Walker’s re-election bid hits bumps down stretch
Democratic challenger Tony Evers, left, is in a tight race with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Walker, whose approval rating is below 50 percent, is seeking his third term.
MILWAUKEE — Standing in front of a beer pasteurizing tank at a Milwaukee manufacturing company, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker watched as former Gov. Tommy Thompson exhorted a friendly Republican crowd to help Walker prevail in his race for a third term.
“I know the recipe works,” declared Thompson, waving his arms and wearing a bright red sweater under his suit coat. “The recipe is Scott Walker. You know, like a good chocolate chip cookie, it sort of melts in your mouth? You know it really feels good.”
But the old recipe for victory may not be working in a midterm election in which Democrats appear poised to do well across the country. Ominous polls have Walker in trouble, and he’s sounding the alarm to supporters. Democrats, after years of failure and frustration, are daring to hope that they finally may slay their political white whale.
If the one-time presidential candidate and Republican rising star loses, it would qualify as one of the bigger upsets of the midterm election because of his record in difficult situations before — winning election and reelection despite two victories in his state by Barack Obama, and turning back a 2012 recall attempt by Democrats incensed by his attack on public-sector unions.
A Walker loss to Tony Evers, the 66-year-old state education superintendent who enjoys Egg McMuffins and playing the card game euchre, also would give Democrats hope for the future in a state that Republicans have had a firm grip on for eight years.
Walker’s approval rating remains below 50 percent and President Donald Trump’s is worse, even though Trump carried the state two years ago. Critical independent voters who had favored Walker seem to be leaning Democratic. While Wisconsin’s economy is humming and polls show people believe the state is headed in the right direction, they’re also crossways with Walker on major issues that Evers is trying to exploit, including health care, education and roads.
Evers has pledged to reverse ill effects from Walker’s budget austerity, which Walker credits for boosting the economy.
“I’ve seen on the faces of our kids what the devastation of Scott Walker’s cuts to public education has done,” said Evers, a former schoolteacher and administrator, referring to $700 million in education budget cuts, some of which later was restored. “I’ve seen parents and families struggling with rising health care costs and stagnant wages.”
Walker insists he make a strong case being re-elected.
Sporting a Milwaukee Brewers warmup jacket to celebrate the team’s playoff run, he riffed at the Milwaukee rally about unemployment levels at or near record lows of 2.8 percent and the tax, budget and regulation cuts he pushed through in his two terms.
He promised money for schools.
“The people of this state don’t want to go backward,” Walker said, “they want to go forward.”
Evers has emphasized improving state services and health care, pledging to drop Wisconsin from a multistate lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. can for more