Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers this week used his final State of the State address to take a victory lap, devoting most of his remarks to praising his own record rather than outlining meaningful solutions for the challenges facing Wisconsin. The speech echoed a familiar pattern: expansive claims about past accomplishments, vague promises about future priorities, and a conspicuous lack of substantive policy proposals. For a governor nearing the end of his tenure, the absence of a clear roadmap was striking.
Evers repeatedly highlighted the number of bills he signed, the dollars he spent, and the programs launched under his administration, but empty statistics are not the same as actual results for Wisconsin. Many of the issues he raised, including education funding, remain unresolved after his eight years in office. The governor’s self‑congratulatory tone stood in sharp contrast to the limited substance of his proposals. Rather than offering concrete solutions to affordability, public safety, or government spending, Evers largely recycled talking points from previous years. His address leaned heavily on rhetoric about “bipartisanship,” even as lawmakers have increasingly been forced to turn to constitutional amendments to bypass Evers’ vetoes.
One such amendment aims to undo Evers’ infamous 400‑year partial veto, which extended school funding increases until the year 2425 by removing individual digits of a bill passed by the legislature. Evers defended the veto during his address and denied it would lead to higher property taxes, despite the obvious implications of a veto designed to override legislative intent for centuries.
Light on Solutions, Heavy on Spending
Evers’ policy proposals in the speech were modest at best. His new initiatives—including a plan to increase green energy purchases and a domestic‑violence awareness partnership with the Milwaukee Bucks—may be well‑intentioned, but they do little to address the structural issues he spent the rest of the speech warning of. He emphasized his record on tax cuts but did nothing to move the legislature in favor of proposals that will conform state tax law with recent federal changes on issues like taxing tips and overtime pay and bring additional relief to Wisconsin taxpayers.
On education, he again called for “fully funding” schools while hiding behind his 400-year veto and without offering any plan to improve outcomes or accountability for Wisconsin students. Importantly, Evers also provided no meaningful strategy to reduce regulatory burdens or expand economic opportunity.
One of the most telling moments of the speech was Evers’ threat to call the Legislature into a special session later this year if the legislature did not move forward with his preferred approach to blocking partisan gerrymandering. This was framed as a call to action, but in reality it underscored his reliance on procedural pressure rather than persuasion or consensus‑building. Special sessions have become a political tool for Evers to generate headlines and cast blame, not advance workable policy.
In the end, Evers’ final State of the State address was less a policy speech than an act of self-promotion. It celebrated spending, recounted past initiatives, and leaned heavily on self‑praise. What it did not do was offer Wisconsin a clear vision for the future or meaningful solutions to the challenges the state faces.