Ken Jennings jokes he wants to become Wisconsin's governor after seeing what Tony Evers did with his veto pen in state budget

Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated ·4 min read
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When a governor signs a state budget it typically doesn't garner attention from all corners of the internet, including getting on the radar of the "Jeopardy!" host.

Then again, not every state is Wisconsin.

Welcome to Wisconsin politics, Ken Jennings.

That's why when Gov. Tony Evers used his veto pen on Wednesday to eliminate two numbers (the first "2" and the "0") as well as the hyphen from the 2024-25 school year in the state budget it meant there would be an annual stream of new funding for public education in Wisconsin through the year 2425.

Yes, that's 402 years!

Gov. Tony Evers' use of a partial veto on Wednesday to fund education through 2425 had Wisconsin politics the talk of social media.
Gov. Tony Evers' use of a partial veto on Wednesday to fund education through 2425 had Wisconsin politics the talk of social media.

Evers' use of the partial veto that gives a governor the ability to strike individual words and numbers dates back to a 1930 constitutional amendment in Wisconsin. Evers has used this power before.

The fact that Evers, a former public school educator who served as the state superintendent before becoming governor in 2018, used the veto to increase the annual amount of money districts will be allowed to raise per student by $325 isn't all that surprising since he's a strong advocate for public education.

More: Can he do that? Tony Evers followed a Wisconsin tradition when he increased school aid for 402 years.

But how the Democratic governor executed this maneuver with a partial veto while at near odds with the Republican-controlled Legislature led to Wisconsin politics being the talk of the Twitter world on Wednesday, including getting a response from Jennings, the host of “Jeopardy!”

However, as noted by Journal Sentinel politics reporter Molly Beck on Wednesday in response to Jennings' tweet, governors cannot strike out letters from budgets in Wisconsin. That changed in 1990 with the Vanna White veto.

How's that for a name in this game-show theme?

Vetoes: Gov. Tony Evers set a record for vetoing nearly 150 bills during last two-year session

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Jeopardy!' host Ken Jennings jokes he wants to be Wisconsin governor