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Tony Evers' adventurous roll-call moment at DNC got social media buzzing

JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated
3 min read

Perhaps it's harder than it looks to participate in the roll call at the Democratic National Convention.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, flanked by cheesehead-wearing Wisconsinites on all sides, struggled in announcing that the state would be throwing its support behind Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday night at the party's national convention in Chicago.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers joins state delegates to cast their votes in the ceremonial roll call during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers joins state delegates to cast their votes in the ceremonial roll call during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center.

Evers began by shouting out a litany of Wisconsin sports teams — some met with a smattering of boos inside the Illinois borders — and invoked one of his familiar sayings by noting he was "jazzed as hell" to announce where Wisconsin stood.

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From there it got ... interesting.

"Thank you Badger Jason Rae for all your good work," Evers began, referring to the Rice Lake native and Democratic National Committee secretary who moderated the roll call. "As a proud governor of the great state of Wisconsin, we're home to the Green Bay Packers. We're home of the Wisconsin Badgers. We're home of the Milwaukee Brewers. And the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as our best U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin, and our great congregational folks, Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan.

"I'm here because I'm jazzed as hell to announce that Wisconsin casts one vote present and 94 votes for ... for ... for ... whoa, where are we? Got me going here. Former Wisconsinite, former state ... oh my God ... I ..."

It was at this point that Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, shouted, "We love you, Tony!" while standing to Evers' left, prompting chants of "Tony! Tony!"

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"Ninety-four votes for ... I'll get there, Jason. I'll get there. Ninety-four votes for former Wisconsinite, vice president and our next president of the United States of America, Kamala Hah- ... Harris."

It got the job done, we guess?

The Wisconsinite mention refers to Harris living on the west side of Madison between ages 3 and 5, before leaving in 1970.

Evers is in his second term as Wisconsin's governor, first elected to the position in 2019, following a decade as the state's superintendent of public instruction.

He got some social reaction, as you might imagine:

At the end of the night, though, Evers found the humor in it.

Takeaways: What Kamala Harris' rally at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee showed us

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's Tony Evers struggles during roll call at DNC

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