Patrick J. Lucey, who was twice elected governor of Wisconsin and ran for vice president in 1980 on an independent ticket with John B. Anderson, died on Saturday in Milwaukee. He was 96.

His son Paul confirmed his death.

Mr. Lucey, a Democrat, was governor from 1971 to 1977. He left office in the middle of his second term when President Jimmy Carter appointed him ambassador to Mexico. Nonetheless, Mr. Lucey became a harsh critic of Mr. Carter, even before joining the ticket of Mr. Anderson, a Republican congressman from Illinois, in a three-way race with Mr. Carter and Ronald Reagan.

After traveling the country as deputy campaign manager for the presidential bid of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Mr. Lucey said he had seen “the human wreckage Jimmy Carter’s presidency has left in its wake.”

He also said that Mr. Carter “has refused to take responsibility for the state of the nation, preferring instead to numb the nation with the false and dangerous message that no president can really make any difference.”