MADISON, Wis. — Tonight is Governor Evers’ 2022 State of the State address. And while Governor Evers has been busy delivering for working families, Republicans have been focused on brutal internal fighting and partisan games. Election conspiracy theorist Tim Ramthun continued to vie for a Trump endorsement, and Rebecca Kleefisch and Kevin Nicholson ramped up their insults at one another.
On WSAU’s Feedback last week, Kleefisch called Nicholson an “opportunist” who will “say or do anything” to “become part of the political establishment that he claims to hate so much” [8:19]. Nicholson, meanwhile, came out against Kleefisch’s plan to make radical changes to our election system, calling it “an attempt to grab headlines” — while proposing his own unnecessary changes, in an attempt to grab headlines.
Kleefisch alluded that all this back and forth could turn the primary into “a dumpster fire,” and placed the blame on Nicholson, who “lights the matches and tosses them in” [12:04]. In all this back and forth, not a single Republican candidate running for governor is focused on solutions for the real problems that face Wisconsin. All they have to offer the state is a divisive primary for governor that is tearing their party apart.
“How can Republicans expect to run the state when their own party is turning into, as Rebecca Kleefisch calls it, ‘a dumpster fire,’” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Communications Director Iris Riis. “Wisconsinites are tired of the division and the hate coming from the GOP. Governor Evers knows that doing the right thing is more important than ‘winning’ petty political fights — that’s why he was elected by the people in 2018, and that’s why no matter who the GOP nominates, Wisconsin will elect him again in 2022.”
