are job creators, Democrat and Republican alike,” Irwin says in the ad.
“We know that a vibrant economy needs a healthy democracy,” Brenner adds.
The four execs featured in the ad, who are members of a group named Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy, note that they asked the candidates to commit to a series of pledges.
Those pledges include: accepting the outcome of the 2022 Wisconsin gubernatorial election once results are verified by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, refraining from “knowingly propagating falsehoods about the electoral process,” vetoing any measures approved by the Legislature to decertify the 2020 presidential election results in Wisconsin, and certifying the state’s 2024 election results.
While Evers agreed to the pledges outlined in the letter, Michels didn’t answer, they said.
“I have never voted for a Democratic governor before,” Prakash said in the ad.
“This will be the first time I have voted for a Democrat for governor,” Irwin added.
The group, which cited concerns about threats to democracy when it was formed in August 2021, said it was a “six figure digital ad campaign,” but did not provide a specific dollar amount for the ad buy.
Michels spokeswoman Anna Kelly didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Michels, a construction executive who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has signaled his support for attempting to decertify the 2020 election, an illegal move that has been promoted by Trump despite it being impossible.
He has previously declined to say whether he would certify Wisconsin’s 2024 presidential election results if Trump makes another run for the White House and again loses the key battleground state.
Project Democracy’s website shows it has primarily backed Democrats, but it has endorsed at least one Republican, Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
