Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced he was reentering the Democratic primary for governor Saturday, reversing his recent decision to drop out of the race. “Wisconsin, we cannot afford four years of Tom Tiffany,” Crowley told dozens of excited supporters gathered to hear his announcement Saturday morning in downtown Milwaukee.

Crowley suspended his campaign just 10 days ago and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. But a crippling campaign finance mismanagement scandal forced Rodriguez to drop out of the race Friday. This left a four-person Democratic field consisting of Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Rep. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, and former secretary of the state Department of Administration Joel Brennan. Barnes has raised the most money among the Democratic contenders, while  Hong and Roys have the most cash on hand. 

Crowley started his campaign with the most money raised, but reports filed this week showed he had not kept up with his opponents still in the race. He started the year with $602,181 in the bank, raised $250,047 over six months and spent $537,050. He ended the last reporting period with $315,178 in cash on hand. 

Crowley had endorsed Rodriguez after suspending his own campaign last Wednesday — the same day Rodriguez said she learned about the financial troubles that ultimately sank her campaign. “I believed that I was supporting the strongest candidate at the moment,” he told the Examiner Saturday.

The crowd that came out to hear Crowley jump back in the race included a who’s who in Milwaukee politics and organizing. Among those in attendance were activist Vaun Mayes, former state legislator David Bowen who is now executive director of Wisconsin Voices, a statewide coalition of progressive advocacy groups, state Sen. Melissa Ratcliff and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson as well as the mayors of Sheboygan, Waukesha and Wauwatosa, members of the Milwaukee County Board and Common Council and union leaders.

Crowley was also joined by his wife Ericka, introduced by the mayor  as “the next first lady.” She told the crowd that she wasn’t thrilled when “people were encouraging him to get back into this race.” The couple had closed that chapter, she said, and they were beginning to focus on spending more time with their family. “But the phone calls didn’t stop,” Ericka Crowley said. “Friends called, community leaders called, people from every corner of Wisconsin called, and they were like, ‘David, please reconsider,’ and still, the answer was no!” 

Ericka said the family relied on their Christian faith and prayed for a sign. She saw a cardinal, she said, a significant religious symbol to them. Then Rodriguez,  dropped out. “And in that moment, everything that we prayed about just felt different,” she said . “It was like the atmosphere shifted.” Crowley told reporters that both dropping out of the race and then reentering it were “very hard” decisions to make.

Evers’ endorsement and the ‘Democratic establishment’ 

Crowley returns to the primary race with departing Democratic Governor Tony Evers’ endorsement, a benefit none of the other candidates, including Rodriguez, Evers’ lieutenant governor, received. 

“I have indicated I did not plan to endorse anyone in the race for governor because I know each of the candidates and I wanted them to have the opportunity to make their case to Wisconsinistes first, just like I did,” Evers said in his statement endorsing Crowley Saturday. “I also believe that, in a race this close, Wisconsinites deserve to have the perspective of someone who’s done the job, who understands what it takes, and who’s had the benefit of spending years quietly watching how others in politics conduct themselves and treat people when they thought no one was paying attention.”

“David is not only the best candidate to beat Tom Tiffany,” Evers continued, “he’s the right candidate for the people of Wisconsin. He’s created thousands of new jobs, cut the county’s local carbon emissions in half, and passed a balanced budget, all while delivering the largest property tax cut in the county’s history, and I know he’ll continue to deliver results statewide.”

“It’s just an honor to receive his endorsement,” Crowley told the Examiner. He recounted Evers’ victory over former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, his leadership  guiding Wisconsin through the COVID-19 pandemic, and his tenure as “the best damn goalie that Democrats could have from stopping the Republican-controlled Legislature from having its way.” 

In addition to Evers’ endorsement, he said, he has received  “a groundswell of support from volunteers, from other elected leaders, as well as labor unions.” 

Responding to criticism that his re-entry into the race represents an effort by the Democratic party establishment to push forward someone to defeat Democratic Socialist candidate Francesca Hong, who had repeatedly finished at the top of public polls, Crowley said, “This isn’t about any of the other primary candidates.” Rather, he said, “this is about making sure that we have the best candidate that can defeat Tom Tiffany and his extreme MAGA agenda,” a goal he said he shares with all of the other Democratic candidates. 

Yet when he addressed the crowd of supporters in Milwaukee Saturday, Crowley took more direct aim at his opponents. He pointed to the Republican Governors Association’s recent $2 million ad blitz featuring Hong. The ads portray Hong, a self-described Democratic Socialist, as “too liberal for Wisconsin” and denounce her for wanting to return the state to its “progressive roots.” Barnes has called the ads “counterintuitive,” saying they appear to feature political attacks but are actually designed to increase Hong’s popularity among Democratic voters instead of hurting her chances. Many Democrats have concluded that the ads are designed to boost Hong, the Republicans’ preferred target in November, and that the Republicans are holding back stronger criticism they plan to deploy against her in the general election. 

Crowley seemed to endorse that theory at his campaign relaunch event, saying that the ads are meant “not to attack the Democratic party, but to boost one up.” He told  the crowd that Republicans are “deciding the Democratic nominee that they want to beat in November. They’re making an investment right now, and this should all be a five-alarm warning sign to all of us. We cannot allow the GOP to choose the Democratic nominee for governor of the great state of Wisconsin. Period.” 

Crowley told the Examiner  that people should be alarmed that Republican money is being used in a Democratic primary. “At the end of the day, there’s clearly an agenda there if they’re spending money in our primary,” he said. 

Democratic candidates respond

The Barnes campaign immediately blasted   Crowley’s reentry into the race in statements issued Friday and Saturday, claiming that Crowley’s campaign has ties to big corporations, that he’s trying to emerge as the “leading establishment Democrat” despite under-performing in multiple polls, and highlighting a county health insurance scandal earlier this year. 

A March Marquette Law School poll showed support for Crowley among voters at 3%, compared with 14% for Hong, 11% for Barnes and 3% for Rodriguez, with most respondents still undecided. 

Crowley discounted claims that he’s being hand-picked by the Democratic establishment, saying that “a 40-year-old Black man” isn’t what people think about when thinking about the “Democratic establishment.” He told the Examiner, “I know where my roots come from,” including  growing up in the impoverished 53206 zip code, “being the son of loving parents who struggled with mental health and drug addiction, who did everything that they could to make sure that their children were successful.” He added, “I look at my story as Wisconsin’s story.” He called the attacks by the  Barnes campaign “unfortunate,”  particularly because they are, by extension, also attacks on “a governor that he actually served alongside with during his first term.”

Hong took a less combative tone, welcoming  Crowley back into the race. “I look forward to the perspective he’ll bring as we each make our case to Wisconsinites over the next three weeks,” Hong said. “Competition is good for democracy, and voters deserve a substantive debate about the future of our state. Our campaign will remain focused on building the working-class coalition it will take to defeat Tom Tiffany and deliver permanent affordability for Wisconsin families.”

Brennan’s campaign released a statement saying, “Joel Brennan is in this race to win it. Wisconsin needs a candidate who can beat Tom Tiffany in November and get to work for Wisconsin families from day one. That was true yesterday, and it’s still true today — no matter who else is in or out.”

A spokesperson for the Roys campaign said, “We need to move forward and unite behind the strongest candidate to beat Tom Tiffany and deliver a Democratic legislature, which is Kelda Roys. We have been on TV statewide for over a month and still have more cash on hand than most of the field, the most endorsements by far, and the most momentum. We are laser-focused on winning August 11 and delivering a trifecta on November 3.”

The Republican Governor’s Association issued a statement mocking both the demise of the Rodriguez campaign and  Crowley’s decision to reenter the race: “Watching Wisconsin Democrats is like watching a clown car crash into a parked semi-truck,” RGA  communications director Kollin Crimpton said. “From financial scandals to re-launching failed campaigns, these Democrats shouldn’t be in charge of a lemonade stand let alone the state of Wisconsin…Tom Tiffany is fighting to lower property taxes, protect Wisconsin land, and require health care price transparency. The choice is clear for Wisconsinites: commonsense versus crazy.”

Beating Tiffany will require a focus on “policies that people care about,” Crowley told the Examiner Saturday, highlighting his campaign’s Badger Basics Plan to increase affordability, care and opportunity. “People care about making sure that we fully invest in our public schools,” he said, “that we increase the reimbursement rates for special education; that childcare and 4-K is affordable and accessible; that we expand Badger Care across every community across Wisconsin.” 

Repealing Act 10 and “enshrining workers’ rights directly into our Constitution” are also priorities, he said. “We have to speak directly to what people care about. And we can’t get caught up, you know, in the misinformation, in the disinformation, in the distractions quite frankly that Tom Tiffany, the Republican Party, as well as the Trump administration continue to throw our way.”

 Addressing voters across Wisconsin from the podium as he relaunched his campaign, Crowley declared, “Let’s ride, not just on Aug. 11 but in November.” He added,  “My goal is to get as many people to the table as possible,” so “if you see me out there, please don’t be afraid to come speak and spark up a conversation.”

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include reactions. 

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez is suspending her campaign for governor after a week of trying to navigate the fallout of a financial disaster. 

“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear that there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction —  not just for this campaign, but for the primary and for Wisconsin,” Rodriguez said in a statement and a video posted to X. “This race is too important to Wisconsin to let that happen.” 

Rodriguez’s troubles emerged when she announced she fired her campaign manager, Kara Spencer, on Sunday due to “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies in campaign finance filings she prepared.” Rodriguez’s January finance reports showed hundreds of duplicate contributions, and during a Monday press conference, Rodriguez said she had hundreds of thousands of dollars less than she expected, but was determined to push ahead, calling it a “bump in the road.”

While she sought to continue on, additional mistakes arose when she submitted her campaign finance reports Wednesday. Her initial report showed she had less than $35,000 in the bank and over $150,000 in debts to sort through. 

However, her campaign put out a statement saying that she had raised $219,000 since July 1 and would be launching a new campaign ad. Her campaign also said that it was still “actively working to ensure our financial records are accurate and complete.” 

The initial report showed a payment to WI Federation of Republican Women, which was a mistake that was fixed in the amended report. However, the amended report also dramatically increased the tally of her campaign dollars to show she ended the period with $643,206. 

The campaign later said that report was a mistake, and the campaign did end the period with only $34,991 in cash-on-hand after all. 

Rodriguez in her statement on suspending the campaign said that she “cannot in good conscience allow these questions to become a cloud over an election that Democrats need to win.”

“I am deeply hurt and betrayed by what happened,” Rodriguez said. “As I said on Monday, part of being a leader is taking swift action, doing the right thing, and being as honest as possible when there’s a problem.” 

“This was never just about any one race or any one candidate,” Rodriguez continued. “This is about protecting Wisconsin from a legislature hell-bent on putting corporations over schools and insurance companies over patients. It’s about showing the rest of the country that we can win here, govern here, and fight for the middle class — and that Wisconsin will lead the way.”

Her exit from the race is the third in recent weeks, narrowing the field to four candidates: former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, state Rep. Francesca Hong, state Sen. Kelda Roys and Joel Brennan, former head of the Department of Administration.

There are just 25 days until Wisconsin’s primary election.

Rodriguez’s campaign appeared to be growing momentum ahead of the financial scandal partially due to the endorsements of her former Democratic opponents, Missy Hughes, the former CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Crowley dropped out last Wednesday and endorsed Rodriguez on Thursday, around the same time that Rodriguez said she realized something was amiss with her financials. 

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, there is a push to get Crowley to re-enter the race, and two Democratic sources told the newspaper that Gov. Tony Evers is “very seriously considering” backing that effort. Late Friday, Crowley released a statement from “Democratic candidate for governor David Crowley” calling a press conference in Milwaukee at which he will make an announcement at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Evers has so far stayed out of the race. When the two-term governor announced his retirement, however, he left open the door for endorsing in the primary saying “never say never” and “if there’s somebody who really needs support, and I want them to win, I might get in.”

Hughes also called on Crowley to get back into the race in a post on X.

While some Democrats sought to pull Crowley back into the race, candidates still in the race highlighted their campaigns  and hoped to pull supporters over to their campaign. 

Brennan, the only other current or former member of Evers’ administration still in the governor’s race, was the first to issue a statement Friday.

“I deeply respect Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez and the ideas and energy she brought to this race,” said Brennan. “This is no doubt disappointing for her and people who supported her campaign, and I am committed to joining her in the fight to protect the Wisconsin we love.”

Brennan has been among the most vocal critics of how the Rodriguez campaign had managed its finance and compliance operation. He emphasized when he submitted his own report this week that her difficulties had weakened her as a candidate in the general election against the likely Republican nominee, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany.

“While a lot has changed in the Democratic primary, one thing has not: we need a governor who can win and who will fight for Wisconsin to get things done,” said Brennan, adding that he was “the candidate who will get big things done.”  

Sen. Kelda Roys followed shortly after with a call Friday “to unite the party so that we can defeat Tom Tiffany and deliver a Democratic trifecta.”

Both Brennan and Roys have finished further back in polls on the race to date. Until this week Rodriguez, Barnes and Hong have been the top candidates in polling.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming said in a statement that Democrats are “in full meltdown mode.” 

“With zero clear candidate and lackluster fundraising, any hope Democrats had has turned into a dumpster fire,” Schimming said. “As Democrats fight among themselves in primaries and scramble for resources, Republicans are organized, well-funded, and laser-focused on victory in November.”

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include further details on candidates’ finance reports, additional reaction from campaigns and the amended report from the campaign of Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.

With 26 days until Wisconsin’s primary election, campaign finance reports filed Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany show he raised over $8 million, the bulk of which came from the Republican Party of Wisconsin after major gifts from rightwing donors. Democratic candidates in the primary for governor show former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is raising and spending more money than his rivals.

The primary is scheduled for Aug. 11, and the recent reports cover the period of time from Jan. 1 through June 30. 

Tiffany, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, reported raising $8.7 million during the latest period, bringing his total raised over the course of his campaign to more than $10 million. 

Tiffany ended the period with nearly $3 million cash-in-hand, having spent $7.4 million during the reporting period. 

Over $6.1 million of Tiffany’s contributions came from transfers from the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

The state party received more than $6 million in contributions from megadonors including $4 million from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Uline shipping supply company located in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, as well as $2.5 million from Diane Hendricks, ABC Supply CEO and a billionaire from Beloit. The contributions helped the party outraise the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, which reported raising $3.17 million, spending $2.87 million and having $1.59 million cash-on-hand. 

There are five Democratic candidates running for the spot on the November ballot, and candidates sought to use their campaign reports to highlight their strengths.

Barnes reported the highest amount raised of the period at $841,358. He also spent the most of any Democratic candidate at $1.1 million. He ended the period with $204,207 on hand, nearly the least of any candidate. Barnes’ campaign manager Darby O’Connor said the numbers show that the campaign has the “resources we need to communicate on air to Wisconsin voters, most of whom already know Mandela very well.”

State Rep. Francesca Hong, the Democratic Socialist from Madison who has been tapping into national progressive networks, including appearing on progressive streamer Hasan Piker’s California-based program, reported raising $708,883, spending $432,508 and ending the period with $410,563 on hand. 

According to the Hong campaign, the average size of a donation to her campaign was $45. The campaign’s only $20,000 contribution, the maximum limit for an individual donating to a candidate for governor, came from a Florida resident named Robert Clancy. 

“We are proving that a campaign powered by working people can compete with the millionaire and billionaire class,” Hong said. “Our message of permanent affordability and our vision for building a better Wisconsin are resonating with voters across the political spectrum.”

The campaign has received more than 22,700 contributions which have come from more than  13,000 unique donors, 9,455 of whom are from Wisconsin.

The campaign declared that the Democratic primary race has become a two-person contest between Hong and Barnes, noting that 41% of donors to Democratic candidates in the primary have given to Hong, while 39% gave to Barnes. 

In spite of her trip to California to fundraise ahead of the reporting deadline, Hong highlighted the number of Wisconsin residents who contributed to her campaign in a memo. According to Hong’s analysis, about 70% of the contributions to Barnes’ campaign came from donors out of state, whereas out-of-state contributions made up just 24% of her money.

In the most recent fundraising cycle, some of the notable donors who gave Barnes $20,000 contributions included Elizabeth Diane Simons, daughter of the late billionaire hedge fund manager and mathematician James Simons, and Lynda Resnick, co-owner of the Wonderful Company.

Joel Brennan, former head of the Department of Administration under Gov. Tony Evers, raised $665,627, spent $858,382 and reported having $359,583 cash-on-hand. Brennan, similar to Barnes, had money from the previous reporting period that allowed him to spend more money than he raised in this period. In a memo, his campaign argued that the reports showed him at least even with all the other candidates. 

“No candidate has a fundraising advantage in this primary race, and Joel has raised similar amounts of money and has similar cash on hand to his rivals,” the memo stated. 

State Sen. Kelda Roys reported raising $527,431 during the first half of the year, the least of any candidate. She spent $453,971 and ended the period with $406,492, an amount that leaves her with more cash on hand than most of her rivals. 

Roys argued that the primary is now a two-way race between Hong and herself, instead of between Hong and Barnes. 

Roys spokesperson Jalen Knuteson said in a statement that the “difference is that Kelda has been up on TV statewide for 4 weeks, and has just made a significant broadcast buy in Milwaukee, while Hong has yet to launch any paid media.” 

“Kelda is now well positioned to consolidate support across the state, as Democrats face the very real threat of a Tiffany governorship and a GOP legislature,” Knuteson said. 

While Hong hasn’t launched paid media, she has invested in an online media campaign as well as found earned media coverage from national outlets including the New York Times, Politico and NBC. 

Rodriguez’s reports show she has only $35,000 with $150,000 in debt

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is navigating the fallout from a financial disaster that led her to fire her former campaign manager, ended her reporting period with a little less than $35,000 in the bank. 

Her original report filed at midnight on July 15 listed her as having a $29,089 opening balance, only $34,991 cash on hand and $152,276 in debts. The campaign said in a statement Thursday morning that it was “actively working to ensure our financial records are accurate and complete.”

“The former staff member who was responsible for preparing our campaign finance information provided limited documentation before termination, and we are continuing to gather the full picture. We expect to amend our reports as additional information becomes available,” the campaign said in a statement. The Thursday statement also said that “since July 1, the Rodriguez campaign has raised $219,307.00, and since Monday morning, the Rodriguez campaign has raised $143,028.48.”

Rodriguez’s campaign did submit an amended report Thursday afternoon that dramatically increased the tally of her campaign dollars, showing that she started the reporting period with $603,075 in the bank and ended the period with $643,206. However, the campaign later told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Jessie Opoien that the report was a mistake, and the campaign did end the period with only $34,991 cash-on-hand after all.

Rodriguez also announced the launch of a new campaign ad Thursday highlighting her plans to hold drug and insurance companies accountable, reverse cuts to Medicaid and create a public option in Wisconsin. 

The Barnes campaign criticized Rodriguez for running the ad given her debts. Both her original and amended report listed a little over $152,000 in debts.

“Cool that you’re on TV. Have you paid your debts? You owe taxpayers thousands of dollars for security costs but are making TV buys?” Barnes’ campaign account said on X.

According to Rodriguez’s campaign finance report, about $9,430 of the $152,000 she owes is to the state of Wisconsin for mileage during the first quarter of the year. As lieutenant governor, Rodriguez must travel with the Dignitary Protection Unit, which is part of the state patrol, when she travels. When it is for campaign related expenses, she must reimburse the state.

After disclosing a  crisis in her campaign for governor this week, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez remains committed to staying in the contest for the Democratic nomination, a spokesperson for her campaign said Wednesday.

The Rodriguez campaign has lined up a public relations and crisis communications firm, Pod3Strategies, whose CEO, Christina Freundlich, has been fielding calls from reporters this week and spoke briefly with the Wisconsin Examiner Wednesday.

Rodriguez met with residents of the Madison YWCA on Tuesday, outlining her campaign’s policy positions and answering questions. The campaign was working to file its next round of campaign finance reports by the Wednesday midnight deadline, Freundlich said.

Meanwhile, Citizen Action of Wisconsin announced its endorsement of state Rep. Francesca Hong Wednesday in the governor’s race. The grassroots advocacy organization cited Hong’s positions on data centers, healthcare and hospital costs, utility costs and a minimum wage increase.

“In our intensive grassroots endorsement process Citizen Action leaders concluded that Francesca Hong is the best candidate to meet the moment by restoring a vibrant popular democracy that acts in the interest of average Wisconsinites, not the corporate monopolies that dominate state government,” said Robert Kraig, the organization’s executive director.

Wednesday was also the deadline for campaign finance reports for state offices. Reports covering fundraising and spending from January through June were due by 12 midnight.

A massive shortfall in the Rodriguez campaign along with inaccuracies in the reports that the campaign filed in January rocked the Democratic primary contest this week days before the Wednesday deadline. Rodriguez fired her campaign manager, Kara Spencer, on Sunday and at a press conference Monday said she would continue her campaign while working to rectify the errors that had been committed.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday that Spencer had a history of financial problems prior to being named to her campaign job.

Rodriguez said Monday that the campaign’s financial problems surfaced for her when a statewide ad did not start to run on TV a week ago Tuesday. The campaign had put out a press release announcing it was making a $1 million ad buy. 

A review of the campaign’s last finance report filed in January showed numerous duplicate transactions. Rodriguez said Monday that her report this week would show about $200,000 in cash on hand and that she has raised nearly $1 million over the course of the campaign.

On Wednesday, another rival of Rodriguez for the Democratic nomination, former Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan, held a news conference about his campaign finance report and flagged the document’s top line — $665,000 raised from Jan. 1 to June 30. Brennan said he’s raised $1.22 million since entering the race in December.  

Brennan spoke outside the office building in downtown Madison that houses the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, which collects the finance reports.

Brennan described his campaign’s infrastructure, with a fundraising team and with reports compiled with the assistance of a compliance firm, a lawyer, the campaign manager and the campaign treasurer.

“It goes through all of those layers before it gets submitted here to the state of Wisconsin. That’s what responsible management is like in a campaign,” Brennan said. “That’s what we do in government.”

In an account published Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that an unnamed Rodriguez campaign official was asked whether the campaign treasurer had signed off on the January finance report or had raised questions about the $1 million ad buy.

According to the newspaper, the official said the treasurer “is a figurehead and volunteer role and was not involved in day to day finance operations.”

Brennan mentioned that description and, drawing a contrast, introduced his own campaign treasurer, Janet Piraino. He described her as a trusted individual whom he had known for decades. But he also emphasized that it was up to the campaign to establish “the infrastructure around [its financial reports] to ensure that what they are doing is going to be accurate, is going to be right, is going to reflect the will of the donors and the will of the people of Wisconsin.”

He said that the first money raised in his campaign was spent to establish that infrastructure and ensure the professionals responsible for fundraising and reporting were paid.

Asked directly whether Rodriguez should drop out of the race, Brennan demurred.

“That’s for Sara to decide. That’s for her and her family and the people around her,” he said.

But he argued the missteps in the Rodriguez campaign would be used against her in the general election if she is nominated as the Democratic candidate, and would interfere with campaign messaging around issues including healthcare costs, public education and other topics.

“If you can’t demonstrate competence when it comes to running your campaign, that shouldn’t give people a lot of confidence in your ability to manage the hugely complex areas around state government,” Brennan said.

Another candidate for the Democratic nomination, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes declined Tuesday to say Rodriguez should quit the race.

Barnes spoke to reporters after a campaign event critiquing the role of money in politics. He was asked if the Rodriguez campaign’s financial errors were “disqualifying” and how voters should assess them in evaluating her candidacy.

“I think that is up to her campaign to figure out,” Barnes said. “It’s up to voters to decide if that campaign will ultimately be the strongest or not, if they’re able to communicate that or not. But that’s a decision that should be left up to them.”

Also running in the Democratic primary is state Sen. Kelda Roys, who held an event focused on healthcare in Milwaukee Wednesday.

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, one of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary for governor, fired her campaign manager over the weekend due to mismanagement of financial reports. She told reporters Monday that her campaign will continue, calling it a “bump in the road,” although the error means she has hundreds of thousands of dollars less than she thought.

On Sunday at 9:30 p.m., the Rodriguez campaign released a statement saying that the candidate had fired her campaign manager, Kara Spencer, “after discovering serious mismanagement and inaccuracies in campaign finance filings she prepared.”

Rodriguez said at the press conference at her campaign office in Madison that she became aware something was wrong when a statewide ad did not start to run on TV last Tuesday. The campaign had put out press release announcing it was making a $1 million ad buy. 

Rodriguez said she became concerned and started asking questions when the ad did not run. She said that on Wednesday she was notified by her media team of an unpaid invoice. 

“I was given excuses by my campaign manager that did not make sense. By Thursday afternoon, I saw that the total cash was far lower than I had expected,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t be able to give a specific number because her books were still being reconciled.

Rodriguez said she brought in a team of political communications, legal and compliance experts to analyze her reports. They found “double counting of contributions that inflated how much money we had raised” and “a significant failure to report certain expenses that had been paid.” 

According to Wisconsin’s campaign finance website, Rodriguez’s January report was submitted at 2:13 a.m. — after the Jan. 15 deadline. It was then amended at 3:23 a.m. and then again at 5:01 a.m.

Rodiguez’s final campaign finance report uploaded that evening included a number of duplicate payments. According to a review of the campaign finance reports by WisPolitics, there are  at least $275,000 in duplicate donations.

In January, Rodriguez reported raising $618,284.

Rodriguez said her campaign manager had worked with her for several years and in compliance for her whole career.

“As we are trying to make sure we have a lean campaign, it made sense for her to do the compliance report since that was her expertise, and that was one thing I had full trust in,” Rodriguez said, adding that Spencer had given her reports on a regular basis about the finances and everything looked fine until last week. 

“I cannot tell you what was in her mind about why she did what she did. I will tell you that when you work with somebody for as long as I have, it was an enormous shock that this happened,” Rodriguez said. “It took me a little while to believe that these reports were erroneous, but once I was able to look within the system to look within the bank accounts, to look at the reports that were filed, it was clear that these were egregiously in error, and that she needed to be let go.” 

Rodriguez said she had had a conversation with Spencer, but did not provide details on her reaction. She said Spencer’s termination notice was addressed by a lawyer.

“I am hurt, angry and deeply disappointed by someone I trusted to run my campaign,” Rodriguez said, adding it was a breach of her trust as well as her supporters’ trust. 

Rodriguez argued that her press conference and willingness to answer questions was a show of her commitment to accountability and transparency, which makes her a good candidate for governor.

In recent weeks, momentum appeared to be building behind Rodriguez’s campaign after she finished first in a straw poll conducted at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Convention. Last week, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley dropped out of the race and endorsed her, as did  former Wisconsin Economic Development CEO Missy Hughes, who dropped out and endorsed her in June.

“I think we still have that momentum. I think we’re still moving forward. This is a bump in the road for the campaign, but we are going to be as honest and transparent as we can be,” Rodriguez said at the press conference inside her Madison, Wisconsin, campaign headquarters Monday. “That is why I am standing here in front of all of you in front of all of these cameras in front of all of these microphones and telling you when I see something that is an error.” 

Rodriguez said the analysis of the report is still underway, but they are working to see whether there are any additional discrepancies. Her campaign has also contacted the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, which administers and enforces Wisconsin law pertaining to ethics and lobbying, to report the discrepancies and make a plan to correct the mistakes. 

The firing and revelation about her January report comes just ahead of the next campaign finance report deadline on July 15. 

Rodriguez said she will report having about $200,000 cash-on-hand and that she has raised nearly $1 million over the course of the campaign. She said she plans to continue her campaign and that her ad will go up on TV next week. During the press conference, Rodriguez surrounded herself with supporters holding signs and cheering.

“I know who gets hurt when people like me decide it’s not worth the fight. I intend to put my heart and soul into this race over the next month, and until November, every single day of it. There are people who get knocked down, and don’t get back up. I’m not one of them,” Rodriguez said. 

Democratic opponents critical

The rest of the Democratic primary candidates in the race were highly critical of Rodriguez Monday afternoon. Joel Brennan, a former head of the Wisconsin Department of Administration, was one of the first to speak out, saying in a statement ahead of the press conference that she needed to answer several questions to be transparent with Wisconsinites. 

“How is this not disqualifying?” Brennan asked.

Brennan told the Wisconsin Examiner in a phone interview Monday afternoon that the issue is one of competence and accountability and the “buck stops” with the candidate when it comes to campaign finance. 

“We are ultimately accountable for everything that’s got our name on it, and there is nothing more important in that than managing the resources we have because those resources come from voters in the state of Wisconsin, they come from family, they come from close friends, they come from networks, they come from allies and advocates and people who we need to represent,” Brennan said. “If you can’t manage several hundred thousand in a campaign account, how are you going to be able to demonstrate to people that they should trust a $110 billion budget for the state of Wisconsin?”

Brennan questioned why Rodriguez did not have the infrastructure to ensure there were checks in her finances. He said that he knows on a “day-to-day” basis how much money there is in his campaign.

Brennan said Rodriguez did not provide direct answers to key questions, but instead provided “some self congratulations for standing up in front of a bank of cameras” to address problems that were “created under her watch” and she was “expecting to be congratulated for doing that — like that somehow is courageous.”

Brennan stopped short of calling for Rodriguez to end her campaign, saying he doesn’t make that decision for anyone. However, he said Democrats should be spending time talking about issues that matter to people.

“If we are spending our time talking about missed deadlines when it comes to campaign, being unable to track down hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions, we will never get to the point where we can talk about Donald Trump, about Rep. Tom Tiffany, about the harm they’ve done to Wisconsin, and what we’re going to do for people to make their lives better in our state,” Brennan said. “The stakes are high when it comes to healthcare that people can’t afford. The stakes are high related to utility costs that are out of control and housing challenges that people face, whether they’re renters or homeowners, and where we are in public education.”

The firing is not the first controversy to disrupt Rodriguez’s campaign for governor. She also faced criticism from her opponents for saying she would negotiate the state’s budget “behind closed curtains” and recently for taking corporate PAC money from WE Energies after voting for a Republican-authored tax break for the company. 

Jalen Knuteson, spokesperson for state Sen. Kelda Roys’ campaign, highlighted those instances in a statement, saying that the “public is getting far too familiar with hearing Sara Rodriguez apologize.” 

“This recurring pattern shows that Rodriguez is unprepared for the rigors of a general election or governing,” Roys said. 

Darby O’Connor, spokesperson for former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, said in a statement that Rodriguez “only noticed hundreds of thousands of dollars missing when she didn’t see her face on TV.” 

“This level of gross mismanagement of finances and staff is unheard of in professional politics,” Barnes said.

State Rep. Francesca Hong said she was “staying focused on our campaign,” but that her campaign has “shown we’re a campaign focused on transparency and accountability.”

“Especially with the next finance reports coming out this week, I think it’s vital that everyone running for this position is creating a standard of trust, honesty and accountability,” she added.

The gubernatorial primary is scheduled for Aug. 11 — less than a month away. The winner will face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican nominee, in November.