HUDSON, WIS. – After two terms, one recall attempt and a failed presidential bid, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was rejected by President Donald Trump, cuts to education and antagonism toward unions.

Walker conceded Wednesday afternoon to Tony Evers, superintendent of the state's Department of Public Instruction, after coming up 31,000 votes short among 2.6 million cast. Although Wisconsin is a wide swath of Republican red, he lost Milwaukee, Madison and the surrounding suburbs for reasons that were discussed Wednesday in this western Wisconsin town.

At St. Croix Tobacco Inc., a mostly male crowd comes and goes all day, stopping for a smoke and to chitchat. On duty Wednesday was James Palas, wearing a leather jacket over his U.S. Marine Corps. "Semper Fi" T-shirt, who said he voted for Evers because he has a lot of friends who are teachers, and that Walker "messed with something he should not have. He really went after them. "

A manufacturing supervisor, Palas is not in a union himself, but he supervises union workers for a Houston-based corporation. "They need some protections," Palas said.

Like some others, he also saw a vote against Walker as a vote against Trump, who campaigned in the state, as did Vice President Mike Pence. Palas said he was not fond of Trump's politics of division.

"I'm retired Marine," he said. "I defend all people – race, creed, religion, it does not matter to me."

Neil Kraus, chairman of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls' Political Science Department, said Walker campaigned with a damn-the-dissenters style before Trump did so nationally.

Throughout his tenure and in his previous campaigns, Walker focused on whipping up his rural supporters, making little effort to connect with urban and suburban swing voters. Perhaps as a result, Walker lost the suburbs around Milwaukee and Madison, Kraus said.

Walker also had a habit of shelling everyone else, Kraus said. That approach wore thin, even among his allies.

In recent weeks, Kraus said.

The professor also believes voters' big concerns were the economy and health care. "Despite claims that nationally the economy is good, it's not that good for a lot of educated folks here," he said. "Wage growth is still barely over inflation."

And, after years of fighting the Affordable Care Act, Walker has stated that it supports the act of insurers' pre-existing conditions. "That was a tough sell," Kraus said.

Down at the cigar shop, John Nickleby breezed in his coffee shop down the street, declaring that he voted a straight Republican ticket. "My basic philosophy is I do not want to be in my life," he said, adding that under Walker, "Property taxes have not gone up in years."

Nickleby said he also believed that Walker's attack on his teachers caught up with him. "They've been trying to get him for a long time," he said.

At Kozy Korner Pizza in North Hudson, Doug Van Dyke, who is retired from the U.S. Army, voted for Evers even though he was a Trump supporter. He said Walker did a good job on budget issues, but never did much for the military. "I was not going to vote for this time," Van Dyke said.

A few seats down, Margot Murphy, who sells real estate, said Walker's actions against the unions remain "painful topic," but that has a fiscal conservative, she voted for him.

She said that she was pregnant in 2016 cost him at home. "People thought his focus was elsewhere," she said.

Julie Hammon, who was responsible for the Hudson's, was a dental hygienist and union member who was smiling about the election results. Of Walker, she said, "I'm pro everything he's against," she said. "I just think people are ready for a change. He's been in there long enough. "

Taking his dog, Luna, 23-year-old bartender Jackson Raley said he did not vote for Evers or Walker. He voted for the Green Party down the ballot, because the others had not focused on the environment. "We've got to save the planet," he said. "We need to do more, developing alternative sources of fuel."

Kathy and George Ball, who are retired and moving to River Falls from Illinois, said they were thrilled by Walker's ouster. "I do not like the way he came down on teachers," George Ball said. "We have a lot of teachers in our family."

Back at the Kozy Korner, Murphy said she's glad the campaign season is over. "I hope there's a new tone," she said. "I hope all our politicians hear there needs to be a new tone."