Tim Michels, the Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin, ripped incumbent Gov. Tony Evers over his handling of the 2020 Kenosha riots in an advertisement airing across the state.
The seven-figure ad buy features officers saying that Evers “put politics over [their] lives” when riots broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by police. Current polling averages show Evers ahead by less than half a percentage point less than a month before the election.
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“When Kenosha burned, Tony Evers fanned the flames. He blamed police. When we needed help, he refused for days. We know because we were there,” officers say in the 30-second ad that began airing across the state on broadcast and cable TV Tuesday. “Evers puts politics over our lives, over your lives. That’s why we support Tim Michels. As a veteran, Tim Michels won’t abandon us. Tim Michels will have our back and stand strong against violent crime.”
During the Kenosha riots in August 2020, Evers put out a Twitter thread critical of the police. Blake survived but was paralyzed, and during the ensuing riots, numerous businesses were burned and looted. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, shot and killed two men during the violence.
“While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country,” Evers said. “We stand with all those who have and continue to demand justice, equity, and accountability for Black lives in our country — lives like those of George Floyd, of Breonna Taylor, Tony Robinson, Dontre Hamilton, Ernest Lacy, and Sylville Smith.”
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The presidents of four law enforcement associations asked Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes to refrain from making remarks that are “premature, judgmental, inflammatory and only add to the anger and divisiveness of an already dangerous situation.”
Barnes is running for a Senate seat against incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. The Washington Examiner reached out to Evers’s campaign for comment but has not received a response.
