Most of the contenders for Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination appeared at a forum hosted by a cannabis reform group on Tuesday, making pledges to advance the cause of legalization if elected even in the face of potential opposition from Republican legislative leaders.
The event, hosted by the Wisconsin Coalition for Cannabis Reform (WCCR), featured six candidates who spent roughly 80 minutes discussing their plans for both protecting the state’s legal hemp market amid looming federal changes as well as the push for broader marijuana legalization.
Among other issues, the participants fielded a question submitted by Marijuana Moment about how they would plan to fight for cannabis reform if GOP Senate and Assembly leaders continue to oppose it as they have in recent sessions—including if they would pledge to take any unilateral executive actions on the issue to get around legislative roadblocks.
Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez said “it’s a good question,” pledging to both put public pressure on lawmakers to advance legislation but also use her own powers as governor to grant relief to people with cannabis convictions and to direct state agencies to immediately begin building a regulatory framework for marijuana sales “so it’s ready to go when the bill passes, not a couple years for implementation.”
“Here’s where I would start, which is the people of Wisconsin,” she said. “Their votes were already on the record when they’ve been asked directly” through nonbinding advisory ballot questions during past elections.
“The first thing is to take those numbers into those purple districts, and I will stand in the backyard of every swing seat Republican blocking this, and remind their own voters that they’re being ignored,” she said. “That’s the bully pulpit. That’s what the governor’s office is for, and I will not be shy about using it.”
The lieutenant governor also said that, like incumbent Gov. Tony Evers (D), she would put cannabis reform into her budget proposals to force lawmakers to at least perfunctorily consider the issue and would also call the legislature into special session to consider the issue.
“Yeah, they can gavel in and gavel out like they’ve been doing, but then they’ve refused on the record in public in an election year that they don’t want to do this,” she said. “Explain that to the farmers and small business owners back in their own district.”
Rodriguez noted that some Republican lawmakers are starting to come around at least on incremental medical cannabis legalization legislation, with a bill on that reform advancing through committee this session.
“We can get them there when there’s movement, and then you build from that,” she said.
State Sen. Kelda Roys similarly cited strong public support for cannabis reform, saying “there is the opportunity to build a broad coalition of stakeholders.”
She noted that recent redistricting in the state could allow Democrats to capture at least one chamber of the legislature in the upcoming elections.
“If we have a split legislature, we may have to bifurcate the issues to immediately help provide relief to cannabis businesses and our hemp producers, and then tackle the question of how do we go to full adult legalization in the coming months,” she said. “Of course, you can use the bully pulpit, but at the end of the day, it is about building relationships.”
Roys noted the “real angst” being experienced by hemp industry operators who are “facing the death of their business this coming November” if a scheduled federal recriminalization of hemp THC products takes effect.
“I will use my pardon powers and my clemency powers, not just to push for justice for those that have been convicted of cannabis-related crimes,” she said, “but to make sure that anybody who is continuing to try to operate their business can do so in that few-month period when they may be out of compliance with state law.”
“Now, I can’t do anything related to federal law,” Roys said. “But I can give you some certainty that under state law we’re going to make sure that you are not faced with any kind of penalty or criminal, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you can continue your business and continue making Wisconsin a place where every single person has the opportunity to thrive.”
Mandela Barnes, who previously served as lieutenant governor alongside Evers, noted that there will be a change in legislative leadership regardless of which party has a majority, due to the fact that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R), who has consistently opposed comprehensive medical cannabis reform, is retiring after this year.
“This offers new negotiating opportunities and potential. We know full well that the current speaker was one of the biggest roadblocks” to marijuana reform. “Now we have a chance to change that.”
Barnes said he would use the issue of marijuana reform as a “bargaining chip.”
“If I am elected governor, we will use every single tool at our disposal to do so,” he said. “There are Republican legislative districts that have…been plagued with lack of resources, with stagnant funding, with deferred maintenance, be it the roads, with funding constraints. When it comes to education, we see school districts going insolvent.”
“This is the way for us to do it, and I am happy to use this issue as a bargaining chip to ensure that all of our schools get the funding that they deserve when competing against backwards legislators, regressive legislators who don’t want to see this come to fruition. When it comes to fixing these roads, when their constituents are calling them, wondering when things are going to change, we have an easy answer. We have an easy fix, and it is irresponsible for them to continue to say no. It is a drain of resources on law enforcement and our court system, in addition to not being able to generate the revenue that we deserve.”
“So I’m ready to go to the mat on this, along with several other issues that are high importance in the upcoming legislative session,” he said.
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State Rep. Francesca Hong said reform can advance under “leadership that understands how to build power, how to be a community organizer, and ensure that our relationship building is front and center.”
She said the state needs “executive leadership that is willing to wield the full power of the executive office to make sure that we are protecting people from the decisions from the Trump regime and make sure that for generations, our future generations here in Wisconsin, that we are creating a framework where the industry not only can continue to grow, but we are able to be a leader in this industry for other states as well.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said reform supporters “cannot wait until after the governors election” to push the issue, arguing that they need to “organize in making this one of the top priorities in this upcoming election.”
“If you can’t change minds, you have to change faces,” he said. “I want you all to know that we’re going to work directly with you and make sure that you have a seat at the table, because if you don’t have a seat at the table, that means you’re on it.”
Joel Brennan, who previously served as secretary of the state Department of Administration, noted the possibility of changing the composition of the legislature in the November election.
“We have an environment where we have opportunities to make things happen, but we’re going to have the thinnest of majorities, no matter what,” he said. “And I think what that requires are muscles that nobody in the legislature over the last 15 or 20 years have exercised, which is—how do you find allies that might be different on this issue versus that issue?”
“If we have a trifecta, that makes things much easier. But even with that, it may be a one or two seat majority, and if the majority is in the on the other side, it will require relationships… I also think it’s going to require the governor to have the kind of relationships, and to be the kind of person who is going to be able to take some of those people in the legislature, some of them Democrats, some of them moderate Republicans, and bring them over the finish line. That’s the part of the job that I actually look forward to.”
Jason Handal, a WCCR board member and vice president of the group, told Marijuana Moment after the event that the candidates’ comments—and that they appeared at the cannabis-focused group’s event—were significant.
“I appreciate that we heard commitments to prioritize reform in multiple ways: directing agency action, establishing a transition team to ensure cross-agency coordination, building a single coalition across party lines, and otherwise using the full weight and authority of the governor’s office to ensure the right reforms are enacted,” Handal, who is also CEO of Kind Oasis, said.
Democratic lawmakers filed legislation in the 2026 session to broadly legalize and regulate marijuana, and bipartisan legislation to simply decriminalize cannabis possession was also filed—but neither proposal advanced.
A poll released last June by Marquette Law School found that two in three Wisconsin voters support legalizing marijuana.
Evers, the incumbent governor, said last year that if his party can take control of the legislature, the state can “finally” legalize marijuana so that residents don’t have to go to neighboring Illinois to visit its adult-use market.
A legislative analysis requested by lawmakers estimated that Wisconsin residents spent more than $121 million on cannabis in Illinois alone in 2022, contributing $36 million in tax revenue to the neighboring state.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Revenue released a fiscal estimate of the economic impact of a legalization bill from then-Sen. Melissa Agard (D) in 2023, projecting that the reform would generate nearly $170 million annually in tax revenue.
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