Contested and uncontested primaries for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer will determine nominees for the Nov. 3 general election
Wisconsin voters will select party nominees for five statewide constitutional offices in the partisan primary on Aug. 11, 2026. The races are for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer. Primary winners advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
Information is drawn from candidates’ campaign websites where available, the Wisconsin Elections Commission ballot certifications, and reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Public Radio, WisPolitics, Isthmus and similar established Wisconsin outlets as of early August 2026. Several Democratic candidates for governor suspended their campaigns after the ballot was set but remain listed.
Governor
Tom Tiffany
Tom Tiffany is seeking the Republican nomination for governor. He is a U.S. representative for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, a former state senator and assembly member, and a small-business owner who previously operated Wilderness Cruises in the Northwoods with his wife. Tiffany grew up on a dairy farm near Elmwood and resides in the northern Wisconsin area he represents.
According to his campaign website, he prioritizes ending what he calls Gov. Tony Evers’ “400-year property tax hike,” freezing property taxes, cutting regulations to lower housing, childcare and health-care costs, supporting law enforcement, banning sanctuary cities, raising education standards with honest report cards and accountability, protecting farmland from industrial-scale development, and defending “common-sense” values including restrictions related to girls’ sports and parental rights. He has emphasized returning the state budget surplus to taxpayers and increasing special-education reimbursement rates.
Andy Manske
Andy Manske is seeking the Republican nomination for governor. He is a medical services technician who delivers prescriptions and equipment across southeastern Wisconsin and has not previously held elected office. Manske was born in Milwaukee, raised in Franklin, and resides in the Greenfield area.
According to his campaign website and interviews reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Public Radio, he positions himself as a non-politician focused on using artificial intelligence to streamline state government, supporting high-speed rail, legalizing marijuana, addressing homelessness and stagnant wages, and ensuring data centers do not burden the public energy grid or create rolling blackouts. Specific detailed platform planks beyond these emphases could not be independently confirmed from primary sources beyond general statements.
Francesca Hong
Francesca Hong is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor and has been described in Wisconsin Public Radio and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting as a democratic socialist. She is a state representative from the Madison area since 2021, the first Asian American member of the Wisconsin Legislature, a chef and former co-owner of a ramen restaurant, a single mother and community organizer. She resides in Madison.
According to her campaign website, Hong’s platform centers on permanent affordability through universal childcare modeled on programs in other states, universal paid leave for all workers including the self-employed, fully funding public schools by creating a new top income-tax bracket on millionaires and taxing large corporate profits to cut property taxes by an estimated 41 percent, expanding Medicaid and establishing a public option for cheaper health care, a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers until energy, water and farmland protections are in place, raising the minimum wage to $20 with cost-of-living adjustments, and rolling back voucher programs so public dollars stay in public schools.
David Crowley
David Crowley is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. He has been the Milwaukee County executive since 2020, the first Black and youngest person elected to that post, and a former state representative. He resides in Milwaukee.
According to his campaign website, Crowley emphasizes lowering costs for working families on housing, energy, childcare and health care; expanding affordable housing and accessible childcare; strengthening public safety and health; delivering tax relief as he did with the largest property-tax cut in Milwaukee County history; climate action through solar, retrofits and clean infrastructure that creates union jobs; and bipartisan approaches such as the Act 12 revenue-sharing reform he helped secure. He has highlighted his executive experience managing a large government budget and delivering measurable results.
Kelda Roys
Kelda Roys is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. She is a state senator representing the Madison area, a former state representative, an attorney and small-business owner. She resides in Madison.
According to her campaign website and statements reported by WisPolitics and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Roys prioritizes raising the minimum wage to $15 with a path to $20 by 2030, restoring collective-bargaining rights and repealing Act 10 and right-to-work laws, opening the state employee health-insurance plan (KeldaCare) as a public option for anyone to buy into, capping childcare costs at 7 percent of family income and making Wisconsin Shares universal, fully funding public schools while phasing out voucher programs with accountability and nondiscrimination requirements, strong regulation of data centers including ending subsidies and requiring upfront payments for a public clean-energy bank, and protecting reproductive rights.
Joel Brennan
Joel Brennan is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. He is a former secretary of the Department of Administration under Gov. Tony Evers (2019–2022), former president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and former head of Discovery World. He resides in the Milwaukee area.
According to his campaign website and interviews reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Examiner, Brennan emphasizes expanding health-care access especially for children by raising eligibility, capping prescription-drug prices, overhauling the school-funding formula and increasing education investment partly through legalizing marijuana and adjusting tax credits, ensuring data centers pay their own infrastructure and operating costs without burdening ratepayers, and leveraging his executive experience negotiating budgets and the Foxconn deal to deliver results across party lines.
Mandela Barnes
Mandela Barnes appears on the Democratic primary ballot for governor but suspended his campaign on July 30, 2026, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WisPolitics. He is a former lieutenant governor (2019–23) and former state representative.
Sara Rodriguez
Sara Rodriguez appears on the Democratic primary ballot for governor but suspended her campaign on July 17, 2026, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Isthmus. She is the incumbent lieutenant governor and a former state representative and nurse.
Missy Hughes
Missy Hughes appears on the Democratic primary ballot for governor but suspended her campaign on June 22, 2026, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and WisPolitics. She is a former secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Lieutenant Governor
Sarah Godlewski
Sarah Godlewski is seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor and is unopposed in the primary. She is the incumbent secretary of state (appointed 2023), former state treasurer (2019–2023), and a venture capitalist who previously worked at the Pentagon and co-founded an investment firm focused on clean energy. She was raised in Eau Claire.
According to statements reported by WUWM and other outlets, Godlewski prioritizes affordability for working families, expanding affordable childcare and housing supply, protecting and expanding health-care access, and using the lieutenant governor’s platform to address rising costs while drawing on her experience managing public trust funds and state services.
Will Martin
Will Martin is seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. He is a businessman, consultant in workforce and economic development, and former official in the administrations of Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker, where he worked on welfare-to-work reforms, housing affordability and Opportunity Zones. He previously ran for the office in 2022.
According to his campaign website and statements reported by local outlets, Martin emphasizes shrinking and streamlining state government, cutting regulatory burdens, expanding homeownership and workforce training, and supporting law enforcement.
David Varnam
David Varnam is seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. He is a former mayor of Lancaster (2016–22), former city council member, former congressional aide, and former policy analyst. He previously ran for the office in 2022 and resides in the Lancaster area of southwestern Wisconsin.
According to his campaign materials and reporting, Varnam emphasizes fiscal conservatism from his mayoral record of keeping low property taxes and defeating fee increases, rural perspectives, and experience in housing, water, and transportation policy.
Attorney General
Josh Kaul
Josh Kaul is seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general and is unopposed in the primary. He is the incumbent attorney general since 2019, a former federal prosecutor in Baltimore, and holds degrees from Yale and Stanford.
According to his record and reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other outlets, Kaul has focused on consumer protection, environmental enforcement, challenging certain federal policies, and managing Department of Justice resources including crime labs, though specific new platform planks for a third term emphasize continuing public-safety and legal priorities consistent with his tenure.
Eric Toney
Eric Toney is seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general and is unopposed in the primary. He is the Fond du Lac County district attorney, a position he has held since 2012, and was the 2022 Republican nominee.
According to interviews reported by WBAY and other outlets, Toney prioritizes supporting law enforcement, addressing crime-lab backlogs and testing policies, prosecuting election fraud, and taking a tougher approach to public safety and illegal immigration-related cases based on his prosecutorial experience.
Secretary of State
JoCasta Zamarripa
JoCasta Zamarripa is seeking the Democratic nomination for secretary of state and is unopposed in the primary. She is a Milwaukee Common Council member (since 2020) representing the 8th District, a former state representative (2011–2021), the first Latina elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, and previously worked as a Planned Parenthood outreach coordinator. She resides in Milwaukee.
According to her campaign website, Zamarripa prioritizes using the office’s platform and role on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands to advocate for fully funding public schools, protecting and expanding the public lands trust that supports school libraries, addressing rising costs of groceries, housing and childcare, and supporting safe, stable housing and fair opportunity across the state.
Jay Schroeder
Jay Schroeder is seeking the Republican nomination for secretary of state. He has described himself as a MAGA-aligned activist focused on election integrity and previously ran for other offices.
According to reporting in the Wisconsin Examiner and candidate statements, he advocates moving election administration from the Wisconsin Elections Commission to the secretary of state’s office and emphasizes election security.
Brayden Myer
Brayden Myer is seeking the Republican nomination for secretary of state. He is a small-business owner, online store operator, founder of local conservative groups and former congressional aide in the Manitowoc area.
According to the Wisconsin Examiner, he supports transferring election administration to the secretary of state’s office and creating a searchable database of state records.
Nate Pollnow
Nate Pollnow is seeking the Republican nomination for secretary of state. He is a beef cattle farmer in Dodge County, a former Elba Town Board chair, and an auctioneer.
According to the Wisconsin Examiner and party reporting, he has the Republican Party of Wisconsin endorsement and calls for a searchable registry of administrative rules, enacted laws and other state public actions to increase transparency.
Cindy Werner
Cindy Werner is seeking the Republican nomination for secretary of state. She is a military veteran, real estate agent, former compliance manager and activist who previously ran for Congress and lieutenant governor; she resides in the Milwaukee area (West Allis reported in some local coverage).
According to the Wisconsin Examiner, she emphasizes election accountability and voter education. Detailed current platform specifics beyond these themes could not be fully confirmed from available primary sources.
State Treasurer
John Leiber
John Leiber is seeking the Republican nomination for state treasurer and is unopposed in the primary. He is the incumbent state treasurer since 2023 (elected 2022).
According to his statements reported by WUWM and other outlets, Leiber emphasizes his work on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands managing the Common School Fund that distributes profits to public school districts, returning unclaimed property, and continuing fiscal stewardship of trust funds.
Dylan Helmenstine
Dylan Helmenstine is seeking the Democratic nomination for state treasurer. He is a Wisconsin Heights School Board member, Black Earth village board trustee, former financial analyst and auditor for Wisconsin Medicaid programs, and state employee who has also worked as a barista while campaigning; he resides in the Black Earth area west of Madison.
According to statements reported by Wisconsin Public Radio and WUWM, Helmenstine prioritizes defending public education and trust funds, increasing government transparency and accountability, and using public power for the public good based on his budget and financial analysis experience.
Yee Leng Xiong
Yee Leng Xiong is seeking the Democratic nomination for state treasurer. He is a Marathon County supervisor, D.C. Everest School Board treasurer, former Village of Weston trustee, nonprofit executive director of the Hmong American Center, and 2024 Assembly nominee; he was born and raised in Wausau as the son of Hmong refugees.
According to statements reported by Wisconsin Public Radio, the Wisconsin Examiner and WUWM, Xiong emphasizes that the office is not ceremonial, overseeing school trust funds, supporting low-interest loans for community infrastructure, returning unclaimed money to families, and applying his experience managing public budgets in a Republican-leaning area.
AI was used to compile information for this article.
