Gov. Scott Walker will tell party activists at this weekend’s GOP state convention “I’m ready” for a third term as he continues to send signals that he’ll run in 2018.
But the state Dem party slammed the guv, saying he “won’t be able to convince Wisconsinites to re-elect him for another term.”
Walker has said he will wait until after the budget is done this summer to formally announce his plans. But he has left little doubt that he plans to run again, including the hiring of Joe Fadness as his campaign manager today.
Walker’s campaign released excerpts of the guv’s speech ahead of his address tomorrow to party activists, including his declaration “I’m ready to help lead Wisconsin forward for four more years. But I need your help.”
Walker, according to the excerpts, will tout a “grassroots army of volunteers” who helped him first win office in 2010, beat back a recall attempt in 2012 and then secure re-election in 2014.
He will tell party activists “we need your help again” and note, “People often ask me if I am going to run again in 2018.”
“Well, with record levels of employment in the State of Wisconsin, the better question is, ‘Why wouldn’t I run for re-election?’” Walker will say.
As part of Walker’s speech, he will tout the number of people employed in Wisconsin, the job openings listed on a state website and an unemployment rate that’s the lowest it’s been since April 2000.
Meanwhile, WisDems spokesman Brandon Weathersby touted statewide Dem’s building of “a true grassroots operation that will turn our state around,” and slammed Walker’s record and “his wealthy special interests,” who Weathersby said will buy the guv another term.
“After a failed run for president, a sputtering state economy that fell to 32nd in the nation in private sector job growth under his watch, and failing to find a long-term solution to fix our state’s 4th worst in the nation transportation infrastructure, Gov. Walker won’t be able to convince Wisconsinites to re-elect him for another term,” Weathersby said.
