MUSKEGO, WI — Pete Karas, the Wisconsin Green Party’s 2026 candidate for Secretary of State, has a message for the Democrats who challenged his nomination papers: thanks for the motivation.
Karas announced today that he has filed to run for Governor of Wisconsin in 2030.
“You tried to kick me off the ballot for Secretary of State, and your reward is a Green Party candidate for Governor four years from now,” Karas said. “I want to be very clear — this is not a threat. It’s a promise.”
Karas, a former Racine City Alderman and small business owner from Muskego, has spent years fighting for the kinds of reforms that would make ballot suppression tactics like this impossible — ranked-choice voting, expanded ballot access, and an end to the two-party chokehold on Wisconsin elections. He didn’t expect to become his own best case study quite so quickly.
“The whole reason I’m running for Secretary of State is because the system is rigged to keep independent voices out. And then they go ahead and prove my point for me. I couldn’t have written it better myself.”
Rather than stepping back, Karas says the challenge to his papers has only deepened his commitment to building the Wisconsin Green Party for the long haul — candidate by candidate, race by race, election cycle by election cycle.
“We’re not a protest. We’re not a spoiler. We’re a party, and we’re here to stay. See you in 2030.”
More information about Pete Karas and the Pete for Wisconsin campaign is available at PeteKaras.com
Pete Karas is the Wisconsin Green Party’s 2026 candidate for Secretary of State and a declared 2030 candidate for Governor of Wisconsin. He is a former Racine City Alderman, former small business owner, and longtime advocate for democracy reform and ballot access expansion in Wisconsin.
