Missy Hughes said today it’s time for Democratic candidates to coalesce around a gubernatorial nominee to beat Tom Tiffany in November. 

The former WEDC secretary and CEO said at an afternoon press conference with Lt. Gov Sara Rodriguez that it was “100%” time for other candidates to follow Hughes’ lead and consider dropping out. 

Hughes announced earlier today she was suspending her campaign and endorsing Rodriguez. 

“True leadership means stepping aside and making sure that we coalesce around someone who can win in November,” Hughes said. “Sara is the best person positioned to beat Tom Tiffany, who is the most radical person in this race, and the person that we need to make sure does not become governor of the state.”

However, both Hughes and Rodriguez said they believed any of the remaining six Dem candidates could beat Tiffany, a Republican congressman from Minocqua, in a general election matchup. 

Rodriguez thanked Hughes “from the bottom of her heart” for the endorsement and said she would continue to make her case to Wisconsin voters that she was best positioned to beat Tiffany in November. 

“What she did today, stepping back, making a hard choice, putting the mission ahead of herself – that’s exactly the kind of Wisconsin spirit that makes me believe we are going to win this thing,” Rodriguez said. 

Hughes in a statement earlier today cited the need for Democrats to build a “broad coalition of voters” to win in November, saying Rodriguez was best suited to build that coalition. 

Hughes led the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. for six years under Gov. Tony Evers before announcing her gubernatorial run last September. Evers chose not to run for a third term.

Billing herself as a “Democrat who understands the economy,” Hughes struggled to distinguish herself in a crowded primary field.

March polling from the Marquette University Law School showed Hughes had some of the lowest name recognition of the then-nine Dem candidates running for governor.

She placed last in a WisPolitics straw poll of state Democratic Party activists conducted at its convention earlier this month; Rodriguez won that poll, trailed closely by state Rep. Francesca Hong of Madison.

Tiffany in a statement said that Hughes’ exit is “a reminder that there’s no room for moderates in today’s Democrat Party.”

“What’s left is a race to the left: Francesca Hong wants to abolish the police, Mandela Barnes supports a $2 billion tax hike, and Sara Rodriguez said she would craft the entire state budget behind a curtain,” Tiffany said. “The irony is that the Democrat establishment is worried about nominating a socialist, but every candidate in the field has embraced a far-left agenda that is out of touch with Wisconsin voters.”

MU Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin noted that Hughes’ small base of support was not likely to release many supporters to other candidates or simplify the alternatives to Rodriguez, Hong, and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who have led polling of the guv field.

“Past primaries, especially with sizable fields, have not really taken off until late June or July, and so this race has time for shifts in support similar to 2018 or 2022, where most movement took place between late June and the August primary,” Franklin wrote in an email. 

Hughes notably broke from other Dems when she criticized her opponents for opposing a failed $1.8 billion surplus spending deal negotiated by Evers and GOP legislative leaders. 

State Sen. Kelda Roys’ campaign dismissed news of Hughes’ endorsement of Rodriguez, saying it had “no impact on the state of the race.”

“After a generation of right-wing policies, this isn’t a moment for timid moderates with no track record of delivering. We have the opportunity to make transformative change for Wisconsinites — and need a proven leader to get it done,” spokesperson Jalen Knuteson said in a statement. 

Hughes is the first gubernatorial candidate to drop out after the June 1 candidate filing deadline.

College student Zachary Roper suspended his campaign on that date, while Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad backed down from threats to sue his way onto the ballot after the Wisconsin Elections Commission identified numerous errors in his nomination papers.