For the past several months, Wisconsin state senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) has been contemplating a run for governor. Today, the Progressive is reporting that she has decided not to run.
Several sources close to Wisconsin State Senator Kathleen Vinehout told The Progressive on Thursday that she has decided against making a run for governor.
Vinehout, who has been recovering from a car accident and resulting surgery on a fractured arm, will hold a press conference on Friday to announce her decision.
Full disclosure - I have donated money to Sen. Vinehout, both for her run against Scott Walker in the 2012 recall and in 2013. Kathleen supported my wife's unsuccessful run for Wisconsin Assembly in 2012.
Diane Odeen (left, Democratic Assembly candidate, AD30, 2012) and Kathleen Vinehout (right, D-Alma).
I'm disappointed, but I can't say I'm surprised.
Kathleen (and anyone who knows her knows that you call her "Kathleen", not "Senator Vinehout") had been traveling the state hoping to run a grass-roots campaign - hoping to revitalize the network of activists that sprung up in the "Cheddar Revolution" of 2011.
Senator Kathleen Vinehout, speaking at a Barack Obama campaign event, 2012
But last month, she was involved in a multicar pileup in southeastern Wisconsin that left her arm shattered. It required 8 hours of surgery to rebuild ("repair" may be too optimistic a word), and has left her with a long road ahead for rehabilitation.
Kathleen is a dairy farmer organic grain farmer* and a former college professor and administrator. She's a sharp as you'll find, and is generous with her time, her energy, and her hugs. For now, I will wish her a speedy recovery from her injuries.
And I will do what I can to make sure that she's back in the Wisconsin Senate in 2015.
*Thanks to Sand Hill Crane for the correction; Kathleen sold the dairy herd when she was elected to the senate.