Madison, Wis. – Democratic Gov. of Wisconsin. Tony Evers in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade is expected to translate the anger over turning in votes this fall as he vows to fight a 173-year-old state abortion ban, which includes offering clemency to anyone. The doctor was convicted and prosecutors were not appointed who would enforce the prohibition.
Evers, who won the election by just more than 1 percentage point on the battlefield four years ago, told the Associated Press ahead of his appearance at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention on Saturday that abortion is leading independent voters to support him and other Democrats. to activate.
“Whenever you take half the people in Wisconsin and make them second-class citizens, I have to believe there’s going to be a reaction to that,” Evers said.
At a rally Saturday before the convention, Evers said: “I have seven granddaughters who are girls or young women. Yesterday they were made second-class citizens, and that is b———.”
The race for Wisconsin’s governor is expected to be one of the toughest battles in the country this year. This is a priority for Democrats given the importance of the swing state in the 2024 presidential election. Evers is also the only thing standing in the way of a Republican-controlled legislature. In his first term, he issued more vetoes than any other governor in modern history.
Democrats running to take on Republican US Sen. Ron Johnson will also speak at the convention in La Crosse on Sunday. Five Republicans are running for a chance to take on Evers. Wisconsin’s primary is Aug. 9.
About one thousand people attended the convention, which started on Saturday night.
Evers told the Associated Press that she believes abortion will be a winning issue for her party because polls have consistently shown that nearly 60% of Wisconsin residents support it to be legal in most or all cases.
“You can’t ignore the fact that now we have politicians who are making decisions for women and their health care,” Evers said. “So we’ll talk about it a lot.”
Evers vowed to do whatever he could to avoid the state’s abortion ban, passed in 1849, but not taking effect since the Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973. This includes supporting lawsuits to reverse it, not appointing district attorneys who will enforce it and offering clemency for doctors guilty of it.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who is up for re-election in November, reiterated at the convention Saturday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone under Wisconsin’s “backward, 19th-century abortion ban.”
Most of the indictments will come from county district attorneys, but abortion providers stopped scheduling abortions following Friday’s Supreme Court decision.
Evers, in her convention speech, referred to the Legislature’s refusal this week to lift the state’s ban on abortion, which she said is “a narrow and confusing exception to the life of a mother.”
“I don’t think a law that was written before the Civil War, or before women secured the right to vote, should be used to determine these intimate decisions on reproductive health, period,” Evers applauded. said with a rumble.
Wisconsin Republican Party President Paul Farrow said Evers’ position on abortion was only appealing to “go against the will of his activist base and the people.” He underestimated the importance of the court’s decision on the election.
“Yesterday they actually made a decision 50 years ago that wasn’t constitutional and it was implemented, so they’re doing it right,” Farrow said. “Is it bringing any change in the political landscape? People have a standard. Republicans know we are pro-life.”
In addition to abortion, Evers said his re-election campaign and message to Democrats would focus on the successes of his first term, including using federal money to fix roads and support small businesses. Evers said he would also stress what is at stake if Republicans win, “including voter suppression and the right to vote.”
Evers is a supporter of Wisconsin’s bipartisan commission that oversees the elections, but all his Republican opponents want it to be abolished. Evers also vetoed a series of bills that would make absentee voting more difficult in the state.
President Joe Biden led Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes, a result that some Republicans refused to accept, even though it led to two recounts, multiple lawsuits, an independent audit, and even one by a conservative group. Have faced review.
Republicans hope to use unhappiness about gas prices, inflation and crime to oust Evers.
No governor, who was the same party as the current president, has won an election in Wisconsin since 1990. A Marquette University Law School poll this week showed Evers slightly ahead of his Republican challengers, while Johnson was running with nearly every Democrat.
