Dana Wachs becomes second Democrat this week to leave governor's race

Molly Beck | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Rep. Dana Wachs is the second Democratic candidate in as many days to drop out of the race to unseat Gov. Scott Walker.

Wachs' departure comes a day after Milwaukee businessman Andy Gronik exited the race — both candidates had struggled to connect with voters despite running campaigns since last summer and registered low support among voters in a Marquette University Law School poll released this week.

In announcing his departure from the race, Wachs endorsed state schools Superintendent Tony Evers who leads the pack of eight Democrats heading into an Aug. 14 primary, according to the poll released Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gronik announced Friday he was endorsing former Rep. Kelda Roys.

The poll found just 2% of Democratic voters surveyed supported Wachs, and 4% supported Gronik.

"Now is the time for unity," Wachs said in a statement. "(Evers) is a good man and a tireless advocate for our schools, workers, and families."

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And Gronik said, "We need to choose the candidate that will beat Scott Walker in November. I believe that candidate is Kelda Roys, and I strongly encourage everyone to check out her campaign now.”

The poll showed Evers leads the field with 25%; attorney Matt Flynn, liberal activist Mike McCabe and Madison Mayor Paul Soglin had 7%.

State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma had 5%, state firefighters union head Mahlon Mitchell had 4%, Roys had 2% and attorney Josh Pade had 1%.

Though Gronik and Wachs urged Democrats to clear the field for one candidate, there are no signs that will happen any time soon. The pair endorsed different contenders, and the remaining candidates said they weren't leaving the race.

"We're in it all the way through," said Kirsten Allen, a spokeswoman for Mitchell.

"No way! We're going to win!" a spokeswoman for McCabe said. And Brian Evans, spokeswoman for Roys, said, "We're in it to win it!"

Soglin, Flynn and Pade also don't have plans to exit the race, they said Friday. Vinehout said she is "in the race to stay."

"'Undecided' is now leading. There are 53 days to persuade," Vinehout said, referring to the percentage polled who didn't know which candidate in the Democratic field they would support.

Evers said a key to beating Walker would be to "consolidate efforts" behind one candidate, but also added he would never ask anyone to drop out.

"I take nothing for granted," Evers said. He said his campaign will be running television ads this summer.

Walker in a series of tweets doubled down on a new message that he is an "education governor" — a campaign that could become central to a race against Evers, who has overseen the state's 422 school districts since 2009.

Proud to be the Education Governor in Wisconsin. — Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) June 22, 2018

Earlier this week, Walker released a television ad featuring a Racine teacher touting the effects of Walker's Act 10 legislation that allowed school boards to spend less money on teachers' health care and pension costs by effectively eliminating collective bargaining.

He also set a goal of raising the high school graduation rate by nearly 3 percentage points in four years. The rate is currently the same as it was four years ago.

Evers, who has been at odds since Walker was elected over Walker's education policies, dismissed Walker's campaign focus on education, citing Walker's first budget, which cut nearly $800 million from public school funding.

"He spent his early part of his career as governor taking money away from schools and demonizing the people who worked in them," Evers said. "His credibility in the education world is shot. Just because he says it doesn't mean that he is."

Brian Reisinger, spokesman for Walker, pointed out Evers supported Walker's most-recent state budget, which included $649 million in new funding for schools.

"The problem for the far-left Democrats running for governor is that they were for it before they were against it — claiming for years to want more money for education, then opposing Scott Walker at all costs, even when he puts more actual dollars into education than ever before," he said.