Joel Brennan on Running for Wisconsin Governor: Healthcare, Housing, and Why He Jumped In Late

Joel Brennan wants to be Wisconsin's next governor — but he may be the least familiar name in the race. He was the last Democrat to enter the crowded 2026 primary field and, in a state that has never elected a governor who wasn't a white man, he's also the only white man running as a Dem. Whether that's an asset or a liability in a diverse and competitive primary is one of the questions we put to him directly.

Brennan's biography is unlike anyone else in the field. He’s the 10th of 11 children. He spent 11 years as executive director of Discovery World, the state's largest science museum, before becoming Secretary of the Department of Administration under Gov. Tony Evers — the top appointed cabinet position in state government, overseeing the state budget, state agencies, and the day-to-day machinery of Wisconsin government. He left that role in 2022 and has since served as president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. He announced his candidacy in December 2025.

His central argument is straightforward: 30 years of progressive executive experience, a deep network of relationships across Wisconsin, and a willingness to work across the aisle without abandoning core Democratic values. Whether that argument is enough to break through against better-known candidates is the defining challenge of his campaign.

In this conversation, we go deeper than the stump speech. On healthcare, we press him not just on Medicaid expansion — which Evers pursued for eight years without success — but on what a Brennan administration would do specifically for women's health in a state that was the 49th to pass postpartum Medicaid coverage and still has an 1849 criminal abortion ban on the books. On housing, we dig into the startling statistic he has been citing on the trail: that the average age of a first-time home buyer in Wisconsin has risen from 33 to 40 in just five years. On education, we challenge him on whether his call to overhaul Wisconsin's 30-year-old school funding formula is a real commitment or a good line. And on the Democratic primary itself, we ask him directly what separates him from the rest of the pack, and why a progressive primary voter should take a chance on someone they're still getting to know.

🔔 If you're not subscribed yet, now's a good time: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKristinLyerly

Follow Joel Brennan
Threads | @brennanforwi
Twitter/X | @joeltbrennan
Instagram | @brennanforwi
Facebook | brennanforwi

📬 Subscribe to my Substack: drkristinlyerly.substack.com
📸 Instagram: @drkristinlyerly
🧵 Threads: @drkristinlyerly
🎵 TikTok: @drkristinlyerly
🦋 Bluesky: @drkristin4wi.bsky.social
👍 Facebook: @drkristinlyerly
🐦 Twitter/X: @drkristinlyerly
💼 LinkedIn:@drkristinlyerly

Dr. Kristin Lyerly is an OB-GYN based in northeast Wisconsin and a leading voice on healthcare, politics, and the issues shaping our collective future. As the named physician plaintiff in a landmark Wisconsin abortion decision, she brings a perspective to these conversations that goes beyond politics. New episodes drop every week. Subscribe to stay current on reproductive rights, health politics, all things Wisconsin, and everything else that matters.