Tommy Thompson says he is “still grieving” his decision not to run for governor.In his first television interview since announcing his decision Monday, Thompson toldWISN 12 News’ Kent Wainscott the reasons why he’s staying out of the race.”do you regret having made this choice?” Wainscott asked the former Wisconsin governor.”Of course, I do. I wanted to run,” Thompson said.Thompson said it was a unanimous family decision that kept him from running for a fifth term as Wisconsin governor.”Oh, I wanted to run. God, did I ever. I pitched my family for two-and-a-half hours on Sunday afternoon. Why I’m the best candidate, why I’ve got the mentality, the physical ability and why I need to run for the good of the state. But the family said no,” Thompson said.”I wanted to do it so badly. And I still, I’ll tell you today, I’m still grieving. This is Wednesday, and I still feel bad about my decision.”Thompson said many others were encouraging him to run, including former President Donald Trump.As he was weighing his decision, Thompson made a trip to visit Trump.”It was all go. I wanted to look him straight in the eye and find out where he was going to be in the primary and what he was going to do in the election. And I was hopeful that he was going to encourage me to run, which he did,” Thompson said.Thompson said he was so ready to run. He had a campaign strategy already mapped out.”I wanted one more chance to run the state of Wisconsin, to see what I could do to build Wisconsin, instead of tearing down,” he said. “I wanted to run.””Would you have won?” Wainscott asked”Of course, I would have. Without a doubt. I had no doubt whatsoever that I was going to win,” Thompson said. Now that he’s out of the Republican primary race, Thompson said he expects Wisconsin businessman Tim Michels to get in.”It’s been reported that you and Tim Michels had decided that one of you would get into the race. Is that true?” Wainscott asked.”No, that’s not true as much as the fact that Tim Michels said he would never run against me,” Thompson said. “I had to give the guy a lot of respect. ‘I’m not going to run against you, but if you don’t run, I’m going to run.’ So I called him. I told him I would call after I made the decision. I called him and I said, I’m not going run. And he said, ‘I’m running,’ and I think you’re going to hear from him very shortly.”Though he won’t be getting into the race, Thompson said this is not a retirement announcement. He said there will be another chapter. He just isn’t sure what this is yet.
Tommy Thompson says he is “still grieving” his decision not to run for governor.
In his first television interview since announcing his decision Monday, Thompson told
WISN 12 News’ Kent Wainscott the reasons why he’s staying out of the race.
“do you regret having made this choice?” Wainscott asked the former Wisconsin governor.
“Of course, I do. I wanted to run,” Thompson said.
Thompson said it was a unanimous family decision that kept him from running for a fifth term as Wisconsin governor.
“Oh, I wanted to run. God, did I ever. I pitched my family for two-and-a-half hours on Sunday afternoon. Why I’m the best candidate, why I’ve got the mentality, the physical ability and why I need to run for the good of the state. But the family said no,” Thompson said.
“I wanted to do it so badly. And I still, I’ll tell you today, I’m still grieving. This is Wednesday, and I still feel bad about my decision.”
Thompson said many others were encouraging him to run, including former President Donald Trump.
As he was weighing his decision, Thompson made a trip to visit Trump.
“It was all go. I wanted to look him straight in the eye and find out where he was going to be in the primary and what he was going to do in the election. And I was hopeful that he was going to encourage me to run, which he did,” Thompson said.
Thompson said he was so ready to run. He had a campaign strategy already mapped out.
“I wanted one more chance to run the state of Wisconsin, to see what I could do to build Wisconsin, instead of tearing down,” he said. “I wanted to run.”
“Would you have won?” Wainscott asked
“Of course, I would have. Without a doubt. I had no doubt whatsoever that I was going to win,” Thompson said.
Now that he’s out of the Republican primary race, Thompson said he expects Wisconsin businessman Tim Michels to get in.
“It’s been reported that you and Tim Michels had decided that one of you would get into the race. Is that true?” Wainscott asked.
“No, that’s not true as much as the fact that Tim Michels said he would never run against me,” Thompson said. “I had to give the guy a lot of respect. ‘I’m not going to run against you, but if you don’t run, I’m going to run.’ So I called him. I told him I would call after I made the decision. I called him and I said, I’m not going run. And he said, ‘I’m running,’ and I think you’re going to hear from him very shortly.”
Though he won’t be getting into the race, Thompson said this is not a retirement announcement. He said there will be another chapter. He just isn’t sure what this is yet.
