Scott Walker and Tony Evers Spar in Their Last Debate

Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin’s schools superintendent Tony Evers faced off on Oct. 26, with Evers favoring a more inclusive healthcare plan along with lower tuition for higher education contrasting Walker’s favoring to keep the status quo. This debate was the last of the series between the two before midterm voting on Nov. 6.

Walker and Evers debated at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee campus at the Helene Badger Concert Hall Friday night. The debate was moderated by Mitch Teich of “Lake Effect” and Charles Benson and Shannon Sims of TMJ4. This debate was trotted as being one of the most important debates of the race. Not only because it was the last governor’s debate, but also because of the tight margin between the two candidates. According to the latest polls on Real Clear Politics, the Emerson poll has Evers up by five points; whereas the latest Marquette University Poll had Evers and Walker tied.

Before the debate begun, two political camps were forming outside the Zelazo Center. On Kenwood Blvd., Scott Walker supporters lined the sidewalk. Bonnie Tannig was one of these supporters. Tannig said the supporters were outside waving their “Scott Walker” signs for approximately two hours before the debate was set to begin. Though they didn’t receive much traffic, either by foot or car, Tannig said they were able to talk to at least a handful of voters.

“It’s your job as a voter to be educated,” said Tannig. “If your want a job out of college, you better be voting for Walker!”

Across the street on Prospect, the Fight for $15 group was gathering. Fight for $15 is the reform for the minimum wage moving to $15 an hour. According to supporter Verdell Canser, the group had been out since 11am canvassing the city, a total of about six hours. Canser is a first time voter and excited to vote for Evers.

“It’s great getting a feel of everyone,” said Canser. “I’m voting for someone who can do something for the community.”

As soon as opening statements were started, shots were fired. Walker criticized Evers for being vague with future plans if elected to office. Fighting back, Evers highlighted the decline in Wisconsin’s education system, from grade school up to higher education. GOP Walker’s self-appointed theme of the night was bringing Democrats and Republicans together, while Democrat Ever’s focused on what ways he could make Wisconsin better.

“When Gov. Walker decided to run for president he told the people of Wisconsin he wouldn’t abandon them,” said Evers. “As a result of his political ambitions, healthcare in Wisconsin suffered!” This point brought about a flood of whispers throughout the crowd, “yeah he left us!”

“We brought Democrats and Republicans together,” said Walker. “Tony talks about it, but I’ve actually done it.” Walker’s claim is met with audience laughter.

Healthcare and education were the hot topics of the night and the ones that both candidates kept coming back to.

“There’s a reason why Minnesota has cheaper insurance than we have in Wisconsin,” Sid Evers.

Evers spoke about Walker not taking $1.1 billion from the federal government through the Affordable Care Act, which in turn kept healthcare at the current prices, instead of possibly reducing it. Evers, a cancer survivor, said he wanted to keep people with pre-existing conditions protected.

“We can protect people with pre-existing conditions in this state,” said Walker. “We can protect them from the failure of Obamacare.”

Walker claimed that contrary to Ever’s argument of Minnesota having lower health costs, Wisconsin has lower premiums. The current Wisconsin plan has lower premiums and increases choices, according to Walker.

Walker and Evers also hotly debated education, from grade school to higher education. Such programs such as “Read to Lead” and the affordability of college were contested between the two candidates.

“This administration has allocated an extra $200 for every student in Wisconsin,” said Walker. “This is more than any budget ever before.”

Walker added that the current education budget was drafted by Ever’s recommendations. In order to help repair the falling test scores in reading, writing and math and raise graduation rates, Walker factors apprenticeships starting in middle school to provide students with “hope for the future”.

“What we need to do going forward is transparency,” said Evers. “Every tax payer is paying for private schools.”

Evers shared some of his observations dealing with education. He believed that Walker took to divide and conquer the education system by turning people against each other.

“When the last budget was put together Walker tried to mess with the Wisconsin idea, like seeking the truth,” said Evers. “It was an embarrassment across the country.”

What both candidates agreed on was that higher education was expensive, but they disagreed in what way to handle it. Walker proposed giving college graduates who were staying in Wisconsin a $1,000 tax credit each year for up to five years after graduation. “We want to keep our top talent in the state and reward them,” said Walker.

On the contrary Evers simply stated that “college is too expensive”. Evers believed government could lower education costs by using state funding. Evers kept mentioning, “early on throughout his(Walker) career he too $250 million from the University of Wisconsin System.”

The closing arguments were a quiet end to the night and circled around again to each candidate’s main debate topic. Walker provided bullet points of what he has achieved and what he hopes to do in the future if elected.

“There are more people working in this state than ever before,” said Walker. “We’ve put more money in this state than ever before. We’re helping seniors stay in their homes. We want to help students with debt going forward. Together we can keep Wisconsin working for years to come.”

Evers again provided some of Walker’s failings while in office.

“Scott Walker has been a typical politician and puts himself in front of the people of the state,” said Evers. “By the way, I’m not running for President. I’m an educator, we always focus on what’s possible.”

Both candidates were met with applause and then were swarmed with supporters. Evers’ side appeared to be more college aged supporters, while Walker’s side was an older crowd. Though it was a divided crowd, each side could agree on one thing, their respective candidate won the debate.

Gabriel Rosenthal, a 20-year-old UWM student, thought that Walker got his points across much more than Evers.

“I don’t think Evers was as prepared as Scott (Walker) was and he danced around a lot of issues,” said Rosenthal.

Being a current college student Rosenthal appreciated the fact that Walker enforced the current tuition freeze and the prospect of the $5,000 in tax credits for college grads.

“Tony didn’t actually answer any questions, Walker is actually doing things,” said Rosenthal.

On the opposite side was UWM student Emma Fath. The most important issues to Fath are healthcare, specifically dealing with mental health, and the environment.

“We have one Earth and if we keep passing these laws, the Earth can’t repair itself,” said Fath.

“I always think they should give them more time to talk because both sides ramble,”said Fath.

This was the last gubernatorial debate for the candidates. Voting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 6. To learn more about either candidate go to Scott Walker’s website or Tony Ever’s website. Voting registration and other voting information can be accessed here.