A Marquette University poll released Wednesday continues to show a tight contest in the race for Wisconsin governor. The two candidates, Democratic incumbent Gov. Tony Evers and Republican challenger Tim Michels are tied at 48 percentage points.
Evers and Michels have criss-crossed the state making late pitches to Wisconsin voters, including many stops in the Milwaukee area.
For example:
About 20 members of the Carpenters Union worked a phone bank on a recent late afternoon at the labor group's offices in Pewaukee. They were dialing out to men and women in the building trades, urging support for Gov. Evers. Union Business Representative Jonathan Abraham was one of those making calls.
Abraham said the Carpenters are very busy at job sites across the area, including with downtown Milwaukee projects like the expansion of the convention center. He views Evers as someone who will keep the jobs coming.
"We base our politics strictly on carpenter economics. And, Tony Evers, Gov. Evers, has a proven track record of supporting the Carpenters, our way of life—our wages and benefits. And, we want to see him continue that position in office because that's who we can count on," Abraham told WUWM.
Michels is a construction company executive who said his family's corporation now employs 8,000 people. But Abraham said there are too many question marks about the Republican's view of organized labor.
Evers visited the phone bank and thanked the Carpenters.
"It is really cool that you're out here doing this tonight. Calling people, I know, is a pain in the backside. But you do make a difference. This is where close races are won and lost. Ours is going to be close, obviously. We're a purple state," Evers said.
Evers promised the Carpenters that he would try to end the state's so-called right-to-work law, passed when Republican Scott Walker was Governor, that allows private sector workers to decide whether to pay union dues. Labor groups view the law as union-busting.
Evers also vowed to fight another Walker-era policy that ended the state's prevailing wage law, which required employers to pay workers on public construction jobs the hourly wage and benefits paid to most workers in a county.
Walker has recently endorsed Michels despite Michels defeating Walker's former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in the August GOP primary.
Michels has also been campaigning many places in Southeastern Wisconsin.
Chants of "Let's Go Tim!" pleased the Republican when he visited a GOP headquarters in West Allis. There, WUWM asked for Michels' views about organized labor. He responded as he occasionally does by talking about conversations he said he's had.
"Everywhere I go, I have people come up to me, men and women, and they say, 'Hey Tim, you know what, I'm in the union. I'm a steamfitter. I'm an operating engineer. You know what, I'm going to vote for you, and a lot of guys, almost 90% of the people at work are going to vote for you.' Why? They've been told their whole lives to go vote, and they're going to vote, and they've been told their whole lives to go vote for Democrats. But they say, 'You know what, Tim? The Democratic Party has left me. Now, it's all about the acronyms. It's all about LGBTQ, CRT, BLM,'" Michels told the crowd.
For those who aren't familiar, the acronyms, respectively, stand for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, as well as Critical Race Theory, and Black Lives Matter. Conservatives commonly poke fun at those acronyms, saying the people and ideas represented are out of the mainstream in Wisconsin.
Among the well-wishers at the Michels event was Menomonee Falls resident Mary Witte, who works as a manufacturer's representative for products like power tools and chemical sprays. Witte said she's often at construction job sites, and fears the state's education system is not doing a good job of preparing younger people for the building trades.
"Not everybody's gauged to go to college. If we can't get kids into the trades because they can't do basic math and fractions, they can't be successful. That's my motivation for being here today for Tim Michels," Witte told WUWM.
Michels most frequently-mentioned fix for the school system is taxpayer-funded vouchers for any student, allowing more to attend private schools.
