First, a necessary caveat. Treasurer Mike Pieciak remains the betting favorite to become governor whenever Phil Scott decides to ride off into the sunset in his #14 race car. Pieciak is popular and well-connected in Democratic circles and is a proven fundraiser. He’d also be a fine choice, given his financial and managerial expertise; the next governor is going to inherit many challenges from our risk-averse incumbent. It’ll be kind of a “12 labors of Hercules” situation, and Pieciak has the necessary administrative muscle.

But you know, if we find ourselves in the year 2032 and Charity Clark or Molly Gray or Kesha Ram Hinsdale or Tanya Vyhovsky (or, if you prefer, John Rodgers or Scott Beck) is governor and Pieciak is nowhere to be seen, having pulled a TJ Donovan and abandoned politics in favor of a cushy corporate job, you might look back on today — Wednesday, February 11, 2026 — as the first step down that long sad trail.

I refer to the new issue of Seven Days, featuring Kevin McCallum’s fine writeup of the Democrats’ failure, so far, to identify even a single candidate for governor. It raises the single biggest question in Democratic politics: “Why isn’t Mike Pieciak running?” and provides some unflattering answers.

In politics, you can go from “The Next Big Thing” to “Who Dat?” in the blink of an eye. And while it’s way too early to be writing political obituaries, you’re starting to see a few brown spots on the Pieciak banana.

McCallum recounts how Pieciak spent 2025 raising hopes that he would run for governor. He toured the state at a furious pace. He launched policy initiatives that kept him in the spotlight. He built up his political operation and fundraised constantly, despite the fact that he has never faced a serious Republican challenger. He hired ace operative Natalie Silver away from U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, a move that seemed to make sense only if he were gunning for the governorship. As I wrote on December 31:

In a previous fundraising email, Pieciak sought our help in building “a movement.” My thought was, a movement to what, exactly? Re-elect our treasurer by a lopsided margin over some novelty Republican like H. Brooke Paige? The only thing that would qualify as “a movement” in my book is making a run for governor.

Well, Pieciak has spent this year deflating the hopes. The most telling incident was Silver’s departure to run a Congressional campaign in New Hampshire. McCallum quotes Pieciak as intending to run for re-election as treasurer, which isn’t a formal announcement but might as well be.

Pieciak cites three major factors in his almost-decision not to seek the governorship: the death of his mother last spring and a cancer diagnosis for his father, which are good enough reasons to avoid a major commitment — but the third thing is a poll he commissioned last fall that showed Scott would be tough to beat.

So which is it, Mike? Taking care of your family, or ducking a tough battle?

Former gubernatorial candidate Brenda Siegel gets the last word in the story, and it’s quite damning: “If you’re not willing to have the courage to run for governor now because you might lose, that is not leadership.”

A lot of politicians have waited for “the right moment” only to miss whatever chance they might have had. Pieciak’s not there yet, but he seems to be heading in that direction.