Moderate Democrat David Crowley won the Wisconsin governor’s race, CBS News projects, defeating top Trump ally Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in one of the most purple states in the country.
Two-term incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was prevented from running again due to term limits.
Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, successfully tied Tiffany to President Trump, who has a 60% disapproval rating in Wisconsin, a September poll from Marquette University Law School found. Crowley also criticized Tiffany’s House vote against certifying the 2020 election, as well as his alliance with Mr. Trump on the One Big, Beautiful Bill, tariffs and the Iran war.
Tiffany, who has represented a safely Republican Northern Wisconsin district since 2020, tried to paint Crowley as a socialist, especially after the contentious Democratic primary. Though Tiffany has been a longtime Trump ally, he tried to focus his campaign on more local issues. Mr. Trump last visited the state to campaign in June.
Crowley won the August 11 primary by just 4,000 votes over democratic socialist Francesca Hong. The Democratic race had at one time four major candidates: Crowley, Hong, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.
The race started to take a different shape in July, when Crowley dropped his bid and threw his support behind Rodriguez, who was considered more of an establishment candidate.
But Rodriguez dropped out days later, after discovering her campaign funds were lower than she thought.
Though Barnes had pulled off a surprise victory in the 2022 Senate primary as a progressive candidate and won statewide as the state’s first Black lieutenant governor in 2018, Hong appeared to be the frontrunner. With Wisconsin voters facing those far-left choices on the ballot, Crowley announced he would return to the campaign trail as a centrist Democrat.
Crowley said in a debate in July that he had initially decided to drop his bid because he believed he was behind, but then said that “we were going off false data” and returned to the race.
Barnes then announced on July 30 — less than two weeks before the primary — that he would drop out, saying, “it’s becoming very clear who the Democratic nominee is going to be,” pointing to Hong. Barnes’ announcement came as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was investigating allegations that he was taking advantage of his role in the party to have sexual encounters with young adult women. Barnes denies the allegations and has not been accused of any crimes.
Tiffany did not face serious opposition in the Republican primary, giving him more time to campaign for the general election.
Wisconsin is a battleground state — Mr. Trump won the state by less than one point in 2024. It is one of only two states in the country with one Democratic senator and one Republican senator (a third state, Maine, has one Republican senator and an independent who caucuses with Democrats).
