by Andrew Trunsky
Former Republican Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy said that he would not run for governor Thursday despite former President Donald Trump urging him to do so.
Trump first sought for Duffy to run in October, declining to endorse Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefish, the current GOP frontrunner, in her bid to oust Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. But Duffy, who resigned from Congress to care for his child and now lives in New Jersey, told conservative radio show host Jay Weber on Thursday that now was not the time for him to reenter politics.
“Hopefully I’m not riding off into the sunset,” Duffy said. “If an opportunity presents itself, I’d like to come back and partake in Wisconsin politics.”
Evers narrowly denied former Republican Gov. Scott Walker a third term in 2018, and he now faces another race in one of the nation’s battleground states. Though Trump won the state in 2016, President Joe Biden flipped it in 2020.
Wisconsin will also see a high-stakes Senate race where Evers’ lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, is the frontrunner to take on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, if he ultimately decides to run for reelection.
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Andrew Trunsky is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Sean Duffy” by Sean Duffy. Background Photo “Wisconsin State Capitol” by Richard Hurd CC BY 2.0.
