Matt Flynn announces gubernal candidacy

Former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Matt Flynn announced Tuesday he will run against Gov. Scott Walker in 2018.

A former lawyer for the Quarles and Brady firm, Flynn looks to reverse the fortune of past campaigns for public office. Flynn encountered unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate in 1986 and 1988 and for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 and 2004.

Flynn announced his candidacy in a video in which he states he “cannot stand by and watch our democracy be destroyed,” adding that “Scott Walker is destroying the Wisconsin way.” He additionally asserted that Walker is controlled by “big, strong corporate donors" and that Walker has been “taken to the cleaners” in the $3 billion Foxconn deal.

Flynn joins a long list of Democratic hopefuls in gubernatorial campaigns that include State Superintendent Tony Evers, businessman Andy Gronik, government reform advocate Mike McCabe, state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, and state Rep. Dana Wachs, D-Eau Claire.

Spokesperson for the Republican Party of Wisconsin Alec Zimmerman has called Flynn a “dirty defense lawyer” who supports interests that “prey on Wisconsin families.”

“Flynn’s record [of] strong-arming victims of sexual abuse proves Wisconsin families cannot trust him,” Zimmerman said in a statement, referencing a sexual abuse case Flynn worked on for the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin has launched a website that seeks to negatively impact the Flynn campaign.

Over a year away, the 2018 election for governor is set to be a long process to which Flynn responded by stating he “has a lot of gas left in the tank” for the campaign in the upcoming year.