Matthew Flynn

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Matthew Flynn

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 14, 2018

Education

Bachelor's

Yale University

Law

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Navy

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Matthew Flynn (Democratic Party) ran for election for Governor of Wisconsin. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 14, 2018.

Biography

After his graduation from Yale University in 1969, Flynn joined the U.S. Navy. After he was honorably discharged from the Navy, Flynn attended law school at the University of Wisconsin and joined the law firm of Quarles & Brady, LLP. He has practiced law with the firm since then, specializing in commercial and securities-related litigation, representing the media, and assisting companies with internal investigations. Flynn has previously served as chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Education

• Bachelor's - Yale University (1969)
• J.D. - University of Wisconsin (1975)

Elections

2018

See also: Wisconsin gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018 and Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2018 (August 14 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for Governor of Wisconsin

The following candidates ran in the general election for Governor of Wisconsin on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tony Evers (D)	49.5	1,324,307
		Scott Walker (R)	48.4	1,295,080
		Phillip Anderson (L)	0.8	20,225
		Maggie Turnbull (Independent)	0.7	18,884
		Michael White (G)	0.4	11,087
		Arnie Enz (The Wisconsin Party)	0.1	2,745
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	980

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,673,308
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Wisconsin

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tony Evers	41.8	225,082
		Mahlon Mitchell	16.3	87,926
		Kelda Roys	12.8	69,086
		Kathleen Vinehout	8.2	44,168
		Michael McCabe	7.4	39,885
		Matthew Flynn	5.9	31,580
		Paul Soglin	5.2	28,158
		Andy Gronik	1.2	6,627
		Dana Wachs	0.8	4,216
		Josh Pade	0.4	1,908

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 538,636
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Bob Harlow (D)
• Michele Doolan (D)
• Andrew Lust (D)
• Jeff Rumbaugh (D)
• Ramona Whiteaker (D)
• Mike Crute (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Wisconsin

Incumbent Scott Walker defeated Robert Meyer in the Republican primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott Walker	91.6	417,276
	Submit photo	Robert Meyer	8.4	38,269

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 455,545
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ryan Cason (R)

Green primary election

Green primary for Governor of Wisconsin

Michael White advanced from the Green primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael White	100.0	817

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 817
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for Governor of Wisconsin

Phillip Anderson advanced from the Libertarian primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Phillip Anderson	100.0	1,673

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,673
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2018

Campaign website

The following themes were found on Flynn's official campaign website.

“	Jobs I have been traveling across our state, to our small towns and big cities, hearing from our fellow Wisconsinites about what we need to move Forward again. I hear over and over about our state's economy. Wages remain too low for too many Wisconsin workers. We are lagging behind the rest of the country. Too many are working several part-time jobs just to get by. Too many are struggling to provide for their families, living paycheck to paycheck, without opportunity for advancement. As governor, I will Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Reverse Act 10 and Right-to-Work. Restore Prevailing Wage. Create a fairer, more progressive tax structure. Invest in our small businesses, education, health care, and infrastructure. Provide greater local control to our counties, municipalities, and school districts. Health Care Donald Trump is trying to destroy the Affordable Care Act. As Governor, I will support the Affordable Care Act and work to make health care more affordable. Scott Walker turned down hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid payments by the federal government. This was merely the return of our own federal taxes. I will lobby for and accept all federal funding to meet our health care obligations. I am not willing to put politics ahead of people’s lives. To improve our health care system, we will: Support BadgerCare for All. This sensible law will allow patients to buy an affordable health plan through BadgerCare Plus as Trump shrinks access to the private market. Accept federal funding for Medicaid expansions. Clean Water Walker and the Republicans have seriously lowered Wisconsin’s environmental and water standards. Those standards were developed over decades by governors and legislators from both parties. High capacity wells and CAFOs are taking too much water out of our state and have contaminated wells in some areas. Some Wisconsinites drink bottled water because of the pollution. Walker exempted Foxconn, a foreign company, from important Wisconsin laws protecting our clean water. But Wisconsin companies like Harley Davidson and Miller Brewing have to obey those laws. I do not want Chinese industrial water management anywhere in Wisconsin. If foreign companies come to our state, they will obey Wisconsin law. To protect our clean water resources, we will: Restore water quality standards to protect our families. Restore a fully independent DNR with adequate resources and an adequate number of scientists. Create a state fund to assist municipalities and residents in removing lead service lines. Require all foreign companies to obey all American and Wisconsin laws. Education Wisconsin used to be known for having the best public education in the country. Then came Scott Walker. We will fully fund public education in this state. We will stop the Walker policy of slashing education after his election and then restoring a little funding before his re-election. The long-term impacts of his education policies are disastrous for Wisconsin’s economy. Teachers are leaving the profession or the state in droves. This means we will fully fund our public schools, technical colleges, and the UW System. We particularly need to restore the University of Wisconsin’s status as a premier research institution. Walker has vandalized the University of Wisconsin, tried to change the mission statement, eliminated statutory tenure, and made deep cuts to funding. It also means fixing the student loan crisis. Banks, abetted by their Republican cohorts in the Legislature, are profiting at the expense of our students. We should not force a lifetime of debt on those young people who are trying to find a place in the 21st Century economy. To restore the excellence of public education in Wisconsin, we will: Fully fund public education in this state, in both urban and rural districts, including transportation and broadband. This will require fixing the funding formulas so that no district is unfairly disadvantaged. Fully fund the UW System campuses and WTCS. Ensure that up to two years at Wisconsin’s public universities, colleges, or technical schools will be tuition free for in-state residents. Reaffirm the mission statement of the University of Wisconsin. Restore statutory tenure. Promote and advertise the excellence of the University of Wisconsin. Fight to pass legislation that allows borrowers to refinance their student loan debt when rates drop. Establish the Wisconsin Student Loan Authority to regulate and guarantee student loans at Wisconsin colleges and universities, based on the best practices of existing Student Loan Authorities around the county. Roads The plan of Walker and the Republicans for roads and infrastructure is neglect and debt. We have rural areas going back to gravel roads. Walker also turned down more than $800 million in train funds from the federal government which was simply a return of our federal taxes. To restore our roads and state infrastructure, we will: Lobby for and accept all federal funds for transportation and infrastructure projects. Pay for necessary road and infrastructure projects through a combination of user fees on gas, registration, and trucks. Political Reform Wisconsin has a long history of clean government reforms going back to the 19th Century. Scott Walker has progressively corrupted this state over the past seven years. He broke up one of the best government accountability agencies in the world and tried to gut the state’s open records law. He created and still oversees a giant slush fund in the form of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to benefit his donors. Every policy must start with clean government. I will clean up the corruption in Madison. In particular, I will reform the WEDC to a department that makes honest loans by honest standards, without regard to political contributions. I will restore a clean government accountability agency, and I’ll work with journalists, legislators, and citizens to make our state the most transparent in the country. To restore clean, honest government, we will: Reform the WEDC to a department that makes honest loans by honest standards, without regard to political contributions. Reaffirm our commitment to open records and transparency in government. Create automatic voter registration. Every American citizen living in Wisconsin who gets a license at the DMV will be automatically registered to vote. Licensees would be allowed to opt-out of voter registration if they choose. Establish a neutral reapportionment commission to redistrict legislative districts every ten years to prevent partisan legislators from picking their voters, rather than voters picking their legislators. Foxconn Scott Walker got taken to the cleaners in the Foxconn deal. He does not have the skill or experience to negotiate a $4.5 billion deal. He gave away our state’s resources to a foreign corporation in exchange for a promise to create jobs near the Illinois border. But there are no guaranteed number of jobs and no guaranteed wage levels. Part of the $4.5 billion could have been spent on our most important economic public assets, including the University of Wisconsin System and public education. Part of it could have been used to invest in start-ups and small businesses in all 72 counties of our state. Part of it could have been used to repair our roads. These three things would have created more jobs statewide and brought more money into all communities, including rural communities and urban communities, throughout Wisconsin. As governor, I will move to stop the Foxconn deal with immediate litigation once in office. Cannabis Reform Upon review of cannabis legalization in other states, I believe it is time for Wisconsin to legalize marijuana. I am concerned about the impact of mass incarceration on our society, including both the social and financial impact. Under present law, people can easily acquire a felony record that effectively bars them from most employment for the rest of their lives. The financial burden on the criminal justice system is also unacceptable. I also believe that legalizing marijuana will simply recognize a fact of life for many people, including the increasing use of medical marijuana by senior citizens to alleviate pain. Another result of legalization, although not the main reason for my position, will be the increased tax revenue and safety benefits that legalization will bring. When elected I will: Support a public referendum on cannabis legalization in Wisconsin Support action to remove marijuana from the federal list of Schedule I narcotics, standing up to Trump and Sessions Pardon nonviolent offenders convicted of Marijuana possession	”
—Forward with Flynn

See also

• Governor of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018
• Wisconsin gubernatorial election, 2018 (August 14 Democratic primary)

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Wisconsin
• Forward with Flynn
• Forward with Flynn - Facebook
• Forward with Flynn - Twitter
• Forward with Flynn - Instagram
• Forward with Flynn - Youtube
• Matt Flynn - LinkedIn