Political History
Falk made her first run for public office in 1996, joining a field of accomplished local leaders in the open race for Dane County Executive. She finished first in the runoff and eventually defeated a long-time conservative county board member, Mike Blaska. She was later re-elected three times (2001, 2005, 2009), all by wide margins. In 2002, she unsuccessfully ran for Governor, losing the Democratic primary to Jim Doyle. Falk was Wisconsin's first woman candidate for governor from a major political party.
In 2006, Falk challenged and defeated Wisconsin's Attorney General in a Democratic primary election. She went on to lose the general election race by fewer than 9,000 votes out of more than 2.1 million cast. Falk was advanced as a contender to challenge Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in an ongoing recall attempt, and announced her candidacy for governor on January 18, 2012, but lost in the Democratic gubernatorial primaries to Tom Barrett.
Read more about this topic: Kathleen Falk
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