Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, the only announced Democratic candidate for Governor next year, dropped out of the race Monday. “It really is a shocker,” said UW political scientist David Canon. “No one saw this coming, everyone thought that she was gonna be one of the several strong candidates . . . on the Democratic side. So this really is a complete surprise.”
Democratic Congressman Ron Kind of La Crosse said several weeks ago that he wouldn’t run, so there’s no Democratic candidate as of now. Some being mentioned are Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “It really is just a wide open field right now,” said Canon.
Lawton cited “very personal reasons,” and her commitment to family, in an e-mail to supporters and a posting on her campaign website. “I think we’ll just have to find out over the next couple of days what really is behind that,” said Canon. “It really seems like there must be something that we’ll probably find out about in the next day or two.”
WIBA’s John Colbert submitted this report