A few days ago, speculation swirled in media circles that Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers would not seek reelection. That was welcome news to me, as I've been an opponent of Evers since his days as Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Today, Evers confirmed he's not running for office in 2026.
🚨 BREAKING: Democrat Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers DECLINES to run for reelection in 2026.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 24, 2025
Leaving the seat OPEN for when Republicans try to take it next year.
MAKE IT COUNT, GOP! pic.twitter.com/PA891rFjPg
Evers defeated incumbent Scott Walker in the 2018 election and won again in 2022 against Republican Tim Michels. From 2009 to 2019, Evers was the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
To say I won't miss Evers is an understatement.
Tony Evers is the reason my father couldn't have a funeral in April of 2020, and his stay-at-home order was struck down by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court on May 13, 2020. The court called the order 'unenforceable' and 'unconstitutional.'
That same year, Tony Evers sat on his hands while the city of Kenosha burned, the product of BLM angst and in the wake of the police shooting career criminal Jacob Blake, who was armed with a knife and threatening a woman. Evers took to X to fan the flames of unrest, and did little to quell the fires and violence directed at police officers.
In 2023, Evers vetoed a bill passed by the state's Republican-majority legislature that would ban 'gender-affirming surgery' for minors, saying he would veto any bill that made Wisconsin 'less safe, less inclusive, and less welcoming' for LGBTQ families. Now that he's retiring from politics, he can wash his hands of all the Wisconsin kids rendered infertile and mutilated in the name of 'inclusivity.'
He also vetoed a bill that would have prohibited boys from playing in girls' sports, saying LGBTQ kids deserve support and respect. Girls in his state? Not so much. Especially not girls in the Westosha School District, where the parents of two girls filed a civil rights complaint alleging their daughters were forced to change in front of a boy and threatened with academic penalties if they didn't.
Grown women didn't fare much better under Evers' watch. He pushed legislation that would erase the word 'mother' in state law with the Orwellian phrase 'inseminated persons.' When asked to defend the indefensible, Evers imitated Kamala Harris, offering up a word salad that made no sense to anyone.
He's also pro-illegal immigration and his administration issued a memo to state employees instructing them on how to interact (read: obstruct) with ICE officers seeking to enforce federal immigration laws. Shortly afterwards, Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested for helping an illegal immigrant criminal evade ICE in her courtroom.
But his most egregious failures come at the cost of Wisconsin students and taxpayers. It was Evers who abused Wisconsin's line-item veto, codifying into the state's 2023 budget a mandatory tax increase of $325 per student for the next four centuries.
So, while the school districts will reap the benefits from the hard work of Wisconsin's residents, our students continue to struggle academically. At least 31% of Wisconsin students can't read at grade level (with some reports indicating that number is closer to 70%), and less than 50% are proficient in math. In Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the state's largest urban district, Black students are dead last in the nation in both reading and math.
One in ten Wisconsin students will also fail to graduate from high school.
In response to those alarming realities, what did Evers do? He vetoed a bill that would have raised state educational standards.
I have long been critical of the Wisconsin GOP for failing to play hardball against Governor Evers. Now they have an opportunity to nominate a candidate who can give the Republicans control of not only the state Assembly and Senate, but the governor's mansion once again.
I just hope they don't squander it.
