Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out of the Wisconsin Democratic governor primary Friday, citing her campaign’s mishandling of financial reports.
Her departure from the race is a blow to the state’s more establishment wing, leaving two progressives — former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and state lawmaker Francesca Hong — as the leading Democratic candidates in the battleground state.
Rodriguez announced earlier this week that she fired her campaign manager for inflating how much money the campaign raised by double counting contributions and for failing to report certain expenses that had been paid.
The lieutenant governor’s opponents seized on the opportunity to criticize her for the incident.
“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear that there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction — not just for this campaign, but for the primary and for Wisconsin,” Rodriguez said in a statement Friday on X.
Rodriguez was seen as one of the front-runners of the fractured primary in a race to replace Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ahead of the Aug. 11 primary.
Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation head Missy Hughes and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley dropped out of the race earlier in the summer, both endorsing Rodriguez.
The remaining candidates in the Democratic primary include Barnes, Hong, Greater Milwaukee Committee President Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys.
The Democratic nominee will likely face Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Trump-backed Republican front-runner, in the November general election.
“We are all on the same team and it’s time to unite the party so that we can defeat Tom Tiffany and deliver a Democratic trifecta,” Roys said on X.
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