State Sen. Kelda Roys launched her campaign for governor today, saying the state needs someone who’s “been training for this moment her whole career and knows how to deliver.”
Roys, 46, released a rollout video this morning in which she said Wisconsin is in the “fight of our lives, for our democracy and for our kids’ future.” The video shows pictures of President Donald Trump and businessman Elon Musk as she says as “extremists attack our freedoms, while families struggle to get by, we’re fighting back together.”
“I’m fighting alongside you for our Wisconsin – and together, we’re going to win,” Roys says in the video.
Roys joined Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and Milwaukee County Exec David Crowley in the Dem field for the 2026 race to succeed Dem Gov. Tony Evers, who is not running for a third term. Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes, who is leaving the Evers administration on Friday, has been weighing a bid, as has AG Josh Kaul, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and state Rep. Francesca Hong, of Madison. The primary is in August 2026.
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This is Roys’ second bid for the office. She ran in 2018, topping a 10-person field in fundraising between Jan. 1 and the pre-primary reports with $824,287 raised. Still, she finished a distant third behind Evers, then the state schools superintendent, by nearly 29 points.
Roys, a former executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2008, serving two terms before making an unsuccessful bid for the 2nd CD, losing the Dem primary to now-U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont. Following her unsuccessful run for guv in 2018, she won a seat in the state Senate in 2020 and now serves on the Joint Finance Committee.
