Even With Evers Out, Gubernatorial Field Remains Small

The Wisconsin State Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

All year, would-be candidates for Wisconsin’s highest office have waited at a metaphorical stoplight, looking for a signal from Gov. Tony Evers on whether he’d seek a third term.

Evers’ incumbency would have stymied any serious contenders from his own party, and even potential Republican candidates had to grapple with whether to take on a sitting governor with relatively strong approval ratings and a record of winning statewide elections.

But after Evers announced that he will be retiring at the end of this term, leaving the race to replace him wide open on both sides, there was no flood of new candidates.

Instead, the response has been more like a trickle.

The day after Evers’ announcement, his lieutenant governor, Sara Rodriguez, announced her campaign, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said he was “taking steps” toward entering the race.

But other potential Democratic candidates have remained quiet. And on the Republican side, nobody has joined businessman Bill Berrien or Waukesha County Executive Josh Schoemann, the two existing GOP candidates who were already in the field.

Any hopeful candidate has a big task ahead: establishing statewide name recognition, building an attractive platform and raising enough money to fuel a campaign that can last through next year.

So campaign strategists say it’s not surprising that the field remains relatively small in the slow, hot days of August, when anyone eyeing the governor’s office has to thread the needle of getting in early enough to build out a reputation and base, while also budgeting wisely for a primary that’s still a year away.

“People are doing their homework and due diligence to make sure that … if they get in, they can mount a credible campaign with the right resources,” said Bill McCoshen, a veteran Republican strategist who ran former Gov. Tommy Thompson’s successful reelection campaign in 1994.

Candidates will need to use the next year strategically, McCoshen said, to lay the groundwork for a staff and strategy, and to build up a base of primary voters. Then, after the primary, assume costs will skyrocket to reach outside the base, he said.

“You can’t be left with no resources,” he said. “You have to be able to assure that you can not only get through the primary, but you’ll have the resources to compete, literally starting on primary night.”

But candidates have to balance that measured approach against the need to grab every advantage they can. That can include the “first mover” advantage, according to Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist who managed communications in Mary Burke’s unsuccessful race against former Gov. Scott Walker in 2014.

After the first big splash — like Rodriguez attempted with her campaign rollout one day after Evers’ announcement — there “isn’t a second or third mover piece that is more valuable than being able to get your announcement done right, on your own terms, putting your best foot forward,” Zepecki said in a text message.

And getting it right might include not trying to break through in August, when families are on vacation and many people would rather be outside than paying close attention to the news.

“We live in an attention age and with so many people trying to tune out at this point in the year,” Zepecki said. “Why rush when September is right around the corner?”

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The race for Wisconsin governor is on. So why aren’t more people running? was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.