Tiffany makes his closing argument

On Monday evening, dozens of Republican voters, clad in a mix of GOP red and Brewer navy blue, crowded into Whiskey Run Distillery in New Glarus to hear from U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for governor. 

At the event, part of the campaign’s 55 city “common sense” bus tour of the state in the last week of the election, Tiffany’s final argument to the electorate largely reiterated the case he’s made for himself over the past year — that, if elected, Democratic candidate David Crowley will raise taxes and fees, make Wisconsin less safe and let transgender youth play sports, while Tiffany in contrast will protect Wisconsinites’ values. 

“My commitment to all of you is that I’m going to make sure your children and your grandchildren are going to be able to achieve their dreams right here in Wisconsin,” Tiffany said. “It’s gonna be Wisconsin’s nightmare, though, if we get David Crowley, isn’t it? … He’s gonna raise your property taxes. He’s going to raise your sales taxes, and he’s going to bring us a new one. He is going to have tolling come to Wisconsin. You want toll booths in Wisconsin? Every paycheck, every purchase, every time you drive, he wants to take more money out of your pockets.”

Two years ago, Vice President Kamala Harris won the village of New Glarus with 67% of the vote and Green County with 50.1% of the vote. Now, Democrats across the country are optimistic that a blue wave generated by opposition to the historically unpopular President Donald Trump will help them win state and federal races even in red areas. At the event on Monday, Tiffany said his campaign was going to compete in blue areas such as New Glarus and nearby Dane County, a Democratic stronghold in which Republicans have often argued they need to pick off about 30% of the vote in order to compete statewide. 

“When we announced a year ago, I said we are going to compete in Dane County and all the counties surrounding, including right here in Green County,” Tiffany said. “We are competing. We’re going to win on Nov. 3.” 

Across the state and country, voters have cited concerns about the economy — largely due to rising prices caused by Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran — as their top issue in this year’s midterm elections. As he has throughout his campaign, including when he accepted the Republican nomination for governor at the GOP convention in May, Tiffany said his opposition to transgender rights would be a key part of his agenda. 

“This is the common sense tour, right? So we should probably do a little bit of that,” he said. “We’ll do a little bit of that. Girls and only girls are going to play girls’ sports. Yes, we’re going to make sure that that happens. If you hadn’t heard in the last budget, they wanted to call mothers ‘inseminated persons.’ I don’t know who in the world thought that up. We’re going to call mothers mothers in the state budget. And I don’t care what flags you fly above your business, your home, above your boat, my brother flies a Tiffany for governor flag above his combine. I don’t care what flags you fly above all those things, but above the state Capitol, we’re going to fly the two flags that tie this state and country together: the flag, the seal of the great state of Wisconsin and Old Glory are going to be the two flags that we fly.” 

Last year, Republicans in Wisconsin and across the country complained when Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal used the term “inseminated persons” in provisions related to in vitro fertilization, which he argued made clear that the law applied to same-sex couples. Evers has also flown an LGBTQ pride flag over the Capitol in each year of his administration, which Republicans have often criticized.

As early voting kicked off last week, Tiffany proposed instituting a bill of rights for parents and teachers, which includes requiring parental permission for students who want to change their names and pronouns at school and banning transgender students from bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

At the event Monday was New Glarus resident Dave Staats, who moved to Wisconsin from Nashville eight years ago and is hoping to live in the state for the first time under a Republican governor. Staats said he doesn’t trust the polls, which have shown Crowley in the lead, but believes it’s going to be a close election.

Staats said that he “would’ve voted for [Tiffany] no matter what” in this election. 

“I know who Tom Tiffany is,” he said. 

He added that his vote isn’t driven by any specific issues, but that he’s frustrated with the state of the country’s politics and the polarization that makes it difficult to talk with people on the other side. 

“There’s never any big issues, it’s all about the general principles,” he said. “It used to be easy to talk to someone on the other side, now you’re not going to the same place.” 

Robin Stroebel, another New Glarus resident, said she attended Monday’s event because she hadn’t seen Tiffany in person yet and likes to do that before an election. Stroebel said her main issues in the election are the repeal of Evers’ veto allowing schools to raise revenue limits by $325 per pupil per year for the next 400 years, continuing to support charter schools, public safety and election security. 

“I think [Tiffany] is logical, honest and calm,” she said. “He’s getting everywhere, talking to everyone he can.” 

Stroebel added that she believes Tiffany’s campaign is speaking to his grassroots supporters while being competitive where it needs to be. She said she was optimistic that appearing so close to Dane County is a sign he can win enough support there. 

“He’s run a fantastic campaign,” she said.