Tony Zielinski Won’t Run for Lieutenant Governor

I’ve been to community meetings with Ald. Tony Zielinski as he introduced himself as a candidate for lieutenant governor, so I know he was giving his candidacy his all.

But Zielinski announced that he won’t run for statewide office this year. Looks like he’s stepping aside to make way for Assembly Speaker Tom Nelson, from Kaukauna, to jump into the race and avoid a Milwaukee-only ticket for the Democrats with Tom Barrett at the top. (Although state Milwaukee Sen. Spencer Coggs is still in the race, as is Henry Sanders of Waunakee.)

Here’s Zielinski’s announcement:

Our top priority is to get the best candidate elected Governor for the people of Wisconsin. Tom Barrett is that candidate!

Advisors very close to Tom Barrett have indicated to me that Tom believes that two people from Milwaukee cannot win. While I personally think two people from Milwaukee can win, that is not the only factor I must consider. While there was no other candidate that was both from outside of Milwaukee and that held elective office in the race before, I could not in good conscience withdraw. This is no longer the case. Tom Nelson has both elective office experience and is not from Milwaukee. For those reasons I am withdrawing from the race for Lieutenant Governor.

In the past several months, I have had to good fortune to personally see what a beautiful state we have while visiting approximately %uFFFD of the state’s 72 counties. In fact, the beauty of our state is only exceeded by the wonderful people who live here.

I will do whatever I can to help Tom Barrett become the next Governor for the people of the State of Wisconsin and I encourage you to support Tom as well.