Madison Mayor Paul Soglin formally kicked off his campaign for guv today, charging President Trump and Gov. Scott Walker do not believe in the principles of government providing citizen health and safety “through a fair system of taxation” and equal justice under the law.
Instead, the longtime mayor accused Trump of orchestrating the biggest tax fraud in U.S. history with the GOP plan that cleared Congress late last month. He said it creates mammoth tax cuts for the rich and powerful that go on forever, while ordinary Wisconsinites get “crumbs” that will disappear in a decade.
Meanwhile, he said Walker has created a system in Wisconsin that “rewards cronyism rather than hard work” as public schools are undermined and roads deteriorate. Soglin also accused the guv of proposing cuts to health care for Wisconsin children, pushing voter ID laws that overwhelmingly disenfranchise people of color and ending equal pay protections.
“We must do better,” Soglin said. “We need to create, enact, and support policies that are designed to improve the lives of every single Wisconsinite.”
Soglin is the latest entrant to a crowded Dem guv primary field. It includes 19 people who have registered to run under the party’s banner, but perhaps half of those will mount serious bids.
Soglin, 72, has been considering a bid since at least June, when he told WisPolitics.com at the Democratic Party’s state convention that he was looking at getting into the race. He was first elected mayor in 1973 and has held the office off and on since for a total of two decades.
He is kicking off his bid by traveling the state over the next week for stops with voters and media outlets.
With talk of Soglin getting into the race heating up last week, Walker knocked the mayor on Twitter for giving Cuban dictator Fidel Castro a key to the city.
“Look how far Democrats have drifted to the left when one of their leading candidates for Governor in Wisconsin is a mayor who gave brutal Communist dictator Fidel Castro the keys to the city!” Walker wrote.
