‘Boring wins’: Tony Evers declares victory in Wisconsin governor race; challenger Tim Michels concedes

MADISON, Wis. — After the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history, Gov. Tony Evers has won a second term as Wisconsin’s governor.

Republican challenger Tim Michels announced at about 12:20 a.m. that he was conceding the race to Evers.

“Unfortunately, the math doesn’t add up,” Michels told his supporters early Wednesday morning. “I don’t know what we would’ve done differently. It was a very spirited effort.”

Speaking to supporters around 12:45 a.m. on the same stage where he declared victory four years ago, Evers told supporters he worked hard to keep the promises he made in 2018 and that he would always work for the people of Wisconsin.

“Over the past four years, I’ve worked hard to keep those promises and tried to do the right thing,” he said. “That’s who I am, folks. Some people call it boring, but you know what, Wisconsin? As it turns out, boring wins.”

The Associated Press called the race in Evers’ favor at 1:12 a.m. Wednesday. As of 1:20 a.m., Evers had 51% of the votes to Michels’ 48%.

The race for governor was treated as high stakes for both Democrats and Republicans, with Democrats portraying Evers as the last line of defense from total Republican control of Wisconsin, while Republicans hoped Michels would help pass the hundreds of bills Evers vetoed over the last four years.

Those stakes translated into record-breaking levels of money pouring into both sides of the campaign. By the end of October, more than $115 million had been spent on the race, breaking a record set in 2018, when $93 million was spent in the race between Evers and former Gov. Scott Walker. That total does not include the money spent by Political Action Committees that are behind many attack ads and do not have to report their activity.

RELATED: Full debate between Gov. Tony Evers, Tim Michels

Michels won the Republican nomination in August, defeating former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. Michels’ appearance on the primary ballot faced a challenge — backed by state Democrats — arguing that an address error should have invalidated many of the signatures he collected on nomination forms, which could have left Michels short of the minimum number of signatures needed to qualify.

Ultimately, the Wisconsin Elections Commission decided to allow Michels on the ballot, saying voters should decide the primary.

Michels, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump ahead of the primary, went on to defeat Kleefisch with 47% of the vote to Kleefisch’s 42%. State Assembly Rep. Timothy Ramthun finished in third place with 6% of the vote.

After the primary, polling immediately showed what was expected to be a close race between Michels and Evers, with results for the past four months showing a racing that was essentially a tossup.

An August poll from Marquette Law School saw Evers getting support from 45% of those polled, while Michels was supported by 43% with a margin of error on the polling of +/- 4.2%. A month later in September, the results were about the same, with 47% of likely voters saying they supported Evers, compared to 44% saying they supported Michels in a poll that had a margin of error of +/- 4.9%. In October, the margin tightened further, with a survey of likely voters showing a 47%-46% lead for Evers in a poll that had a margin of error of +/- 4.8%.

The final poll before Election Day, released last week, led poll director Charles Franklin to call the race a true tossup, with polling showing a 48%-48% tie with a margin of error of +/- 4.8%.

The result of the race between Evers and Michels continues a recent trend of close gubernatorial races in Wisconsin. The 2018 election between Evers and Walker was decided by 1.1%, or 29,227 votes. The 2014 election between Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke was decided by a larger margin of 5.7%.

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