Democrat Vinehout Registers To Run For Governor

Democratic state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout has registered to run for governor, the first step in officially launching a campaign.

Vinehout, of Alma, filed the paperwork June 14 to register a campaign committee but she said she still has not decided whether she’s actually running.

“It does allow me to spend money for the race of governor,” Vinehout said. “I wanted to make sure that I was legal in recording all of the expenses that I expected to have as I traveled the state making a decision.”

She said she plans to start touring the state to assess a possible run after work on the state budget wraps up at the state Capitol.

Vinehout has been in the state Senate since 2007 and ran for governor in the 2012 recall attempt against Gov. Scott Walker. She finished a distant third in the primary and was considering running again in 2014 but decided against it after she was involved in a car crash.

“I think that people are tired of those personal attacks and people deserve better. They deserve conversations about the issues,” Vinehout said. “They deserve to know what the candidates are going to do for the future of the state.

Wisconsin Republican Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman is branding Vinehout as a tax-and-spend Madison liberal.

“While Gov. Scott Walker has fought to return authority back to the Wisconsin tax payers, tax-and-spend Madison liberal Kathleen Vinehout wants to take us backward — to the days when she authored the largest tax increase in state history and fled to Illinois to protect the big government special interests,” Zimmerman said.

Walker has indicated he will run for governor, but has said a formal announcement will come after the state budget is complete.

Vinehout has served on the Legislature’s Joint Audit Committee and as majority and minority caucus vice chair.

Editor’s note: This story was last updated at 4:23 p.m. Wednesday, June 28, to include comments from Sen. Kathleen Vinehout.