David Crowley is showing major league political smarts as the Democratic nominee for the Wisconsin governorship. He has signaled a double-barreled campaign.
For openers, the Milwaukee County executive, who won by a razor-thin margin over Rep. Francesca Hong in the primary last week, is putting together a unity campaign.
If Hong had won, it would have been an historic confrontation between Hong, a Democratic Socialist on the left wing of the Democratic Party, against U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican/MAGA nominee on the far right wing of the Republican Party.
Crowley will steer his surrogates to go low as the Dems take on Tiffany, a clone of Donald Trump on national issues. But he will take the high road by pulling together his six initial opponents in the Democratic primary.
Hong immediately and graciously endorsed Crowley, and he followed up with a unity breakfast in a bakery in Middleton the next morning. It was attended by two other primary opponents, Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys. Also on the breakfast team were Attorney General Josh Kaul and Sarah Godlewsky, nominee for lieutenant governor.
His team undoubtedly is working to secure endorsements from his three other primary opponents, who had dropped out: Lt. Gov. Sarah Rodriquez, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and former economic development cabinet member Missy Hughes.
From an historical prospective, Crowley will try to replicate the strategy of our best president, Abraham Lincoln, who filled his cabinet with a “Team of Rivals.” He pulled his election opponents into common cause. Crowley has the opportunity to do the same.
On the other side of the aisle, Tiffany won the Republican nomination blowing away one minor opponent in the GOP primary. He had been hoping to run in the general election against Hong, a Democratic Socialist. Some Republicans may have even supported her in the polls and the primary ballot box in the belief she would be an easy target.
Crowley needs to resist the temptation to focus only on Tiffany. He can take the high road on Wisconsin policy issues that could be an amalgamation and expansion of the positions taken by his six opponents.
Trump’s poll numbers are the lowest for any president at about one-third of voters. His “strongly disapprove” ratings are at about 50% of Americans. He is an easy target. Few Americans appreciate his botched war against Iran, his tax on consumers through erratic tariffs, his un-American ICE storm troopers and monuments to himself.
The primary vote total shows how much Crowley has to gain by putting together his modern-day Team of Rivals. The overall turnout in the primary was high at 27%. The seven Democrats on the ballot (some having dropped out) received more than 790,000 votes. The two Republicans, mostly for Tiffany, got more than 490,000 votes.
That margin of 300,000 votes is formidable. Admittedly, the Democratic primary was far more dramatic than the non-competitive GOP race. Nonetheless, the Crowley managers have to be pumped up by the momentum of that huge primary margin. It’s likely that some Republican loyalists defected because of turn-offs by Trump’s litany of high-level blunders.
Crowley and his campaign managers don’t need to dig a hole for President Trump. He digs his own hole deeper almost every day by almost everything he says and does. His nightly ramblings on his Truth Social channel are a gift to Democrats.
Tiffany, who has a loaded war chest, has postured himself as a good ol’ boy from Wisconsin who grew up on a dairy farm, but he is going to have to spend an inordinate amount of time, energy and campaign dollars to separate himself from the loser in the White House.
Three billionaires with Wisconsin roots have put more than $6 million into Tiffany’s coffers. The big three donors were Diane Hendricks of ABC Supply and Richard and Eizabeth Uhlein, founders of ULINE, an industrial supply distributor. (Should rich donors be allowed to buy elections?)
Crowley reported raising more than $1.5 million after winning the Democratic nomination.
Expect the TV airwaves to be filled with Tiffany and Crowley ads for the next two months before the general election Nov. 3. They will try to define themselves before their opponent does.
Crowley will take an opposite track – a broad-based unity theme. “This election is not insiders versus outsiders,” he said, “It’s not about the establishment versus progressives. It’s about building something bigger than any one campaign.”
More to come on what the Democratic unity platform of issues could look like.
