Interview: Wisconsin’s former Lt. Gov. Kleefisch goes for brass ring

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Staking out a conservative platform of safety, individuality, and economic freedom, former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch announced her plan on Thursday to run for governor and unseat liberal Gov. Tony Evers.

“What we’ve seen from Tony Evers is a man who epitomizes weak leadership, and Wisconsin deserves better,” she said in an interview.

“I am a mother with two daughters, and I just want my kids to come back to Wisconsin to live their American dreams and raise their family. But just like all moms, we understand they can’t do that unless we have safe communities and we have real educational standards and we have great-paying jobs. We need safe and secure elections in the state. And there is so much more that we can and should be doing for our people,” she said.

Kleefisch, 46, was then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s deputy and now heads the 1848 Project, a conservative group named for the year Wisconsin was founded. The group recently produced a policy-rich agenda that will form the basis of Kleefisch’s campaign.

She said that hers is a “forward looking” agenda that goes further than simply building off Walker’s agenda. And a top goal, she said, will be unifying a state that has been wracked by division over COVID-19 mandates and last year’s Black Lives Matter riots.

“I have my own independent voice,” she said. “There are a number of things that I have worked on in my capacity as lieutenant governor that are individual passion projects, and I hope to unite Wisconsin over those as well because unity is going to be the key. Tony Evers has failed to unify the state and instead has served as one of the biggest dividers Wisconsin has seen in generations. It’s time for us to unite. It’s time for us to take back our state and the freedoms that we can enjoy.”

Since Wisconsin is a presidential election battleground, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are expected to play a role in both the gubernatorial and Senate races next year, and Kleefisch said she welcomes the Republican into Wisconsin.

“I hope that Donald Trump gets involved in this race, from the standpoint [that] his strong leadership is a tremendous contrast to Tony Evers’s and Joe Biden’s weak leadership,” she said.

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Then-Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, left, appears with then-President Donald Trump and his education secretary at an event.

“It has been tragic watching those mothers in Afghanistan hand their babies and toddlers to our soldiers hoping that they somehow escape and live a better life. I mean, Joe Biden’s failed. It is tragic equally to watch mothers across Wisconsin fear for their children’s future because they don’t live in an area that is safe from rioters’ violence, or they’ve been locked out of kids’ schools for a year and a half, and now, their children, because they are in some of the poorest and majority-minority school districts, have the anxiety and depression and learning loss that we have seen common with these education lockouts that Tony Evers has been a captain of. It’s tragic what he has done in this state and the failed leadership of this governor and this president. And so, Donald Trump stands in contrast to that and is representative of strong leadership in the state of Wisconsin, and I think that is a wonderful contrast,” she added.

Her announcement was long expected, and she will likely face several in the GOP primary.

Evers has been polarizing in the state. A new survey showed that 48% approve of his job, while 47% don’t.

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