WISCONSIN \u2014 Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced he will not be seeking a third term in 2026, creating the first open race for governor in the battleground state in 16 years.<\/p>\n
“Here\u2019s\u00a0the truth: Wisconsin, the\u00a0only thing I love more than being\u00a0your\u00a0governor is being a husband, a dad, and a grandpa.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0spent 50 years in public service.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0damn proud I devoted my entire career\u2014and most of my life\u2014to working for you,” Evers said in a video message on Thursday to share the news.<\/p>\n
“For five decades, my family has sacrificed to give me the gift of service.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0my world. And I owe it to them to focus on doing all the things we enjoy and love doing together.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0why, Wisconsin,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0announcing that I will not be running for a third term,” he continued.<\/p>\n
That two-term governor\u2019s decision leaves the field open for Democrats to enter the 2026 governor\u2019s race. It’s been historically rare that governors seek a third term, despite no term limits for the position in the state. Only former govermors Tommy Thompson and\u00a0Scott Walker attempted to do so.<\/p>\n
It will be Wisconsin\u2019s highest profile race next year, as Democrats also angle to take control of the Legislature thanks to redrawn election maps that are friendlier to the party. They are also targeting two congressional districts as Democrats nationwide try to retake the House.<\/p>\n
The Legislature has been under Republican control since 2011, and some Democrats had hoped that Evers, 73, would run for a third term to give him a chance to potentially work with a Democratic-controlled one.<\/p>\n
Evers was first elected in 2018 when he beat Walker by a little more than a percentage point.<\/p>\n
History was not on his side for a second term. In 2022, he was trying to become the first Wisconsin governor in 32 years who was the same party as the sitting president to win reelection in a midterm.<\/p>\n
Evers ran against Republican Tim Michels in that election and won<\/a>, securing a second term heading into the 2024 presidential election that placed President Donald Trump in the White House.<\/p>\n Two Republican candidates have officially entered the 2026 governor\u2019s race. Republican Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, made\u00a0his announcement<\/a>\u00a0in early May at a \u201chistoric summer kickoff cookout\u201d event in West Bend. In July, Bill Berrien<\/a>, a Whitefish Bay manufacturing businessman and Navy SEAL, said he’s running.<\/p>\n A couple other Republicans are considering a run: U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and two-time losing U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde.<\/p>\n In response to Evers’ announcement on Thursday,\u00a0WisDems Chair Devin Remiker wished the current governor the best.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Tony Evers is one of the most successful governors in our history because he has always done the right thing for the people of Wisconsin,” Remiker said.<\/p>\n He also said Democrats would “ensure Wisconsin elects a Democratic governor in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n WisGOP Chairman Brian Schimming said in a statement that Evers “saw the writing on the wall” when he made his decision Thursday.<\/p>\n “…Wisconsinites are fed up with far-left policies. While Wisconsin Democrats continue to lose the approval of voters, Republicans are already working on winning up and down the ballot,” he said.<\/p>\n This story is developing. Check back for updates.<\/p>\n The Associated Press contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WISCONSIN \u2014 Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced he will not be seeking a third term in 2026, creating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11638,2722,4,450,451,2559,3,111,28433,452,453,1745],"class_list":{"0":"post-34310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-app-local-state-politics","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-breakingnews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-local-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-rachel-ryan","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topstories","19":"tag-wisconsin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}