MADISON – Less than a week after the bombshell revelation that her campaign infrastructure was in disarray, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez has ended her gubernatorial campaign.
“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. This race is too important to Wisconsin to let that happen,” Rodriguez said in a statement Friday.
The collapse of Rodriguez’s campaign occurred just as it had appeared to embark on an upswing. In recent weeks, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes had both ended their campaigns and endorsed Rodriguez.
The lieutenant governor announced late Sunday night she had fired her campaign manager after she said she discovered her account was more than $1 million short of what she believed she had.
Rodriguez on Wednesday reported her campaign had a cash balance of $34,991, but also reported $152,276 in outstanding debts that include invoices for her state-funded security and a recently hired public relations firm.
“I got into this race because I wanted what was best for Wisconsin. That hasn’t changed. And because I believe that, I cannot in good conscience allow these questions to become a cloud over an election that Democrats need to win. Wisconsin deserves better than that,” Rodriguez said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sara Rodriguez drops out of Wisconsin governor race
Reporting by Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
