MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on Madison Mayor Paul Soglin’s entry in governor’s race (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is promising to run what he’s calling a “supper club campaign” for governor, hitting diners, restaurants and coffee shops across the state to make the case why he should emerge from a crowded Democratic field.
Soglin officially launched his campaign Wednesday, starting with an interview in the heart of the most conservative part of Wisconsin in Waukesha.
The longtime Madison mayor says a poll he did in May convinced him he could win the nomination and defeat Republican Gov. Scott Walker in November.
Soglin is also downplaying being the oldest announced candidate at 72. He says, “I’m probably the only one who well into his 50s did a five-day, 500-miles bike ride from Minneapolis to Chicago.”
Soglin hit Walker on the $3 billion Foxconn Technology Group deal and said the next governor needs to fight the opioid crisis, fix public schools, deal with homelessness and make sure everyone benefits economically.
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10 a.m.
Gov. Scott Walker is attacking Madison as a place where “murders have gone up” at the same time his economic development agency is spending $1 million promoting the capital city.
Walker on Wednesday reacted to Madison Mayor Paul Soglin’s entry in the governor’s race by tweeting, “The last thing we need is more Madison in our lives.”
His tweet comes at the same time Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is launching a $1 million advertising campaign targeting young professionals in Chicago. The campaign tries to lure the millennials to Wisconsin with ads featuring Madison and 14 other locations.
Walker also faults Soglin for higher homicides in Madison. The 11 last year was the highest on record. Since Walker took office, homicides have increased statewide from 138 in 2011 to 230 in 2016.
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8:10 a.m.
Longtime Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is launching his campaign for governor attacking both President Donald Trump and Gov. Scott Walker.
Soglin officially joined the race Wednesday after months of speculation. Soglin is in his 20th year as mayor of Madison, a position he’s held off and on since 1973.
Soglin becomes the ninth top-tier Democrat in a crowded field that will square off in the August primary. The winner will take on Walker as he seeks a third term in November.
The 72-year-old Soglin hopes to tap into supporters of liberal former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders who won the Wisconsin primary in 2016. Soglin says that both Trump and Walker do not believe in the principles of “equal justice under the law.”
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