Tony Evers celebrated his victory after winning a second term as Wisconsin governor early Wednesday morning by telling his supporters that some people called him boring during the campaign, but he said it didn’t matter.
“You know what Wisconsin? As it turns out, boring wins,” Evers said.
Evers comfortably beat Republican Tim Michels, grabbing 51% of the vote.
Evers said Democrats “showed up” on Election Day.
“You showed up for reproductive rights and the freedom for you and your neighbors to make their own health care decisions,” the governor said during his victory speech. “You showed-up for our kids, our educators, and our public schools…You showed up for LGBT folks and trans kids who want to be safe and who they are in our state. You showed up for conservation, for clean energy, to take climate change seriously, and a future that doesn’t treat protecting our environment and good-paying jobs like they are mutually exclusive.”
Michels’ concession speech was brief, more of an acknowledgement that “the math doesn’t add up.”
“In hindsight looking back I don’t know what we would have done differently. It was a very spirited effort,” Michels told his supporters. “But it wasn’t our night tonight.”
Evers is the first Wisconsin governor in nearly 30 years to be re-elected while his party sits in the White House.
He won thanks in part to a huge voter turnout in Dane County. Election managers there said nearly 90% of voters cast a ballot.
But Evers also picked-up votes in traditional Republican strongholds. Michels got fewer votes in many WOW county communities than Scott Walker did four years ago.
Evers’ victory did not come cheap.
Wisconsin’s race for governor was the most expensive in the nation, with a total price tag of at least $115 million.
Evers was not the only Democrat to win statewide, however. Late numbers gave Josh Kaul a win in the race for Wisconsin Attorney General. Those same numbers also showed Doug LaFollette winning another term as Secretary of State.
Earlier vote counts had Republicans winning both of those seats.
