Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez has dropped out of the gubernatorial election due to inaccuracies in her financial reporting.
“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 let that happen,” Rodriguez said in a video posted to X.
“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,” she continued.
Watch below:
Today I’m suspending my campaign. Thank you to everyone who believed and showed up for this campaign. Let’s keep fighting – together – to protect the Wisconsin we love. pic.twitter.com/177LrrLD56
— Sara Rodriguez (@saraforwi) July 17, 2026
NBC News shared further:
The decision from Rodriguez, who had been among the front-runners in the Democratic primary, roils a wide-open race for governor in the perennial battleground state.
On Sunday, Rodriguez’s campaign announced it had discovered “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in its campaign finance reports, leading to the firing of campaign manager Kara Spencer. Among the errors were duplicated contributions, which inflated how much money the campaign had raised and had on hand.
The development prompted calls from several of her Democratic opponents to end her campaign, with many slamming it as “disqualifying.”
Just as significantly, the discovery of the errors led Rodriguez to learn that her campaign had only $200,000 in cash on hand, she told reporters Monday.
Rodriguez had been among the leading candidates in the Democratic primary to succeed Gov. Tony Evers, who is retiring after serving two terms.
“I was continually getting inaccurate reports from my campaign manager,” Rodriguez previously said.
Watch below:
“I was continually getting inaccurate reports from my campaign manager.”
Dem candidate for gov Sara Rodriguez on why it took so long to discover double counting of contributions leaving the campaign with about $200k on hand headed into final 29 days of primary: pic.twitter.com/eLKjy3VEZ3
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) July 13, 2026
Rodriguez’s sudden exit comes one day after the release of her latest TV ad.
Check it out:
When a broken system breaks people, send in a nurse to fix it. And that’s exactly what I plan to do for Wisconsin as governor.
Check out my new TV ad going live today. pic.twitter.com/9lGewJZcJl
— Sara Rodriguez (@saraforwi) July 16, 2026
More from the Wisconsin Examiner:
While she sought to continue on, additional mistakes arose when she submitted her campaign finance reports Wednesday. Her initial report showed she had less than $35,000 in the bank and over $150,000 in debts to sort through.
However, her campaign put out a statement saying that she had raised $219,000 since July 1 and would be launching a new campaign ad. Her campaign also said that it was still “actively working to ensure our financial records are accurate and complete.”
The initial report showed a payment to WI Federation of Republican Women, which was a mistake that was fixed in the amended report. However, the amended report also dramatically increased the tally of her campaign dollars to show she ended the period with $643,206.
The campaign later said that report was a mistake, and the campaign did end the period with only $34,991 in cash-on-hand after all.
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