David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, defeated Representative Tom Tiffany in the race for Wisconsin governor on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. He will become the first Black governor in state history.
Mr. Crowley, 40, began his run for governor as a near-unknown who barely registered in the polls, trailing near the back of the Democratic pack. But after an endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers, he catapulted over a buzzy democratic socialist in the primary. In the general election he beat a sitting congressman who is closely aligned with President Trump.
His victory keeps the governor’s mansion in Democratic hands and gives the party a shot at winning a trifecta if they flip both chambers of the State Legislature from Republican control.
Wisconsin is known for its razor-thin margins in statewide races, with nearly equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans. Voters have been bombarded with mailers, robocalls and television ads from Mr. Tiffany and Mr. Crowley. Mr. Tiffany played up his small-town roots, his upbringing on a dairy farm and his background working as a dam tender and owner of a river cruise business. During the one and only television debate between Mr. Tiffany and Mr. Crowley, Mr. Tiffany vowed that he would never allow a data center to be built “on our beautiful farmland here in Wisconsin.”
Mr. Tiffany is known as one of the most conservative members of Congress. He is part of the Freedom Caucus, a small but influential group of House representatives who have pushed the Republican agenda further to the right.
Mr. Crowley highlighted his own biography as a child of Milwaukee, the biggest city in the state. He experienced poverty growing up on the North Side with working-class parents who used drugs and were evicted during the city’s crack cocaine epidemic.
He has served as the Milwaukee County executive since 2020. He is known as a pragmatist and moderate Democrat who cut county property taxes and frequently worked with Republicans to strike bipartisan deals.
Mr. Crowley promised that as governor he would focus on improving life for Wisconsin’s working people, expand public health care and affordable housing, and invest more money in the state’s public education system.
And he warned voters that they could not trust Mr. Tiffany, describing him as an out-of-touch MAGA conservative whose campaign was largely funded by billionaires.
“He went to Washington, and he sold Wisconsin out,” Mr. Crowley said during a debate in October. “He went to go work for Donald Trump and the billionaires bankrolling him. They got tax breaks, you got higher bills. They got tariffs, you got higher prices. They got their endless war, you got record high gas prices.”
Mr. Tiffany tried to distance himself from Mr. Trump, dodging questions about his ties to the president, but in the end was unable to convince enough moderate Republicans and independents to vote for him.
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