(WFRV) – Just 11 weeks after declaring, one of the candidates seeking Wisconsin’s top seat is bowing out of the race, as Milwaukee-area businessman Bill Berrien announced the end of his campaign.
According to the Berrien campaign’s website, the 56-year-old former Navy SEAL is ending on his ‘own terms.’
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The announcement came just days after an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that Berrien had followed a transgender porn star online, along with other sexually explicit accounts.
In the official dropout announcement, Berrien stated the following:
“And yet, as my campaign was gaining traction and emboldened by that optimistic vision, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published this week two articles clearly targeted to force me out of the race. I consider myself very intellectually curious and, as a leader in business and hoped-for leader in politics, I thought it was a strength to read very widely and show a broad intellectual interest. I listen to podcasts everyday on my way to work. I am constantly trying to take in new information, trying to learn something new. I follow over 5,000 people across so many platforms. I subscribe to over 100 newsletters. And I have hit the ‘like’ button on perhaps 20,000 different articles or postings. Yet the media cherry-picked a handful of individuals and written articles that came across my feed that I then followed (without the faintest clue as to an author’s lifestyle choices!) 6 or 7 years ago and painted a salacious and sensational picture that was clearly targeted to force me out of this governor race. It was a major attack piece and we confirmed opposition research started in January of this year, if not earlier.“
Berrien added that he will use funds from his Never Out Of The Fight PAC to support the Republican candidate for Governor in the 2026 election, but that he will return to the private sector.
The announcement wished the current Republican candidates Tom Tiffany and Josh Schoemann the best as well as any others who may decide to run.
The full release is available here. Local 5 will update this as more details arise.
