MADISON, Wis. — Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez says she never saw herself running for governor. Still, she’s the first Democrat in the race, launching her campaign last month less than 24 hours after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced that he would not seek reelection.
Rodriguez has risen quickly from political unknown to the state’s second-in-command. But Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor doesn’t have many official responsibilities and doesn’t receive much name recognition. With a wide-open primary in both political parties, she hopes her early start will give her an edge in the race that’s still more than a year away.
The 50-year-old Brookfield resident began her career serving in the Peace Corps. After going back to school to become a nurse, she worked in an emergency department in Baltimore and then for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She later returned to Wisconsin as a health care executive.
“I think those experiences outside of the political realm are valuable,” she said. “I know what it’s like to have to put food on your table for your family and to stretch a dollar.”
Meet Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, the first Democrat in the 2026 governor's race in the video below:
Rodriguez entered the political arena in 2020, flipping a Republican-held Assembly district at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says she wanted to bring her public health experience to Madison, but she was let down by her experience.
“I guess what was disappointing to me within the Assembly, within the Republican-led Legislature, is that there was very little across-the-aisle working together while I was there,” she said.
After just one term in the Assembly, Rodriguez won election as lieutenant governor and has spent the past three years representing the Evers administration with stops in every corner of the state.
As she eyes the governor’s office, Rodriguez hopes that new legislative maps will allow Democrats to also seize control of the state Legislature in 2026 – or at least gain seats.
“It’s going to be tight. It’s going to be a tight Legislature, and you’re going to have Republicans who are in purple districts, and we’re gonna work on things that we know Wisconsinites want,” she said.
Her priorities include expanding Medicaid, protecting abortion rights, and investing more in public schools.
In launching her campaign, Rodriguez also promised to fight against policies from President Donald Trump’s administration, calling the president a “maniac.” In fact, she says Trump’s reelection is what prompted her to run for governor.
“There’s utter chaos at the federal government right now,” she said. “We need to fight back against a lot of these policies that the Trump administration is putting forward. Again, I’m willing to work with anybody if it’s going to make the lives of Wisconsinites better, but there are some very, very harmful policies at the federal level.”
Several other high-profile Wisconsin Democrats are currently weighing whether to join the governor’s race, which could lead to a competitive primary next year. Ultimately, Rodriguez says she thinks the competition will benefit her party.
“I welcome a primary, I think it’s going to make us better for the general, it’s going to battle test us as we go through,” she said. “And I think voters should decide who they want as their Democratic candidate.”
