Democratic gov nominee David Crowley shows party unity, while Tiffany turns his attention to him

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Devin Remiker, Joel Brennan, state Sen. Kelda Roys and state Rep. Francesca Hong gathered with the nominees at a cafe in Middleton. Crowley sat at the head of the table next to Godlewski and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton).

The elected officials and losing primary candidates departed the breakfast while Crowley and Godlewski addressed reporters. 

Crowley, who in July restarted his campaign 10 days after he dropped out, said Gov. Tony Evers, who endorsed him, was his campaign’s “secret weapon.”

“He has a lot of trust and he’s done a lot of work. He’s one of the very few governors that we know has continued to deliver year after year,” Crowley said, adding that Evers’ message and experience helped as well. “We’re not going to win this race focusing on ideology alone. It’s about focusing on Wisconsin values. We cannot allow Washington politics to creep up into our own backyard.”

Godlewski, who won the nomination in an uncontested primary and introduced Crowley, said national politics are a “clear distinction from that guy, Tom Tiffany, who is an election denier, career politician who only cares about the wealthy and corporations.”

“That’s not who Wisconsin is, and that’s not who we are going to elect this November,” Godlewski said

Hong did not speak to reporters, but released a statement congratulating Crowley around the time of the breakfast.

“This campaign was not about getting one person into office. It is about building a movement for permanent affordability and a government that puts working people first. Our movement is strong, and the work isn’t done,” Hong said. “I fully support [Crowley] and look forward to working with him to defeat Congressman Tiffany in November.” 

Crowley also criticized Tiffany and promised to ensure that northern communities, many of which are represented by Tiffany, are not forgotten.

“We’re going to make sure they’re a part of this process and we can lend their voices to the solutions. We know no one has been listening to them across this state,” Crowley said, adding that Tiffany has not been hearing the concerns of his constituents and is only loyal to President Donald Trump. 

Tom Tiffany in Deforest

Tiffany, who has Trump’s endorsement, met with supporters in the afternoon at a bar in Deforest alongside lieutenant governor nominee David Varnam and attorney general nominee Eric Toney.

“Well, it appears that Thanksgiving may be safe this year,” Tiffany said, referring to the late-in-the-race controversy over a post made by Hong about canceling the holiday. The joke got  laughs in the bar. 

Ahead of the election, Republicans spent millions on ads to help boost Hong’s campaign, hoping she would become the Democratic nominee. 

In his remarks Wednesday, Tiffany tried to tie Crowley to Hong.

“There is not a dime’s worth of difference between the candidates that ran for the Democrat,” he said. “David Crowley will do the same stuff that Francesca Hong would have. He just didn’t say it.”

Tiffany also criticized Crowley for his leadership of the state’s largest county, including a lapse in health insurance coverage for Milwaukee County employees and the projected future budget deficits that the county faces, despite  Crowley’s talking point that he has only signed balanced budgets as county executive. 

Tiffany was also asked whether Crowley’s nomination changes his approach to the race. 

“It’ll be the same stuff, the same socialism, whether it’s David Crowley or anyone else,” Tiffany said. “You know, he was in the race, then he was out of the race, and then he was asked to get back in the race. He didn’t know whether he wanted to be governor or not. I want to be the governor of the state of Wisconsin, and we’ve had a plan from the very beginning that we’ve been sharing.” 

The Republican ticket will include Jay Schroeder, who won the GOP primary for secretary of state. Schroeder wants to eliminate the Wisconsin Elections Commission and put it back under the control of the secretary of state. 

Tiffany did not disavow the idea of eliminating the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which was created under former Gov. Scott Walker. 

“We’ll assess that after I am elected,” he said. “It should be easy to vote but hard to cheat, right, and we’re counting on that happening here with this election here in November.” 

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming told reporters that it is a new race and that he wouldn’t put much stock in polling or primary results. 

“Democrats spent the last several months fighting with each other. It took them three candidates to finally get to one that they could push through the primary, and the fact is that the last four or five months has been all about stopping Francesca,” Schimming said. “So it’s a new race.” 

Schimming added that “a primary winner will get a bump, you know, so I’m not going to be surprised by anything I see in the polls in the next week or two.”

Data centers and young voters 

In the Democratic primary for governor, Hong built much of her campaign on motivating young voters and leveraging her stance on AI data centers. She supported a one-year moratorium. Both Crowley and Tiffany addressed how they would approach the issue Wednesday. 

Asked about winning over Hong voters, Crowley said young people should have a seat at the table. 

“They need to be a part of creating the strategy and making sure that you know they have opportunities as well,” Crowley said. “Young people don’t feel that they can look into their future right now. When the average home-buying age is 40 years old, when right now they’re looking at data centers and artificial intelligence taking the jobs in the future, and so we have to focus on making sure that we’re lifting up their voices and protecting what they believe needs to be protected.”

Tiffany said that his message to young voters is “we’re going to make life more affordable for you.” He said he would do that by cutting property taxes by eliminating Evers’ 400-year veto that gives school districts authority to bring in more revenue by raising taxes, and by cutting regulations on homebuilding to make it more affordable to build a home. 

“I understand the frustration. I mean, I have three daughters in their twenties, and it’s not easy to make ends meet at this point,” Tiffany said. 

Crowley, who has said he supports banning nondisclosure agreements for data center projects, did not offer his support for a moratorium on AI data centers when asked by a reporter.

“We have to focus on making sure that we have accountability with these data centers,” Crowley said. “They have to pay their own way, they need to pay for their own infrastructure and they need to bring their own new clean energy. I am committed to working with the state Legislature to make sure we have as many guardrails as possible.”

Tiffany said he would end subsidies for data centers that were signed into Wisconsin law under Evers, work to ensure that utility rates don’t go up and would ban nondisclosure agreements. 

“Well it sounds like David Crowley will give a blank check to data centers,” Tiffany said. “They do not need to be subsidized by us, the taxpayers, and we’re gonna make sure that people’s electricity rates do not go up. We’re going to make sure that we have full transparency.”

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