Honorable Supreme Court Justices, Tribal Nation leaders, constitutional officers, Maj. Gen. Knapp, members of the Wisconsin National Guard and active and retired members of our armed forces, cabinet members, Sen. President Kapenga, Majority Leader LeMahieu, Minority Leader Bewley, Speaker Vos, and Minority Leader Neubauer, legislators, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, all of the folks tuning in from home, welcome, and thank you for joining us.

I’m Tony Evers, and I’m incredibly proud to be your governor–the 46th governor of this great state.

The rest of my kids are watching from home this evening, but my daughter Katie is with us tonight. And my forever junior prom date, Kathy, is also up in the gallery. We’ll be celebrating our 50th anniversary later this year. Kathleen Frances, I’m just as crazy about you as I was 50 years ago–thanks for your support, your wisdom, your patience, and your wit. I love you so much.

As I deliver my fourth State of the State address to you tonight, I recognize there are those who would’ve said it was unlikely I’d ever become governor. I was a scrawny kid with big glasses who grew up in Plymouth–that’s the Cheese Capital of the World, by the way. I raised hell and played bass guitar in a rock band in high school. I worked in a cheese factory scraping mold off of cheese. I took my kindergarten classmate to junior prom and ended up spending the rest of my life with her.

I didn’t plan my career just so I could be standing up here tonight. I didn’t spend years pining to run for this office. And I’d much rather spend time listening to others than talking about myself–which, I’ve found out, isn’t something I have in common with most politicians.

I guess, in many ways, maybe it was unlikely. But you might not know just how close I was to ending up on a much different path. So, tonight, for the first time, I want to begin by telling a story I haven't shared before.

I grew up in a house of healthcare workers. My mom was a nurse, and my dad was a doctor who took care of tuberculosis patients at a sanitorium in Sheboygan County. And I’d grown up always wanting to be like them–I wanted to help people just like they did.

In 1974, I was doing just that and trying to follow in their footsteps. I was in my first year of medical school in Austria when Kathy and I found out that we were expecting our first kid. Well, as you can imagine, spending years going to medical school wasn’t exactly ideal for raising a newborn–I needed to figure out a better way to help support our family, and I needed to do it pretty quickly. So, Kathy and I packed up our things, and we headed back to good old Plymouth. We found an apartment. And I applied and got a job at the Kohler Company.

Well, there I was the night before I was supposed to start my job at Kohler. My mom–who’d collected mail for us while we were away–said, “Oh, by the way, I’ve got a stack of mail here for you,” and she handed me a stack of a year’s worth of mail.

Well, in that stack of mail was a letter. It was from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And I opened that letter that night. It said “congratulations” because I’d been accepted into their master’s program for education.

That moment changed my life. That letter changed my entire trajectory. Because of that letter, I went on to become a science teacher. Because of that letter, I went on to become a principal and state superintendent. And there is no doubt that it is because of that letter that I’m standing here today as your governor.

And I tell you that story tonight, in part, to state the obvious–things don’t always go the way we plan. In fact, for these past few years, that’s sort of been one constant. If we’d had our way, we would not have faced the worst pandemic in a century or the worst economic crisis since the Great Recession. If we’d had our way, we would’ve expanded BadgerCare and access to affordable healthcare for tens of thousands of Wisconsinites. We would’ve met two-thirds funding for the first time in two decades and we would’ve done it by fully funding our public schools. We would’ve passed meaningful legislation to address PFAS and lead and justice reform. If we’d had our way, 11,637 Wisconsinites would still be here with us today—they’d be at our dinner tables, they’d be in our classrooms, our hospitals, our churches, our farms, and our factories, and they’d still be here celebrating more birthdays, more holidays, and more milestones with us.

But I also tell you that story because this work has always been a responsibility and an obligation I’ve met without regret or reservation—to do what needed to be done, to do what I must with what I was given, and to always try to do what is right. Not because it was perfect. Not because it was always easy. But because, however different things could have ended up for me, I have never doubted that I’m right where I needed to be because I welcome the duty of doing the right thing when it matters most.

Tonight, I am proud to be able to report that the state of our state is stronger and better than it was a year ago, or two years ago, or even three years ago.

We’ve worked hard to ensure our workers had jobs to return to after this pandemic. Through federal pandemic aid to our state, we’ve invested $1 billion into supporting our small businesses, farmers, and tourism, lodging, and entertainment industries. To date, we’ve supported more than 100,000 small businesses, and nearly 3,000 of those small businesses have opened up new storefronts on Main Streets across our state.

Throughout the pandemic, we were also able to keep all 375 transportation projects during the 2020 construction season on track. And because we did, we secured $105 million reallocated from other states to invest back into our infrastructure. We’ve also improved more than 1,770 miles of highways and more than 1,250 bridges–and if you laid out all the highways we’ve fixed end to end, you could just about drive from Platteville to Denver and back.

I also directed $100 million to support Wisconsin farmers through our Farm Support Program. In one round alone, we were able to help more than 20,000 farmers, and in more than half of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, our support for farmers through this program exceeded $1 million.

I’ve also directed more than $100 million through federal pandemic aid to expand access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet across our state. These funds alone–which included the largest single round of broadband funding in state history–are projected to give new or improved broadband access to more than 110,000 Wisconsinites in nearly 50,000 homes as well as almost 2,200 businesses. During my time as governor, we will have invested almost 15 times more into expanding high-speed internet than the prior four years combined. All told, our investments since 2019 are providing more than 300,000 homes and businesses with high-quality, high-speed broadband.

These efforts have been critical for our economic recovery, and we’ve worked hard to get support out the door quickly to folks who need it. An analysis from November showed Wisconsin ranked second in the Midwest for getting our federal aid allocated. And I’m proud to report that, as a share of the federal aid our state has received, Wisconsin ranked second in the country for aid we’ve directed to economic development, and we ranked first in the country in aid we’ve allocated to businesses.

And Wisconsinites are working hard. In January of 2019, our unemployment rate was 3.1 percent. Today, our unemployment rate has not only returned to pre-pandemic unemployment levels, it’s better. At 2.8 percent, we now have the lowest unemployment rate and the fewest number of people unemployed ever in state history.

But with so many Wisconsinites already working, I know employers struggle with the same challenges they’ve faced for a decade trying to find new workers to fill jobs. We’ve gotten to work trying to find innovative, long-term solutions to the workforce challenges we face. We’ve also recognized that different parts of our state have different needs, whether it’s making childcare more affordable and accessible, training more high-skilled workers, or more apprenticeship opportunities for high schoolers. So, we’ve invested nearly $60 million into 12 regionally-based programs to meet the unique needs of different communities. And, after workers lost their jobs during the pandemic, we invested $20 million into helping thousands of workers get new skills and training to find new jobs.

We’ve also been working hard to keep more money in Wisconsinites’ pockets. Last year, we provided $480 million in tax relief for Wisconsin businesses and families affected by the pandemic. Republicans and Democrats also found common ground, and I was glad to deliver on my promise to cut taxes for middle- class families by 15 percent by signing one of the largest tax cuts in state history. Through all of the tax cuts I’ve signed into law, 86 percent of Wisconsin taxpayers will see a 15 percent income tax cut.