Political Career
Lucey served as justice of the peace in Ferryville, Wisconsin, and in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1949 to 1951. From 1957 to 1963 he served as state chairperson of the Democratic Party. Lucey was a key Wisconsin supporter of John F. Kennedy in his presidential run in 1960.
In 1964, Lucey was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin and served one term from 1965 to 1967. At this time the governor and lieutenant governor of Wisconsin were elected on separate tickets, and voters chose Lucey, a Democrat, as lieutenant governor while simultaneously electing Republican Warren P. Knowles as governor. (An amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution in 1967 combined elections for governor and lieutenant governor onto a single ticket.)
Lucey ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1966 but failed to unseat incumbent Warren Knowles. In 1970, Lucey campaigned again for governor and was elected with 54 percent of the vote. Lucey was the first Wisconsin governor elected to a four-year term after a 1967 amendment to the state constitution extended terms from two years to four. He took office on January 4, 1971. Lucey ran successfully for a second term as governor in 1974, but he resigned effective July 6, 1977 to accept a nomination as United States Ambassador to Mexico.
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