Tim Michels, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate to be Wisconsin's governor, said the quiet part out loud while on one of his photo ops campaign stops in Jefferson County:

GOP #WIGov nominee Tim @MichelsForGov said the quiet part out loud: "Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I'm elected governor."

Democracy is on the line in Wisconsin. Michels must be stopped. pic.twitter.com/hIYyCNEADH

— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) October 31, 2022

Yup, that sure sounds like a direct threat to democracy, all right.

Naturally, Michels' campaign tried to Pooh Pooh the whole idea, saying that he was going to be such a gosh darn good governor that he will single-handedly carry the party forever and ever to victory:

In a statement to Insider, the Michels campaign denied the audio had anything to do with election integrity. Rather, the campaign said, Michels would garner more support for Republican candidates in the state by implementing "lower taxes, better schools, uniform election laws and safer communities."

"While revving up supporters to get out and vote, Tim was referring to winning and leading and then being rewarded by voters for doing a good job," Brian Fraley, a spokesperson for Michels, told Insider in a statement.

"Any attempt to make more out of that quip shows just how pathetic and desperate Tony Evers and his supporters are getting as we approach election day. They want to talk about anything other than his four years of failure."

Uh huh. Sure thing there, Fraley. Just one problem. Michels has already repeated The Big Lie, cast doubt over the 2020 election (only the presidential one because all the other elections were just hunky dory - darn those clever Democrats!) and said that he would do away with the Wisconsin Election Committee and totally upend the election system:

It is not an overstatement or a bit of hyperbole to say that democracy itself is at stake in this election. The Republicans, especially Michels, has told us exactly who they are and what they want to do to us. We cannot afford to not believe them and take their threats seriously.