David Crowley

David Crowley's standing is built on one of the cycle's stranger comebacks. The Milwaukee County executive, the first African American to hold that office, suspended his campaign on July 8 while polling in single digits, then re-entered ten days later after Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez's bid collapsed, and won Governor Tony Evers' endorsement the same day. He beat Francesca Hong in the August 11 primary by about 3,700 votes, with Evers calling him "the future of our party." That arc gives him a resilience premium and an establishment seal, layered on a personal story of childhood evictions and parents struggling with addiction, plus a county record that includes the 2023 state deal allowing a sales-tax increase to steady county finances. The discount is thin statewide definition: Marquette's September poll showed his net favorability sliding from plus four to minus thirteen in a month. A win would make him Wisconsin's first Black governor. Against Tom Tiffany, the consensus is still forming around a name most voters met this summer.