Here & Now

Recapping Wisconsin's 2022 Partisan Primary Election Results

Frederica Freyberg:

The midterm primaries set the stage for the battle to November 8. Winning candidates immediately pivoted to the 90-day campaign ahead of the general election. As Marisa Wojcik reports, this week’s results brought both the predicted and the unexpected.

Marisa Wojcik:

Wisconsin’s primary election left Republicans on the edge of their seat. As candidates Rebecca Kleefisch, the “establishment favorite with years of experience as Scott Walker’s lieutenant governor” and Tim Michels, the self-funded businessman vied to be the GOP nominee.

Tim Michels:

We feel like we are on a slippery slope toward socialism and it’s being cloaked behind all these other social issues. We’re going to get an outsider, a businessman and a veteran in the governor’s office.

Marisa Wojcik:

In the end, Michels prevailed, with the boost of Donald Trump support just days before the election, proving that a Republican can win the state without the full backing of the Milwaukee suburbs.

Rebecca Kleefisch

I’ve conceded this race to Tim Michels and I urge you all to stay in the fight because the fight now is truly against Tony Evers, and the liberals who want to take away our way of life.

Marisa Wojcik:

The Democratic nominee and incumbent, Tony Evers, with no primary opponent saw an easy slide into the general election and was joined by his new running mate for lieutenant governor, Sara Rodriguez, ready for the road ahead against Michels.

Tony Evers:

He’s not an outsider. He’s not an insider, and he can wear a blue shirt so that he can have a blue collar but at the end of the day, I’m not quite sure someone of his status with houses all across the country could say I’m just one of you because there’s not many of him like that in the state of Wisconsin.

Marisa Wojcik:

Mandela Barnes opting for a run at U.S. Senate instead of another term as Evers’ lieutenant governor traversed a crowded primary field but sailed to a smooth victory after his opponents dropped out a week before the election.

Mandela Barnes:

It’s time for us to be represented by people who actually share our experiences. And while Ron Johnson continues to stack the deck against us, I’m here to tell you we are not going to give up.

Marisa Wojcik:

Barnes will take on incumbent Ron Johnson, who is running for his third term. Johnson acknowledged his general election opponent on Twitter saying this is a contest between radical left socialism versus freedom and prosperity. It will also pit the lies and distortions of Democrats and the media versus the truth. In what may have been the most surprising near upset of the night, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos narrowly won his primary in Racine County, after Adam Steen, another Trump-backed candidate, challenged the GOP leader to a seat he’s held for 17 years. Steen was also endorsed by Michael Gableman, the former state Supreme Court justice whom Vos hired to further investigate the 2020 elections in Wisconsin. Gableman’s million-dollar investigation has yielded no proof of election fraud or misconduct and Gableman himself is being sued for the handling of public records in his investigation. Vos was quick to fire back at his special counsel.

Robin Vos:

Mike Gabelman is an embarrassment to the state.

Marisa Wojcik:

In the Republican attorney general race, Eric Toney beat Adam Jarchow by less than a percentage point and will take on Democrat Josh Kaul. In Wisconsin’s competitive third congressional district, Brad Pfaff beat out Rebecca Cooke and Deb McGrath in the Democratic primary and now moves on to challenge Republican Derrick Van Orden in the fall.