ELECTIONS
Governor candidate Sara Rodriguez fires campaign head for finance inaccuracies
Molly BeckJessie OpoienMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated July 12, 2026, 11:01 p.m. CT
- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sara Rodriguez fired her campaign manager.
- The firing was due to the discovery of “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in campaign finance reports.
- Rodriguez’s campaign plans to contact the Wisconsin Ethics Commission to correct the reports.
- The staff change occurred less than a month before the August primary election.
MADISON – Democratic candidate for governor Sara Rodriguez said late Sunday she had fired her campaign manager after “discovering serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in campaign finance reports
Rodriguez made the announcement about terminating campaign manager Kara Spencer through a news release sent to reporters about 9:30 p.m. on July 12. According to the campaign, staff discovered the errors and financial management issues late last week and brought concerns to Rodriguez
Rodriguez then moved to quickly acquire access to the campaign accounts and fired Spencer, according to the campaign
“An initial review found that the manager filed inaccurate and incomplete campaign finance reports,” a spokeswoman for the campaign said in the release. Campaign officials plan to contact the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on Monday to correct the inaccurate reports, the release said
“The moment Sara learned of these inaccuracies, she acted swiftly and decisively removed her.”
The high-profile firing comes three days before new campaign finance reports are due to the state ethics commission and less than four weeks before the Aug. 11 primary election when Rodriguez will face four other Democratic candidates for governor
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com
