MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Voters will decide Tuesday whether to elect Wisconsin’s first Black governor or give the battleground state’s top job to a Republican for the first time in eight years.
The winner will replace retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and serve during the next presidential election in a state where five of the past seven White House campaigns have been decided by less than a percentage point.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is looking to flip control of the governor’s office in a year when his close allegiance to Donald Trump could hurt his chances because of the president’s unpopularity.
Democrat David Crowley, Milwaukee County’s top elected official, is trying to keep the governor’s office under Democratic control. If he wins, it would be the first time the party has held the post for more than two terms in a row.
Tiffany ran on the promise to return the state’s roughly $3 billion surplus to taxpayers and tried to portray Crowley as weak on crime and as a data center advocate. Crowley hammered Tiffany’s close allegiance to Trump, including his attempts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in Wisconsin, and said Tiffany hasn’t done enough to lower prices for the middle class.
Democrats are hoping for a trifecta this year — winning the governor’s office and flipping control of both legislative chambers. They haven’t had full control of Wisconsin’s state government since 2010.
Crowley became his party’s nominee after a tumultuous primary. He initially dropped out of the race, then rejoined at Evers’ urging and defeated a democratic socialist to clinch the nomination.
Tiffany, who survived a small plane crash while campaigning, largely relied on three billionaire megadonors to outspend Crowley. He is seeking to become the first sitting member of Congress elected governor of Wisconsin.
First open Wisconsin governor’s race in some time
It’s the state’s first open governor’s race in 16 years, as Evers decided that two terms was enough. The last happened in 2010, when Democratic incumbent Jim Doyle opted not to seek a third term.
Republican Scott Walker won that year, and over the next eight years enacted a wide array of Republican priorities that included drastically scaling back union rights, slashing taxes and requiring voters to show identification at the polls.
Evers got behind Crowley in an effort to blunt the rising campaign of democratic socialist Francesca Hong. Crowley won by less than half a percentage point.
Close races are the norm in Wisconsin.
In 2018, Evers defeated Walker, the incumbent, by 1.1 percentage points. Evers won reelection by 3.4 points in 2022, a landslide by Wisconsin standards.
Tiffany cast Crowley as pro-data center; Crowley ran on affordability
Tiffany tried to portray Crowley as an advocate for building data centers in Wisconsin, referring to him as “Data Center David Crowley.” Tiffany ran an ad that included a clip of Crowley saying Wisconsin could become the “AI and data hub not only for the entire country, but for the entire globe.”
Crowley changed his position on data centers late in the campaign, coming out in favor of a moratorium in October. Tiffany, who also said positive things about data centers in the past, did not call for a moratorium on construction.
Tiffany also tried to cast Crowley as weak on crime and said that Crowley would increase taxes as governor to pay for his agenda, which includes expanding healthcare and fully funding public schools.
Crowley hammered Tiffany on economic issues, saying his loyalty to Trump and support of the war in Iran was to blame for the high gas prices that were hurting Wisconsin residents, particularly farmers.
Tiffany, 68, was elected to Congress in 2020 in a mostly rural district after he served nine years in the Legislature.
Tiffany voted against accepting the Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania as part of an effort to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win. He also supported efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in Wisconsin — Trump won the state in 2016 and 2024. All three elections were decided by less than a point.
If elected, Tiffany promised to freeze property taxes, lower income taxes, improve schools, bolster job creation, overhaul the state Department of Natural Resources and protect farmland from foreign ownership.
Crowley, 40, was elected as Milwaukee County executive in 2020 after serving just over three years in the state Assembly. Crowley ran in support of expanding Medicaid coverage and increasing funding for public school and child care. He supports overturning the 15-year-old state law known as Act 10, which effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers. Tiffany voted for that law when he was in the Legislature.
If he wins, Crowley would be the first Black governor in Wisconsin. Heading into Tuesday, only three Black governors had been elected in the nation’s history.
