Sara Rodriguez exits Wisconsin governor race as David Crowley returns

Sara Rodriguez ended her Wisconsin governor campaign on Friday, and David Crowley moved to return to the race hours later, turning the Democratic primary into a scramble less than a month before the August vote. The shakeup came as some party moderates worried that Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist in the field, could benefit from the turbulence.

Rodriguez said financial reports showed her campaign had less money than she had believed, and her exit followed campaign finance problems and disclosure issues that had already become a distraction. Her campaign manager had been fired over accounting issues before she dropped out, and some reports described the money problem as a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rodriguez said the troubles would be an ongoing distraction not only for her campaign but for the primary as well.

The departure was a major setback for establishment Democrats because Rodriguez had been viewed as one of the front-runners. Before she quit, she had won the WisPolitics straw poll for governor, with Hong close behind, a sign that the contest was already testing how much room there was in Wisconsin Democratic politics for a more progressive message. The broader race had turned negative, and Democrats were debating how socialism could affect the primary after socialist wins in New York and other states drew fresh attention inside Wisconsin’s political world.

Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, had dropped out on July 8 and endorsed Rodriguez when he left the contest. His decision to signal a return after Rodriguez’s exit underscored how unsettled the race had become, especially for Democrats trying to avoid a nominee they believed could be vulnerable in a nationally watched general election.

Rodriguez’s political profile had made her a central figure in the race. She was sworn in as Wisconsin’s 46th lieutenant governor on January 3, 2023, after winning the 2022 lieutenant governor race on the ticket with Roger Roth. That background had helped make her the establishment favorite, until the financial problems forced her out.

At the point of the shakeup, five Democrats and two Republicans remained in the Wisconsin governor’s race. With Rodriguez gone and Crowley back in motion, the Democratic field entered its final stretch with the party’s ideological split now at the center of the contest.