{"id":36684,"date":"2025-07-25T16:12:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/36684\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:12:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:12:30","slug":"wisconsins-lt-gov-sara-rodriguez-enters-governor-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/36684\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin’s Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez enters governor race"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADISON, Wis. (AP) \u2014 Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez entered the battleground state\u2019s open race for governor<\/a> on Friday by calling President Donald Trump<\/a> a \u201cmaniac,\u201d as she attempts to differentiate herself in what is expected to be a crowded primary.<\/p>\n

A second Democrat, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, said in a statement Friday that in the weeks ahead he \u201cwill be taking steps toward entering the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisconsin\u2019s 2026 governor\u2019s race is open with no incumbent running for the first time since 2010. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday that he would not seek a third term.<\/p>\n

Both Rodriguez and Crowley would make history if elected. Rodriguez, a former emergency room nurse, would be Wisconsin\u2019s first woman governor and Crowley would be the first Black governor. Several other Democrats are expected to join the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a maniac in the White House,\u201d Rodriguez said in a campaign launch video. \u201cHis tariffs are killing our farmers and his policies are hurting our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez has been lieutenant governor since 2023, after previously serving one two-year term in the state Assembly representing suburban Milwaukee, where she lives. She won a seat that had been under Republican control for years.<\/p>\n

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\"Wisconsin<\/p>\n

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\"Wisconsin<\/p>\n

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Rodriguez emphasized her background working previously as a nurse in a Baltimore emergency room, saying she wanted to continue Evers\u2019 emphasis on fighting to protect reproductive freedom, invest in public schools and rebuild the economy.<\/p>\n

She noted that the state Legislature is within reach of Democratic control, meaning that with a Democratic governor, they could finally enact policies Republicans have blocked for years like expanding Medicaid.<\/p>\n

A registered nurse, Rodriguez previously worked as a health care executive and an epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has a master\u2019s degree in public health.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez emphasized the importance of health care, including protecting abortion rights, in a brief speech she delivered on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last year.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, who is married with two children, launched her candidacy on her 50th birthday.<\/p>\n

In her first run for office in 2020, when she was elected to the Legislature, Rodriguez said she was motivated to get into politics because of how Republicans handled the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 2022 after then-Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who held the office in Evers\u2019 first term, decided to run for the Senate. <\/p>\n

Barnes, who lost that race to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, is among several Democrats considering a run for governor next year. Others include Attorney General Josh Kaul, state Sen. Kelda Roys, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann<\/a> and suburban Milwaukee businessman Bill Berrien<\/a> are the only announced candidates. Others, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADISON, Wis. (AP) \u2014 Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez entered the battleground state\u2019s open race for governor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[7929,23,28767,28760,12,1070,793,3138,97,28766,28765,28768,28764,8263,3,29952,28761,28757,8638,795,3438,21,792,19,22,20,25,24,6662,1745],"class_list":["post-36684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-2020-united-states-presidential-election","tag-america","tag-bill-berrien","tag-david-crowley","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-government-and-politics","tag-health","tag-josh-kaul","tag-kelda-roys","tag-mandela-barnes","tag-mary-felzkowski","tag-milwaukee","tag-news","tag-ronald-johnson","tag-sara-rodriguez","tag-tony-evers","tag-u-s-democratic-party","tag-u-s-news","tag-u-s-republican-party","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-government","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wi-state-wire","tag-wisconsin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}