Sarah Ann Godlewski (born November 9,1981)[1] is an American businesswoman and politician serving since March 2023 as the 31st secretary of state of Wisconsin. She was appointed secretary of state by Governor Tony Evers after the previous secretary of state resigned. She previously served as the 36th state treasurer of Wisconsin,from 2019 to 2023.[2][3][4][5]
Godlewski has worked in philanthropy. Projects included education reform and public health in Uganda.[9] Between 2004 and 2012,Godlewski worked for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.[10]
In 2015,Godlewski co-founded investment firm MaSa Impact with her husband Max Duckworth.[13][14] They first met in 2013 on a regional volunteer board of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.[15]
In 2016,Godlewski was the director of Women's Outreach for Wisconsin in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Godlewski caucused for Clinton in Colorado in March 2016. She did not vote in the general election in Wisconsin,because she was unsure of whether she qualified as a resident,according to a spokesperson.[16]
In the spring of 2018,Godlewski led a campaign coalition opposing a Wisconsin ballot measure that would have eliminated the office of the state treasurer from the Constitution of Wisconsin.[19] Voters rejected the constitutional amendment,with 62% voting against eliminating the office of state treasurer.[20] Just after the referendum,in April 2018,Godlewski announced her candidacy for state treasurer.[21] Godlewski won a three-way primary on August 14,2018,receiving 43.5% of the vote.[22] Her opponents were former television anchor Cynthia Kaump and former state treasurer Dawn Marie Sass.[23]
For the general election,Godlewski raised over $700,000 for her campaign,while Travis Hartwig,her Republican opponent,raised less than $13,000.[24] Godlewski and her husband contributed over $300,000 to her own campaign.[25] She won the general election with 50.9% of the vote,to Hartwig's 46.8%.[26][27][28] She took more of the vote share than the newly elected Democratic governor,lieutenant governor,and attorney general and flipped 9 counties that had voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.[29]
Tenure
After being elected,Godlewski received a memo from the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau that identified 16 responsibilities that the state treasurer should be doing but had neglected in recent years.[30] During the transition for Governor-elect Tony Evers,Godlewski was appointed to serve as a member of the Next Generation Workforce and Economic Development Policy Advisory Council.[31][32] In January 2019,Godlewski was unanimously elected to serve as chairwoman of the state Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.[33] The state Board of Commissioners of Public Lands voted to lift a GOP mandated gag order prohibiting staff from discussing or considering the material risk of climate change to state investments.[34] In August 2019,Godlewski and Governor Evers established a Retirement Task Force to create new investment options and expand awareness of retirement planning in Wisconsin.[35] In February 2021,the task force presented its results to Governor Evers. Its recommendations included five proposals:WisconsinSaves,401(K)ids,Emergency Savings,Incentivize Participation,and Interactive E-Commerce Portal.[36] In March 2020,Godlewski created the Treasurer's Homeowners Task Force.[37] In her role as the chair of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands,she released an additional $5.25 million to aid in virtual learning on top of a record $38.2 million to public school libraries.[38]
On April 14, 2021, Godlewski announced that she would run for United States Senate in the 2022 election.[39] She was endorsed by EMILY's List, a Democratic political action committee (PAC) that seeks to elect pro-choice women.[40]
Godlewski's investments in 14 pharmaceutical companies drew scrutiny from a reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel due to her attacks on big pharma in advertisements for her Senate run. Godlewski's campaign responded that the stocks had all been sold by early 2022 and she had not been involved in routine investment management.[41]
Godlewski dropped out of the race in July 2022 prior to the August 2022 Democratic primary and endorsed Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.[42] By the time she dropped out of the Senate race, it was too late to file to run for re-election as treasurer, and Godlewski's term in office expired in January 2023.
Wisconsin secretary of state
In a surprise announcement on March 17, 2023, Governor Tony Evers revealed that the recently re-elected secretary of state, Doug La Follette, would retire after forty years in office. Evers then said that he would immediately appoint Godlewski to serve out the remainder of LaFollette's four-year term, expiring January 2027.[43]
1 ▌New Progressive (1 territory) Italics indicate no secretary of state in this state, closest equivalent listed An asterisk (*) indicates that the officeholder is serving in an acting capacity.
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