Three Democratic candidates for governor told a citizens’ group that communities most affected by state policy decisions should have a greater role in shaping them during a Monday night forum in Madison focused on affordability.

The forum was hosted by Kaleidoscope Wisconsin, a coalition of organizations that are “rooted” in marginalized communities in the state, at the Center for Black Excellence in Madison. Angela Russell, founder of the Undercurrent, a consulting and advisory practice for organizations that care about social impact, moderated the event. It took place with just three weeks to go before  the primary election and following a massive shakeup in the race last week, when Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out because of a financial scandal and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had previously dropped out, got back into the race with the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers.

State Rep. Francesca Hong, state Sen. Kelda Roys and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes participated. Crowley and Joel Brennan, former head of the Department of Administration, did not attend.

Throughout the evening, the candidates stated that Wisconsin’s affordability challenges stem from systemic failures in housing, healthcare, education and taxation, and agreed on the need for more progressive taxation and greater investment in public services.

Roys said she wants to end the state’s private school voucher program, restore collective bargaining rights for public employees and open the state employee health insurance plan to more residents. She criticized state subsidies for data center developers. 

Barnes talked about reforming the manufacturing and agriculture tax credit, expanding BadgerCare through a public option and increasing taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.

Hong highlighted her plans to tax millionaires and billionaires, expand Medicaid, increase shared revenue for local governments, raise the minimum wage and establish guaranteed paid leave.

While candidates articulated their policy ideas, they also repeatedly turned to a broader question: Who has influence over state government and whose voices are included in decision-making?

Hong said people in local communities know what they need and don’t need to be told what they need. She said politicians should be public servants who ensure people have access to programs, adding that she doesn’t see food, housing, education and healthcare as benefits but instead sees them as rights and “things that are needed in order to build economic security and freedom.”

Hong said an effective governor must listen to communities and that “the people” should be the ones government answers to, rather than “lobbyists” or those with the most access to the governor’s office.

“We need not only a new type of politics, but somebody right now who isn’t answering to industry and who isn’t being pressured by the status quo,” Hong said. 

Barnes said he still sees himself as the community organizer he once was, adding that elected officials need to remain connected to the communities they represent and that it can be easy for politicians to “get into office and lose touch.”

“It’s impossible to lose touch if you’re still going home to the same place every night,” Barnes said, adding that he learned as lieutenant governor how important it was for him to “bring people who are  representative of communities that have been left behind” as well as “people who challenge me” into his circle.

Roys said the solutions to the problem facing Wisconsin are not unknown, but that the “political will” to make change has not been there. She said that Republicans have broken the “positive feedback loop” that should exist between people and lawmakers. She described a cycle in which voters give power to policymakers, who then are expected to deliver results and return to communities to understand what more needs to be done.

“It is up to us to demand change,” Roys said, adding that people should hold her accountable as well.

The candidates were asked what they have learned from each other. 

Hong said she was inspired by remarks Barnes made over the weekend about the dramatic twists and turns in the governor’s race. She recalled a speech he gave in which he commented on Evers’ decision to endorse Crowley, and his reversal of his decision to drop out of the race, saying it showed why “so many people are frustrated and want nothing to do with the Democratic establishment.” Some supporters of Barnes and Hong have complained that Crowley  is being elevated by “establishment” Democrats to stop more progressive Democrats from getting through the primary.

“There’s been a lot of news in the governor’s race,” Hong said. “It’s been a little bit chaotic…I think Mandela gave his strongest remarks at a forum that I’d heard in a while.”

Hong called it “very empowering.”

“He was speaking to a community that I think still feels very much like the elections are just being decided for them,” Hong said. “And to use the time that you’re supposed to talk about yourself, to share remarks with the community… this election belongs to the voters. It should always be about the voters.”

Hong also said she has learned how to explain policy in clearer ways from Roys.

Roys said she has learned how to be more active and authentic on social media from Hong, and agreed with Hong about Barnes’ comments over the weekend, saying he “really distilled out what this is about.”

Barnes, who noted that the candidates have known each other for a long time, said Hong has brought “newness” to the forefront.

“If you want to build a real democracy, it is about not just working with the basic folks that you’ve known forever, of course, that’s the foundation of the work, but we’re in the business of addition,” Barnes said. “For so long, people hadn’t wanted to be a part of our politics… Over the last week, the people are fired up. People are ready for change, and I think it would be unwise for some people to seek to dismiss that.”

Barnes said he appreciated that Roys has sharp “elbows” and is willing to be critical and fight, including with members of her own party. He noted the primary has been very long, but said that it is good for democracy.

“These long primaries suck,” Barnes said, but he added, “it is good for people to be able to push each other, to challenge each other, to be able to generate ideas from one another, to have a moment to see what works, what doesn’t work, and ultimately to give people a choice. The more that choice is taken away the more we do to undo all the good work that has happened.”

All three Democratic candidates, along with Brennan and Crowley, are competing for a spot on the November ballot to take on U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican nominee. In-person absentee voting starts on July 28. The primary is Aug. 11.

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 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.

In his announcement dropping his bid for governor, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said Democrats will need to coalesce around a candidate who can defeat Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November. He provided his answer Thursday for who he thinks can win in the general election: Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.

Crowley is the second candidate to drop out of the race in recent weeks, leaving five candidates competing for the Democratic spot on the November ballot. Along with Rodriguez the Democratic candidates who remain are state Rep. Francesca Hong, state Sen. Kelda Roys, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Joel Brennan, former head of the Department of Administration under Gov. Tony Evers. The winner of the August primary will likely face Tiffany, who is endorsed by the state GOP and President Donald Trump.

“I’ve said all along that the next governor’s job description is simple: make this state affordable, make sure care shows up for families before a crisis hits, and build real opportunity that runs from the classroom to a good-paying job,” Crowley said in a statement Thursday. “That was the mission of my campaign, and it’s exactly what Sara Rodriguez has spent her career doing. She doesn’t just meet that job description; she’s lived it, on the front lines, for the people who need it most. That’s the governor Wisconsin needs, and that’s why I’m proud to stand with her.”

Crowley announced his decision to suspend his campaign after failing to break into the top tier of contenders in  public polling. A Marquette Law School poll showed  he had about 3% of Democratic primary voters’ support. The next Marquette Law School poll will be released on July 22.

“We share a belief that government should solve problems and put people first,” Rodriguez said about Crowley in a statement. “We may have started this race on different paths, but today we’re united in the same fight: delivering for Wisconsin families.”

It’s the latest big change in the Democratic primary field as Rodriguez has started to gain some momentum in the race, finishing first in a straw poll at the state party convention last month. Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes, who dropped out in late June, also endorsed Rodriguez. 

At a press conference Thursday morning in Milwaukee, Crowley said nobody called him to ask him to step out and there was “no establishment process” behind his decision. He was answering a question about what he would say to voters who are concerned that mainstream Democrats may be consolidating behind Rodriguez in order to stop Democratic Socialist candidate Francesca Hong.

Hong is running on a platform of universal childcare, paid family and medical leave, establishing a public grocery store and bank as well as implementing a one-year moratorium on data center construction. She has had growing support behind her over the course of the campaign including polling at the top of public polls. 

Hong came in second after Rodriguez in a straw poll of party activists conducted at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention.

“I think it’s extremely important that all of us as candidates start to make decisions about how we win this race and making sure that we are keeping the Democratic party, keeping the people at the center of these decisions,” Crowley said, adding that he made the decision himself.

Rodriguez, responding  to the question about whether her supporters are seeking to push out a more progressive candidate, said people should look at her campaign website: “Look at what I’ve done for the state of Wisconsin. Look at what I’m planning to do.”

Rodriguez has served with Evers as lieutenant governor since 2023 and previously served in the state Assembly for one term. Prior to that she worked as a nurse and then in leadership positions for a couple of healthcare organizations, including at Advocate Aurora Health. 

Democratic candidates seek to show strength

Crowley’s departure from the race left other candidates seeking ways to show their campaigns’ strength.

The Barnes campaign shared an internal poll with reporters that was conducted from April 17-23 with 800 likely Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin. The poll showed Barnes polling at 30% support, Hong at 23% and Rodriguez at 17%. Crowley had 5%. The campaign said the internal poll, which also asked voters about their second choice, “suggests Crowley’s exit significantly increases Mandela’s paths to victory, with the majority of his voters going to Barnes.”

The campaign also noted an internal poll from the Rodriguez campaign conducted in May that showed Barnes polling at 26%, Hong at 22% and Rodriguez at 15%. 

In a social media post after Crowley’s announcement, Barnes highlighted that both of them are from the same zip code in Milwaukee.

“David has a life experience that is far too often missing from our politics, and that life experience has driven him to deliver real results for Milwaukee County families,” Barnes said in a social media post. “I hope all those inspired by David’s campaign can find a place in our movement to end the rigged system that’s holding back Wisconsin families. It’s time for us all to come together to beat Tom Tiffany.”

Barnes also launched a six-figure ad buy Thursday that will run in the Milwaukee in the run-up to the primary. An outside group backing Barnes, Impossible Until It’s Done, has also started a $500,000 TV ad for him.

Ahead of next week’s campaign finance filing deadline, Roys’ campaign announced that she raised over $1.2 million for the June 30 filing deadline. The campaign said the money ensures Roys will be able to communicate with voters ahead of the Aug. 11 primary.

Roys spokesperson Jalen Knuteson said in a statement that the campaign’s internal polling shows that her “message performs the best of all the candidates’, and she doesn’t need the most money to win — she just needs enough to get her message out.”

According to the campaign, her second ad will launch next week.

Responding to questions from the Examiner about the state of the race and Roys’ path forward, Knuteson said in a written statement that “voters should decide who the Democratic nominee for governor is, and we would be failing to learn lessons of past elections if we try to crown a candidate without an earnest primary.”

Update: This story has been updated to include additional comment from the Roys campaign.

Seven candidates vying to become governor addressed a large audience in Pewaukee Monday night at a forum organized by WISDOM, a non-partisan organization dedicated to social justice and prison reform. Moderated by James Causey and Mary Spicuzza of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the question and answer session covered policing and incarceration, healthcare, immigration and other issues.  

Republican frontrunner U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany did not attend. Andy Manske, a 26-year-old medical service technician who is running a longshot Republican campaign for governor  joined Democrats Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), former Department of Administration chief Joel Brennan, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. 

Below are each candidate’s answers to a handful of key questions from the moderators. 

How would you reduce incarceration while improving public safety?

Manske answered the question by drawing on his personal relationships with people who struggled with addiction and incarceration. He said  he believes that people need not only a path out of prison, but support so they can become healthy and productive citizens. This is especially true for people leaving jail or prison and people living on the street without housing, he said. He added that he supports building a location in Madison where the best professionals could gather “and those who want help can get that help.” 

Roys said she favors following evidence-based practices and expanding treatment and diversions.  “This is not rocket science,” she said, adding that it’s possible to reduce the number of people Wisconsin incarcerates while also saving money and human lives. Addiction and mental health should be treated as medical issues, not with incarceration, Roys said. She connected these medical struggles to her proposal to open up the state employee health insurance plan to all Wisconsinites to get the same health insurance that she enjoys as a state employee. Roys also endorsed ending crimeless revocation, which has increased Wisconsin’s prison and jail population by reincarcerating nonviolent offenders for minor violations of their conditions of release and implementing restorative justice practices.

“Everybody in our state deserves to live a life of dignity, including people who are incarcerated right now,” said Hong. She said that the overcrowded conditions in prisons across the state — especially for incarcerated women — are “abhorrent.” Hong said that some communities are creating local programs the state should support and fund, including  efforts to provide affordable housing, community centers and  mental health resources. “For too long our local governments have been starved of resources due to Robin Vos and the Republicans freezing and not funding our local governments,” said Hong. Many of the problems communities face could be best addressed through increased state support for local organizations that are already doing the work on the ground, she said. 

Brennan said that about one-third of all state employees work for the Department of Corrections, making it the largest state agency. “We have about three times as many people incarcerated in Wisconsin as they do in the state of Minnesota,” Brennan said,  adding that Wisconsin’s  neighboring state spends $100 per capita less than Wisconsin on incarceration. He suggested that  the state could make a profound positive impact by investing  $600 million “on the front-end,” dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline by increasing prevention and education and providing opportunities for job training and re-integration for people leaving prison.  

Crowley said one of his  first jobs after high school was working at Project: Return with formerly incarcerated people, helping them find housing. Under his leadership, Milwaukee County has taken on responsibility for running the Community Re-Intergration Center, formerly called the House of Corrections. He said that government’s focus needs to be directed at “how we invest upstream” to address the root causes of crime. Supporting mental health care, continuing the commutation process started by Evers, decriminalizing cannabis, creating a pathway for expungements and expanding drug courts are among the measures he said he supports. 

Barnes highlighted lack of opportunity as a contributor to Wisconsin’s high incarceration rate. He said he  has known people who’ve made bad decisions because they felt the consequences of their actions were no worse than their living conditions. “That’s something we need to reckon with,” said Barnes. “Right now, we’re doing things totally wrong. We’re spending so much money and the cost is not just in dollars and cents, the cost is in lives.” During his time as a state lawmaker, Barnes visited many prisons around the state and was the ranking Democrat  on the Legislature’s  Corrections Committee. He recalled talking to a boy who’d spent time in Lincoln Hills who said that when he was released, “that he knew for a fact that he was going back in because he did not know what else to do.” Barnes said that people need to be rehabilitated and provided opportunity, not just warehoused. 

Rodriguez connected Wisconsin’s incarceration rate to its “shameful” record of failing to invest in public health. “And so what ends up happening is that people do not get the services that they need,” she said. When she chaired the governor’s healthcare workforce task force, she said, she learned that Wisconsin could double the number of therapists it provides “and it would still not be enough.” She stressed the disproportionate rates of  incarceration of of Black and brown Wisconsinites despite similar rates of drug use and addiction. Like Brennan, Rodriguez pointed to Minnesota’s record reducing incarceration without triggering an increase in crime. Rodriguez said that Wisconsin could look at how other states have tackled the issue. “I am not about re-inventing the wheel,” she said, adding that Wisconsin needs to adopt the best practices from other states.

How would you use the pardon and clemency powers as governor? 

Roys stressed that community safety is “the most important aspect” of decisions about releasing people from prison. Gov. Tony Evers  should have used his power to reduce prison sentences and pardon Wisconsinites  “much more” aggressively. She also said that the governor has significant power to shape how the Department of Corrections operates, and to help provide meaningful pathways to reintegration of incarcerated people. Yet the state continues to incarcerate people who have served such long sentences they have grown old and have aged out of crime. “I actually think that we have a constitutional problem here in Wisconsin,” said Roys. “How long you go away depends on when you committed the crime and when you were sentenced.” The power to pardon should be used “because justice is not always served,” she added. 

Hong also said that the governor should wield executive power more assertively . The conditions of Wisconsin’s prisons could be considered “a state of emergency,” Hong said. “There are executive orders that should have been placed during the Evers administration that I was disappointed not to see happen,” she said. She felt Evers could have been more responsive to  families, formerly incarcerated people, and advocates who are “organizing and demanding justice,” adding that those folks deserve a place at the table when discussing pardons and clemency powers. “It should be the folks who are closest to the problem who are closest to the power,” she said. By listening to these voices, she suggested, Wisconsin can move away from being among the  states with the highest Black incarceration rates and  where women’s prisons are desperately overcrowded. “This is about dignity,” she said. 

Brennan said that Evers’ was dedicated to using his pardon powers to right wrongs. “The pardon process was one where he was emotionally invested in the stories,” Brennan said. He promised to continue that commitment. He expressed optimism that the end of Republican gerrymandering will help create a state where justice and vengeance are not blended together. “We have had a generation in Wisconsin that in some ways we have lost because of that confusion,” he said, adding that pardon and clemency powers need to be used judiciously and that the governor cannot rely solely on those powers to achieve criminal justice reform.

Crowley promoted the idea that anyone and everyone should be able to apply to get their record expunged once they’ve served their time. Pardons need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, especially since everyone’s situation is different, he said. He highlighted that his former deputy chief of staff was a four-time felon. “Yes, I hired a four-time felon,“ he said, adding that one of the charges was for child abuse. But what that charge obscures, he said, is that his employee was convicted of child abuse after getting into a fight as an 18-year-old with someone who was 17. “And even though the victim said ‘this is not what we want to do to his life,’ the judge still threw the book at him.” This is why every case needs to be reviewed carefully, and that assumptions should be avoided, Crowley said.

Barnes said that politically polarized positions on pardons and clemency have contributed to problems in Wisconsin. He reiterated that people who find themselves on the wrong side of the law have been blocked from opportunity, which led them to prison in the first place. Non-violent offenders and people suffering from mental illness or addiction and other unique situations are all treated the same under the current system, which needs to change, he said. 

Rodriguez said that she would continue the pardon, commutations and clemency process Evers began. Each case should be viewed individually, she said, but  public safety has to be the first consideration, followed by justice, fairness in sentencing, and finally a demonstrated commitment to integrate back into the community. Rodriguez and Crowley both said  that cannabis needs to be legalized and that convictions based on outdated laws, including cannabis convictions, need to be expunged. 

Manske agreed that cannabis should be legalized “with rules and guidelines,” and cannabis convictions should be expunged. He added that the justice system should treat the powerful no differently than those who are not wealthy or well connected.

How would you make immigrant communities feel safe and reduce labor shortages?

Hong said that no one should have to live in fear in their own communities and described the pain of immigrant workers who are afraid of being arrested by federal agents if they show up for their jobs. Ensuring that people know their rights is important, she said, so they can fight back against wage theft and workplace maltreatment, while also navigating life under the threat of deportation. 

Brennan said he recently toured a Manitowoc foundry where the CEO spoke to employees in Spanish and discussed a recent chilling of the labor market. “For the first time in many months, he found no Spanish speakers at all,” said Brennan. The federal immigration crackdown has harmed the dairy industry and agriculture generally as well as manufacturing and the service industries in Wisconsin, he said. Brennan described it as a joint responsibility to ensure Wisconsin is the state “we thought we were.” He said that means making sure that state resources are not being used for immigration enforcement, ending agreements between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement, and creating a welcoming state where people are treated with respect and can contribute their cultures. 

Crowley said he has been dealing with the federal immigration crackdown directly in Milwaukee, adding that his county has the state’s largest Latino and Muslim populations statewide. Both the state and local governments and the community itself need to step up to protect neighbors, he said. Milwaukee County has created an online resource hub for immigrants and concerned  residents. Crowley stated his position that local law enforcement should not become a tool of a federal immigration agenda. 

Barnes said that Wisconsin grew because people, including immigrants, chose to move here. Being able to access the middle class has become more difficult over time, causing people to point fingers at each other and to blame immigrants, he said. He called scapegoating immigrants unfair, describing immigrant workers as essential to the state’s economy. Fundamentally, Barnes said, there is a broken immigration system that needs to be fixed at the federal level.

Rodriguez recalled when her young child first asked her if Donald Trump won, and whether the president would send  his father — a naturalized citizen — back to Mexico. “And it broke my heart that that man’s words had gotten into my child’s head,” she said. She added that her husband now walks around with his passport card after Trump was elected for a second time. “We have to make sure that immigrants feel safe in Wisconsin,” she said.

Manske said he doesn’t like seeing immigration enforcement going into communities and hurting people. He said two classes of “oligarchic Republicans and corporate Democrats” look at immigrants almost as a “slave caste.” Manske said that it’s heartbreaking that immigrants are facing threats and repression. He added that he wants to see a working legal immigration system, but that communities shouldn’t be lied to and told “they’re safe when they’re not safe.” 

Roys said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) needs to be abolished, a position she has articulated over the last  decade. “I foresaw how it could be used as a paramilitary force,” said Roys. America can have secure borders, a functional immigration system and public safety “without dehumanizing people,” she added. “What is happening now is an abomination,” she said. She highlighted her record of supporting legislation to limit or prohibit state and local cooperation with ICE, and to allow ICE agents to be sued and prosecuted for breaking laws. Roys also added that  she supports raising the minimum wage, providing universal childcare, and providing driver’s license for immigrants as ways to support workers. 

All of the candidates were asked specifically whether they support 287(g) agreements between local law enforcement and ICE. They all said they would not support the agreements except for Manske, who is skeptical that state law can trump federal law in this circumstance. 

What would you do to significantly reduce childhood lead poisoning?

Crowley said he believes the discussion of lead poisoning  plays into the political divide in Wisconsin. “We don’t just talk about clean drinking water,” he said. “We pit lead laterals against PFAS contamination in rural communities … when what we need to be focusing on is “how do we just talk about getting people access to clean water?” He said he wants to  empower the Department of Natural Resources to hold polluters accountable, and work to overcome the daunting barriers to replacing lead laterals across the state, a task challenged by a lack of plumbers and tradespeople trained to do the replacements. 

Barnes said that, although federal funds to address lead are drying up, the state still has a responsibility and an opportunity to step in. He described going into communities and talking to people who got good, union-paying jobs to replace lead laterals, and how the loss of those jobs is another serious problem. Barnes said that besides lead pipes, the state also needs to hold landlords accountable for having lead paint on their properties. 

Rodriguez also pointed to cuts and changes at the federal level, which have frustrated efforts to replace lead laterals. She feels instead of relying on the federal government, neighboring states should collaborate to tackle the lead crisis. 

As a  Republican, Manske said, he doesn’t mind the idea of spending money on issues like this. He doesn’t want Wisconsin communities to deal with a water crisis like Flint Michigan, which seems to never end. Manske said he doesn’t like hearing about people being sick and not being able to pay for the bill. “At the end of the day, whatever it takes,” he said, stressing that investing in people is important. 

Roys said that corporate money in politics is the reason clean water isn’t coming out of every tap in the state. She recounted working to hold corporate polluters accountable for curbing disparities in infant mortality rates, which have environmental components. On the Joint Finance Committee, she fought for funding to clean up water contaminates. “We need to restore environmental law and order in the state,” she said, adding that science needs to be put back “in the driver seats at the DNR.” 

“Delete existing tax exemptions for data centers and the additional subsidies,” said Hong, keeping her remarks brief and pointed. The $2.1 billion the state could recoup from data centers, could be put back into infrastructure to address issues like the lead crisis, she said. 

Brennan said the state could use a clean water loan fund at the local level, and could view the cleanup effort as an opportunity to create good paying jobs. Brennan recalled visiting a woman who lived in a rural PFAS-contaminated community and asking her what she wanted out of state government. Her community had been dependent on bottled water for the last five years. She turned on her tap and told him “I want to be able to use this to cook, to brush my teeth.” Brennan said, “it’s our responsibility to do better.”

What is something you disagree with your party or its leadership on?

Barnes said that “we have to tax the wealthiest in our society” and restore opportunity. The reason people can’t access the middle class is because so much wealth has been concentrated in the hands of just a few people, he said. Allowing money to influence politics has allowed the wealthiest people to control who is elected, “not the voters, not the people.” Barnes said that Democrats need to “reject this level of corporate influence,” hold the wealthiest accountable, and stop profiting from systems that oppress people.

Rodriguez said that people are forced to choose unnecessarily between moderate and progressive Democrats. In reality, there is a lot of agreement across the board, she said. She added that there’s an illusion of difference among Democrats who share the same principles but differ on the right  methods to achieve the same ends. 

Manske said that other Republicans see him as an “enigma.” He believes the government should spend money to help people, he supports a high-speed train from Milwaukee to Green Bay, “if the money would allow it.” He  also supports legalizing cannabis, and is pro-choice even though he is religious. Manske feels that people are unable to afford the families they may want. “The conditions need to change. People choose life if they have hope,”  he said. 

Roys said Wisconsinites value independent thinkers, which is why she’s well suited to take on Tom Tiffany, whom she called a “rubber stamp” for Trump. She’s gone against her party even when it hurt her, she said. “I was one of the first candidates in the country to say that I’m not going to fund my campaigns with corporate money, back in 2011,” said Roys. “You can’t tell me how many rooms I was laughed out of.” She said she believes in public financing, and pushed for fair maps when other Democrats wanted to draw maps that favored themselves. Roys also said she supported bills to put more nurses in rural communities, despite multiple vetoes from Evers. She has also pushed for ending mass incarceration, despite other Democrats not being as enthusiastic, she said. 

Hong said she disagrees with some of the political strategies favored by the Democratic Party. Working class people, especially in rural communities, feel left behind, she said, and the party has a problem with “elitism.” Independents and moderate Republicans should not be seen by Democrats as more important voters than working class people, she said. She pointed to farmers who’ve been crushed by tariffs and big agriculture. Young voters also need to be valued, and issues like childcare and mass incarceration need to be taken seriously, she said. “I think I disagree with who we have been prioritizing, and I think we have an opportunity to course-correct,” she said.

Brennan said he disagreed with Evers on the provision of  Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that offered a $1,700 tax credit for contributions to school choice programs. Evers said he wouldn’t let Wisconsin opt into the tax credit, but Brennan said taking the money was better than sending it elsewhere. The money, he said, could send a kid to camp at Discovery World — which Brennan led — or could support kids who need opportunities. Brennan added that he believes that every dollar that can be used to support kids in Wisconsin should be used. 

Crowley said that the Democrats are playing “the part of reaction.” All the party has done for the last 12 years is react to what the Republicans and Trump are doing, he said. Doing this allows Trump and the Republicans to “define us, for us,” he argued. No one wins a game if they’re only playing defense, he said. Crowley recalled when Trump said that private equity firms shouldn’t be buying single family homes, something he agrees with and that Democrats had fought for years to achieve. Democrats have forgotten how to be proactive and how to sell a vision of what they want for their communities, he said. 

The Democratic primary will be held on August 11, followed by the general election for governor on Nov. 3. 

This article has been edited to correct that Rep. Francesca Hong referred to $2.1 billion in tax exemptions and subsidies for data centers, not $2.1 million. 

State Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) wants voters to know that she has plans and bills.

In Wisconsin’s six-way Democratic contest for the gubernatorial nomination on August 11, Roys says, “It’s a big differentiator in this primary that I have by far the most experience in and around state government.” 

“And I don’t just have bullet points that some consultant generated for me,” she adds.

Roys is taking her second shot at running for governor. She came third in the 2018 Democratic primary behind Gov. Tony Evers and Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, with a campaign centered on abortion rights and an online ad that went viral in which she breastfed one of her children. This year she again faces a crowded primary field.

The five other candidates who will be on voters’ ballots are Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, and former head of Gov. Tony Evers’ Department of Administration Joel Brennan. Missy Huges, former head of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., dropped out Monday.

Roys is betting that the political experience she has gained since her last run can help her break through with primary voters. 

In a March Marquette Law School poll, 18% of Wisconsin voters said they recognized her name and 1% of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters said they would vote for her, putting her behind five other candidates and tied with Hughes.

Roys doesn’t put much stock into those results. 

“Polls are a reflection of who has spent money and the vast majority of people are not paying attention and will not start paying attention, much to my chagrin…until much later in the summer,” Roys said. In her December campaign finance report, Roys reported raising more than $355,000. The next reports aren’t due until July. “It’s important to be able to have the resources to reach voters and communicate with them when and where they pay attention,” she said.

Roys thinks Democratic voters will ultimately prioritize governing experience and detailed policy proposals in a crowded field and will go her way when they learn about her. 

Roys came in third in a straw poll conducted by WisPolitics at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention — behind Rodriguez and Hong. Breaking into the top three was a marked improvement compared to her standing in previous polls.

Last week, Roys sought to build on the momentum, investing $500,000 in a statewide ad buy to try to swing voters her way. 

In the ad, Roys pulls two of her children along with her on a bike ride through Madison, laying out her experience and talking about her plans for the state.

“For 25 years, I’ve worked to make Wisconsin better for my kids and yours. As a state senator, attorney and small business owner, I’ve delivered for Wisconsin,” Roys says in the ad. “As governor, I’ll protect our democracy from Donald Trump’s regime, lower costs and open the state healthcare plan so anyone can buyin and fully fund our schools. Let’s ride.” 

Roys, an attorney who also runs an online real-estate brokerage platform and who previously served as the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, often highlights her experience outside government as part of her pitch to voters.

According to a press release, her ad will target Democratic primary voters across the state “based on robust polling and research identifying Roys’ target voters.” She is the second candidate to make a statewide ad buy after Brennan. 

Roys, who first was elected to the Senate in 2020 and serves on the Joint Finance Committee, currently represents one of the bluest districts in the state. It includes downtown Madison, the UW–Madison campus and the near-west and east sides of the city. 

During the 2025–26 legislative session, Roys authored 177 proposals. Those policy ideas have become the platform of her campaign. 

Since joining the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee in 2023, Roys has been deeply involved in state budget debates, though her ability to advance legislation was limited in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Schools are the “defining fight” 

Roys told the Examiner in an interview in April that school funding would be the “defining fight of the next budget.” 

She highlighted the legislative record of U.S. Rep Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate who is running for governor with President Donald Trump’s endorsement. When he was first elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, she said, “He attacked public education and put in the most devastating cuts in the history of the state to public schools. Our kids have never recovered from that.” 

Roys says that the state’s projected $2.5 billion budget surplus is money that has been “stolen” from public schools and their students. She, along with other Senate Democrats, voted against a $1.8 billion tax-cut and school-funding deal negotiated by Evers and Republican leaders that would have provided $300 million for special education, $300 rebate checks to taxpayers and property tax relief. She said sending out checks to people would be like setting the surplus on fire. 

“This is a last-ditch, desperate attempt by Republicans to try to hold on to their dying power,” Roys said. “I can’t imagine why a Democratic governor would want to go along with that.” 

Roys told the Examiner that “our kids getting shortchanged again” is the thing that would make her veto a state budget and that she wants the entire surplus put back into the public school system. She often ties her focus on education to her upbringing in rural Taylor County, where she grew up in a remodeled one-room schoolhouse and attended the local public school.

“It was never contemplated that we wouldn’t be going to public school. We got a great education,” Roys said.  Attending one of her child’s parent-teacher conferences recently she said she was struck that “what my kids are getting is just not close to what I had: the class sizes, the learning opportunities. They’ve got one-to-one Chromebooks, but they have art once a week for a third of the year, music is once a week, gym is once a week. It’s not good.” 

Her positions on education won her the endorsement of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) in April. She called it the “most important endorsement that’s going to happen in this Democratic primary.” 

“They have the most reach. They have the most resources. They have the moral authority, representing 70,000 educators and public school support professionals across the state of Wisconsin. And people in this state love their public schools,” Roys said, adding that she “earned it because of my policy positions, because of my plans for public education, and because I think they recognized that this election is in some ways existential for our public schools.”

Roys, with one of her five children sitting on her lap, answered questions and discussed prominent issues with a group of teachers at a bar in Muskellounge and Sporting Club in Madison on April 24.

Molly Grupe, a member of WEAC, said she was thrilled the WEAC board took action on the endorsement, saying that waiting too long can blunt the impact and now they can start organizing educators to get out the vote. 

“So smart. So quick. So prepared. I mean, she just knows what she’s talking about,” Grupe said. “I just think Kelda is really poised to exercise power as a strong woman and a Democrat. We’ve never had a woman governor in the state, which is crazy.” 

Kelly Peggy Sullivan, the vice president of the Monona Grove Education Association who helped organize educators for the Friday event, said she was happy to bring people out to learn more about Roys’ campaign. 

Sullivan said “funding cuts and voucher schools and de-professionalizing parts of our profession” has had an impact on schools, and that there needs to be a candidate who’s going to prioritize public education and make schools stronger for children.

“It’s very clear that she has some of the best understanding of what we’re dealing with on a day to day basis, and what we’ve kind of struggled with over the last 15 years with the Republicans in control,” Sullivan said.

Roys has said she wants to bring the state’s voucher program to a “responsible” end. She has said she has a three-step plan.

“I’m not calling for immediate elimination but we are spending nearly $700 million each year on unaccountable, discriminatory, non-transparent voucher programs that the evidence shows on balance perform no better than public schools.” Roys said.

The plan includes implementing additional accountability, transparency and nondiscrimination requirements for any private or charter school that receives public funds; no longer covering the costs for students enrolled in the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program; and then slowly ending the Milwaukee and Racine Parental Choice Programs over the span of about 20 years.

Roys said that under her plan students currently participating in the Milwaukee and Racine Parental Choice Programs and their siblings would be able to complete their education in the program, but additional students would not be able to enroll. 

“These are kids who have already faced some significant challenges and it would be highly disruptive to just make them change schools…We know that having a stable school environment is important for them,” Roys said. “Over time, as these kids… graduate, you are gradually reducing the number of kids who are enrolling in voucher programs. At the same time, you’re increasing the capacity and the quality of the public schools, so that more and more Milwaukee parents will feel excited about their kids attending the public schools in their district.”

Roys added that any voucher school would have the option to convert to a public instrumentality charter school if they wanted to continue to receive public funds even as the voucher program ended.

Childcare, healthcare and taxation  

Roys said understanding how state government is structured and funded is essential to advancing priorities including expanding healthcare and childcare access and reducing costs for families.

“We live in kind of a garbage political culture that values reality TV, aesthetics over competence and substantive knowledge, but I actually think that’s pretty bad for a governor,” Roys said.

Roys also served in the state Assembly, the last time Democrats held a trifecta in Wisconsin. Her legislative experience is shaping her plans for how she would approach the job as Wisconsin’s top executive, especially as Democrats are seeking to flip the Assembly and Senate this year.

Roys supports providing universal access to early childhood education by ensuring that no family pays more than 7% of their income for childcare. She says that can be done by expanding the Wisconsin Shares program to bring in more federal money and legalizing and taxing cannabis. She said the working title for her program is “get baked for babies.”

To help Wisconsinites struggling with high costs, Roys has said she wants to increase the minimum wage. She has co-authored legislation that would place the minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, at $15 an hour with a path to make it $20 by 2030. Another of Roys’ proposals, which she is hoping differentiates her from other candidates focused on expanding Medicaid and a public option, is opening up the state employee health insurance plan to allow private citizens and businesses to buy into coverage. She’s calling it “KeldaCare.”

Roys began circulating a cosponsorship memo for the idea in bill form as SB 1096 on Feb. 12. She announced the campaign platform the same day.  A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo on the bill warns that the plan could reduce the state’s “bargaining leverage” with health insurance companies and could “increase administrative complexity and increase premium volatility.” 

Roys has said she would “restore” the top tax rate as governor so the state’s wealthiest pay more. In 2013, Wisconsin’s highest individual income tax rate was 7.75% before being reduced to 7.65% under Republican lawmakers.

“It’s not fair for working people and retirees and the middle class and young people just starting out to have to pay our fair share of taxes and the wealthiest among us don’t. It’s not fair for small businesses to bear the brunt of providing public services,” Roys said. “Meanwhile big multinational corporations, not only do they not pay their fair share… oftentimes, we’re shoveling money at them. We’re giving them huge tax credits.” 

Roys says she is the “proven fighter” people want 

While Roys has positioned herself as a sharp critic of Republicans and the Trump administration, she said she would still work with lawmakers across the aisle as governor.

“I understand that as governor — this is no kings. So this is going to be an open discussion that I am going to have as we craft the budget together with public input and public oversight, and in conjunction with the Legislature who are governing partners,” Roys said. 

Roys noted in an interview that she hasn’t always agreed with people in her own party. “I believe that my job is to do what I think is right to the best of my ability after listening to the people whom I represent, which I always consider to be the entire state of Wisconsin.” She ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, losing to now-U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, and took a shot at becoming the Senate minority leader in 2023, losing to now-Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton).

Roys has sought to position herself as the firebrand candidate who will be able to take on the Trump administration. If she makes it through the primary, she’ll need to win in a purple state where statewide elections are often decided by a razor-thin margin of about 20,000 votes, including when Trump won the state in 2024. 

Roys told the Examiner that her strong positions will help her in Wisconsin, not hurt. 

“The most important thing right now is that we are in a really scary and pivotal moment for this country,” Roys said. During the campaign, Roys has confronted Tiffany’s support of Trump, including at one of his press conferences outside the state Capitol that she filmed and made into a campaign ad. 

“People want a proven fighter. Someone new or inexperienced and a mealy-mouthed moderate is not going to cut it in this moment… If we have someone that isn’t capable of being aggressive and making Tom Tiffany accountable for his horrible record of hurting Wisconsinites… we’re not gonna win.”

Editor’s note: The Examiner is running periodic profiles of the contenders in the Aug. 11, 2026 gubernatorial primary as well as the candidates in the general election Nov. 3. 

Reading Time: 7 minutes

As Wisconsin Democrats rallied in Madison over the weekend, there was a divide among party die-hards on the best type of candidate to be the party’s gubernatorial nominee. 

Many, including Doris Schoneman, a retired nursing professor from Waukesha County at her 10th Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention with her husband David, prefer Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. Schoneman said Rodriguez, who won the most votes in a WisPolitics straw poll, could appeal to both rural and urban communities.

But an almost equally large contingent, including Vernon County delegate Alexander McDonough, is backing Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, who came in second in the straw poll. McDonough, who was attending his first convention, said he was inspired by the Democratic socialist.

It’s an all-too-familiar question Democrats will be debating until the Aug. 11 primary with seven candidates on the ballot: Should they choose a candidate who appeals to the average Wisconsin voter in the general election or a candidate who excites the party’s base? 

Wisconsin Democrats have an opportunity to control state government for the first time in 16 years should they win the governor’s office and gain majorities in the Senate and the Assembly. After Republicans won the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature in 2010, they drew gerrymandered legislative maps, passed a strict voter ID law and enacted Act 10, which dismantled Democratic-supporting public sector unions. 

“The people in this room led us out of the wilderness,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Devin Remiker told the crowd on Saturday. “The people in this room took back the Supreme Court and made it the people’s court again. The people in this room shattered the gerrymander. The people in this room kept pushing our lines forward year after year, and now we stand at the gates of a castle with walls so high Republicans thought that we would never climb over them, and we are about to.” 

The WisPolitics straw poll found 27.5% of convention-goers backed Rodriguez as the Democratic nominee for governor with Hong a close second at 23.1%.

Some attendees told Wisconsin Watch they were still undecided on who they would vote for in the coming weeks. 

“I’m looking for someone who’s ready to fight and do the work,” said William Garcia, the 3rd Congressional District chair. “I think that we’re gonna win all three. I think we’re gonna win the Assembly, the Senate and the governorship. And that means, in my mind, that I need someone who’s prepared to spend the six months after they’re sworn in doing every policy that we’ve been talking about for 12 years.”

Wisconsin Democrats have not seen a gubernatorial primary of this size since the 2018 race when 10 candidates, including eventual winner Gov. Tony Evers, ran for the chance to go up against then-incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Democrats won every statewide office on the ballot that year, disrupting nearly a decade of Republican control of the Capitol in Madison. But because Republicans gerrymandered legislative maps in 2011 to insulate themselves from a Democratic wave, Democrats have not held either the Assembly or Senate and were unable to enact any sweeping legislative agenda for all eight years Evers was in office.

The candidate who wins the nomination on Aug. 11 is expected to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump and received the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s endorsement last month. Tiffany has one primary opponent — Andy Manske, a 27-year-old medical service technician. 

Evers on Saturday told the crowd that Democrats need to show up, as a Tiffany victory could put Wisconsin in an “even worse position” than when he took office in 2019. 

“I want everyone to think about all our hard work and all of the progress we’ve made,” Evers told the crowd Saturday evening. “That’s what’s at stake this fall.” 

Gubernatorial candidates make their case

The seven Democrats running for governor walked the convention hallways Saturday afternoon, dipping in and out of meetings of the Black Democrats or the veterans’ caucus with staffers in campaign T-shirts close behind. They held hospitality suites to schmooze convention-goers with themes including disco for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a classroom for teachers-union-endorsed Sen. Kelda Roys, “The Forward Tap” tavern for Rodriguez and dive bar decor for former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. 

And in speeches Sunday afternoon, Hong drew the largest cheers as she walked out to “Golden,” the Oscar-winning song from the Netflix movie “KPop Demon Hunters.” 

She spoke of historical Wisconsin political figures like former Secretary of State Vel Phillips, former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson and former Gov. and U.S. Sen. “Fighting” Bob La Follette to suggest that her campaign aligns with the state’s progressive history.

“These folks were called unreasonable, impractical and unelectable and told their ideas should be tempered by convenience. Yet today they’re considered visionaries because possibility is bound only by our ambition,” Hong said. “We must ask ourselves whether conviction is once again strong enough to meet the demands of dangerous and desperate times.”

Missy Hughes, the last candidate to speak and the last place finisher in the straw poll with 1.6% support, found a tepid crowd with some people who got up to leave as she began her remarks. The crowd still gave her a laugh after she compared inheriting challenges from Foxconn as Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO to cleaning up after her children. 

Barnes, who placed second-to-last in the straw poll with 6.9% support, told the crowd about a phone call he received from former President Barack Obama after he lost the 2022 U.S. Senate race to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, when Obama reminded Barnes that he lost a congressional race before becoming a U.S. senator and ultimately president. Barnes said his experience from the 2022 race puts him in the best position to fight against Republicans in November. 

“I know that when they swing at you, you get right back up and you fight back twice as hard,” Barnes said. “I can tell you, I came through the fire stronger, and I have more experience than anybody else in this race.”

Joel Brennan, who placed fifth in the straw poll with 8.7%, contrasted Tiffany’s career in the Legislature and in Congress with his work leading the Department of Administration under Evers. 

“We proved that competent, honest government can solve major problems when the people running it believe in it,” Brennan said. “Tom Tiffany is ready to trot out that old playbook, but he’s added some ingredients: Donald Trump’s division, chaos, and neglect. Tom has spent his time in Madison and Washington making things materially worse for Wisconsin families at every turn, but you know what? We are not going back.” 

Crowley, who placed fourth in the straw poll with 13.1%, said his role running Milwaukee County makes him the only candidate with executive experience equivalent to the governor. 

“I’ve brought together labor leaders, business leaders, local governments, advocates, and working families to get things done,” Crowley told the crowd. “And at a moment when Wisconsin needs bold leadership focused on delivering results, I’m ready to bring that same approach to the governor’s office.” 

Roys, who placed third in the straw poll with 19%, leaned on her years in the Legislature to highlight that she has bills and plans to enact as governor, instead of “social posts” or “bullet points.” 

“I’m the only candidate in this race with over two decades of passing progressive legislation,” Roys said. “And this moment demands moral clarity, political courage, and the willingness to use political power to make our lives better.” 

Rodriguez, who ran onstage from the back of the convention hall, compared her approach to the campaign with her career as a nurse. 

“Since I’ve been your lieutenant governor, I’ve done what any nurse would do: show up, listen, care, be there where it counts, and stay until the job is done,” Rodriguez said. “At union halls in Kenosha, at dairy farms in Clark County at small businesses in small towns, 72 counties, every single one, every single year, because the job I’m asking you for starts with showing up and then standing up.”

Who is electable?

Convention delegates and guests were split on who is the right candidate for the party at this moment. 

Some Democrats see this year as the time for progressives to shine. Hong’s supporters say that, as the youngest Democratic candidate in the governor’s race, she is pulling in young voters with a progressive message, such as a moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers and calls to abolish prisons. 

“Francesca Hong has a very serious pull with the younger crowd. A lot of younger voters are looking for someone who is very progressive,” said Sevannah Polsin, member of the Fox Valley Young Democrats. “I think a lot of younger voters are disappointed in the impact that Democrats have had in the past.”

Hong supporters at the convention also compared her to recently elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who like Hong is a Democratic socialist.

“Seeing Mamdani, for example, in New York, I think those policies would be like ‘now’s the time,’ right?” said convention attendee Nelson Ojeda. “I think (Hong’s) policies will push Wisconsin in the right direction.”

But a top concern among delegates was whether the party’s nominee can beat Tiffany in November. Some convention-goers told Wisconsin Watch the party needs a candidate to grab the attention of rural swing voters needed for a Democratic win.

Lisa Simonds, a delegate from Baraboo and second vice chair of Sauk County Democrats, said her vote will likely go to Brennan for his experience in the Evers administration and effort to campaign in rural areas. She said while other candidates are focused on the larger cities and ignore rural areas, Brennan had visited her county party in rural Sauk County.

“Joel just seems to have the combination of the intelligence, the experience … the understanding of how life works,” Simonds said. “He cares about the issues that matter to me.” 

While Simonds applauded Hong’s drive, she said she is too young to be the party nominee.

Ojeda said Tiffany has a much larger social reach with his endorsements from the state GOP and Trump, as well as launching multiple statewide ad buys. Brennan is currently the only Democrat with a statewide advertisement, which launched last week.

“(Tiffany) has a huge advertising presence, that’s one thing that I felt like is maybe a little bit of a gap,” said Ojeda, who is leaning toward Hong. “I think Democrats have the opportunity to improve there. … I think that’ll change as we get down because of the number of candidates that are running.”

Ojeda said he hopes the primary ballot will narrow before Aug. 11.

Other Democrats were concerned about the lack of a clear front-runner at this point in the race. Convention attendee Ahmed Hollowell said the state party not endorsing a candidate is “creating a detriment.”

Hollowell said he is not making a decision until he learns more about the candidates. 

“I think the only thing that would probably make this accelerate is probably if Gov. Evers were to endorse someone,” Hollowell said. 

Evers did not endorse any candidate over the weekend, but said in his speech that the “Democratic candidate is going to need each and every one of us, and I know that, because that’s how I won.”

Top two in Democratic gubernatorial straw poll highlight classic debate: Appeal to general electorate or the base? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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The state’s most devoted Democrats are scheduled to gather in Madison this weekend for the party’s annual convention where the seven-way race for the Democratic nomination for governor is likely to take center stage. 

Democratic caucus and county party leaders told Wisconsin Watch they are hopeful the convention could be a clarifying moment in the primary campaign on who has enough support to make it to the August primary. None of the main contenders dropped out ahead of last week’s filing deadline, so seven names will appear on the Aug. 11 Democratic primary ballot.

When Democrats convene at the Monona Terrace Convention Center on Saturday, there will be less than 45 days until early voting starts in late July.

“If their message does not ring true to the delegates at the convention, they better listen to the applause because people will be honest with them,” said Susan Chandler, the 1st Congressional District chair and vice chair of the Walworth County Democrats. “Everybody who goes to the convention is a highly engaged Democrat, and for every one of those highly engaged, we all know 10 people who are not. We’re bringing a lot of background to that convention and critically listening to these candidates.” 

After Democratic Gov. Tony Evers decided not to run for a third term, seven Democratic candidates submitted the signatures to make the ballot. They include former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary Missy Hughes, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and Madison Sen. Kelda Roys. 

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Republicans have coalesced around U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who received the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s endorsement at their annual convention in May and was endorsed by President Donald Trump in January. Tiffany has just one primary opponent, Andy Manske, a 27-year-old medical service technician.

“We want to know who is best situated to make bold sweeping change here in Wisconsin to provide a better life for Wisconsinites, and who is best situated to beat Tom Tiffany in a head-to-head,” said Brett Timmerman, the chair of the Milwaukee County Democratic Party. “I think that people are going to the convention looking for somebody to stand out in a meaningful way to deliver that message of why they think they are the best person to carry the torch forward.”

The closest comparison to this year’s field is the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary when 10 candidates ran for the opportunity to unseat then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Two dropped out in June before the primary that year. 

Evers, who had statewide election experience as the superintendent of public instruction, won the Democratic primary that year with 42% of the vote and later defeated Walker in the general election. Evers didn’t win a majority of primary voters, but his closest opponent only mustered 16.4% of the vote. 

A large primary, like the one in 2018, forces candidates to explain why voters should support their campaign, said Martha Laning, who served as the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin during the 2018 election cycle.

At the 2018 state Democratic convention, the candidates all had the opportunity to make a three-minute pitch to party die-hards on what they would do for Wisconsin, Laning said. A spokesperson for the state party said all seven of the Democrats who made the ballot will also have a chance to speak this weekend. 

“I think it’s great to put all of the candidates up there and to just let people know what their options are,” Laning said. “Again, any of them will be better than Tom Tiffany, so the more people talking about how they would do things and how they would improve people’s lives in Wisconsin is a good thing for us.”

Negativity and consolidation

It’s been a quiet primary among the slew of Democratic candidates over the last six months, with few events that set the campaigns apart. Hong led the field with 14% in the most recent Marquette University Law School Poll in March. The poll also found that 65% of voters were undecided on who to vote for in the primary.

It’s worth watching if the convention is a place where candidates take negative swipes at each other with the August primary on the horizon, said Anthony Chergosky, an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 

“This has been a remarkably chill campaign, and I’m wondering if we’re going to see things heat up a little bit,” Chergosky said. 

Hints of discord are emerging in the primary. Hughes last month was the only candidate to publicly support the failed $1.8 billion bipartisan surplus deal negotiated between Evers and Republican legislative leaders. After the deal failed in the Senate, Hughes posted unnamed criticism of “certain self-serving Democratic candidates for governor who would rather boost their own personal political ambitions than serve our kids and taxpayers.” 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week reported that Hong was sued in May by Capital One for nearly $30,000 in credit card debt, which her campaign said had already been paid. Hong in a video posted on social media said the story showed her “opponents are scrambling.” 

“They are scared of what we’ve built, our platform that’s resonating with working class people all across the state who feel left behind, our organizing infrastructure that’s being built stronger every day,” Hong said. “They want to pull me off track and how dare they.” 

The convention could also serve as a milestone for consolidation in the race in the coming weeks, Chergosky said. A fractured field means one of the candidates could win with just 30% of the vote, but the math changes if someone drops out, he noted. 

For Gloria Hochstein, the chair of the party’s Rural Caucus, the circumstances of a large field of candidates make her wish ranked-choice voting was an option for this primary.

“The problem is that there are some really good people running, and the thoughtful voter is really going to have to decide where his or her vote should be,” Hochstein said. 

But the convention could “turn the tide” for some candidates who might drop out if they see they don’t have the statewide reach among the party’s most faithful, she said. 

“I think that’s the realization, some of the candidates, I hope they come to sooner rather than later,” Hochstein said.

The Democratic field for Wisconsin governor has been static for months. That could all change this week. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.