Tony Evers

Tony Evers
Born	Anthony Steven Evers 5 11, 1951
Birthplace	Plymouth, Wisconsin, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, educator
Known for	46th Governor of Wisconsin
Education	University of Wisconsin–Madison (BA, MA, PhD)
Children	3
Website	[[evers.wi.gov evers.wi.gov] Official site]

Anthony Steven Evers (born November 5, 1951) is an American politician and educator who has served as the 46th governor of Wisconsin since January 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Evers built a career spanning decades in public education before entering the state's highest executive office. Born and raised in Plymouth, Wisconsin, he earned three degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and worked as a teacher, principal, and district superintendent before serving as Wisconsin's 26th superintendent of public instruction from 2009 to 2019. Evers won the governorship in 2018 by defeating incumbent Republican Scott Walker and was reelected in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tim Michels. As governor, Evers has frequently employed his veto power—more than any governor in Wisconsin history—in response to legislation advanced by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature. His tenure has been defined by ongoing negotiations and tensions with the legislature on issues including taxation, education funding, environmental policy, and health care. In July 2025, Evers announced that he would not seek reelection in 2026, marking the approaching end of a political career rooted in decades of service to Wisconsin's public institutions.

Early Life

Anthony Steven Evers was born on November 5, 1951, in Plymouth, Wisconsin, a small city in Sheboygan County. He was raised in Plymouth and attended local schools. Evers grew up in a working-class community in eastern Wisconsin, and his early experiences in the state's public school system shaped his lifelong commitment to education. His background in small-town Wisconsin informed much of his later policy focus on ensuring equitable access to educational resources across the state's diverse communities.

Little detailed public information is available about his parents and family life during childhood, though records indicate his roots in the Plymouth area were deep. An obituary published in the Sheboygan Sun references family connections in the region.

Education

Evers attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, followed by a Master of Arts degree, and ultimately a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). His doctoral studies focused on education, consistent with his career trajectory in public school administration. The University of Wisconsin–Madison, the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System, provided Evers with both the academic credentials and the professional network that would underpin his career in Wisconsin education policy. His extensive academic preparation—culminating in a doctoral degree—distinguished him among Wisconsin's education leaders and later among candidates for statewide office.

Career

Early Career in Education

After completing his education, Evers entered the field of public education in Wisconsin. He worked initially as a classroom teacher before moving into school administration. Over the course of his career in K–12 education, Evers served in progressively senior roles, including as a school principal and, subsequently, as a district superintendent. His administrative career gave him direct experience with the operational and policy challenges facing Wisconsin's public school districts, from budgeting and staffing to curriculum standards and special education compliance.

These years of hands-on experience in public schools became a central element of Evers's public identity and political campaigns. He frequently cited his background as an educator and administrator when advocating for increased state investment in public education.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Evers first sought the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1993 but was unsuccessful. He ran again in 2001 and lost a second time. Following his 2001 defeat, Evers was appointed to the position of deputy superintendent of public instruction, a role he held from 2001 to 2009. In this capacity, he helped oversee the operations of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and gained statewide visibility on education issues.

In 2009, Evers ran for superintendent of public instruction for a third time. On this occasion, he won the election and succeeded Elizabeth Burmaster as the 26th superintendent. The position of superintendent of public instruction in Wisconsin is a nonpartisan, statewide elected office responsible for overseeing the state's public school system. Evers served under Governors Jim Doyle and Scott Walker during his time as superintendent.

Evers was reelected to the superintendent position in 2013 and again in 2017, serving a total of nearly ten years in the role. During his tenure, he was responsible for implementing state and federal education standards, distributing state education funding, and overseeing accountability measures for Wisconsin's public schools. His time as superintendent coincided with significant political battles over education policy in Wisconsin, particularly during Governor Walker's tenure, which saw reductions in state education funding and the expansion of school voucher programs. Evers was a vocal critic of several of Walker's education policies, setting the stage for his eventual gubernatorial campaign.

2018 Gubernatorial Campaign

In August 2017, Evers announced his candidacy for governor of Wisconsin in the 2018 election, challenging incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker. The Democratic primary was crowded, with eleven candidates competing for the nomination. Evers won the primary in August 2018, receiving approximately 41% of the vote and defeating ten other Democratic candidates.

The general election was closely contested. Walker, who had served as governor since 2011 and had survived a recall election in 2012, was considered vulnerable due in part to criticism of his education policies and other aspects of his record. Evers campaigned on a platform emphasizing increased investment in public education, expansion of Medicaid, and a more collaborative approach to governance. He defeated Walker by a margin of approximately 1.1 percentage points, making Walker only the second sitting governor in Wisconsin history to lose a reelection bid.

Lame-Duck Legislation Controversy

Following Evers's election victory in November 2018 but before he took office in January 2019, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature convened a lame-duck session and passed a series of bills designed to limit the powers of the incoming governor and attorney general. Governor Walker signed all three lame-duck bills into law in December 2018.

The lame-duck laws drew national attention and legal challenges. In January 2019, a federal judge struck down portions of the lame-duck changes related to Wisconsin voting laws. Additional legal proceedings followed, with various aspects of the lame-duck legislation being challenged in state and federal courts. The episode was analyzed in legal scholarship, including discussion in the Harvard Law Review.

First Term as Governor (2019–2023)

Evers took office as Wisconsin's 46th governor on January 7, 2019, with Mandela Barnes serving as lieutenant governor. His first term was marked by frequent conflict with the Republican-controlled legislature. Because Republicans maintained majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, Evers relied heavily on executive authority and his veto power to shape state policy.

One of Evers's early policy proposals included the decriminalization of marijuana and the legalization of medical marijuana use in Wisconsin. In February 2019, he included provisions to decriminalize marijuana in his budget proposal, drawing attention to the issue at the state level. The Republican legislature did not advance the marijuana provisions.

Throughout his first term, Evers used the governor's veto power extensively. The governor of Wisconsin possesses one of the strongest veto powers in the United States, including a line-item veto that allows the governor to strike individual words, digits, and provisions from legislation. Evers employed this power more frequently than any previous Wisconsin governor, using it to alter or block Republican-authored bills on a wide range of topics including taxation, education funding, election administration, and environmental regulation.

2022 Reelection

Evers sought reelection in the 2022 gubernatorial election. His Republican opponent was Tim Michels, a construction company executive. Evers won reelection by a margin of approximately 3.4 percentage points, a wider margin than his 2018 victory. His running mate for the second term was Sara Rodriguez, who succeeded Mandela Barnes as lieutenant governor after Barnes ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate.

Second Term as Governor (2023–present)

Evers's second term has continued to be shaped by divided government, with Republicans retaining control of the legislature. The dynamic of executive vetoes and legislative standoffs has persisted, with Evers and Republican leaders engaging in periodic negotiations on issues such as tax relief, infrastructure spending, and environmental regulation.

In July 2025, Evers signed a new two-year state budget in order to secure federal Medicaid funding for Wisconsin. The budget had passed both chambers of the legislature, and Evers signed it in the early morning hours to meet a deadline related to federal Medicaid requirements.

In February 2026, Evers continued to engage with the legislature on environmental issues. The Wisconsin State Assembly unanimously passed PFAS legislation following hours of negotiations with the governor's office, sending the bill to the Wisconsin State Senate for consideration. Evers also signed a $21 million contract for the rehabilitation of a stretch of Interstate 43 in Sheboygan County, reflecting continued investment in state infrastructure.

Tax relief negotiations between Evers and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos were ongoing as of February 2026, with both leaders discussing their positions publicly.

Veto Power

A defining feature of Evers's governorship has been his use of the executive veto. Wisconsin grants its governor one of the most powerful veto authorities in the United States, including the ability to use a line-item veto to strike individual provisions, words, and digits from legislation—effectively allowing the governor to rewrite portions of bills. Evers has used this power more frequently than any previous governor in Wisconsin history, both to block legislation he opposed and to alter Republican-authored bills in ways that aligned with his policy priorities.

The extent of Evers's veto use became a significant political issue. In one notable instance, Evers used the line-item veto to extend a school funding provision for what critics characterized as approximately 400 years, by striking digits from a date in the legislation. This action prompted Republican legislators to advance a constitutional amendment to restrict the governor's partial veto power. In February 2026, the Wisconsin Assembly voted to send the proposed "400-year veto" constitutional amendment to voters, asking whether the state constitution should be amended to prevent the governor's partial veto from being used in such a manner.

Announcement Not to Seek Reelection

In July 2025, Evers announced that he would not seek reelection in the 2026 gubernatorial election. The announcement set the stage for an open race for governor in 2026. Both Evers and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who also announced he would not seek reelection, were recognized as figures whose departures would mark a new chapter in Wisconsin politics.

Evers delivered his final State of the State address at the Wisconsin State Capitol on February 17, 2026.

Personal Life

Evers has three children. He has maintained his residence at the Wisconsin Governor's Mansion during his time in office. Evers has been a lifelong resident of Wisconsin, with deep ties to the eastern part of the state through his upbringing in Plymouth and his career in public education across the state's school districts.

Evers is known for a low-key personal style that contrasts with the intensity of the political environment in which he has governed. His public persona has been shaped by his long career in education rather than in partisan politics, and he frequently references his teaching and administrative background in public remarks.

Legacy

Evers's legacy in Wisconsin politics is shaped by several factors: his decades of service in public education, his defeat of an incumbent governor in 2018, his extensive use of the executive veto, and his governance during a period of intense partisan division. As superintendent of public instruction for nearly a decade, he served as a counterweight to legislative and executive efforts to reduce public school funding and expand school choice programs. As governor, his use of the line-item veto became a subject of constitutional debate, with a proposed amendment to restrict the power advancing to a public vote.

His tenure illustrated the dynamics of divided government in Wisconsin, where a Democratic governor faced a firmly Republican legislature. The resulting pattern of vetoes, legal challenges, and intermittent bipartisan negotiation defined much of the state's policy output during his years in office. Observers noted that Evers's departure from office in 2027, alongside Assembly Speaker Robin Vos's simultaneous exit from the legislature, would mark the end of an era in Wisconsin's political landscape.

Evers's record on education funding, Medicaid expansion, environmental regulation, and use of executive authority will likely be assessed by historians in the context of the broader national trend of increasing partisan polarization and divided state governments during the early 21st century.