With Rodriguez out of race, Crowley weighing a return to campaign for governor

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Multiple massive dominos could fall Friday in the race to be Wisconsin's Democratic nominee for governor. The first fell Friday morning when Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez suspended her campaign amid fallout from a major money mishap that left her with significantly less funding than the four other candidates currently in the race.

Rodriguez's announcement comes just eight days after Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley exited the race and endorsed Rodriguez.

Multiple Democratic sources told CBS 58 Friday on the condition of anonymity that several high-level Democrats, including top legislators, have pushed for Crowley to get back in the race.

Those sources say Crowley set two key conditions for his return to the campaign; first, Rodriguez would have to drop out of the race, then Gov. Tony Evers would endorse Crowley in the primary.

Evers' communications director, Britt Cudaback, told CBS 58 via text the governor was leaving the state on a trade mission Friday. She did not immediately respond to other questions, including when Evers will come back.

Rodriguez released a video Friday morning, announcing she was suspending her campaign, pointing to the lingering ramifications of the financial mess.

"As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear that there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction," Rodriguez said. "Not just for this campaign, but for the primary and for Wisconsin. This race is too important to let that happen."

With Rodriguez out of the race, a Democratic source said Crowley's return is "on the table," and added an Evers endorsement is now "likely" because the governor and people close to him have reservations about whether the remaining Democratic frontrunners, State Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes can win the general election against presumptive GOP nominee, Congressman Tom Tiffany.

State Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and former Department of Administration secretary Joel Brennan are also in the race, and they've vowed to campaign to the finish, believing they can still make a late push in the final four weeks of the campaign.

Democratic analyst Scot Ross, who's worked on past gubernatorial campaigns, said he didn't understand why party leaders were rallying around Crowley, whose campaign failed to pick up steam before his decision to drop out last week.

"I don't know how the county executive goes from being within the margin of error of both you and I to suddenly pulling votes away from the top two runners," Ross said. "I just don't see it, but that's why they play the games, right?"

Democratic strategist Sachin Chheda acknowledged the party risked alienating voters who support Hong, Barnes, Roys or Brennan.

"That's actually an issue that will get litigated in the primary," Chheda said. "If folks get in this race and they're endorsed by this person or that person, then the other candidates are gonna make that argument."

The question now for Democratic leaders is whether there's an even bigger risk of Hong winning the primary, then losing to Tiffany in November.

"Anybody can win this [gosh darn] race," Ross said. "There's no reason you can't. We are in unprecedented times."

According to Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) date, 247,484 absentee ballots have been sent to voters. As of Friday, 67,895 voters have returned their ballots.

Under new guidance WEC adopted last week, clerks are now advised to not allow voters to spoil absentee ballots they've already returned. Voters who have marked their ballots but have not returned them are still allowed to spoil their ballot and get a new one from their municipal clerk.