Crowley, Tiffany meet for gubernatorial campaign’s sole debate

Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany met at Marquette University Wednesday evening for the only scheduled debate in Wisconsin’s race for governor. 

Throughout the hourlong debate, hosted by WISN and moderated by Matt Smith and Gerron Jordan, Crowley worked to paint Tiffany as a yes-man for his billionaire donors and President Donald Trump, while Tiffany worked to cast Crowley as an extreme liberal focused only on raising taxes and distracted by his dislike of Trump. 

As Democrats hope that Trump’s record-low unpopularity can create a wave of support for them in races up and down the ticket across the country, polling has shown that Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race remains close, with Crowley so far maintaining a slight lead. 

If Crowley wins, he’d be the first Black man to be elected governor of Wisconsin and will represent an extension of Gov. Tony Evers’ eight years in office — especially if Democrats are able to fulfill their ambition to win majority control of both chambers of the Legislature for the first time in more than 15 years. 

A Tiffany victory would represent a return to the Gov. Scott Walker era of politics in the state, focused on deregulation and tax cuts and would mean Republicans gain control of a key swing state ahead of the 2028 presidential election. 

Taxes and the economy

The debate opened with an extended discussion about the economy, taxes and the state budget as affordability has become one of the main issues of concern to voters in this year’s midterm elections. 

Tiffany has built his campaign on the promise of massive tax cuts. He’s said he’ll cut property and income taxes while maintaining funding for government services. Since the early days of his campaign, Tiffany has argued that he can deliver massive tax cuts without significant cuts. 

“We are going to have sufficient money in this budget to be able to fund the things that are important to Wisconsinites: education, transportation, and infrastructure, healthcare, we’re going to have money there, and here’s why,” he said. “When you look at the last budget that was passed a year ago, it went up $15 billion, went from $99 billion to $114 billion, a 15% increase, the largest increase ever in a state budget. There is plenty of money in Madison to be able to provide more shared revenue, to give increased aid to our schools, there is enough money in Madison to be able to backfill those things that we need to.” 

The most recent state budget, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Evers, cut $1.3 billion in taxes while increasing funding for the University of Wisconsin system, childcare providers and special education. 

During a conversation about transportation funding, Crowley questioned how Tiffany will pay for his tax plans. 

“Congressman Tom Tiffany doesn’t have any plans,” Crowley said. “Congressman Tiffany literally just said that he would cut billionaire taxes to 0%. And how we’re going to fund transportation? He has no clue. How are you going to get the revenues when you continuously cut the amount of revenues coming into government? This is the reason why cities, towns, villages, and our school districts all across the state are struggling today, and that’s because he doesn’t work for the people. He’s working for the billionaires. He’s going to do anything and everything that they tell him to do because that’s who he’s been in the pockets of.”

Throughout the campaign, Tiffany has criticized Crowley for rising property taxes in Milwaukee County and the increase in the county sales tax included in a bipartisan 2023 deal to inject more money into local government budgets. 

The total property tax levy collected by Milwaukee County each year has increased, but the property tax rate actually paid by individual homeowners has increased less than the rate of inflation. The sales tax increase was included in the shared revenue bill passed by Republicans and has been seen as a policy move that helped stave off massive cuts to county services. 

Crowley said his record on taxes has been misrepresented by the Tiffany campaign and added that he wants to increase taxes on the state’s wealthiest people, take a holistic look at the total tax picture to find where people can get relief and better work with local governments. 

He also argued that Tiffany’s tax plans will only benefit his wealthy donors. Tiffany’s campaign has been largely funded by three billionaires, Beloit resident Diane Hendricks and Illinois residents Richard and Liz Uihlein. 

“He wants to do exactly what they did in Washington D.C.,” Crowley said. “They literally gave $80 billion in tax breaks to billionaires throughout the entire country on the backs of hardworking Wisconsinites who are losing their healthcare — 270,000 folks. Look, we cannot afford Congressman Tiffany as the next governor if we’re literally going to be balancing tax breaks for billionaires on the backs of hardworking Wisconsin family members. What we need to be focusing on is how do we make sure that we can get them access to better-paying jobs? How we can actually make sure that they can actually afford food on the table?.”

Billionaires and Donald Trump

Crowley repeatedly returned to the refrain that Tiffany will only serve the interests of Trump and his billionaire donors. 

“So while my opponent, you can see early on in the debate, is consistently focused on being against Donald Trump, I’m for Wisconsin,” Tiffany countered. “And rather than creating a bunch more programs that are going to end up taxing the people of Wisconsin more, I want to put more money in the taxpayers’ pockets.” 

Later in the evening, Tiffany said that Crowley is “ranting constantly” about billionaires.

“Have I ever said we’re going to cut taxes to zero? I have not,” he said. “He’s misrepresenting our positions, and he’s over there ranting constantly about billionaires. We need a governor that’s going to be focused on people here in Wisconsin to do what’s best for Wisconsin. Not worrying about others, not announcing what you are against, but telling people what you’re for.” 

Education

On education, Tiffany said he wants to provide more funding for public education while raising standards and accountability for struggling districts. He also said he would consider raising income limits on Wisconsin’s statewide private school voucher program through which families receive a tuition subsidy from the state government. 

“I just think people should have whatever choice that they make,” Tiffany said. “We made the choice of public schools, regardless of income. And if a child is trapped in a failing school, they should be able to choose the school that they want to go to.” 

Crowley responded by arguing that this position is the one held by the wealthy supporters of the voucher program. 

“This is a prime example of exactly who the congressman works for,” Crowley said. “I mean, when this program was started, it was to make sure that low-income students all across the state of Wisconsin got access to some type of option. At the end, and what ended up happening, they kept lifting the cap. And what they do next, they lifted the income limits. Those who were actually paying for private education then started utilizing public dollars to pay for their child’s education. I mean, Congressman Tom Tiffany, it doesn’t sound like you want to work for the small guys. Sounds like you want to work for those who have the money and have the means to continue to pay their way.”

Data centers

This year, public opposition to data centers has played a large role in campaigns across the country. In this race, both candidates have sent mixed signals on the issue while trying to cast the other as the pro-data center choice. 

Tiffany pointed to comments Crowley has made in which he celebrated the potential financial benefits data centers could have for local government budgets. As he’s said on the campaign trail, he tied his opposition to data centers with his opposition to solar and wind power developments and said he supports local control over development and would get rid of the sales tax exemptions for data centers currently in state law. 

“I’ve been against these subsidies,” Tiffany said. “Why would the wealthiest, some of the wealthiest companies in the world need subsidies from the taxpayers of Wisconsin? I’m opposed to them.” 

Crowley pointed to the $80 billion in tax breaks for data center developers Tiffany voted for in the One Big Beautiful Bill that was passed by Republicans last summer and said he’s going to do whatever he can to support local decisions around data centers. 

“We need to make sure we’re protecting our environment, protecting our land, protecting our farmland, protecting our waterways,” Crowley said. “But communities need to have a seat because if they don’t want a data center, they shouldn’t be forced to have a data center. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that. I’ve always sided with communities and the people when it comes down to data centers, Congressman Tom Tiffany, he’s done something different. I mean, he provided the tax breaks to the big tech companies who are steamrolling our communities today with these data centers.” 

In 2017, when Republicans in the Legislature, then-Gov. Walker and Trump were working to attract Foxconn to Wisconsin to build a manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant, Tiffany voted in committee and the full Senate in favor of the $3 billion tax break the state gave the company. After Foxconn’s plans failed to fully materialize, Microsoft took over the site, where it is now building a data center campus. 

Elections

A chunk of the debate focused on questions about Tiffany’s vote to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, abortion and the tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — three areas in which Democrats have sought to tie Tiffany as closely as possible with Trump and the right flank of the Republican party. 

When asked why, after he voted to overturn the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, he said he would also have voted to overturn Wisconsin’s 2020 election of Biden, potentially nullifying the votes of hundreds of thousands of people, Tiffany said he did so because he had concerns about “Zuckerbucks” — the moniker Republicans gave to grant money given to municipal governments through a charity run by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to help them pay for the increased costs of administering an election during a pandemic. 

He also said he had concerns about the Madison city clerk posting online that voters concerned about going to the polls because of COVID-19 could use the state’s indefinitely confined voter provision. That comment was made in March 2020 ahead of the state’s April election that year and the state Supreme Court quickly issued an order blocking that guidance, so it had no bearing on how people voted seven months later. 

“Because of what happened there, when there was money coming in privately that should not have been, and the voters said that that should not be that way,” Tiffany said. “I mean, I can give you one other example of what happened there. There was the Dane County Clerk who declared that people who are indefinitely confined, they could just declare themselves to be indefinitely confined during the election. That clerk did not have the authority to do that. That requires an action by the state Senate and the governor to change that law. So there are a couple things like that that I thought should be addressed.”

Tiffany later said he would consider getting rid of the Wisconsin Elections Commission and changing how the state manages its elections. Tiffany and legislative Republicans voted to break up the state’s previous election agency, the Government Accountability Board, after it investigated allegations of campaign finance violations by Walker. 

“I think we need to sit down and have that discussion about do we make changes to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. I mean, I’m one of the people that voted for it a decade ago,” he said. “We thought that we hit on the answer to be able to have an effective body, but we need to make sure that there’s accountability by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and they’re carrying out their job.” 

He continued, saying “there should be a simple principle in regards to our elections. It should be easy to vote and hard to cheat. We need to make sure that the Wisconsin Elections Commission is going to carry out that mandate for the voters of Wisconsin, because they’ve proven over the last number of years they want election integrity. Voters have voted consistently for election integrity.”

Crowley said that Tiffany’s election comments show he’ll sell out Wisconsinites for Trump, including in 2028 when the next governor will be responsible for certifying the results of the presidential race. 

Abortion

In this race, abortion has not been one of the campaign’s main issues, but Tiffany has a history of anti-abortion actions in the state Legislature and in Congress and has been endorsed by anti-abortion groups. He said that in the Legislature he voted for the state’s current ban on abortions after 20 weeks and that’s where he would continue to draw the line. 

“When I talked to my constituents, they said, ‘We want you to find a middle ground on this. We want you to compromise,’ and that’s exactly what we did,” he said. “I stand by that vote of a decade ago, and I will uphold it as the governor of Wisconsin.”

Crowley pointed out that while in Congress, Tiffany supported a bill that would have enacted a total federal abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. 

Tiffany said his position on the issue has “been consistent ever since I announced for governor,” while trying to cast Crowley as a pro-abortion extremist who would allow abortions for the full duration of a pregnancy. Crowley said that abortions after 20 weeks are nearly always serious situations that involve life-threatening medical questions and the decision should be made between a patient and her doctor. 

Crowley has argued on the campaign trail for an amendment to the state Constitution enshrining the right to have an abortion and he also said he didn’t believe the Legislature would pass a bill lifting all restrictions on abortion. 

In their closing statements, both candidates reiterated the arguments they’d been making all night. 

Crowley again argued that Wisconsinites can’t trust Tiffany to choose regular citizens over billionaires and Trump. Tiffany discussed the plane crash he was in while campaigning earlier this summer and the “best of Wisconsin” he saw from first responders — saying he wanted everyone in the state to see that, too. 

The Wisconsin Examiner previously reported that the pilot of that plane was a frequent Republican donor and an election denier who associates with some of the state’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists. On Wednesday, MeidasTouch reported that Tiffany’s campaign spent $70,000 on private flights in the past two months. 

After the debate, Republicans said that Tiffany “laid out his vision.” 

“Tom Tiffany laid out a vision to lower taxes and put Wisconsin families first, while David Crowley could not defend his failed record in Milwaukee County,” Republican Governors Association spokesperson Kollin Crompton said. “Crowley’s higher taxes and soft-on-crime policies are a warning, not a blueprint for Wisconsin. Tiffany knows Wisconsin, understands its people, and is running to put them first.”

Democrats and Crowley claimed a debate victory. 

“There was only one governor on stage tonight, and it wasn’t the guy who went to Washington to vote with Donald Trump 100% of the time,” Crowley campaign manager Garren Randolph said. “Congressman Tom Tiffany spent an hour offering Wisconsinites excuse after excuse for the role he played in jacking up costs on families across the state. Gas prices, healthcare premiums, and utility bills are all up because of Congressman Tom Tiffany’s loyalty to Donald Trump over the people of Wisconsin. On the other side of the stage, David Crowley showed Wisconsinites a leader who will actually work for them if elected governor. David laid out how he’ll lower taxes for working families instead of billionaires and lower the cost of gas, groceries, housing, and healthcare.”