Trump return to Wisconsin is first since revelations he downplaye...

Molly Beck and Patrick Marley | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Wisconsin voters picked Republicans again and again over the last decade in statewide races except when it came to Tony Evers.

Evers won four elections in a row — as education chief before the GOP wave of 2010 and after Donald Trump in 2016 became the first GOP presidential candidate to win the state in 30 years.

Now as the state's top Democrat, the governor is warning his party's presidential candidates to avoid moving too far to the left.

"People in Wisconsin value pragmatism," Evers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a recent interview. "The only caution I would give any candidate who wants to win Wisconsin is they can't dig a hole too deep they can't get out of on certain issues."

"I think they're treading lightly around that so we'll see how that plays out."

Evers said a liberal candidate could win Wisconsin in the general election, but it would have to be someone who appeals to moderates on issues like education, infrastructure and health care.

"That's where elections are won or lost," he said. "I think a liberal can win but they have to be conversant and show the moderates of the state they can win."

He said candidates are recognizing that by showing how liberal ideas could be implemented. As an example, he cited Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's plan to roll out a phased-in "Medicare for All" program that might be palatable to Wisconsin voters.

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"She's talking about it in terms that I think people will find more realistic — not just flipping a switch, and I think that helps," Evers said.

Recent polling by the Marquette University Law School shows most Wisconsin voters support a national health plan at 51%. The idea also has a healthy opposition — at 42%. Just 7% of those polled didn't know what they thought about the idea.

And the statewide success U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin also seen suggests Wisconsin voters support a more sweeping health care proposal than those put forward by much of the Democratic field.

Baldwin, who won a seat in the Senate in 2012 over one of the state's most popular governors and was re-elected by 11 points in 2018, introduced the Medicare For All Act with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this year.

Warren's plan implements a government-run single-payer health system through a series of bills and executive orders that first expands public health insurance coverage and implements the new system within three years.

The plan takes longer to put in place than one offered by Sanders but is a more sweeping health care change than proposals from the field's more moderate candidates, such as former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Evers on Trump impeachment

Evers avoided weighing in on the impeachment of Trump and whether he should be removed from office, saying he trusts the conclusions of lawmakers in both houses of Congress.

Evers said that though Trump's now-infamous call with the Ukrainian president sounded "damning," he hasn't paid much attention to the impeachment of Trump over tying military aid for Ukraine to receiving information from the country's intelligence officials about Trump's political rivals.

The governor said he doesn't know how he would have voted if he were in the House.

"I didn't follow it enough so I don't know how I would have voted but I trust the process and even though it was clearly partisan, if the majority party decided it was time to impeach, then I would agree with that. But it's certainly not something I've focused on," Evers said.

Evers also said if the Senate chooses not to convict Trump, he'd support that, too.

"I believe in the democracy, absolutely," he said.

Evers also said he hasn't yet decided whether he'll seek another term as governor — a job that has been defined so far by gridlock with Republicans.

Evers told the Journal Sentinel he'll decide whether to seek a second term closer to the 2022 election, when he could run for re-election.

"I haven't made up my mind on that yet," Evers said in an interview. He said a key factor will be: "Am I still having fun?"

When asked whether he was indeed having fun, Evers said, "I am having fun ... even with all of the folderol."

"I have good times in this building but I think the most helpful for me as governor is to actually get out and talk to people," he said. "It reminds me that people in Wisconsin aren't as polarized as what plays out here in the Capitol."