Democratic Governor Tony Evers and his Republican rival Tim Michels met last weekend for the first and only gubernatorial debate of the November general election. The two candidates discussed a number of topics including: attracting and retaining workers, inflation and the projected budget surplus, crime and guns, teaching about race in school, and access to abortion.
On unemployment and attracting more workers to the state, Evers said he would continue to provide municipalities with funding so they could figure out how to best attract and retain workers. Michels, for his part, said the state “created an entire class of lazy people during COVID,” and “it’s time to get them back engaged in our economy, to stop just sending them the unemployment checks.” Evers disagreed with Michels’ assessment. “I’m still trying to battle the issue of lazy Wisconsinites when we have so few people that are unemployed in the state of Wisconsin,” Evers said. Michels also stated he wanted to reform the tax code to make Wisconsin more competitive with other states.
Another notable part of the debate centered on addressing inflation and creating a plan to utilize the state’s projected $4.3 billion surplus. Evers pointed to the record surplus as a sign that his administration did the right thing during the pandemic by sending federal dollars to small businesses and family farms. Michels countered that the surplus was an indication the state had been overtaxing residents to the tune of $6 billion. Both candidates promised tax cuts for middle-class families to help with rising costs and as a way to spend down a portion of the surplus. “We’re going to lower our taxes on middle-class folks in the state of Wisconsin by 10%,” Evers said. Michels promised “massive tax reform” to “get more money in people’s pockets here in Wisconsin.”
