Governor Scott Walker
While he’s not officially declaring he will run for re-election, Governor Scott Walker plans to tell his fellow Republicans this weekend that he is ready to seek a third term.
Walker’s campaign released highlights of the speech he plans to deliver at the state GOP convention this weekend in Wisconsin Dells. Those remarks will highlight the progress the state has made since he was first elected in 2010 and ask the party faithful for their help in 2018. “I’m ready to help lead this remarkable state forward for another four years. But I need your help.”
Walker has said he will not make his re-election plans official until work on the state budget is complete later this summer. Still, he has hinted for the past several months that another run is likely and on Friday announced Joe Fadness will serve as his campaign manager. “Why wouldn’t I run for re-election,” Walker’s planned remarks ask.
In a statement, Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Martha Laning said Walker has spent the past eight years focusing on people at the top, and argued the state’s families deserve a chance to make a choice for real change next year. “In 2018, we will have a choice to make: stick to the status quo of pitting the ultra rich against the rest of us, or vote for real change in the way we operate our government.”
Many high profile Democrats have already opted out of a run for governor in 2018. So far, the only declared candidate is Barneveld native Bob Harlow.