Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ announcement that he won’t run for reelection next year has left a vacuum both parties are eager to fill.
The two-term governor was one of Democrats’ most popular state politicians in Wisconsin, a state they may face headwinds in since it voted for President Donald Trump in 2024. Republicans are more than aware of that, and thrilled to see Evers go.
“Gov. Evers would have been a strong candidate for reelection. Republicans would have had to work exceptionally hard to beat him,” a Republican strategist in the state told NOTUS.
Not having to run against the incumbent Democrat’s relative popularity — but retaining the ability to attack his record – has left a wide-open race that the state’s conservatives hope to capitalize on.
That includes the state Republican party, which was also feeling bullish after the news.
“Tony Evers saw Democrats’ polling numbers and is running for the hills,” the party posted on X. “Wisconsin will be electing a Republican Governor next year.”
Sabato’s Crystal Ball downgraded Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race to “toss-up” from “tilt Democrat” in light of Evers’ announcement. But both parties share a similarity right now: the lack of an heir apparent.
Democrats were waiting to take their cues from Evers: Less than 24 hours after his announcement, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez had announced her candidacy. In her announcement video, she called Trump a “maniac” and pointed to her experience in government.
Tony Evers saw Democrats’ polling numbers and is running for the hills. Wisconsin will be electing a Republican Governor next year. https://t.co/960Bx8T8Wm
— Wisconsin GOP (@WisGOP) July 24, 2025
Other potential Democratic candidates in the mix include Attorney General Josh Kaul; Milwaukee County’s executive, David Crowley; Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson; and state Sen. Kelda Roys. Former state Democratic party Chair Ben Wikler declined to address whether he might run for governor to The New York Times.
“I think that primaries are a healthy exercise within democracy and within our party,” current Democratic state party Chair Devin Remiker said on a local Wisconsin TV show. “I think it’s going to produce a stronger nominee, and I think that at the end of the day, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, our candidates, are going to have the resources that we need to compete up and down the ballot next year.”
Among Republicans, Bill Berrien, a Navy SEAL veteran and manufacturing executive is already running, making the case that he is “an outsider and a businessman, like President Trump” in his campaign announcement video. Washington County’s executive, Josh Schoemann, is also in the race, a candidate from one of the critical “WOW” counties. He has described himself as “Wisconsin nice” and has said his style is “very different” from Trump.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents a safe-red seat and previously served in the state Legislature, is also considered a potential candidate. He passed on challenging Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2024 but has flirted with the idea of running for governor, and has told reporters he would decide later this summer.
Asked for comment, Tiffany’s team referred NOTUS to his public statement that said Evers “leaves behind a legacy of decline.” His attacks on the governor continued into Monday, when he posted on X about how “Tony Evers ran Wisconsin into the ground.”
In a statement to NOTUS, Schoemann said he “won’t be outworked at any point between now and November 2026.”
“Whatever Democrats that line up to run will be more of the same status quo but even more extreme than Gov. Evers. I look forward to contrasting my record of cutting taxes, reducing government and innovative reforms with their woke, radical agenda,” Schoemann said.
Most of the other candidates and prospective candidates did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.
“If you were a Republican looking at this race, you might have thought, ‘Well, it’s a bit of a long shot against an incumbent governor who’s fairly popular, but I think I can topple that.’ Now with Evers out, I think every Republican would think, ‘Hey, I’ve got at least as good a chance as any of these Democrats that are being talked about,’” said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll.
Still, Republicans have no reason to believe they can walk right into the governor’s mansion. They have struggled recently in statewide elections in Wisconsin, despite the state’s purple hue (though one of the state’s senators, Ron Johnson, is a Republican). Trump’s victory in November has not necessarily translated to other races, either. Republicans saw their preferred candidate lose the state Supreme Court election in April by double digits.
Democrats don’t have any guarantees either, though. The state elected Baldwin and Trump on the same ballot, gubernatorial races have had close margins and while Wisconsin sent former President Joe Biden to the White House in 2020, it has also gone for Trump twice.
One thing that is for certain is that everyone is expecting a crowded primary. In 2018, Evers emerged as the Democratic nominee from an eight-person primary. Replacing him will, in all likelihood, require the next Democratic and Republican nominees to pull off a similar feat.
“Over the course of the next 12-plus months, these folks will build the name recognition that will lead to an election success,” Franklin said. “But most of them will lead to a failure.”