PolitiFact: Rebecca Kleefisch’s Main Line of Attack Against Gov. Tony Evers is a Lie

Rebecca Kleefisch’s gubernatorial bid is less than a week old, and she is already being called out for lying on the campaign trail. Today, a PolitiFact fact check determined that Kleefisch’s favorite talking point about Gov. Evers’ response during the Kenosha protests is false. The fact check determined that unlike Kleefisch and the Wisconsin GOP like to claim, Gov. Evers promptly sent the National Guard to Kenosha during protests last summer.

PolitiFact rated the claim used by right-wing super PAC Empower Wisconsin and similarly echoed by Kleefisch that “it took the loss of lives before help finally came” as “False.”  Instead, a quick fact-check found that Evers deployed the National Guard less than 24 hours after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, with 250 National Guard troops sent in to Kenosha before Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two men the next day.

Gov. Evers’ Communications Director Sam Roecker said, “The fact of the matter is, the state and Governor Evers worked closely with local leaders to provide assistance and fulfill every request they had.”

PolitiFact’s findings are bad news for Radical Rebecca, who has made similarly false accusations about Gov. Evers’ handling of Kenosha a cornerstone of her campaign. Kleefisch continues to lob baseless criticisms, “but in the hours after the incident she echoed Evers’ sentiment by saying too many shots had been fired,” according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“Rebecca Kleefisch’s central line of attack against Gov. Tony Evers has been debunked in the first week of her campaign,” said DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy. “Kleefisch is running a campaign based on lies and unpopular policies because she knows her record is incomparable to Gov. Evers’. Wisconsin voters rejected the Walker-Kleefisch administration’s disastrous policies once before, and Gov. Evers’ strong leadership has time and time again proven they made the right choice.”

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