Why Sara Rodriguez’s Campaign Launch Video Controversy Matters

Sara Rodriguez's Campaign Blunder

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers shocked precisely no one when he announced that he would not seek a third term, but his retirement opens up next year’s gubernatorial race in a way that seems almost impossible to predict.

Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez would have seemed to be Evers’ logical successor—a younger, ambitious go-getter with a relatable backstory—but her campaign launch has been disastrous, as she has been unable to explain something as simple as why her launch video was posted to YouTube a full week before Evers’ announcement.

First, she said Evers gave her a heads-up that he wasn’t running. Then, when he directly contradicted that in an interview last week, she changed her tune and parroted his insistence that she found out at the same time as the rest of his cabinet. When a reporter challenged this assertion by pointing out that her video was posted well before Evers supposedly told anyone his decision, a staffer had to jump in and save her from herself.

Neither Rodriguez nor Evers wants to admit the obvious: That Evers did tell Rodriguez he was dropping out when he told the rest of his cabinet, but his team delayed the public announcement by a week because on July 16^th, this columnist broke the news that Evers would retire and that the announcement would come 24-36 hours later, most likely on Thursday, July 17^th.

Evers’ spokeswoman Britt Cudaback immediately pushed back on this in a post on X and then, after 36 hours had passed, gloated (profanely) that the report had been completely wrong. Only it wasn’t. And the fact that Rodriguez’s video was posted on July 17^th proved it.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal if it didn’t expose both the fundamental dishonesty of the Evers Administration and widening rift between the Governor’s team and Rodriguez. Evers himself was clearly perturbed by his lieutenant governor inadvertently exposing his team’s pettiness in pushing back his announcement: Immediately after Evers was asked about her early video publication, he flatly rejected the possibility of endorsing her.

“Probably not, I tend to try to avoid that,” Evers said when asked specifically whether he would endorse her. “I'll never say never, but I want to make sure who the rest of the candidates are before I make that decision. That's the important thing. I tend to not get involved with the primaries in general, and that's probably where I hope to be again, but then in turn, if there's somebody who really needs support, and I want them to win, I might get in.”

That’s a verbose way of saying that he would endorse a hypothetical better candidate than Rodriguez if one were to enter the race and challenge her, but now, with Rodriguez as the only candidate in the race, he won’t endorse anyone. Ouch.

This entire episode is highly revealing, as it shows just how unprepared Rodriguez is to be governor and how untruthful and vindictive Evers has always been. If Rodriguez can’t even answer simple questions about why she posted her campaign launch video a week early, then she clearly can’t handle tough questions about policy. And if Evers can’t be honest about something as simple as the date he actually wanted to announce his retirement, then he clearly hasn’t been honest about the more controversial aspects of his eight years in office.

These are the people who have been leading Wisconsin for nearly the past decade, and if the past two weeks of lies, bumbling, and infighting have taught voters anything, it should be that it’s time to turn the page on all of them.