Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said Thursday he will not seek a third term in office next year, throwing open what is certain to be one of the most competitive races of the year in the nation’s preeminent battleground state.
In a video released by his office, Evers said his 50 years in public service would come to a close when his current term ends.
“I began my run for governor as a proud Plymouth progressive, and that’s still who I am today. I’m a science teacher at heart who ended up running for office and winning five straight statewide elections,” Evers said. “So, would I win if I ran a sixth time? Of course, no question about that. But whether I’d win or not has never been part of my calculus about running again.”
He called his tenure as governor “the best job I’ve ever had.”
Evers won election as the superintendent of public instruction in 2009, winning re-election in 2013 and 2017. In 2018, Evers ousted Gov. Scott Walker (R) by just under 30,000 votes out of more than 2.6 million cast. He won re-election in 2022 with 51% of the vote.
Several Republicans have already entered next year’s race, including manufacturing businessman Bill Berrien (R), who is already running advertisements, and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann (R). U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R) said this week he will make a decision about his own entry shortly, and several candidates for other office have said they will consider bids.
With his departure, Evers makes way for what could become a competitive Democratic primary. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez (D), Attorney General Josh Kaul (D), Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski (D) and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley (D) are all said to be entertaining bids.
The winners of the respective primaries will face off in a state that often features nail-biting elections. No gubernatorial candidate has won an election in Wisconsin by a double-digit margin since Tommy Thompson (R) secured a fourth term in 1998. No presidential contender has won Wisconsin’s electoral votes by double-digits since Barack Obama in 2008.
Evers, 73, served as a mild-mannered executive in a time of tumultuous politics. He ousted Walker, who inspired mass protests from labor groups made angry when he signed a bill limiting the ability of public-sector unions to collectively bargain for better wages and benefits.
Still, he often clashed with Republicans who controlled the state legislature, wielding his veto pen more than any of his predecessors.
In one memorable instance in 2023, Evers used his line-item veto to extend school funding provisions for 400 years by striking just two digits in a budget bill. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled this year that Evers’s veto would stand.