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Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will rejoin the Democratic primary race for Wisconsin governor following the sudden exit of Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez (D), who ended her bid on Friday over an ongoing scandal related to campaign finance errors.
Crowley teased on social media that a “big announcement” would be coming in a campaign rally scheduled for Saturday morning. A source familiar with the situation confirmed to The Hill that Crowley is expected to formally re-enter the race at that event.
It was less than 10 days ago that Crowley suspended his gubernatorial campaign and urged his supporters to unite around Rodriguez, whom he praised as someone who has “spent her career showing up for people on their hardest days.”
But the race to succeed retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D) took a turn again on Friday when Rodriguez announced she was dropping out to avoid a potential distraction from her financial woes.
Rodriguez fired her campaign manager, Kara Spencer, on Sunday after finding major inaccuracies in her campaign finance filings. Some contributions were double counted, and she had hundreds of thousands of dollars less than was reported.
“I got into this race because I wanted what was best for Wisconsin, and that hasn’t changed,” she said in a video on the social platform X, noting that she was “deeply hurt and betrayed” by what happened.
“And because I believe that, I cannot, in good conscience, allow these questions to become a cloud over an election that Democrats need to win,” Rodriguez added.
Crowley is returning to an already-crowded Democratic field that includes former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and state Rep. Francesca Hong, state Sen. Kelda Roys and former Department of Administration head Joel Brennan.
He became the youngest county executive in Milwaukee County history and the first Black person to hold the office when he was sworn into the role in May 2020 at the age of 33.
Crowley previously served as a state representative for the 17th Assembly District, which covers neighborhoods on Milwaukee’s west side.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination in the Aug. 11 primary appears poised to face Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), the GOP frontrunner with President Trump’s endorsement, in the general election in November.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the open governor’s race in battleground Wisconsin as a toss-up.
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