Michels concedes, Evers wins second term

Gov. Tony Evers won re-election Tuesday, setting the stage for the Democratic incumbent to spend another four years as Wisconsin’s chief executive.

His Republican challenger, Tim Michels, conceded the election at about 20 minutes after midnight Wednesday. With 92% of votes counted, Evers led 51% to 48% for Michels and a winning margin of roughly 77,000 votes.

“Unfortunately, the math doesn’t add up,” Michels told a disappointed crowd at his election watch party, held at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee. “I just called Gov. Evers and conceded. I wish the Evers family well.”

A few blocks away at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, a crowd of supporters for Mandela Barnes’ Senate campaign cheered as Michels’ concession speech came over the television. Barnes, meanwhile, was trailing Republican Sen. Ron Johnson by less than 40,000 percentage points.

A few minutes later, Milwaukee County supervisor Felisia Martin, on behalf of the Barnes campaign, told the crowd that the party would conclude without an announcement of the results in the Senate race, deferring that until later Wednesday morning.

“This race is far too close to call tonight,” Martin said. “There are tens of thousands of votes left to be counted. We will not silence any voice.”

She told partygoers to “keep that positive energy going, sending Mandela positive thoughts,” and added: “And who knows? Maybe by tomorrow morning we’ll be ready to declare a clear and decisive win for one of the candidates.”