Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez announced Friday that she has suspended her campaign for governor, citing ongoing financial reporting issues she said would be a distraction to the campaign and the primary.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: A look at the days prior to shake-up within Sara Rodriguez's campaign for Governor
Rodriguez released a statement Friday saying the decision came after a review of campaign financial reports.
Watch: Rodriguez suspends campaign:
"As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear that there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction — not just for this campaign, but for the primary and for Wisconsin," Rodriguez said. "This race is too important to Wisconsin to let that happen."
The announcement follows Rodriguez's disclosure Monday that she fired her campaign manager after discovering "serious mismanagement and inaccuracies in campaign finance filings" that the manager prepared.
"I am deeply hurt and betrayed by what happened," Rodriguez said. "As I said on Monday, part of being a leader is taking swift action, doing the right thing and being as honest as possible when there's a problem."
Rodriguez said she "cannot in good conscience allow these questions to become a cloud over an election that Democrats need to win," adding that "Wisconsin deserves better than that."
Her exit marks a significant shakeup in the primary. Two other Democratic candidates had already dropped out before her announcement — Missy Hughes and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
Just a week ago, Crowley endorsed Rodriguez. Hughes had also endorsed Rodriguez. Following Friday's announcement, Hughes posted publicly, calling on Crowley to re-enter the race.
TMJ4's Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson has reached out to Crowley to ask about his plans.
This story is developing and will be updated.
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