Joel Brennan says Wisconsin ‘not there yet’ on electing non-white governor

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Joel Brennan denied reporting last week that he feels being white is an advantage in a state that has never had a non-white man as governor. But the Milwaukee area native remarked on a podcast just days before that he does feel the state is not ready for non-white man as governor. 

Brennan denied a report from Urban Milwaukee that stated he was using the phrase “white centrist” to describe himself in meetings with donors. “No one on our campaign, including Joel, has used that language, and none of us think that’s a reason to support him,” Brennan said in a statement to the Milwaukee Courier last week. 

Twelve days prior, Brennan appeared on The Dr. Kristin Lyerly Show, where he was asked about being the only viable white male in the race. 

Brennan opened his response saying race is “not something that we’re not supposed to talk about,” but during his minutes-long response to the question, he seemed to admit that Wisconsin is not yet ready for a non-white governor when he was asked directly by Lyerly if he viewed being white as an asset or liability. 

“Everybody brings a different lived experience to this and everybody brings different qualifications,” Brennan said. “I hope we get to a point in Wisconsin, in America, and maybe this is a step towards it, where we actually can just choose and it can be based on vision, based on how hard you work, based on qualifications. I don’t think we’re there yet,” Brennan said.

Brennan’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to questions on May 7. 

Brennan has not been shy about addressing the elephant in the room as the Democratic Party’s national base has largely become very diverse at a time when representation from people of color is being threatened. He discussed race at length with the Courier in an interview last month. 

And for what it’s worth, a majority of Wisconsin voters elected former President Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012. At the same time, the state chose President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024. 

“I think we need advocates who look like every part of what makes Wisconsin rich,” Brennan told Lyerly. “We need there to be a whole bunch of diversity demographically. We need to do it regionally. We need to do it by gender. Like all of those things. And I have over the course of my life been able to do work that provides opportunities for a whole host of people. That is what I bring to this. 

“There will be people who choose, and there always are in elections, where they choose because of one issue. That issue might be gender, it might be ethnicity, it might be an issue. 

I’d like to get to a point, and I think Wisconsin has a sophisticated electorate, where it’s about all of those things and I think this is a proving ground for that. 

“(Being white) is not my reason for running. My reason is around qualification, it’s about vision, it’s about the ability to do the job on Day 1. I think I can win the job. I think I can expand the electorate. Because of some of the work I’ve done, working in the business, government and nonprofit sector, that provides a good foil when you get to a general election.”

Brennan was previously CEO at Discovery World before leading the Housing Authority under former Mayor Tom Barrett. Brennan went on to help manage budgets for Gov. Tony Evers and serves as president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

Of the viable candidates running for governor in the Democratic primary, Brennan is the only white male. However, a Minoqua brewery owner, Kirk Bangstad, who has been a longtime fundraiser and ally to the Democratic Party announced he is running for governor just days after the FBI announced they are investigating him for offering free beer if Trump were to die. 

Bangstad made the post on the same day, April 25, a man with a gun ran into the White House Correspondents Dinner with Trump and other high-level administration officials in attendance.

Drake Bentley can be reached at [email protected].