Madison, Wisconsin (AP) – Wisconsin Democratic Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez, a former nurse of the emergency room, announced on Friday that on the day after the contractor’s obligation, she was running for the search for a third term for the governor.
Rodriguez is the first democrat to officially enter the 2026 race. Some others consider to run after governor Tony Evers said on Thursday that he had bowed.
A second Democrat, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, said in a statement on Friday that he would take steps to enter the governor in the coming weeks. The missions are simply too high to sit on the side “.
Wisconsin 2026’s governor is open for the first time since 2010 without incumbent.
Rodriguez, who is almost certainly exposed to numerous main democratic opponents, has sworn to withdraw against the government of Republican President Donald Trump.
“We have a crazy one in the White House,” said Rodriguez in a campaign start. “His tariffs kill our farmers and their guidelines violate our children.”
Rodriguez has been a lieutenant governor since 2023 after serving a two-year term in the state assembly in the suburb of Milwaukee in which she lived. She won a seat that had been under Republican control for years.
Rodriguez emphasized her background, which previously worked as a nurse in an emergency room in Baltimore, and said she wanted to continue the focus of Evers on fighting to protect reproductive freedom, invest in public schools and rebuild the economy.
She found that the state legislature has a range of democratic control within reach, which means that they have finally blocked the Republicans with a democratic governor for years, such as the expansion of Medicaid.
A registered nurse, Rodriguez, previously worked as a manager in the healthcare system and an epidemic intelligence service officer at the centers for the control and prevention of diseases. She has a master’s degree in public health.
Rodriguez emphasized the importance of healthcare, including the protection of abortion rights, in a brief speech that she gave on the first night of the Democratic National Conventions in Chicago last year.
Rodriguez, who is married to two children, started her candidacy on her 50th birthday.
In her first take office in 2020, when she was elected to legislation, Rodriguez said that she was motivated to get into politics because the Republicans handled the Covid 19 pandemic.
Rodriguez won the democratic area code for the governor of Lieutenant in 2022. Governor Mandela Barnes, who held the office in Evers’ first term, decided to run for the Senate.
Barnes, who lost this race against Republican Senator Ron Johnson, is one of the several Democrats who are considering a run for the governor next year. Others are Attorney General Josh Kaul, Senator Kelda Roys, Foreign Minister Sarah Godlewski and Mayor of Milwaukee, Cavalier Johnson.
On the Republican side, the managing director of Washington County, Josh Schoemann and the suburb of Milwaukee, Bill Berrien, are the only announced candidates. Others, including the US MP Tom Tiffany and the President of the Senate, Mary Felzkowski, consider this.
