Bill Berrien, shown here in a screenshot from his campaign launch video, dropped out Friday from the contest for the GOP nomination in the 2026 race for governor. (Screenshot from campaign ad)
Whitefish Bay manufacturer Bill Berrien is dropping his bid for governor after a turbulent week for his campaign, saying he doesn’t see a way for him to win the Republican nomination.
Berrien, the owner and chief executive officer of Pindel Global Precision Inc. and Liberty Precision New Berlin and a former Navy SEAL, entered the race about three months ago, saying the state needed a businessman in charge and trying to compare himself with President Donald Trump as a way of appealing to people.
His exit leaves two Republicans in the race: U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is considered the highest-profile candidate, launched his campaign this week, and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann launched in May.
Berrien cited two reports from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week as his reason for leaving the race, saying they were “clearly targeted to force me out of the race.”
“As a result of our politics today, I cannot focus on the issues I know will turn Wisconsin around. I have come to the conclusion I do not have a path to the nomination,” Berrien said in a statement.
The Journal Sentinel articles found that Berrien had scrubbed his activity on the online publishing platform Medium.com where he followed Jiz Lee, a queer, trans nonbinary adult film performer, along with other authors of sexually explicit essays. Berrien had entered the race boasting of his conservative values, including saying he’d “keep boys out of our daughters’ sports and locker rooms,” a reference to the issue of transgender girls participating on girls’ sports teams.
The Berrien campaign attempted to downplay the news this week, but it quickly traveled across the internet, even garnering the attention of Jiz Lee, the Journal Sentinel reported in a follow-up article. They wrote in a post on Bluesky it is “okay to follow trans porn stars” and “to read articles about sex and relationships,” but that “what’s not okay is the hypocrisy of backing forceful legislation that restricts what people, trans and otherwise, can do with their own bodies.”
“That is shameful,” they said.
Berrien downplayed his online activity in his statement, saying he followed over 5,000 people across various platforms, subscribed to over 100 newsletters and has hit the ‘like’ button on 20,000 posts.
“It was a major attack piece and we confirmed opposition research started in January of this year, if not earlier,” Berrien said. “And for what? For reading! Nothing illegal, nothing unethical and nothing immoral. Just reading. Wouldn’t you want your political and business leaders (and all of society, frankly) to be widely read and thoughtful and aware of different perspectives and ideas? Yet, when a supposedly major metropolitan newspaper condemns someone for reading, we have ourselves a problem.”
The primary for the open governor’s race, scheduled for August 2026, is still about a year out.
Ahead of the news on his online activity this week, Berrien had already found pushback to his candidacy from Trump-aligned conservatives because he supported Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, including donating over $30,000 to her campaign.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Philip Shulman highlighted Trump’s influence in the Republican primary in a statement about Berrien’s exit, saying it is a “lesson” for GOP candidates.
“If you don’t show complete and total loyalty to Trump — past or present — then you better pack your bags and head for the door,” Shulman said. “His failure, despite his resume, financial investment, and doing somersaults to earn Trump’s love, shows just how far the other GOP candidates are going to have to go to win the nomination.”
While the Republican field is shrinking, the Democratic field for governor is still growing with at least eight candidates in the race.
Announced Democratic candidates include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, state Sen. Kelda Roys, state Rep. Francesca Hong, former state Rep. Brett Hulsey and beer vendor Ryan Strnad. Others considering a run include Attorney General Josh Kaul, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes.
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