During last night’s gubernatorial debate, Wisconsinites saw Governor Evers’ common sense leadership contrasted against Tim Michels’ out-of-touch, radical agenda. From evasive non-answers on topics ranging from education to public safety, to calling Wisconsinites “lazy,” Michels demonstrated that he is an unserious candidate who is unprepared to be governor.
Governor Evers demonstrated for Wisconsinites that he is committed to bringing people together with real solutions to our state’s toughest challenges. Gov. Evers stood up for reproductive freedom and touted his work for Wisconsin’s economy while detailing his plans to address rising costs and ensure public safety in his next term as governor. Throughout the debate, Wisconsinites saw that Gov. Evers will always do the right thing for our state.
See what they had to say:
On Michels’ vague answers:
- The Cap Times: “[Michels] did not offer specifics about his plan for universal school choice…”
- NBC News: “Michels did not provide any specifics behind a plan to accomplish those goals, but said he was ‘going to talk to the bad guys, if you will, on election night’ if he wins.”
- CBS 58: “On the topic of guns, Michels also said he has ‘a solution for that’ but declined to share what the solution is.”
- @AJBayatpour: “Michels acknowledges pandemic UI benefits have been cut off, but says they’re still why people are still being lazy. Michels doesn’t explain how he’d get these people to work, even when there’s no benefit to cut. Wisconsin currently has a 3.1% unemployment rate.”
- The Cap Times: Moderator Jill Geisler, the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University, pushed Michels for more specifics about his vision for the state’s ‘shared revenue formula.’ The construction magnate did not provide further details, for which Evers chided him.”
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Michels rarely directly answered the panelists’ questions.”
On education:
- @ckmcdonough: “@michelsforgov will rip apart Wisconsin public schools in Wisconsin. If you care about public education you will make sure this guy gets no where near our governor’s office. FYI his kids go to private schools in another state.”
- The Cap Times: “[Michels] did not offer specifics about his plan for universal school choice, but did not dispute the question’s premise that such a program ‘would open up private school attendance to any student at taxpayer expense.’”
On public safety:
- NBC News: “Evers said combating crime ‘isn’t just about talking tough’ but is ‘about providing the resources so that those police officers can do the job.’ On guns, Evers reiterated his support for universal background checks and ‘red-flag’ laws that remove firearms from those believed to be a danger to themselves or others, while Michels complained that the “left always just wants to take away guns.’”
- WPR: “Michels said he opposed the laws because they’d potentially let a ‘disgruntled ex’ get someone’s guns taken away. ‘The left always just wants to take away guns,’ Michels said.”
- CBS 58: “Evers reiterated his support for red flag laws and universal background checks to combat gun violence, two proposals Michels opposes.”
- @analieseeicher: “I’m a local government official. I don’t trust Tim Michels on shared revenue. I do trust Gov Tony Evers.”
- @ForOurFutureWI: “If Tim Michels is elected next month, all of the reckless Republican gun policies that Governor Tony Evers has vetoed will return & our communities will inevitably become less safe.”
On elections:
- CBS 58: “Michels, who’s endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has supported Trump’s false claims about widespread voter fraud. Michels has also previously said he wouldn’t rule out decertifying the 2020 election even though the move is legally impossible. ‘Voting rights are on this ballot,’ Evers said. ‘It’s radical to say – I’m not sure if this works out – or – fraud happened – when it didn’t happen.’”
- NBC News: “Michels claimed ‘illegal voting did happen in the last election’ despite no evidence widespread fraud occurred. Evers, on the other hand, plainly stated that ‘the last election was safe and secure and there was not fraud.’ ‘The reason that people are concerned about it is we have people like my opponent who continue to talk about massive fraud without having any idea or any specifics,’ he said.”
- @CorriHess: “Michels has previously not committed [to] certifying [the 2024] election.”
On reproductive freedom:
- NBC News: “Evers, for his part, said ‘women should have the ability and the right to make decisions about their health care, including their reproductive health care, and that includes abortion.’ He called Michels ‘radical on this issue.’”
- @kelsientaggart: “.@Tony4WI on Tim Michels’ radical anti-choice agenda:’”We have a governor saying we’re going to criminalize abortion, we’re gonna throw doctors in jail and we’re not going to have any exceptions for rape or incest.’ #ReproductiveRights are on the ballot!”
- @PPAWI: “Tim Michels has a long history with the anti-choice movement opposing abortion with no exceptions. Don’t let him fool you. He is a radical. Let’s take a look at his history:”
- @HRC_WI: “Tim Michels wants to send patients to prison for accessing abortion care, a procedure 85% of Americans think should be available to those who need it.”
On conflicts of interest:
- Wisconsin State Journal: “Evers said state rules against self-enrichment don’t really apply to him because he’s a teacher from Plymouth. ‘How do we actually know how that’s going to work?’ Evers asked of making sure Michels’ company doesn’t get state contracts if he becomes governor.”
- CBS 58: “‘I’m going to completely divest from Michels Corp. and there will be no conflict of interest,’ Michels said. But how he will do that is still unknown. Evers called his opponent’s pledge ‘fishy.’ ‘I don’t know how that’s going to work,’ Evers said. ‘Do we need to change the process so that it isn’t a problem? I’ve read it is a problem and I’m not an expert in this but I think it’s going to look kind of fishy.’”
On protecting our environment:
- @ClimatePower: “‘Instead of blah, blah here, I’m going to talk about our clean energy plan.’ @Tony4WI destroys the climate denial of @michelsforgov with facts about Wisconsin’s clean energy future.”
- PBS Wisconsin: “Michels hedged on the fact that a global rise in average temperatures is attributable to human activity. ‘There’s a lot of discussion about, has the temperature gone up? Temperature has always fluctuated throughout the history of this world,’ Michels said. ‘We can’t just say that it all happened because of man’s actions in the last 100 years.’”
- @jlemonsk: “There it is. Tim Michels isn’t sure if climate change is real. Maybe he shouldn’t be in a position of leadership.”
