Vinehout Won’t Run For Governor, Citing Broken Arm

State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, has officially announced she won’t run for governor this year, leaving Democratic candidate Mary Burke without a major primary challenger.

Many in the Democratic Party’s progressive base were encouraging Vinehout, D-Alma, to run as an alternative to the more establishment candidate Burke. While Vinehout never officially entered the race, she was sounding every bit like a candidate up until late last year, saying she would officially announce her plans soon.

That was before Vinehout was in a car crash that left her with a badly broken arm. In a statement released on Friday morning, Vinehout wrote that the time required to recover and rehabilitate would make it impossible to run the intense, grassroots campaign that she wanted to run.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political science professor Mordecai Lee said at the end of the day, politicians are pragmatic people.

“She was making what in politics would be considered to be a rational decision,” Lee said.

Lee said Vinehout’s departure from the race could also illustrate a difference between the Republican and Democratic parties.

“I’d like to suggest that notwithstanding her tragic accident, that her decision not to run is something of an indication that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is not a mirror image of the Republican Party,” said Lee. “This sort of left caucus — progressive, liberal, labor — is not as distinct in Democratic Party politics as the Tea Party is in Republican politics.”

Burke might yet see a primary challenger, though it would appear that other Democrats are staying out of the race. Burke already reported $1.8 million raised in the three months since she announced her candidacy, a total that included $400,000 of her own money.