Adam Fischer, Rebecca Kleefisch, Tim Michels, and Timothy Ramthun are running in the Republican primary for governor of Wisconsin on August 9, 2022. Kleefisch and Michels have received the most media attention and endorsements.
Kleefisch served as lieutenant governor under Gov. Scott Walker (R) from 2011 and 2019. Before that, she worked as a journalist in the Milwaukee area and started a marketing company. Kleefisch has focused her campaign on her experience in office during the Walker administration and said that she would reimplement several policies discontinued under Gov. Tony Evers (D). Walker, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.), 58 members of the state legislature, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (R), and former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) endorsed Kleefisch.
Michels co-owns a construction company and served in the United States Army for 12 years. Michels has campaigned as a political outsider and said he would “drain the Madison swamp.” Former President Donald Trump (R) and former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) endorsed Michels. In his statement of support, Trump said, “Wisconsin needs a Governor who will Stop Inflation, Uphold the Rule of Law, strengthen our Borders and End the well-documented Fraud in our Elections. Tim Michels is the best candidate to deliver meaningful solutions to these problems, and he will produce jobs like no one else can even imagine.”
