crat Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers defeats Republican challenger to second term // Fox News reports that Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has defeated GOP challenger Tim Michels. Evers is now eligible for a second term. Evers was the 46th Governor for Wisconsin in 2019, and sought re-elections at the midterms in this fall. Michels, who is a self-described “political outsider”, was the GOP candidate supported by former President Donald Trump in his gubernatorial race. According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, crime was a top priority throughout the race. In 2021, Wisconsin had 321 homicides, an increase of 70% over 2019. HTML2_ MIDTERM ELUTIONS 2022: LIVE UPDATE A Marquette University poll conducted between Sept. 6-11, with a margin error of plus/minus 4.3 percentage point, found that 88% Wisconsin residents are concerned about crime within their state. CLICK HER FOR THE LATEST ELECTION RESULTS OF FOX NEWS Michels claimed that the crime spike in the state was due to “weak leadership in the governor’s offices right now” and blamed Democrat Evers. The Wisconsin Parole Commission data was first obtained by Wisconsin Now through an Open Records Request. It revealed that around 880 criminals were freed early for parole in the period 2019-2021, including 274 murderers and attempted murderers. Michels, co-owner of Wisconsin’s largest construction company Michels Corp. poured an additional $5,000,000 of his own money into the race in September. This brought his total campaign funds to $16 million. Evers reported that he raised $26 million in September compared to last year. A AARP October survey found that Michels was leading against the incumbent Democrat, 50-47%, and Fox News Power Rankings considered Wisconsin race to have been a toss up. Fox News’ Megan Myers contributed this report.