BUTLER, Wis. — Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch officially joined the 2022 race for governor and kicked off her campaign with an event at Western States Envelope & Label in Butler Thursday.
Kleefisch promised to build a stronger Wisconsin while she and her supporters called current Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' leadership disastrous. Here are three priorities that are a part of her campaign platform:
Kleefisch accused Gov. Tony Evers of “siding with rioters” in her campaign launch video, and not doing enough to prevent and stop civil unrest in Kenosha during the violence that ensued after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot by Kenosha police.
“Communities burned as peaceful protests turned into civil unrest and outright riots. Students were kept out of classrooms, parents kept out of work, where was Tony Evers?” State Sen. Julian Bradley (R-Franklin) asked the crowd of Kleefisch supporters Thursday.
Kleefisch vowed to stand with law enforcement to keep communities safe by hiring and putting more cops on the streets and deploying them to high crime areas. She also pledged to ban sanctuary cities, which protect undocumented immigrants from deportation and prosecution.
Kleefisch said Wisconsinites should know their vote counts. Gov. Evers recently vetoed several bills passed by Republican lawmakers that would have imposed new restrictions on absentee ballots. Legislative leaders touted the bills as a step toward making elections “accurate, transparent, and secure,” but Republicans lack the votes to override Evers' veto.
During her campaign launch rally in Butler Thursday, Kleefisch pledged to sign those bills into law if she is elected.
“We need to elect a new conservative governor because I've said it before; we will pass those bills again,” Kleefisch said. “The new governor will sign those bills, and she will sign them on day one.”
Kleefisch also said she will fight for students and parents. In her campaign launch video, she vowed to keep schools open amid the COVID-19 pandemic, raise academic standards to make up for lost classroom time, and ensure tax dollars go directly to classrooms. Kleefisch also wants to expand school choice vouchers, so parents can more easily choose where to send their children.
Meanwhile, Democrats are dubbing Kleefisch “Radical Rebecca” and said her agenda is extreme and dangerous for Wisconsin.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler held a call with reporters after Kleefisch's announcement Thursday and said she wants to drag Wisconsin back to the failed days of the Scott Walker era.
“From spreading misleading information about COVID-19 and vaccines to buying into conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and using inflammatory rhetoric that doesn't represent our Wisconsin values, Rebecca Kleefisch proudly stood with Scott Walker as their administration made devastating attacks on public education and on teachers, which led to a historic teacher shortage that continues to this day,” Wikler said. “She hurt our students and exacerbated inequality between rich and poor school districts.”