Rebecca Kleefisch served as the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin. A Republican, she held the position for two terms. She left the office in 2019 after Democrats scored big in statewide elections.
Her successor, current Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, has launched a campaign for Wisconsin's United States Senate seats. Kleefisch seems to be setting her sights on a different but also powerful political office.
Files paperwork for gubernatorial campaign
Rebecca Kleefisch has filed the necessary paperwork to seek the Republican nomination for governor of Wisconsin.
Reports indicate that she filed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on August 24.
Despite this, a spokesman for Kleefisch insists she's still only considering making a run for governor. Not that she's made a final decision. However, she's also made public what her campaign platform would be. Further indicating that she's much more likely to run than not.
One Republican candidate has formally entered the race for the Republican nomination. The Beloit Daily News and the Associated Press indicate that various other candidates may also enter the race. Among those who've reportedly been interested is Reince Priebus. Priebus is a former White House chief of staff and Republican party of Wisconsin, and Republican National Committee chairman.
In Wisconsin, candidates for lieutenant governor run in primaries for their respective political parties. The victors of those primaries then essentially wait to find out which party's gubernatorial nominee succeeds. Kleefisch first won the Republican nomination in 2010, shortly after she underwent surgery for colon cancer.
Later that year, Republican Scott Walker won the governor's race after having basically secured the Republican nomination years before.
Both Walker and Kleefisch later faced recall elections in 2012 but would win. Another key figure in the 2010 and 2012 elections was Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Barrett was recently nominated to be the United States ambassador to Luxembourg.
Kleefisch stayed on as the lieutenant governor after Walker was re-elected in 2010. However, he would be unsuccessful in his 2018 re-election bid.
Kleefisch is a former news anchor
Having had the maiden name of Reed, Rebecca Kleefisch is originally from Pontiac, Michigan. Her family eventually moved to Ohio. The future lieutenant governor would go on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Afterwards, she began working as a reporter for WIFR, a CBS-affiliated television station in Rockford, Illinois. Later, she became a news anchor for ABC affiliate WISN in Milwaukee.
Her husband, Joel Kleefisch, is also a former reporter. In addition, he was elected to seven terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The couple has two daughters.
