Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez has dropped out of the 2026 Governor’s race as questions about her campaign finances cloud her platform.
Rodriguez’s campaign ended on Friday, just as she just began to pick up steam. Her departure from the race comes after a campaign finance crisis that highlighted the organization’s lack of proper bookkeeping and leadership capabilities. With the Wisconsin primaries less than a month away, Rodriguez said the controversy risked becoming a distraction for the Democrats.
“I cannot in good conscience allow these questions to become a cloud over an election that Democrats need to win. Wisconsin deserves better than that,” said Rodriguez in her official written statement. (RELATED:Milwaukee Residents Face Rising Costs, School Failure and Police Staffing Crisis)
A little over a week ago, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley suspended his campaign and threw his support to Lt. Governor Rodriguez the following day. Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. leader Missy Hughes also dropped out and endorsed Rodriguez, while Rodriguez had won the straw poll back in June.
Rodriguez said on Monday that her campaign staff failed to properly account for donations and expenses, inflating what the campaign actually had on hand. Rodriguez previously said she has around $200,000, hundreds of thousands less than what she expected. Campaign finances from January reported that some donations had been accounted for twice, same person on the same day. On Wednesday, the campaign reportedly submitted their report with two different numbers for cash in the bank: $34,990.69 or $643,206.64.
The manager of the campaign also made the decision for a $1 million ad buy on July 7th. Rodriguez said that on Monday she confronted her manager on why the ads didn’t run. Her campaign announced another ad buy, but on a smaller scale. Rodrigues ended up terminating her campaign manager on Wednesday. Rodriguez had found herself in a position with swirling news about her inability to manage finances, and not having any money to campaign with. (RELATED:Fitzgerald Battles NFL Over Streaming Paywalls And Packers Warnings)
The Wisconsin partisan primary election will take place on August 11th. As of now, failed U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, Socialist Francesca Hong, and State Senator Kelda Roys are the front runners for the Democratic nomination. Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Tiffany continues to campaign as Wisconsin GOP have consolidated their support behind the Elmwood native.
