BROOKFIELD, Wis. – State Representative Sara Rodriguez, D-Brookfield, a health-care executive who flipped a long-held Republican Assembly district in 2020, is running for lieutenant governor. “I’m running to be a partner to Governor Tony Evers,” Rodrigues said. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will be Evers’ running mate. The only other Democratic candidate to date: State Senator Lena Taylor of Milwaukee and west and south suburbs. In declaring her candidacy, Rodriguez emphasized willingness to work across party line for common goals. “There is still much more that unites us than divides us,” she said. “We all want great schools, to fix the roads, to honor our democracy, to address climate change, to access quality healthcare, and to have the opportunity to earn an honest living.”
Rodriguez profile
She grew up in Waukesha County. She earned a degree in neuroscience from Illinois Wesleyan University. She spent two years with the Peace Corps in Samoa. Then she earned a master’s degree in nursing at Johns Hopkins University. She has worked in hospital emergency rooms, for the U.S. Epidemic Intelligence Service, for a multi-county Colorado health agency, and as state chronic disease director in Colorado. In 2011 she joined Benefit Services Group in Wisconsin, then Honeywell Life Care Solutions, then Advocate Aurora Health.
Why in politics?
Rodriguez said she was inspired to run during the first wave of the Covid pandemic. The Republican-led Legislature, she said, was forcing people choose between their health and right to vote. “I just felt my background in health care and epidemiology would be helpful.” she said. Rodriguez won, one of only two candidates in Wisconsin to defeat an incumbent.
Rodriguez. Doesn’t see herself as a career politician. Career in nursing and health care. Vice president at a Fortune 100 company. Age 46.