Despite massive spending and recent polls, three incumbent Midwest governors who campaigned on the clean energy transition beat their Republican challengers on Tuesday.
Democratic governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tim Walsh of Minnesota and Tony Evers of Wisconsin won re-election, beating out three Trump-backed Republican candidates who campaigned on different platforms and ideologies that would have derailed plans to get rid of carbon emissions in all three states. Minnesota challenger Scott Jensen, for example, had offered to return state regulation on “clean cars”.and Wisconsin challenger Tim Michels had deep ties in the oil and pipeline industries.
Addressing a crowd in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, Evers, a former public school principal with a penchant for vanilla ice cream, he said “Some call it boring, but you know what, Wisconsin? As it turns out, boring wins.”
These races received landmark funding from the candidates' coffers, with over $33 million spent Minnesota32 million dollars Michiganand $115 million Wisconsin, the largest in state campaign history. In addition to their focus on climate, all three governors also campaigned on increasing access to abortion and reproductive health, especially in Wisconsinwhere abortion bans are challenged by the current administration.
With no clean energy opposition in the state, these governors will now have the opportunity to keep their states on track to meet various deadlines.
Wisconsin plans to be all electricity consumed in the state 100% carbon free by 2050 according to an executive order signed by Evers in 2019. Whitmer signed a executive order in 2020 to make the state's entire economy carbon neutral by 2050 and has been a staunch opponent of the Line 5 oil pipeline, which crosses Upper Michigan, Wisconsin and Great Lakes waters. Walz is behind several clean energy initiatives in Minnesota, including a push for more electric vehicle sales in the state from 2024 and designs reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2025 and 80% by 2050;
And with incumbent governors re-elected, these states will be closer to clean energy deadlines with ostensibly climate-friendly governors at the helm.
Walz has championed the expansion of solar panel manufacturing in partnership with the state legislature, which has released $5.5 million in a bipartisan effort to expand a manufacturing facility in Northern Minnesota, expected to be one of the largest in the country. In Michigan, Whitmer has pushed for more production of electric vehicles and charging stations in an effort to maintain the state's deep ties to the auto industry. She announced recently $10.2 million in tax incentives and grants for EV manufacturing in Detroit.
Whitmer, Walz and Evers will now be able to determine what to do with the money coming to their states from the Inflation Reduction Act, the nation's “most significant” climate bill in United States history. The bill includes funding for low-carbon energy sources, as well as investments in a clean economy and manufacturing.
Holly Burke, spokeswoman for the climate change advocacy group Evergreen Action, said the results in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan are a clear indication that governors who lead on climate policies are popular candidates and should take tonight's results as a mandate. by the voters. pursuing stronger environmental and clean energy standards.
“In one of America's most competitive states, Governor Evers didn't shy away from climate action — he leaned into it,” Burke said in a statement. “This election shows that climate leadership is a political winner in Wisconsin.”
