David Crowley Is the Democratic Candidate for Governor: Serving All Wisconsinites (Part 2 of 2)
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Democratic gubernatorial candidate (forefront) surrounded by supporters at a Fitchburg fundraiser
By Jonathan Gramling
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a Democratic candidate for Wisconsin Governor, has seen life from several sides. Spending part of his life growing up in the 53206 zip code, Crowley moved constantly as a child. While he experienced love as a child, his parents each had mental health and drug-abuse issues. It was the public schools and community organizations like Urban Underground that helped him find his way.
Crowley has come from the streets to the decision-making table. Crowley served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for five years before being elected as the Milwaukee County executive. And as the county executive, through statewide coalitions, Crowley has been on the front lines in the fight to ensure that local units of government have the funding they need to adequately serve their residents. He is ready to serve as governor of Wisconsin.
Over the course of the past 16 years, Wisconsin’s municipalities and school districts have seen their state aids decline due to inflation and neglect, putting pressure on them to raise the minimum amount they need through increases in the property tax, one of the most regressive taxes available to government. Crowley wants to invest in these critical institutions.
“What you are going to get from Tom Tiffany is we are going to cut this, we are going to cut that,” Crowley emphasized. “But families aren’t looking for cuts. They are looking for investments. They are looking at, how can we invest in more economic opportunities so that they can put more money in their pockets. They are looking at how can the state — when I think about my vision incorporating what I’m hearing across Wisconsin — do a lot more for our public education and making sure that health care is more accessible.”
This lack of investment, in Crowley’s view, has led to Wisconsin families falling further and further behind.
“Everything costs more even if you are seeing a little bit more money in your pocket,” Crowley said. “And so families have not been able to get ahead under this Trump agenda and the MAGA extremists who have been elected, folks like Tom Tiffany. And that is why I am running for governor, to be able to fight on their behalf, to make sure that they have a seat at the table and lend their voices to the solutions that work for them.”
Due to his statewide experience as a state legislator and county executive, Crowley feels he is ready to take action as soon as he assumes office.
“Not only as a county executive, but also as a state representative, we’ve been building coalitions across this state because the issues when I became the county executive that were facing Milwaukee County, they aren’t just unique to Milwaukee,” Crowley emphasized. “Every single, city, village, town and county are facing many of the same financial issues, the financial strain because the state isn’t stepping up doing what it needs to do. And what has been interesting is one, particularly when I talk with reporters, they always say, ‘When I talk with your critics, they may talk about your policies, but they love you as an individual. They appreciate that you are your authentic self and you are focusing on the relationship-building aspect in politics, something that we have lost as a society, but absolutely have lost in politics.’ It has been shown that people trust me across the state, being able to deliver more resources to them so that they can invest in the critical services that their residents rely on. And so we are not just seeing Democrats support this campaign. There are a lot of disaffected Republicans as well as independents who are watching us and believing in us and supporting us not just through their volunteer hours, but also through their money to make sure that we defeat Tom Tiffany on November 3rd. This isn’t our grandfathers’ Republican Party anymore.”
Crowley is concerned that if Tom Tiffany is elected that he will be a surrogate for the policies of Donald Trump.
“We’ve always had free and fair elections,” Crowley said. “And you aren’t going to get that with a Congressman Tom Tiffany. We talk about someone who has never stood up to Donald Trump. We’re talking about somebody who has been lockstep 100 percent of the time with Donald Trump. And that bothers me. Look, if we agree on seven out of 10 things, you should probably vote for me. If you agree with me on 10 out of 10 things, you should probably go see a doctor because I don’t even agree with my wife 100 percent of the time and vice versa. But we know how to sit at the table and work out our differences and compromise, something that we’ve never seen Donald Trump or Congressman Tom Tiffany do, either as a Congressional member or as a state legislator.”
The gubernatorial election has been a battleground with Wisconsin being none of the purple states that Trump is itching to tip the scales on in favor of Tiffany and the Republican candidates. Trump continues to hint at Federal interference in state and local elections.
“Trump absolutely wants to interfere in the election,” Crowley said. “We have been doing absentee voting here for decades. And we have never had a problem as it relates to how we do absentee voting. People can even track their own ballots with the way that our technology works here. And so at the end of the day, what he is trying to do is not just sow doubt in people’s ability to cast their vote. He wants to interrogate and intimidate our poll workers who are doing the Lord’s work by going out there. They are the foundation, the bedrock of our democracy, making sure that people can cast their ballot, making sure that it continues to operate with integrity.”
Crowley has also been up against a lot of name calling with people calling him a socialist and anti-Catholic. Crowley doesn’t know where that is coming from given his connections to the Catholic faith.
“My grandmother was a Catholic school cook for 25 years,” Crowley said. “My entire family grew up Catholic. I actually have priests in my family. And so to see these kinds of attacks from groups one, aren’t even here in the state of Wisconsin receiving dark money, to see groups like this particular Catholic group, it is unfortunate that they are not being as holy as they should be while they continue to peddle the types of lies that we are seeing through these text messages, through Facebook and through emails.”
Crowley is up against dark money and the money of several influential, rich people being spent on behalf of the Tiffany campaign.
“It is unfortunate that we have so many people who like to hide behind rulings like Citizens United and other campaign finance laws that we have in the state of Wisconsin to continue to influence what our legislature looks like,” Crowley said. “One, my opponent, Congressman Tom Tiffany, has three billionaires — the Uihleins, Dick and Elizabeth as well as Diane Hendricks — who pretty much bankroll his entire campaign. And for us, it’s really about talking to people on the ground, but also talking to people across the country because this race isn’t just about the state of Wisconsin. This has national implications, especially when you think about I’m running against a Trump loyalist, a MAGA extremist, who literally voted not to certify the 2020 election. We can’t afford having a person like that as our next governor. And that’s why you are seeing so much money being spent in this race because they want to continue this MAGA agenda, continue this Trump-Tiffany agenda here in the state of Wisconsin. And so as we see all of these dollars coming in, we want to make sure that we’re not just competing, but we ultimately defeat the MAGA agenda.”
Crowley’s campaign is fueled by everyday working Wisconsinites, for the most part. He hopes to capture the governorship the hard way, by earning it.
“And we don’t just do that by money,” Crowley said. “We also do that with people power. It’s knocking on doors. It’s making phone calls. It’s utilizing people’s talents to bring awareness to this election. And so we are getting dollars from grassroots folks, from unions, from workers who want to see this state go in a different direction than what we are seeing the Republican-controlled legislature take it as well as what Tom Tiffany would do if he becomes the governor of Wisconsin.”
In some ways, it is David up against Goliath in this election with Crowley up against a lot of money used to fabricate untruths and lies about Crowley. We shall see who is victorious on November 3rd.