Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said he would sign a bill to repeal tax incentives for data centers if he’s elected, marking a change in his position on the issue.

Gov. Tony Evers and Wisconsin Republicans approved a provision during the 2023 state budget that exempts data center developers from paying sales and use taxes for the “sale of property and equipment to construct, renovate or operate data centers.” The policy is estimated to have already saved data center developers $1.5 billion. 

However, as data centers have become increasingly unpopular, Democrats and Republicans alike have changed their minds on providing these subsidies. 

A group of Republican lawmakers, some of whom voted for the budget that created the tax subsidies in 2023, introduced a bill earlier this month that would repeal the tax breaks, though the bill won’t go anywhere as the Legislature is out of session.

Crowley said he would “absolutely” sign that bill to repeal the tax subsidies if it were sent to him as governor during an event at the Overture Center on Wednesday evening.

“The fact that these tech companies are getting a billion dollars in tax breaks — it’s being delivered on the backs of hard-working families,” Crowley said. “I want to be very clear about my position. We’re going to be aggressive when it comes down to holding data centers to account, making sure that we protect our land, protect our water, have strict environmental standards, but also communities need to have a seat at the table.”

Crowley had previously been noncommittal when it came to repealing the tax benefit for data centers. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he did not “believe Wisconsin should automatically roll back all data center tax incentives” but that he believed that the state needed “a more rigorous review of whether taxpayers are receiving sufficient value for the incentives being provided.” 

Republican candidate and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany had previously criticized Crowley’s position on the tax incentives, saying that he wanted to give “a blank check to data centers” and that data centers “do not need to be subsidized by us, the taxpayers.” Tiffany has not always been a champion of tough regulation on data centers, either. He previously voted for legislation in Congress that would have banned state and local governments across the country from being able to enforce laws or regulations on AI models, systems, and related digital infrastructure, including data centers, for 10 years. 

Crowley’s changing position comes with less than three weeks left until Election Day and as data centers and AI continue to be unpopular across the political spectrum. A September Marquette Law School poll found that 74% of Wisconsinites say the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits.

This week Crowley laid out an 11-point policy plan for restricting and regulating AI and social media companies. The policies include:

• Requiring platforms to set kids’ accounts and new accounts to the highest privacy setting and cut off unsolicited messages. Users over 18 would have the option to turn the restrictions off. 
• Prohibiting infinite scroll, autoplay and other addictive features for minors’ accounts as well as a ban on push notification for the users overnight and during the school day. 
• Banning surveillance advertising. 
• Allowing parents the option to sue platforms over design choices that harm a child including content promoting suicide, eating disorders and drug sales 
• Regulating AI chatbots by restricting them for users under 13, prohibiting chatbots from posing as doctors and therapists and requiring disclosures on AI chatbots designed to form emotional bonds with individuals
• Increasing the penalties for online predators and sextortion and implementing those same penalties for creating or sharing AI-generated sexual images of children
• Penalizing companies that knowingly make money from scam ads
• Requiring identification verification for advertisers before they can place ads
• Requiring platforms to implement a scam reporting tool that’s easy to use and requiring that they confirm the reports and report the action that they took within a set timeframe
• Funding the state Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to support their work to combat online fraud and enforce anti-trust law
• Investing in county and tribal adult protective services and aging and disability resource centers, so victims of scams have support to recover

Crowley said during the Wednesday evening event that the state needs to do something in the absence of the Trump administration and Congress taking action. 

“It’s unfortunate that the federal government has actually not put in these guardrails to protect our young people, protect our families, but also to protect our seniors,” Crowley said. “Look, I’m a father, I have three daughters and I want to make sure I can protect my girls from these chatbots. You have, you know, social media platforms that allow them to chat about sexuality. That’s not what I want my 9 and 7-year-old to be introduced to. My oldest right now is a freshman at Whitewater. I don’t want her having pictures out there, and all of a sudden, she can’t be protected.” 

Crowley said the policies are aimed at putting the burdens on the tech, social media and AI companies, rather than on individuals. 

Tiffany also supports some guardrails for these companies. He said in a statement to the Examiner that the state needs “common sense guardrails that protect children and seniors, safeguard personal privacy, and prevent sensitive data from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, including Communist China.” His campaign noted that in Congress Tiffany cosponsored a law aimed at strengthening law enforcement’s ability to investigate financial fraud targeting seniors. The legislation covered scams involving AI.

“We cannot allow artificial intelligence to become another tool for harvesting Americans’ personal information or exploiting vulnerable individuals. We must hold Big Tech accountable when its platforms enable the creation of sexually explicit AI-generated images of children or expose minors to sexually inappropriate chatbot conversations,” Tiffany said. 

Tiffany said he would support imposing age verification requirements for app providers, strengthening parental consent protections and “give parents greater control over their children’s online activity.” 

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre spent the majority of his time on stage in Waukesha on Tuesday night talking about his time playing football. But when the conversation turned to the election, Favre was blunt about what he would say to hunters, Christians, veterans, farmers, factory workers, truck drivers and school teachers who aren’t planning to vote.

“You can’t sit it out. You can’t sit it out,” Favre, a Mississippi native, said. “You can’t bitch if you don’t vote.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running against Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, came on the stage with Favre, who signed a couple of footballs and handed them to Tiffany. The congressman threw them into the crowd gathered in Stein’s Aircraft Services in Waukesha for the get-out-the-vote rally hosted by Hunter Nation, a national nonprofit for hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts.

The event also featured a presentation on delisting the grey wolf, an auction of a Ted Nugent guitar signed by Favre — claimed by the only person who bid at the starting bid of $5,000 — and a performance by Mark Mackay, a country musician. After talking about the importance of being on the “good side of this battle,” he introduced a song called “I Am Love,” saying that’s what musicians should be talking about instead of politics. 

Tiffany told the Examiner there was no “greater icon in Wisconsin” than Favre and he was glad he could be there to speak on voting and hunting issues. He expressed no concern when asked how his campaign’s accountability and anti-fraud agenda matches up with Favre’s entanglement in a fraud scandal in Mississippi. Favre has repaid the state of Mississippi over $1 million for speeches he was paid for but didn’t deliver, and he is still a defendant in a civil case filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services to recoup millions of dollars in misspent federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families welfare funds, some of which he allegedly used to build a volleyball stadium.

“He’s appeared before Congress and talked about how requirements need to be tightened up for these various programs,” Tiffany said. “I’m going to do that as governor. I mean accountability is a big part of our agenda to make sure that all agencies are audited and make sure that no one is stealing from the taxpayers.”

Tiffany hit on a number of his campaign priorities, including rooting out fraud and auditing state government, during the rally. One of the biggest cheers he received was for saying he’d sign a bill to open a hunting season on sandhill cranes. 

“Yeah, baby!” one man yelled out in response. 

Waukesha County, one of the historically  Republican-leaning “WOW counties,” has trended a little less red in recent elections, including in the 2026 April state Supreme Court race.

Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee), who is running for reelection to the Assembly and, simultaneously, for Waukesha County executive, said Tiffany has been putting in the work in the county to ensure people turn out and vote for Republicans there.

“He is everywhere. You would think he’s running for a local office in Waukesha County,” Neylon said. “He’s run a very aggressive campaign where he has really committed to the ground game. He’s also really strong at retail politics. He shows up, he listens and he speaks the language of Wisconsin.”

Attorney general candidate Eric Toney told the Examiner that Republicans “can’t take any area for granted.”

“Waukesha County, certainly has been crucial over the years with Republican voters or conservative voters in this area, and we just need people all across the state coming out to vote, and not just talking to folks that might live in their own city or county.” 

Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk (R-Hubertus), who is seeking reelection to his Assembly district that represents parts of Washington County, said he thinks the election will come down to turnout. Recent Marquette Law School polling has shown Crowley up slightly ahead of Tiffany. 

“We, as Republicans, if Tom Tiffany’s down three points, we actually consider that to be a good thing for our side. We think our candidates usually pull a little bit or actually end up doing a little bit better. I think it’s neck and neck right now. It’s very close. I think it’s going to come out to turnout,” Piwowarczyk said. “I’ve seen the polling myself and it’s very close.”

Piwowarczyk said the rally and other events are helping people get excited. He said he has been knocking doors in his district and has also been up to the other areas of the state, including the Green Bay area, a purple region that contains multiple competitive state legislative races.

“We have a lot of people excited to get out there. I think that they have been very frustrated by Tony Evers and the ever-increasing taxes, and they’re excited for Tiffany,” Piwowarczyk said. 

U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil and Scott Fitzgerald also attended the event and warned that Democrats want to pursue a radical agenda most voters don’t agree with. 

“When we see how radicalized the Democratic party has become, where they are going after all aspects of our culture from putting boys in girls sports to higher taxes… Their attacks on core aspects of our culture are real and substantive, and they will want to come after our hunting rights.”  

Steil told the crowd not to underestimate turnout in Milwaukee and Madison, the state’s largest cities. His own seat, long considered safe, is a target for Democrats this year and Democrat Mitchell Berman is giving him a competitive race.

“Run on the assumption that the Democrats are going to vote in full strength here in the liberal core cities in Wisconsin,” Steil said. “Every single person in the state of Wisconsin, who has a world view like those of us in this room, who stays home in three weeks from today, is effectively voting for a Democrat, and we need to get that message out to our friends, our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, folks at church.”

A number of people in the crowd wore Favre jerseys, and his presence was part of what brought out Michael Harrell, a 74-year-old New Berlin resident. He told the Examiner with a smile that he attended the rally because he “wanted to see Brett Favre.”

“I don’t know Tom Tiffany’s voting record or any of that stuff, but I vote Republican regardless,” Harrell said. He said he’s voted for the party since former President Richard Nixon was elected. 

“We’ve got God in our platform. We got common sense, and even though there are the RINOs, we got a lot of good people out there,” Harrell said. “We love America like the president does.”

President Donald Trump isn’t running this year, but in  recent weeks, he has been on the campaign trail telling people to pretend he is on the ballot.

Neylon said Trump’s absence from the ballot has been a concern for some, but he’s seen enthusiasm growing for the midterms.

“Republicans are going to turn out,” Neylon said. “Republicans are over performing in Wisconsin compared nationally, and I think part of that is because we have really good candidates, and I think Wisconsin is going to be another example of why candidates really matter.”

Trump has been a motivator for Republicans to get out to vote in recent elections but he has also fallen in popularity in Wisconsin. Tiffany has recently distanced himself from the second-term president, despite reliably voting for the president’s agenda in Congress and receiving Trump’s strong endorsement. This week he would not say in an interview with WMTJ whether he approves of the job Trump is doing. 

“The president is doing what he believes is best for the United States of America,” Tiffany said.

Neylon said Tiffany has been able to insulate himself from Trump’s unpopularity by keeping on message and talking about lowering taxes, reducing regulations and protecting Act 10, the law passed under Gov. Scott Walker that restricted collective bargaining for public employees. 

“He’s been really consistent and focused on a message that’s different than some of the national messages you hear from federal candidates, so I don’t think people are necessarily tying them together,” Neylon said. “When you look at how each person is spending their time, there’s differences, and people see that.”

The Wisconsin state Senate and Assembly are also up for grabs this year. The Republican Assembly members said the quality of the candidates running in competitive seats will be the thing that helps Republicans hold their majorities. 

Neylon said people shouldn’t judge Wisconsin races by “national headwinds.” 

“I’m more concerned that we lose majorities at the federal level than I am at the state level,” Neylon said. 

Harrell said he thought Trump could help Tiffany get over the finish line. He said he thinks Trump has been doing a good job and that he isn’t too worried about high gas prices, which recently reached record highs.

“He’s gonna pull something here, I think, on the gas and this stuff. We’re gonna maybe see that before the election,” Harrell said. He added that he thinks Democratic candidate David Crowley has “flubbed up” Milwaukee and doesn’t want him to lead the state. 

“There’s so many crazy people nowadays, you just, you don’t know. You don’t know what’s gonna happen,” Harrell said. “I mean you hope God intervenes and has already got it planned out, but all we can do is hope — hope, and pray.”

A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report released on Oct. 13 found that an error by pilot Leonard Boltz was the cause of the plane crash with Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany.

Last month, Tiffany was flying with Boltz from La Crosse to Wausau when Boltz’s plane suffered what was subsequently described as a “mechanical failure.” Boltz crash landed the plane into Lake Wausau and the pair swam to a shallow area where they were rescued. Both sustained minor injuries. 

Tiffany, who had taken at least 12 flights with Boltz over the course of his campaign, praised Boltz during a press conference the day after the crash.

“It took some real expertise to be able to land that plane as he did,” Tiffany said.

The investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board remains ongoing, but the preliminary report stated Boltz told his aviation mechanic after the crash that the loss of engine power was due to his delay in switching fuel tanks and not turning on the electric fuel boost pump.

According to the report, Boltz had flown throughout the day, first flying from Langlade County, where he chairs a local Republican party, with a full load of 70 gallons of fuel. While flying from La Crosse to Wausau and preparing to land, the report states that Boltz “observed a higher-than-normal engine exhaust gas temperature.”

According to the report, Boltz did not refuel the airplane at La Crosse before the flight departed for Wausau, and he stated that he had selected the left main fuel tank for both flight legs except for when he briefly selected the auxiliary tanks while in cruise flight before switching back to the left tank.

The report states that all the fuel tank caps were found secure in a postaccident examination. The left main tank had no fuel while the right main tank and both auxiliary tanks were full of fuel.

The report states that the Beech K35 plane was “substantially damaged” in the crash into Lake Wausau.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore came to Wisconsin looking for some company. 

Moore, the first Black governor of Maryland and the only Black governor currently serving in office, traveled to Wisconsin on Friday to campaign with Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. The two made campaign stops in Beloit, Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee.

If elected, Crowley will be the first Black governor of Wisconsin. Moore told a group of about 120 gathered in a room in New Zion Baptist Church in Beloit that they have the opportunity to make history. However, he also said that’s not the reason Crowley should be elected.

“David understands that making history is not the assignment,” Moore said. “Making child poverty history is… Making history is not the assignment. Making pathways to work, wages and wealth for all of our citizens, and not just some, is. Making history is not the assignment. Getting this dark money out of politics — it is.”

Moore, who is only the third Black governor elected in U.S. history and a former U.S. Army  captain and paratrooper with the 82nd airborne division, came to Wisconsin riding a wave of popularity. Polls show he is leading his Republican opponent by nearly 30 points in his own reelection campaign. That’s, a different reality than in Wisconsin where Crowley is maintaining a slight lead over Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany by a margin in the low single digits. 

The crowd that gathered in Beloit to hear from Crowley and Moore was excited. One woman wore a colorful shirt with President Barack Obama’s face on it and was excited about getting her picture taken with both Moore and Crowley. Obama endorsed Cowley just the day before Moore’s visit. 

Beloit is the home of Diane Hendricks, one of three billionaires contributing millions of dollars  to try to elect Crowley’s Republican opponent, Tom Tiffany.

During his Beloit campaign stop, Crowley criticized the amount of money being spent in the election, saying it could be used to help fund public schools, ensure childcare is affordable and expand Badgercare.

“All that money we’re seeing being spent and dumped into these elections. We could be solving the very issues that we’re talking about,” Crowley said. 

Crowley told reporters that having Moore campaigning with him would “help get us over the finish line and bring more people into the fold.” There are three weeks left until Election Day. 

New Zion Baptist Church Pastor James M. Ivy told the Examiner that the church was happy to open its doors for Crowley and Moore, believing that Crowley will be “what’s best for our city” and “what’s best for our state.”

Ivy said Crowley has impressed him as a candidate because he is “very connected to our story” and “not backed up by billionaires,” noting his support for people who are struggling including policies to improve access to jobs and housing and address homelessness.

At the end of the rally, Ivy told the crowd that they need to do everything they can to help get Crowley elected. 

Moore told reporters that Crowley is “the right candidate for the right moment” and that’s why he wanted to travel to the Midwest to help. 

“I believe in David Crowley,” he told the crowd, “I respect people who are public servants who understand that public service is not for private gain. I respect people who understand that public service is about what are you going to do to be the legacy for those who will come after you… We have seen how David has risen to the occasion time after time. We have seen that he is willing to fight for families like yours and families like mine time after time. We have seen that he has never compromised his values, that he is willing to take on anybody, that he understands.”

Moore told attendees that he couldn’t “stress enough” the importance of who the governor is, especially given the current occupant of the White House. He said that “who you have in that statehouse matters” when there is an “overreaching and unchecked federal executive.” He noted that governors play a role in many significant decisions, including certifying elections and signing state budgets. 

Of Tiffany, Moore said that people have watched him “cosign on some of the most destructive policies” and vote for President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” which included deep cuts to healthcare as well as supporting Trump’s war in Iran. 

Quoting Maya Angelou, Moore said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” The crowd repeated the phrase. “Here’s what I know, and here’s what I believe, Wisconsin,” he added, “you cannot send Tom Tiffany to the governor’s mansion.” 

Moore told reporters that he has known Crowley for a few years and was introduced to him by outgoing Gov. Tony Evers during Evers’ first term. Evers became a mentor of Moore’s when he was first elected, he said. 

Moore said after Evers introduced him to Crowley, “We just struck up a quick and early friendship.”

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about, not just the race, but also about a transition — how do you think about governance,” Moore said. 

“This stuff happens fast,” Moore said, adding that he thinks Crowley is uniquely prepared given his experience as the Milwaukee County executive. “These are serious times. These are times when we are watching a federal administration that has systematically attacked the relationship between the federal government and the states. … David is walking into this with a very sober understanding of what awaits, but also with a very optimistic view as to what can get done in this moment.”

During his second term in office, Trump has been in conflict with Democratic governors, including last week with Moore. Trump traveled to Baltimore to announce a multibillion dollar submarine manufacturing investment and requested that Moore be removed from the event’s speaking list, even though Moore helped negotiate and secure the deal.

Moore said that in dealing with the Trump administration, he is focused on protecting his constituents. 

“I’m a soldier by nature, and I’m a soldier by training. That’s what I do. While I will work with anybody — and this is the advice that I would give to David as well — I will bow to nobody,” More said. “Whenever the president or anybody thinks that a prerequisite of our relationship is being subservient to them, they will learn from me, they got another think coming.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed $17.9 million in disaster aid is being made available for Wisconsinites in Forest, Outagamie, Vilas and Winnebago counties to assist with damage caused by a tornado and severe storms on July 27. 

President Donald Trump announced via a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that he would be approving the money after speaking with U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor. The aid is meant to help communities after a tornado and severe storms hit parts of Appleton and Menasha in July, destroying and damaging homes.

Gov. Tony Evers, who had issued a call for aid in August, said Wednesday that he had not heard from the federal administration, cast doubt on when the money would be available and accused Trump and Tiffany of playing politics. Evers initially sent a request for federal aid to Trump in August, after assessments found more than $8.2 million in damage to more than 2,300 residential properties and more than $13.8 million in public sector damage. The request had so far gone unfulfilled and in the absence of aid, local communities had turned to fundraising efforts.

Evers’ office did not respond immediately Thursday to a request for comment about whether they have yet heard directly from the federal government.

In a press release Wednesday evening, FEMA said that individuals who sustained losses in the four counties should first file claims with their insurance providers and then apply for assistance through FEMA online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 1-800-621-3362 or by using the FEMA App. 

The assistance will support grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and families recover from the effects of the disaster. 

State, tribal and eligible local governments as well as certain private nonprofit organizations will also be able to access public assistance federal funding “on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged in Vilas and Winnebago counties.” 

According to Troy Christensen, a FEMA public affairs specialist, the $17.9 million in assistance for Wisconsin reflected preliminary damage assessments in the affected communities. He said in an email to the Examiner that the amount is a “projected initial figure that may change as recovery costs are finalized.”

Christensen said that staff will help each applicant to “navigate their unique situation and specific needs.”

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Democratic candidate and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the race for Wisconsin governor in a video posted to social media Thursday.

Crowley faces Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November in what is anticipated to be a close race in one of the most purple states in the country. If Crowley wins, he’ll be the first Black governor of Wisconsin and only the fourth Black governor elected in U.S. history.

Obama, who was elected the first Black president in 2008, said in the video that he hasn’t known many leaders like Crowley. 

“David’s life story is about overcoming adversity, and his life’s work is about bringing people together,” Obama said. Crowley, a father of three daughters, grew up in Milwaukee, the son of an electrician and a service industry worker. Both of his parents struggled with addiction and mental health issues. While growing up on Milwaukee’s North Side, Crowley and his mother were in unstable housing conditions and faced eviction three times. 

Crowley’s childhood has shaped his career in politics. He started out working as a community organizer and aide to former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold before running and winning a state Assembly seat. In 2020, he ran for Milwaukee County executive, becoming the first Black person to hold the position.

“Like me, David started out as a community organizer, and he happens to be a girl dad, too,” Obama said, noting that Crowley’s daughters have gone to public school. 

Obama added that Crowley has helped create jobs and balanced budgets as county executive.  

“As governor, David will fight to make Wisconsin more affordable, so that you’re paying less at the pump, at the doctor’s office and less at the end of the month. There is nobody better to lead Wisconsin forward, so vote David Crowley for governor,” Obama said.

Obama carried Wisconsin twice, when he was elected president in 2008 and again in 2012 when he was reelected, by margins considered large for the swing state. 

Crowley said he was “deeply honored” to have Obama’s endorsement and that the former president is “someone who defines what leadership is — fighting for everything possible to make life better for everyday Americans.” 

“Thanks to President Obama, millions of Americans were able to get healthcare, millions found jobs, and now he’s passed the baton to a new generation of leaders like myself who want to make Wisconsin and our country the best place to call home,” Crowley said. “I know with President Obama’s support, we can win this election and move Wisconsin forward.” 

President Donald Trump endorsed  Tiffany early during the Republican primary, helping to clear the primary field for the 7th CD congressman. 

In his January endorsement, Trump praised Tiffany for having “always been at my side.” 

Tiffany said then that he was honored to earn Trump’s endorsement. “Just one year into his second term, wages are rising, gas prices are down, our economy is growing and our border is secure,” he  said at the time. 

Since then, gas prices have risen due to Trump’s war in Iran, with diesel prices hitting a record high, averaging $6.22 a gallon in Wisconsin, according to AAA.

Trump’s popularity has also fallen, with 60% of registered voters disapproving of him in the most recent Marquette Law School Poll.

Trump highlighted his endorsement of Tiffany on Wednesday in an announcement that he’d be giving the state nearly $18 million in disaster aid. He said that he had recently spoken to TIffany and reiterated his “Complete and Total Endorsement” for the Republican candidate.

Republican Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Democrat Fred Clark, a conservationist and former state lawmaker, faced off Wednesday night in the only scheduled debate in the race for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. 

The district, which represents the Northwoods, is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor. He was first elected in a 2020 special election after Duffy resigned the seat, saying he wanted to focus on his family. 

Duffy, who President Donald Trump appointed transportation secretary last year, has helped bankroll and provide support for his 26-year-old son-in-law’s campaign. 

Alfonso, who is married to Evita Duffy, has spent much of the campaign touting an endorsement from Trump and faced criticism about his lack of work experience. After he went to college, he worked for as a producer on Dan Bongino’s podcast in Florida for about a year. He said during the Republican primary that he has worked as an accountant for a church since moving back to Wisconsin.

Clark, a 67-year-old forester, is looking to flip the seat for the first time in 16 years, though it will be an uphill battle. Prior to Tiffany and Duffy, the seat was held from 1969 to 2011 by Democrat Dave Obey, the longest serving U.S. House member in Wisconsin history.

Wednesday’s debate covered an array of issues, including the cost of housing and gas, data centers, the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline and how northern Wisconsin can keep its residents from leaving. Throughout, Alfonso staked out positions that leaned towards cutting regulation and reducing government involvement, while Clark advocated for a balance of government investments and regulations.

One of the first topics was affordability as well as helping support residents in the 7th Congressional District. Alfonso brought up gas prices and argued that the U.S. needs to be more energy independent. 

“We cannot be relying on nations that hate us for stability in our oil prices,” Alfonso said. “Now, it’s very simple. We need to make sure that we are drilling here and that we’re producing energy here in a safe manner.”

Diesel prices have risen to record highs, in part due to the war in Iran launched by the Trump administration. Clark called for better foreign policy to help address the rising cost of fuel.  

“As Michael Alfonso pointed out, gas prices and diesel prices are through the roof high as a result of this administration’s war in Iran, which was started without a plan with no plan to get out, but the reality here is that oil prices are a global commodity, and what happens in the Middle East affects oil prices here at home, no matter how much we pump,” Clark said. “We’ve got to get smart about a trade policy and a foreign policy that reduces the risk and the chaos that we’ve been experiencing in the last 18 months.”

The war in Iran also came up later in the debate. 

Clark said that Congress needs to take seriously its job of deciding whether the country should go to war. 

Alfonso said that the U.S. needs to stop acting as the world’s “policeman” and needs to stop being involved in foreign conflict altogether — but then pivoted to defending Trump’s decisions in Iran. 

“We are not going to bring peace to the Middle East, but what we can do is stop them from having a nuclear weapon. Iran is a country that has hated us for decades. President Trump had the bravery to step in and make sure that these people do not have a nuclear bomb to use against us,” Alfonso said.  

One of Trump’s justifications for launching a war in Iran was to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. According to Reuters, there was no credible indication of Iran having a coordinated weapons program in the leadup to the beginning of the conflict, though Iran was enriching uranium.

Alfonso said that he supports Line 5, a 645-mile petroleum pipeline owned and operated by Enbridge that runs through Wisconsin. He criticized Clark for not being supportive of the pipeline.

“Line 5 is one of these things that brings costs down for every single family in Northern Wisconsin,” Alfonso said. “How can you not support it?” 

Clark said that he doesn’t want to shut down Line 5, but said there needs to be some federal guardrails on setting lines. In August, Line 5 had a leak that is the largest oil and gas pipeline spill reported in Wisconsin in more than 50 years.

“The risk of a spill in the Lake Superior watershed, in the river watershed and Lake Superior is extraordinarily high, and the environmental impact of that would affect this area for generations, but it also brings natural gas liquids here to Wisconsin and Michigan,” Clark said. “I’ve not called for it to be shut down, but we do need a law at the federal level to allow basically the opportunity to site these lines. Right now, nowhere in federal law is there any law or any agency that oversees line setting where these things are placed, and we need that just the same way that we needed for transmission lines and other public utilities. I want to see that change.” 

Both candidates also discussed bringing down the cost of housing, though their approaches were starkly different.

Alfonso said the government should cut regulations on home building. 

“The number one thing we can do is cut red tape, especially around housing,” Alfonso said. “I worked in construction, and I know that it costs almost $50,000 before you can even break ground on a new home. If you want to make housing more affordable and have young families move back to the district, that’s a great step to take.” 

Clark said there needs to be programs to help people looking to buy their first home as well as support from the government and private sector that can make manufacturing more affordable, including by using wood from Wisconsin. 

“We need to be smart about it,” Clark said. “It isn’t just eliminating all the rules and regulations.”

Alfonso worked in construction while in school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During the debate, Alfonso criticized “these ridiculous public universities that do nothing but indoctrinate our students” and called for taking away funding from them and putting it towards trade schools, saying that that would help keep young people from moving away. 

“We need to be pushing our young people towards trade schools that will actually teach them a useful skill in sending instead of sending them off to a crazy woke university that will do nothing but indoctrinate them and put them deeper into debt, so it’s even more difficult to buy your first home,” Alfonso said. “The best part about trade schools is the students that graduate from these trade schools stay in Wisconsin.” 

Clark said that he has heard from mayors and small town leaders from across northern Wisconsin that young people aren’t staying in their communities due to a lack of affordable housing, childcare and public investments, which “make people want to live in a place.” 

“Until we change that… our economies are not going to be able to thrive,” Clark said. “There is a smart role for government to do that. It doesn’t mean more regulation. It means the right investments in the right places. It means helping make housing more affordable. It means helping families afford childcare.” 

On the topic of education, Alfonso said he also supports eliminating the Department of Education, saying that he doesn’t think the agency should have any say over what is happening in local Wisconsin schools. 

Alfonso then pivoted the question to being about bathrooms. Alfonso has used the issue of bathrooms being used by transgender students as an issue throughout his campaign.

“So you know what the Department of Education is responsible for? Boys and girls bathrooms,” Alfonso said, mentioning the New Richmond school district, where the Department of Education had launched an investigation over its policies surrounding bathrooms. 

Alfonso asked if Clark supports the federal agency on that issue. 

“I don’t think the federal government needs to be deciding what bathrooms” students use, Clark said. “I trust teachers and school administrators and parents make that decision in their community schools.” 

The candidates also answered questions about data centers, which across the country have become major issues in political campaigns. 

Alfonso said that data centers should use “closed loop” water systems, that they should not raise energy costs and that local communities should have control over whether data centers are built. He said the federal government should not be stepping in to decide those matters.

“If you were to ask me, do I want a data center in Hayward, Wisconsin, where I live? Absolutely not, but I’ll tell you what the federal government does not have a role in stepping in,” Alfonso said.

In response, Clark asked Alfonso, “Are you willing to tell the president that he’s wrong to want to preempt states from having regulations around artificial intelligence and that he’s wrong to let Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos basically run the table wherever they want to when it comes to AI and data centers?”

A provision in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” Law in 2025 that passed the U.S. House, but was removed in the Senate would have prevented states from being able to regulate AI for 10 years and limited states’ ability to restrict or tax AI data centers. Trump has also signed executive orders aimed at discouraging states from regulating AI. 

“President Trump was actually very clear with this. He said, if you’re a local municipality and you don’t want one, you don’t need one. President Trump truly listens to the people, I mean, we look at issues like the data center issue. It’s very clear people in northern Wisconsin don’t want it, but I can’t say the same for Kansas. I’ve never been there if they want one. It’s not the federal government’s job to step in and say, no, it’s the state or local government,” Alfonso said. 

Trump recently said that communities that don’t want data centers will “end up being backwards and poor.” 

In his closing statement, Alfonso said that the election would be about “common sense versus crazy.” 

“I support getting the government out of the way of business so that we can lower costs for Wisconsin families. That’s my number one priority,” Alfonso said. “I want to work to make sure that everyone in Wisconsin can afford healthcare. I want to make sure that every small business owner is able to grow, and I also want to make sure that the young people that are born in northern Wisconsin have a northern Wisconsin that they can come back to.” 

Clark said in his closing statement that northern Wisconsin has “everything we need to lead good lives with prosperous businesses,” and that its  farms, forests, water and tourism are assets.

“For that to work for all of us, we need a government that works that sets fair rules of the game, and that allows us businesses to grow and make the right investments to help make that happen,” Clark said. “We’re not going to see people moving back to Northern Wisconsin if that doesn’t happen. We’re not going to see businesses thrive and survive. There’s a partnership there that has to work.”

President Donald Trump said that he would be providing nearly $18 million in relief to Wisconsin to help with damage from July tornadoes in the Fox Valley after speaking to Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor.

In July, a tornado hit parts of Appleton and Menasha, destroying and damaging homes. Gov. Tony Evers sent a request for federal aid to Trump in August, after assessments found more than $8.2 million in damage to 2,346 residential properties and more than $13.8 million in public sector damage. The request has so far gone unfulfilled and in the absence of aid, local communities have turned to fundraising efforts.

Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that he spoke to the Wisconsin Republican candidate this week, saying Tiffany has his “Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of the Great State of Wisconsin.” Trump first endorsed Tiffany in the Republican primary, a move that helped clear the field and secure the nomination for Tiffany. 

Tiffany faces Democratic candidate David Crowley in November, and the race is expected to be close.

“I told Tom that I will be approving 17.9 Million Dollars for the Severe Storms and Tornadoes that Wisconsin has experienced,” Trump wrote. “The people are tough and smart, and will come back stronger than ever — 18 Million Dollars should help, A LOT.” 

Tiffany said in a post on X that he has been in regular contact with the administration about the issue. This is not the first time during the campaign that Trump has approved millions in disaster aid for the state after speaking to Tiffany. 

“Securing federal aid for the severe storms that devastated communities across Wisconsin, particularly in the Fox Valley, has been a top priority of mine,” Tiffany said in a post on X. “I appreciate the administration responding to Wisconsin’s needs. Wisconsin is strong, our people are resilient, and I will work with anyone to make sure our communities have everything they need to recover and rebuild.”

The Evers administration says it has not received any new information about the aid request from the Trump administration and is accusing Tiffany and Trump of playing politics. Evers responded to Trump in a post on X, saying that Wisconsinites would “believe it when we see it.” 

“Clearly, President Trump and Congressman Tiffany are continuing to play politics with emergency aid that’s meant to help communities recover in the wake of disasters like tornadoes and floods,” Evers wrote. “That’s Complete and Total Bullshit.”

According to a Politico analysis from March of this year, the Trump administration had approved 89% of disaster relief requests from red states while approving just 23% of blue state requests for disaster aid. It’s the highest rate of denials in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The White House has rejected claims that politics are shaping decisions on disaster aid. 

Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a statement that the office received “zero additional information” from the administration. 

“You’ll need to reach out to President Trump and Congressman Tiffany since they’re clearly in cahoots meddling with Wisconsin’s disaster aid,” Cudaback said. 

State Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (D-Appleton) said in a statement that she appreciated Trump’s announcement but is waiting for confirmation. She signed on to a letter with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in early September urging the administration to provide aid.

“The tornado in July was devastating, and federal assistance is absolutely necessary to help the Fox Valley recover,” Dassler-Alfheim said. “We are still waiting for official confirmation from federal officials regarding the distribution of these funds to the state and what the timeline and other details of that process will be.”

Trump’s announcement comes less than a month out from the midterm elections. He has been on the campaign trail in recent weeks with Republican candidates in Texas, Alabama and other states. He hinted at visiting Wisconsin soon in his post.

“See you soon Wisconsin — I LOVE YOU ALL!” Trump wrote at the end of his post about the disaster aid.

Wisconsin’s race for governor is expected to be close with recent polling showing Crowley up slightly over Tiffany. The purple state’s elections typically come down to razor thin margins, including in the last Trump midterm elections in 2018 when Evers ousted former Gov. Scott Walker in a race determined by just under 30,000 votes. 

Whether Trump’s efforts will help Tiffany in November is unclear — the state voted for Trump in 2024 but his popularity has plummeted in recent months. Either way, the president has been a force throughout the Wisconsin campaign cycle.

Tiffany in recent weeks has made statements to distance himself from Trump, calling for the end of the war in Iran, even after he repeatedly cast votes in Congress against ending the conflict. He also  said recently that  Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, despite voting against certifying Biden’s win in key states in 2020. Asked whether he would certify the results of the 2028 election, he said he would.

The Crowley campaign released an ad on Tuesday highlighting Tiffany’s support for Trump, saying he “swore his loyalty to Donald Trump.” 

Crowley said in a statement about the aid that he is glad to see the president agreeing to provide relief. 

“I look forward to seeing this money actually delivered to our communities to help them rebuild,” said Crowley. “We should always put politics aside when it comes to making sure Wisconsin families, businesses, and communities get the support they need.”

Billionaire Diane Hendricks recently contributed millions to help Republicans in their efforts to defend their legislative majorities, which are in jeopardy for the first time in more than 16 years.

Hendricks and the billionaire couple Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein have flooded Wisconsin’s midterm elections with money this year. According to a recent WisPolitics analysis, the three billionaires have given more than $73 million to Republican committees and candidates in 2026. 

Individuals in the state of Wisconsin can only give $1,000 each to state Assembly candidates and $2,000 to individual candidates for state Senate. However, there is no limit on the amount donors can give to party committees, meaning an unlimited amount of money can be sent to and spent on behalf of candidates through the parties. 

Hendricks’ contributions are part of an effort to help Republicans maintain control of both houses of the state Legislature, which they have held since 2011. They currently hold a 54-seat majority in the 99-seat state Assembly and a 17-seat majority in the 33-seat state Senate. Democratic lawmakers are looking to hold all of their current seats and pick up five additional seats in the Assembly and at least two seats in the Senate. 

Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) told the Examiner in August that the billionaires have been strong supporters of Senate Republicans and “despite the criticism leveled against those individuals, what never gets a light shined onto it is the money that comes in from states like Illinois, New York, California, billionaires and multi-and mega-millionaires from the liberal elite who have flooded Democrat coffers for years.”

But the WisPolitics analysis found there was no comparable donor to the Democratic committees or campaigns in 2026 and no one donor has contributed as much over the past 17 years as each of the three GOP billionaires have donated in 2026 alone.

The Republican Assembly Campaign Committee reported raising $6.17 million from July 1 through Sept. 23. The majority of the funds — $5.5 million — were contributed by Hendricks.

The committee reported spending $9.5 million and having $11.16 million in the bank at the end of the fundraising period. It also provided $4.87 million in in-kind contributions to candidates across the state. 

The Assembly Democratic Campaign committee reported raising $6.01 million during the same time period and spending about $3 million. The committee reported having $5 million on hand at the end of the fundraising period. Top Democratic contributors were Wendy Munger, who contributed $1 million and Lynde Uihlein, a family member of the Republican donors, who provided $250,000.

In many races, Republican candidates are not receiving large cash donations to their campaigns, but are receiving in-kind contributions of mailing, TV and online advertising. 

In Assembly District 85, Rep. Pat Snyder (R-Weston) reported raising $31,870. His Democratic opponent, John Kroll, reported raising $84,294. However, Snyder outpaced Kroll in in-kind contributions receiving $642,899 from the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee and the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Kroll received $271,317 in in-kind contributions, which were contributed by the candidate, the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

In Assembly District 88, Rep. Benjamin Franklin reported raising $20,030. His Democratic opponent, Brandy Tollefson, reported raising $53,650. However, Franklin received $675,043 in in-kind contributions, while Tollefson received less than half of that amount — $307,172 — in in-kind contributions. Franklin spent $39,411 and Tollefson spent $93,277.

The Committee to Elect a Republican Senate reported raising $2.28 million. Hendricks contributed $1.75 million of that. The committee reported spending $2.6 million and having $4.96 million on-hand at the end of the period.

The State Senate Democratic Committee reported raising $1.24 million and spending $2.03 million. It had $1.3 million in the bank at the end of the report. The top donations were $500,000 from Sarah O’Neill of New York and $225,000 from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. 

In the four most closely watched state Senate races, the contributions of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate are playing a large role in the GOP campaigns, including through cash donations and in-kind contributions. 

In Senate District 21, Republican candidate Jim Croft reported raising $1.1 million, but only raised $15,000 from individual donors; the majority of the $1.1 million was contributed by the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate. He spent a little more than $1 million.

Democratic candidate Trevor Jung reported raising $816,707 and spending $1.05 million. About $725,000 of his total came from the State Senate Democratic Committee.

In Senate District 5, Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) raised $79,321, more than Republican candidate Mike Roberts, who raised $34,092. Roberts received more in-kind contributions than Vining, however, totaling more than $145,000 from the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate. 

Will Karcz, spokesperson for the State Senate Democratic Committee, said in a statement that “Wisconsin voters have shown us that their votes cannot be bought by the billionaire donors Republicans rely on to prop up their failing candidates.”

According to a July analysis of past races by Marquette Law School fellow John Johnson, money does matter in these races, but “it’s clear that money doesn’t ‘buy elections’ in any crude way. Candidates routinely win after being outspent by their opponent — a fact not limited to the Wisconsin legislature.” 

Johnson wrote, “the hypothesis is that in districts where the Democrat accounts for more of the spending, that Democrat will do better relative to the performance of the Democratic candidate for governor or president in that district.”

More important than the relative amount of money each candidate has, according to Johnson, is the name at the top of the ticket in any given election.

Democratic candidate David Crowley committed to advocate for a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide whether access to abortion and reproductive healthcare is a right protected by the state constitution. 

At an event in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Crowley said that it is good that the state Supreme Court ruled that an 1849 law that was interpreted as a nearly absolute ban on abortion is unenforceable. But, he said, “other restrictions remain, and future legislatures can change that law.” He appeared at the event with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and his running mate, lieutenant governor candidate Sarah Godlewski. 

For a proposed constitutional amendment to go before voters, the Wisconsin Legislature has to pass the proposal in two consecutive sessions. The governor does not have a role in signing off on the proposals. 

“Right now, women’s rights are only safe as the next election, and I don’t think Wisconsin’s women should have to hold their breath every four years,” Crowley said. “This amendment will establish a fundamental right to make and carry out decisions about reproductive health, including contraception, fertility treatment, pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion. It will keep medical judgments about viability and necessary care with treating healthcare professionals, and it will prevent the state from penalizing anyone who is seeking healthcare or helping another person seek the care that they need.”

During the Milwaukee event, Crowley criticized Republican candidate Tom Tiffany as being “an anti-abortion extremist who backed their plan to ban abortion nationwide at zero weeks with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of a mother.”

Tiffany previously supported legislation to restrict abortion access during his time in the state Legislature and in Congress. He voted in 2015, when he was a state senator, for the state’s ban on abortion after 20 weeks. In Congress, he has cosponsored legislation that would have made it a crime for doctors to perform abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Tiffany said during a campaign event on Tuesday that he would uphold the state’s current 20-week ban. 

“David Crowley wants unlimited abortion all the way up to nine months, and I just don’t think that’s where most Wisconsinites are,” Tiffany said.

A recent lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin seeks to repeal several laws in Wisconsin that restrict abortion, arguing that they are unconstitutional because of a constitutional right to abortion. There is no language in the state constitution that directly addresses abortion, but the lawsuit argues the passage that guarantees that “all people are born equally free and independent and possess inherent rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” covers a right to abortion.

Wisconsin’s race for governor is tight with Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley up in the most recent Marquette poll over Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany, but down in fundraising.

“Why on Earth would anyone contribute that amount of money?” Crowley said, addressing supporters at an event on the north side of Madison Wednesday evening, the deadline for campaign finance filings. “Because they know that Congressman Tom Tiffany is willing to sell the state of Wisconsin, our precious state, to the highest bidder.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany’s September campaign finance report showed that he raised over $26 million between July 1 and Sept. 23, bringing his fundraising total for the year to over $39 million.

Of the money raised since July, over $24 million — or 93% — came from the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The party, which under state law is allowed to transfer an unlimited amount of money to candidates, reported raising $29 million during the period. Billionaire donors Diane Hendricks and Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein contributed $27.6 million of that amount.

State Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), a former opponent of Crowley, joined the event with Madison’s Northside Action volunteers to tell supporters that Crowley “needs your money.” 

One attendee brought up a recent ad from Texas Senate candidate James Talarico in which Talarico calls his Republican opponent Ken Paxton to propose a debate. Like Paxton, Tiffany has declined a few debate offers — although unlike Paxton, Tiffany has agreed to one debate, to be hosted by WISN-12 on Oct. 21.

“Talarico’s got a lot more money than me,” Crowley said in response. 

While talking to another supporter, Crowley threw up  his hands and shrugged his shoulders, declaring  Tiffany “doesn’t have to fundraise because billionaires.”

Tiffany also reported spending nearly $19 million, leaving him with $12 million on hand. 

Dane County Executive Melissa Agard told the Examiner that she doesn’t think Tiffany’s fundraising dominance will carry him to victory, noting that Elon Musk’s attempts to “buy” a state Supreme Court seat in 2024 did not work. 

“We’ve seen in Wisconsin billionaires try to come in and buy election results, and folks in Wisconsin have woken up to that. It’s not going to work. We take care of each other,” Agard said.

Crowley told the Examiner that he is trying to focus on growing “people power” instead of focusing on “money power.”

“We didn’t get anywhere near $26 million dollars,” Crowley said of his fundraising.

Crowley’s campaign reported raising $10.2 million during the period. He spent $7.8 million and ended with $2.8 cash-on-hand. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin contributed $2.7 million of that total. The state party received two $1 million donations during the fundraising period, one from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and one from Lynde Uihlein.

He added that Tiffany’s $24 million “coming directly from three billionaires means that the rest of this state and those that he reached out to only donated $2 million, which lets me know that folks don’t believe in his leadership,” Crowley said. “They don’t believe that he’s going to do right by this state, and so we’re going to focus on people power, because that’s what trumps money power any day.”

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showed Crowley leading Tiffany among likely voters 49% to 46%, with 5% of voters undecided. 

“There’s been very little movement. These are, I think, obviously, inside the margin of error,” poll director Charles Franklin said. He noted that Crowley’s lead was slightly smaller than it was a month ago, especially among people who said they were likely to vote. Crowley’s support has dropped among independents, more of whom have developed a negative impression of him as the campaign, and a negative advertising blitz, have continued. But, Franklin noted, independents have also not moved to Tiffany. “It’s not yet boosting Tiffany a lot.” 

Among registered voters Crowley led Tiffany by only one point — 46% to 45%.

The number of voters who said they thought favorably of Crowley dropped dramatically, with 13% more respondents seeing him unfavorably than favorably, compared to 4% more favorable than unfavorable in the previous poll. Franklin said much of the change came from Republican voters.

“People have gotten to know him some over this last month, though a quarter say they still haven’t heard enough, but of those people who’ve learned something about him, many more have formed an unfavorable opinion in this month than a favorable opinion,” Franklin said, adding that Tiffany’s favorability fell from -4 to -6. “He’s become just slightly more unfavorable, but very little change relative for him. A lot of change for David Crowley.”

Scot Ross, a longtime Democratic strategist, said he would rather be Crowley than Tiffany in the race, given the friendlier atmosphere for Democrats in the midterms, but he warned that the Marquette poll is a sign that the Republican candidate’s messaging is landing. 

Ross said Tiffany and Republicans have been “lambasting” Crowley with ads that are “98%” negative, while Crowley and Democrats aren’t effectively showcasing Tiffany’s support for President Donald Trump. 

“Tom Tiffany is 100% tied to the most unpopular elected official in American history, and I don’t think Democrats and their allies want to let this get away from them by not properly prosecuting the case against Donald Trump and Tom Tiffany,” Ross said. “And I do think that there has been a lack of advertising on the larger Democratic side attacking and tying Trump and Tiffany together.”

Trump’s approval among Wisconsinites fell to its lowest level in the poll at 38% and 60% said they didn’t approve of the job he was doing. Tiffany was viewed unfavorably by 45% of people. 

Ross said the expected Democratic wave that is being shown in polling doesn’t “exist because of the good things necessarily that the Democrats are doing.”

“It is because, in every possible way, the corruption, the incompetence, the self-dealing of the Republicans under Donald Trump has turned off the American people,” Ross said, adding that Crowley needs to be on television and doing more media that ties Tiffany to the president.

California fundraising

Crowley recently returned from a trip to California for a fundraiser with former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in Wisconsin in 2024, and actor Sean Penn. People who attended the event gave contributions of between $500 and $20,000. Crowley’s fundraising in California follows a trend as Democrats travel to the West Coast to seek money, illustrated by a recent analysis by the L.A. Times of congressional campaigns.  

After the trip, Crowley told reporters that he would be open to campaigning with Harris and “anyone who is willing to focus on lowering costs for working families.” 

Asked about the shift in his favorability in the recent Marquette poll, Crowley said, “Well, when you have $15 million being spent on you.” 

“The Republican playbook is to lie, distract, and to defy, and we’re going to bring more people to the table, and that’s what this campaign is focused on,” Crowley said. “Making sure that we can lower costs for our working families, that we can provide and expand childcare and healthcare.” 

Crowley also said his campaign has been working to tie Tiffany to Trump, but that he is more focused on issues closer to home.

“I think that when people see the wave that happens across this entire country, it only has a ripple effect here in the state of Wisconsin, national politics has not really moved voters here in the state of Wisconsin,” Crowley said. “What’s going to move folks in this state is focusing on Wisconsin values.”

But for one Wisconsin resident at the Crowley event, national issues are part of why he is leaning toward Crowley. 

Soham Bhatnagar, a 22-year-old who lives in Verona, said he learned about the Madison event online and decided to hurry over when he got off work early. He identifies as an independent and said he appreciates hearing from political candidates “no matter their persuasion.” 

“At the beginning of the race, it was honestly a true toss-up for me,” Bhatnagar said. 

“As the war has drawn on and the prices have gone on … when you have the congressman who’s not seeming to in a meaningful way break with anything, I believe that in itself injects a national element into this.” 

Erica Bartsch, a mother from the northeast part of the state who posts on social media, supported state Rep. Francesca Hong in the primary, then turned her attention to trying to get people to vote for Crowley. Her advocacy turned to pleading in some of her recent videos as she asked where Crowley has been and urged him to get in front of voters more often.

“We need him to be accessible to the people. How can the people see where he’s at if it’s not even on his website?” Barsch said in one video, noting that she and many Wisconsinites would not be able to pay $20,000 to attend an event like his recent fundraiser in California. 

Hong, who narrowly lost to Crowley in the primary, has been travelling the state to persuade people who voted for her to support Crowley in the general election.

Crowley’s campaign website does not currently include a “Meet David” page, which previously included a list of events where people could meet the candidate. His campaign says the website is being updated. 

His website does include a link to volunteer opportunities, including knocking doors and phone banking, but not a list of events where people can meet Crowley.

Crowley is also traveling across the state, including attending Oktoberfest Parade in La Crosse, the Jackson County Fall Rally in Black River Falls and a community pig roast in Kenosha. Some of  his appearances are not  advertised ahead of time on his website or through social media. The Madison event was advertised not on Crowley’s website, but on the Northside Action Team’s Facebook page. Crowley also has scheduled appearances this week at the Public Market in Milwaukee and in Mauston.

The campaign and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin report attempting to contact more than 500,000 voters since the end of the primary. Crowley’s field campaign is coordinated with the state party.

Bartsch said Hong’s campaign helped bring out people who aren’t always engaged in politics and Crowley could do more to reach those voters and bring Democrats together.

“David Crowley has the plans and policies that can make people’s lives better,” Barsch said. “He just needs to get out and connect with the people on the ground to show that — to show how much he cares about Wisconsinites,” Bartsch said.

The poll found that Crowley is the choice of 98% of Democrats who favor socialist candidates, while 92% of those who do not favor socialists also support him. It also found that 44% of independents favor Crowley, while 18% support Tiffany. Another 38% of independents are undecided. While Crowley is ahead of Tiffany with independents, his support among independents recently fell by 11 points.

Agard said time is running out before the election. 

“Everyone wants to have more face time with the candidate,” Agard said. “At this point, the countdown is on. We’re literally talking days now until our election and some people have already cast their vote, but there are only so many hours in a day. I look forward to more opportunities like this, where David is coming into town and is able to mix and mingle with ordinary people, but also, I encourage people to be curious and do their homework.”

Republicans’ control of the Wisconsin Assembly is up in the air this November, and GOP candidates in competitive districts are taking steps to convince voters to allow them to extend their 16-year streak of leadership, including by distancing themselves from Republican leaders in Washington, D.C. and in Wisconsin.

Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Elections Research Center, told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email that the 2026 election environment is “more advantageous to Democrats than the 2024 environment was.”

Part of that environment can be seen in the approval ratings of President Donald Trump. A Marquette Law School poll released in September found that Trump’s approval has declined to 37% — down from 40% approval in July; 63% of respondents said they disapproved of the job Trump is doing. 

A recent Marquette poll found that 46% of Wisconsin voters said they would vote for Democrats in legislative races, while 42% said they’d vote for Republicans. The survey did not deliver detailed information on specific districts. 

“The party is all but certain to make additional gains,” Burden said of Wisconsin Democrats. “The question is whether the wave will be sufficient to put them over the top.”

Republicans hold a 54-seat majority in the 99-seat state Assembly. Democratic lawmakers need to hold all of their current seats in the Assembly and pick up five additional seats to flip the body, a steeper task than in the Senate where Democrats are looking to pick up at least two seats to take control.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Rep. August Tyler (R-Walworth), who is heading up the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, did not respond to requests for an interview from the Examiner. In an interview with the New York Times, Vos described Trump as a “drag” on the party and said Republicans have worked to recruit center-right candidates to run in competitive districts.

“There’s nobody in Wisconsin that I think is yearning for a hard turn left or right,” Vos told the New York Times.

Assembly GOP candidates are sending out mailers that claim that politicians in Washington — where Republicans currently control every branch of government — are “driving up costs and increasing inflation.”

Instead of embracing their party’s leadership in Wisconsin, Republican candidates are also highlighting the moments where they have disagreed with their leadership to position themselves as independent voices.

A law that expanded Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers and another measure that expanded breast cancer screenings are major reference points for Republican Assembly candidates. The bills had been held up by Vos until at the end of the legislative session. In a late-night press conference a group of Republican Assembly lawmakers — each from the most purple districts in the state and most of whom are now running for reelection — said they had convinced Vos and other caucus members to let the bills through. They also blamed Democrats for the bills almost failing.

A mailer for Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston) includes a photo of him standing at the podium in the state Capitol talking to reporters during the press conference. Snyder faces a challenge from John Kroll, a Democratic Marathon County Board supervisor. 

The image is accompanied by text that says Snyder’s work “wasn’t about the spotlight” and he will “always challenge the political leadership of either party if it’s the right thing to do for Marathon County’s families.” The same mailer pitches Snyder as an “old-school public servant” who has had “no problems bucking his own party to extend postpartum care for new mothers.”

In a Facebook post Friday, Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield) said he would “stand up to anyone to get stuff done for my local community” including Republican leadership, adding that  he “did it when I fought for postpartum Medicaid expansion & Gail’s law, and I’ll do it again.” Donovan faces a challenge from Democrat Ben Brist, an army veteran. Donovan won his 2024 election in with 51.6% of the vote compared with 48.4% for his challenger

During a recent WisPolitics event, Joe Handrick, a former Republican Assembly member, said that Democrats can only flip the Legislature if Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley has a “really, really big” win against Republican Tom Tiffany. His prediction was that it would have to be a win of more than 4 or 5 points.

“If Tom Tiffany ties in the state of Wisconsin or loses by a couple of votes, the Republicans will maintain the Assembly,” Handrick said. “These Assembly Republicans outperform the top of the ticket.”

Handrick said swing voters’ interaction with Republican incumbents can help swing them their way.

“They can vote for one person for governor or president and then they’ve been voting for Assembly Republicans. The incumbents — every day when you’re an incumbent you’re helping somebody. You’re helping them with a problem with the DNR or with the driveway or helping them get their Medicaid issue resolved,” Handrick said. “Those Assembly Republicans have always done better than the top of the ticket and there’s no reason to think they won’t this year.” 

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) told the Examiner in an interview that Republican candidates’ strategy to try to distance themselves from the rest of their party won’t work. She said that Democrats’ path to the majority is helped by Trump’s unpopularity. 

“Trump is deeply unpopular across our battleground districts, and that’s more than the five that we need to flip in order to gain a majority,” Neubauer said. “We have a real opportunity here to put forward a new vision. We know that it is not easy to beat long-term incumbents, but we feel that we have the winning formula this year.”

Neubauer said Wisconsinites are “smart enough to see through these half-hearted attempts by Republicans to distance themselves from their own party.” She noted that Snyder, who has been in office for nearly a decade, has often voted in line with his party.

“He, of course, has not actually fought back against the Trump administration and Republicans in Washington who are doing nothing to address the cost increases that voters are experiencing,” she said. “Pat Snyder is an establishment Republican, and I think his voters understand that, and this strategy will not work.”

“Republicans understand that people are unhappy with their party, and they are not excited about showing up to vote Republican this fall,” Neubauer said. “Pat Snyder can try to tell his voters that he’s not a Republican, but at the end of the day, there’s going to be an R next to his name, and he went right along with his party in giving a tax break to data centers, in refusing to adequately fund our schools and thereby increase their property taxes,” Neubauer said. “Pat Snyder and his colleagues across the Republican battlegrounds have been with Robin Vos every step of the way, and I do think that their strategy is not going to work.”  

 

The Republican Assembly Campaign Committee has raised $10.6 million this year to fuel the party’s efforts to keep control. The majority of the funds were donated by Diane Hendricks and Elizabeth Uihlein, billionaires who have contributed millions to help get Republicans elected up and down the ballot in Wisconsin. Hendricks and the Uihleins have also donated millions to the Republican Party of Wisconsin, which has, in turn, channeled millions to Republican gubernatorial candidate Tiffany. 

The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee has reported raising more than $3.3 million this year.

Neubauer said Assembly Democrats’ formula for winning is a combination of candidates who understand the challenges of their local communities having direct conversations with voters and a “robust” paid media program.

Neubauer said that Democrats just have a “different” fundraising model. She said she expects there to be spending similar to the last election cycle when $1 million or more was spent in the most competitive seats and that money for Democrats tends to come later in the cycle. 

“Assembly Republicans have raised a lot of money from three billionaires whose financial interests are directly tied to whether Republicans control the state Assembly,” Neubauer said, adding that the ADCC has more than 2,500 donors from across every county in the state. “Our candidates and our members are on the phone every single day, calling donors to bring in the dollars that we need to get our message out. And often those dollars come in in more like $50 or $100 checks than several-million-dollar checks, so we are going to continue to work hard to make sure that we have the resources that we need to compete… I am confident that we will be able to bring in the resources that we need to communicate this year.”

Burden noted that individual Democratic candidates have in some cases outraised their opponents. He named Assembly District 88 where Brandy Tollefson, the Democratic candidate and a De Pere school board member, reported raising more than $80,000 over the year compared with her opponent,  incumbent Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere), who reported raising more than $27,000.

“Although the Republican Party has been outraising the Democrats, individual Democratic candidates have been doing well raising funds,” Burden said. “This pattern has also been happening nationally in that federal Republican Party committees have been raising more but Democratic candidates have mostly been outraising their Republican opponents within districts and states. Big donations from a few wealthy individuals are keeping Republicans more competitive this year in Wisconsin, but the money alone will not guarantee them victory.”

Here are the most competitive Assembly races to watch in the Nov. 3 election:

• Assembly District 21: The district is open following the retirement of Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, a longtime Republican incumbent. She won her 2024 term with 51.4% of the vote to 48.6% for her challenger. Democrat Daniel Bukiewicz, the mayor of Oak Creek, is facing Dylan Pfaffenbach, a Republican student at Carroll University, in November. 
• Assembly District 26: Rep. Joe Sheehan (D-Sheboygan) faces a challenge from John Belanger, a Republican and former Sheboygan alderman. Sheehan won his 2024 election with 51.5% of the vote compared to 48.5% for his opponent, who was the Republican incumbent at the time.
• Assembly District 30: Incumbent Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls), who was first elected in 2016, faces a challenge from Kevin Knoke, a Democratic veteran and educator from Hudson. Zimmerman won his 2024 election with 54.3% of the vote compared to 45.7% for his Democratic rival.
• Assembly District 51: Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) faces a challenge from Democrat Ben Gruber, a conservation warden in Wisconsin who is member of AFSCME Local 1215. Novak won his 2024 reelection bid with 51.7% of the vote compared to 48.3% for his Democratic challenger. 
• Assembly District 53:  Republican David Daniels and Democrat Becky Nichols, a former Menasha city council member, are running for an open seat. It’s open due to the retirement of incumbent Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah).
• Assembly District 61: Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield), who was first elected in 2022, faces a challenge from Democrat Ben Brist, an army veteran. Donovan won his 2024 election in with 51.6% of the vote compared with 48.4% for his challenger.
• Assembly District 85: Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston) faces a challenge from Democrat John Kroll, a Marathon county board supervisor. Snyder won his 2024 reelection bid against his Democratic challenger with 53.2% of the vote compared with  46.7% for his challenger.
• Assembly District 88: Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere) faces a challenge from Democrat Brandy Tollefson, a De Pere school board member. Franklin won his first term with 50.3% of the vote compared with 49.7% for the Democratic candidate.
• Assembly District 89: Rep. Ryan Spaude (D-Ashwaubenon) faces a challenge from Bobby Lindsey, a retired law enforcement professional and a Marine Corps veteran. Spaude won his first term in 2024 with 51.4% of the vote compared with 48.6% for his opponent. 
• Assembly District 92: Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) faces a challenge from Democrat Jeremiah Fredrickson, a fish farmer from Elk Mound. 
• Assembly District 91: Democratic Rep. Jodi Emerson, who was first elected in 2018, faces a challenge from Republican Bruce Stabenow, an Osseo resident and small business owner. Emerson won her 2024 election with 51.6% of the vote compared with  48.4% for her Republican challenger. 
• Assembly District 94: Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle faces a challenge from Keith Purnell, a Republican Army veteran. Doyle was first elected to the Assembly during a May 2011 special election and has been reelected since. He won reelection in 2024 by just 223 votes against the Republican candidate. The seat will be one of Democrats’ top seats to protect and the party has  already invested over $1 million in.

Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly called for the state to overhaul the school funding formula in her sixth State of Education address Thursday, saying that the state “simply cannot afford to wait any longer.” 

Underly delivered the address less than six weeks before the November election, when Wisconsin voters will decide who she will be working with in the governor’s office and in the state Legislature on the next state budget. She will need their support to get the funding for the budget proposals she has begun to formulate.

The Department of Public Instruction so far has only submitted the first part of its budget request, which covered funding for libraries, support for children who are deaf and blind, public libraries, cybersecurity, technology modernization and the investigation of alleged educator misconduct. The agency said last week that it would release the second part of its request, for “categorical aid programs and other critical supports” for Wisconsin’s public schools, in November. The election is scheduled for Nov. 3. 

“The formula used for funding our schools, for years, has failed our children, schools and entire communities,” Underly said during her address. “The reasons are varied and complex, but you don’t need to be familiar with every detail of the funding formula to know that it’s simply not working. The evidence is all around us.” 

More than 75 school referendum requests carrying a total cost of $1.5 billion will go before voters in November. It’s just the latest round in a now-familiar ritual as school districts across the state  seek approval to raise property taxes to make up for a shrinking pool of  state aid. School districts that can’t pass a referendum have had to cut costs including by eliminating programs, staff and in some cases closing or consolidating schools. Districts on a streak of failed referendum requests have faced dissolution. 

Underly noted that the classrooms of the Hustisford School District “sat empty” on the first day of school this year. The district started the dissolution process after its referendum failed in April.

“Every kid felt the impact,” Underly said. “Kindergarteners, who should have been walking through the doors of the school their family chose when they made this beautiful community home, instead traveled to a neighboring town. Meanwhile, seniors who spent the past 12 years as Hustisford Falcons started their last year of school in an unfamiliar building,” Underly continued. “This is what happens when we turn our back on our schools. And when schools close, the impact doesn’t stop with students. It ripples through entire communities.”

Underly said the state funding formula “places value on the wrong things,” including enrollment, district spending and property value, instead of on student needs. 

“It fails to ask the most essential question: How much does it actually cost to educate the students who live in a district so that they have an equal opportunity to succeed? A student’s opportunity for success should not depend on their zip code,” she said. 

School funding will depend on who’s in office. Republican candidate Tom Tiffany and Democratic candidate David Crowley are running to be governor and control of the state Senate and Assembly are up for grabs. 

Some lawmakers have argued that rather than increase funding for schools the state needs to explore more school consolidation given declining enrollment. Asked about when school closure is the appropriate answer to declining enrollment, Underly told reporters she thinks “it deserves some study and conversation to figure out what’s best for kids.”

Underly pointed to the 2019 bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission while speaking to reporters. The commission, which was created by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and then-Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald in 2017, developed a report offering ideas to address school funding issues, as a guiding document for what the state should be doing. She said that the reports showed that there are kids who need additional support including those in poverty and who have special needs. She said money also needs to be invested in career and technical education, mental health supports and speech and language pathology.

“All these things have been in my past budget requests, and that’s what we will be able to expect in the next one, too,” Underly said. The agency’s 2024 state budget request totaled over  $4 billion. 

Urgent, but possibly not very fast

While Underly delivered her message with urgency, the timeline for changes could look vastly different depending on who wins in November.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton), who could become the Senate Majority leader depending on the results of the November elections, has said Democrats will increase school funding in the next state budget, but changing the state’s school funding formula could be a “multi-year” process. 

“We’re also looking at a long-term goal of seeing what other states are doing and how they are funding their public schools, but that’s going to take probably a multi-year task to try to figure that all out and talking to our friends in Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois,” Hesselbein said. 

Crowley has been supportive of increasing school funding, including moving the state toward reimbursing districts for 90% of the cost of special education, instead of the current rate of 38% , but he has also suggested throughout his campaign for governor that there may need to be another Blue Ribbon Commission to study tax issues including school and local government funding. The last Blue Ribbon Commission on school funding took two years to complete. 

Tiffany has said he wants some increases to school funding, but also promises to freeze property taxes if elected. He hasn’t provided clarity on how much he would invest or how he would balance the two issues. Tiffany has focused on issues of accountability and ensuring “high standards” as opposed to school funding when discussing education issues.

Underly has had a strained relationship with Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee, who have declined to invite her to testify in front of the committee, and it’s unclear whether a working relationship between her and Tiffany would be an improvement. Tiffany recently described the state superintendent’s position as a constitutional office as a “problem” at a Moms For Liberty Town Hall in Richfield. He said he would use the state budget, which determines the state’s spending for a two-year period, to try to steer the superintendent  to make the decisions he wants her to make.

Underly said responding to the comments that independence is positive.  

“When you think about my office, my office is nonpartisan. It’s independent. It is not at the whim of any governor and I think that actually strengthens public education,” Underly said. “I think his comments stand on their own.”

In her speech, Underly called for people to look at the candidates’ records on school issues, not their talking points, when making their decisions at the ballot box this November. 

“We have people running for office who have spent a decade or more in government, in positions to make school funding decisions — or who have left state government for another level and now want to return — whose records include repeatedly voting against investments in Wisconsin’s children,” Underly said, apparently referring to Tiffany, who as a state lawmaker served on the budget committee before he was elected to Congress. “Past actions are the best evidence we have of what someone will do when given power again. Wisconsin does not need more people who tell us they support children while their votes tell a different story. We need people in positions of decision-making power who are pro-public school, pro-child and pro-Wisconsin.” 

Leonard Boltz, the 73-year-old who has flown Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany to events across the state, has long had ties with some of the state’s most prominent election deniers and said recently that if Tiffany loses in November it will be because of “cheating” by Democrats.

Boltz, the chair of the Langlade County Republican Party and a retired major in the U.S. Air Force, has been a regular contributor to Republican candidates and causes, state and federal campaign finance records show, but has provided personal air travel only for Tiffany’s gubernatorial campaign.

Earlier this month, Boltz was flying Tiffany from La Crosse to Wausau when a mechanical failure forced a crash landing into Lake Wausau. Both men swam to a shallow area where they were rescued and treated for minor injuries. Boltz was lauded as a hero.

Wisconsin state campaign finance records show that Boltz flew Tiffany around the state 12 times between January and June. The total value of these in-kind contributions was claimed on campaign finance filings as $2,354.

Beyond the instances in which the Tiffany campaign reported flying with Boltz, the two men appear to have both attended the same conservative events over the past year.

Flight tracking data shows that Boltz’s Beech K35 aircraft was flown to the same area as a Tiffany campaign event on at least three other occasions in July.

On July 11, Tiffany was in Door County picking cherries the same day that Boltz’s plane flew from the Door County airport in Sturgeon Bay to Antigo. On July 25, flight records show the plane flew from Rhinelander to Waukesha the same day that Tiffany appeared at an event in Pewaukee. Two days later, on July 27, the plane flew from Rhinelander to Milwaukee on the same day Tiffany held events across the Milwaukee area.

The plane was also in Green Bay the same day that Tiffany attended a Charlie Kirk memorial event there on Oct. 14 last year and landed in Baraboo the same weekend in May that Tiffany was crowned the Republican nominee for governor at the party’s convention in Wisconsin Dells.

The flight data and campaign finance records, along with public statements Boltz has made, suggest an ongoing relationship between Tiffany and an outspoken member of the election conspiracy wing of the state Republican Party even as Tiffany works to distance himself from his previous support of the ideas Boltz espouses and their originator, President Donald Trump.

Tiffany voted against certifying the 2020 election results and in May of this year, would not say whether Biden won. This month, Tiffany told Wisconsin Watch that Biden won the 2020 election, but that he would cooperate with Trump’s ongoing federal investigations into the election. 

The Examiner approached Tiffany for comment for this story at a campaign event in Waukesha County Wednesday evening. Tiffany ducked into his car while two of Tiffany’s staff members, including Alex Walker, the son of former Gov. Scott Walker, physically blocked a reporter as he asked a question.

As of publication, the campaign had not responded to a list of questions sent by email.

The Examiner reached Boltz by email and phone Thursday morning. He said on the phone he had “no comment” and hung up before he could be asked any questions.

Boltz’s support for election conspiracy theories

An Examiner review of videos of Boltz posted to the right-wing video platform Rumble show the extent of Boltz’s support for election conspiracy theories — including his support for GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde’s claim that, despite Trump’s 2024 victory in Wisconsin, Democrats somehow cheated Hovde out of a win over Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on the same ballot.

At a Republican Party of Langlade County meeting in late June, video shows Boltz saying people had been asking him how Tiffany’s campaign was going. He said the November election would come down to whether or not the SAVE Act is passed to stop “cheating.” The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act introduces a slew of proposed restrictions on voting across the country in the name of stopping noncitizens from voting. Tiffany has been supportive of the measure in Congress, which Trump strongly supports.

“What I tell people is, well, if Trump can get through some of these election integrity issues before November, I think it’s a piece of cake,” Boltz said.

“I don’t think there’s any question that Tom will win if we can stop some of the cheating. Again, we’re not going to stop it all, but if we can stop some of the cheating, I think, certainly, Tom is going to win… Cheating is all they’ve got. They’ve got to cling, they’ve gotta hang onto cheating, and they gotta get cheating. It’s the only possible way.”

At that same meeting, Boltz said he’d recently spoken with Tiffany about the party’s chances of winning this fall.

Harry Wait, a prominent Racine County election conspiracy theorist, also spoke at the county party meeting in June. Wait was convicted in May of breaking state law by impersonating voters to request absentee ballots, with the intention of trying to expose flaws in the election system. He filed the requests using the names of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason without their permission.

Wait, campaign finance records show, has made several donations of $1,000 to Boltz’s Langlade County Republican Party.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Boltz helped Terry Brand, the former chair of the Langlade County GOP and former mayor of Antigo, resurrect the county party, serving as vice chair and then chair.  He became involved in the state’s election conspiracy movement shortly after the 2020 election.

Video posted to Rumble shows Boltz appeared at a rally in 2021 outside of the Wisconsin State Capitol to call for a “cyber forensic audit” of the 2020 election. He spoke there about going to Maricopa County, Arizona, the Phoenix-area county that helped swing the state for President Joe Biden and became a target of Trump’s false claims the election was stolen from him. At the time, an IT firm with no election experience was running a widely derided audit of the election. 

Boltz said he went to Arizona with former Rep. Janel Brandtjen of Menomonee Falls. Brandtjen, who used her position as chair of the Assembly elections committee to spread conspiracy theories and attempt to oust Meagan Wolfe from her position as the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, was kicked out of Republican caucus meetings and then lost her seat in the Assembly in a 2024 primary election. 

“I was very fortunate to be able to get out to Maricopa County,” Boltz said at the rally outside the Capitol. “My chairman, Terry Brand, and I decided that it was high time Wisconsin get out to Maricopa County…  I was able to join the delegation. Now, that worked out awfully well, because a lot of the delegation sort of got muzzled… Robin Vos muzzled most of the people that went out there.”

Boltz went on to say the state needed to have a cyber forensic audit because “there’s so much fraud in Wisconsin.” Brandtjen and former state Rep. Timothy Ramthun made similar calls at the time.

“There’s maybe more fraud in Wisconsin than there was in Maricopa County, and they had plenty,” Boltz said. “Our legislators, for the most part, with the exception of Janel [Brandtjen] and a couple others have failed us. Our courts have certainly failed us. Who’s gonna make this happen? You are. You are. We’re gonna have to force this issue. Folks, we’re gonna have to keep the pressure on our legislators, keep the letters, the emails, the phone calls coming, but really, it’s still going to be up to you, us.”

Boltz’s work also extended to electing Republican legislators who would buck the authority of Vos — who in his tenure as speaker was known for maintaining a tight grip on the actions of his caucus. The election denial wing of the party had become hostile to Vos after he fired former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman from his job investigating the 2020 election and refused to support the effort to impeach Wolfe. 

In an August 2024 video, Boltz stood alongside county party chairs and candidates for the Assembly, including now-Rep. Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) and criticized Assembly Republicans for not helping oust Wolfe. He said not supporting Brandtjen in that effort was like “going against apple pie in America.”

“That’s why these people are here,” Boltz said. “They want to change things in the Assembly. They want to be independent thinkers and not just vote Robin Vos. That’s why we can’t always be unified with the Republicans in the Assembly because they’re not real Republicans. They’re RINOs.”

The advocacy of Brandtjen, Ramthun and their allies was crucial to the creation of Gableman’s fruitless review of the 2020 election. Gableman donated $1,000 to the Langlade County party last November.

In 2022, Boltz, then the vice chair of the county party, and Brand, then the chair, also played a role in a campaign finance scheme in which about $40,000 was funneled through the county party’s accounts to the campaign of Adam Steen, an election denier who attempted several times to unseat Vos. The state ethics commission recommended that criminal charges be filed against Boltz, Brand and Brandtjen but local prosecutors declined to charge them. 

In 2023, Boltz said in an interview that he flew to Springfield, Missouri to appear with Ramthun at the “Election Crime” summit held by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist who this year ran a failed campaign for Minnesota governor. Boltz said he and Ramthun were taking the place of Gableman, who was supposed to deliver a report on Wisconsin at the summit but was unavailable at the last minute. 

On Jan. 6, 2025, Boltz appeared on the “Regular Joe” show’s “Red, Right & Wisconsin” podcast where he was introduced as the chair of the county party. Boltz talked about his work to grow the Langlade County Republican Party as well as Wisconsin’s 2024 U.S. Senate race.

Boltz said he didn’t believe Eric Hovde, the failed GOP Senate candidate, lost against Sen. Tammy Baldwin. In 2024, Hovde didn’t concede to Baldwin until nearly two weeks after the election as he questioned the vote counting process. There was no evidence of irregularities in the vote count.

“Why don’t you look to see if Hovde really did lose? I don’t believe he did,” Boltz said. He added that Peter Bernegger, a prominent purveyor of election conspiracy theories in Wisconsin, did not believe Hovde lost either. At Brandtjen’s invitation Bernegger made several appearances before the Assembly elections committee to give testimony containing numerous debunked claims about the 2020 election.

“You know we still have Democratic clerks in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine,” Boltz said on the Regular Joe podcast. “Those Democrat clerks are a problem and they have proven themselves to be a problem.”

This year, on May 13, Tiffany donated $475 to the Langlade County Republican Party. On the same day, records show, the party gave a “gift” of $3,000 to Bernegger. 

In April, Gableman, Bernegger and Wait all appeared as speakers or special guests at the Langlade County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln-Reagan-Trump dinner.

Since 2010, Boltz has given more than $35,000 to county chapters of the Republican Party, the state party and candidates including Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and Brad Schimel. He’s also donated to several state legislative candidates including Brandtjen, Brill and Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee). 

Federal campaign finance records show that Boltz has donated more than $7,000 to the national Republican Party and federal candidates for office. That includes $1,500 in donations to Tiffany’s previous congressional campaigns and a $1,000 donation this year to the campaign of Michael Alfonso, the Trump-endorsed candidate  running for Tiffany’s 7th Congressional District seat. He’s also given to the presidential campaigns of both John McCain and President Trump.

About a month and a half out from the midterm elections, gubernatorial Republican candidate Tom Tiffany is taking some small steps to distance himself from President Donald Trump and the rising gas prices that are resulting from the war in Iran. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate David Crowley is seeking to highlight Tiffany’s history of loyalty to the two-term president. 

Tiffany and Crowley made comments about gas prices, the Iran war and Trump’s recent media bans while talking to reporters at the Wisconsin Counties Association on Tuesday after pitching local county officials on why each is the right candidate to lead the state.

Tiffany , who is endorsed by Trump, told reporters that he thinks it is “time to “wrap up” the war in Iran, even though he has voted in Congress against measures that would have directed Trump to end the military engagement and respect the constitutional warmaking authority of Congress. Most recently, Tiffany did not join the seven House Republicans who broke ranks last week and voted to stop  Trump’s war with Iran unless Congress approved further action.

Trump pondered on Monday whether to “annihilate” Iran while addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

Tiffany explained that he voted against the measures ending the conflict because he believes the “president has that authority, and so he should exercise that authority.” 

Congress holds the sole power to declare war under the U.S. Constitution. 

“The president has final say in regards to this, but I just believe that we should be exiting Iran,” Tiffany said. “It’s time to move on. We’ve degraded their nuclear facilities. We degraded their military. Most of their ships are on the bottom of the ocean. Time to come home, take care of business here in America.”

The Iran war has driven diesel prices to a record high average of $6.51 per gallon this week with the Midwest outpacing the rest of the country. In Wisconsin, the average prices of a gallon of diesel hit $6.56 on Monday, according to AAA.

Asked whether the gas prices will hurt Republicans in the midterms, Tiffany said “we’ll see what happens” and said the U.S. needs to work to become energy independent. He argued that Crowley would not help the issue given his support of “net zero.” 

“No diesel fuel, no gasoline, no crude oil. Do you think he’s gonna fix the problem? Clearly he won’t,” Tiffany said. 

Crowley has been targeting Tiffany on the issue this week, visiting a farmer in Baraboo to talk about the issue and releasing an ad that blames Tiffany for contributing to the rise in diesel and gas prices.

“Tiffany has proven with every vote that he works for Donald Trump and the billionaires trying to buy this election, not for the families, farmers, and small business owners paying the price at the pump,” Crowley said in a statement. “Five times he has had the chance to end the war that’s driving our prices up, and five times he’s chosen Trump instead. Tom Tiffany’s only loyal to Trump — not us, Wisconsin.” 

Tiffany said he would not restrict media access on a state level. The Trump administration banned three media outlets, CNN, Politico and MS Now, from covering him in the White House. The outlets are suing, and other major outlets are boycotting by halting TV coverage of the White House. 

While Tiffany said he believes in a free press, he also immediately turned to criticize “slanted” media outlets and told a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that despite his belief that her outlet is “slanted,” he would “continue to allow” her to cover him.

“I did not deter anyone here from joining us today and I don’t plan on doing that. I believe in open free press that they be able to ask us questions,” Tiffany said. “The principle that I live with is that I just expect all of you to be fair, and as long as you’re fair in your writing, I always welcome the press here. It’s when the press is slanted, that’s what’s frustrating,” he said, echoing Trump’s criticism of much of the U.S. media.

“Even when the press has been slanted, as we’ve seen with the Journal Sentinel… we still have them here today,” Tiffany added.

Crowley said he would “absolutely not” implement any statewide media ban as governor and said he was glad to see major outlets supporting the other outlets by boycotting coverage.

“We want to make sure that we have the freedom of the press. I think it’s extremely important,” Crowley said.

Two Waukesha County Republicans are asking voters to reelect them to the state Legislature in November while simultaneously campaigning to become the county’s next executive in a December special election. 

Paul Farrow, who had served as the Waukesha County executive since 2015, was a former state lawmaker and previous chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, died in July after a two year battle with a rare and aggressive abdominal cancer. Tom Farley, who previously worked as the county’s lead attorney, was sworn in to serve as the interim county executive on July 30 after being nominated by the county board. 

The race to serve the last few months of Farrow’s four-year term has so far attracted the attention of two longtime GOP lawmakers who are also currently running for reelection to their respective seats: Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) and Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield). 

But the lawmakers concurrently running for two offices sets up a tangle of filing deadlines and election dates. The deadline to file nominating signatures to get on the special election ballot is Oct. 20 and if they both gain access, a primary election will be held Nov. 17 — just over two weeks after they’ll both be on the ballot in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.

Kapenga announced his candidacy on July 13 in an interview with conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell.

“Usually, you get excited about announcing, but this is just unfortunate,” Kapenga said, adding that he was praying for Farrow’s family. 

Neylon announced his campaign in early September. Neylon, who said Farrow was a mentor of his, said he spent time grieving and then mulling the decision. 

“I believe our families deserve leaders who put community first and show up, listen, work well with others, and deliver results to protect the values that built this place, and I think that, given my experience, my background, that I’m the right person for the job,” Neylon told the Wisconsin Examiner. 

After the special election, a regular election for a full term as the county executive will happen in April 2027. 

Both will appear on ballots in November in races for their respective legislative seat. Within 60 days following the certification of the election as county executive, a lawmaker would need to resign from their position. State law prevents legislators from serving in the Legislature and as a county executive. 

Kapenga and Neylon’s decision to seek the job outside the Legislature follows a wave of Republicans opting to not run for reelection this year, including Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester). Though state lawmakers regularly run for open county executive seats. 

Kapenga or Neylon’s departure from the Legislature would be one fewer Republican with legislative experience and would trigger the need for a special election to fill the seat.

Farrow was a state senator when he ran in 2015 and his election created a vacancy that Kapenga filled by winning a special election for the Senate seat that July. Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley, then a state Assembly member, was elected to be Milwaukee County executive in May 2020, and former Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard ran to be Dane County executive after deciding not to run for reelection. 

With control of the Senate and Assembly at stake in November, the possibility of a legislative vacancy adds another variable for the next legislative session.

Kapenga did not respond to requests for an interview from the Examiner, but during his interview with O’Donnell, he said he expects another Republican to be elected to his seat if he wins the special election and resigns. 

“It’s almost statistically impossible unless somebody really makes a major mistake in this seat to lose it to a Dem so that risk is very low,” Kapenga, who won his last reelection effort unopposed, said.

Kapenga is facing a challenge for the state Senate seat from Mike Van Someren, a Democrat and attorney from the Town of Delafield, in the race for state Senate. 

Van Someren has knocked Kapenga for campaigning for county executive while running for the state Senate, saying in a video posted to TikTok that “it’s clear we’re both out there working for the job we really want.” 

“So in this instance, I just want to wish both luck,” he said.

The Examiner spoke with Neylon about his campaigns. He said he is focused on winning reelection to the Assembly and then will turn his focus to the county executive race.

“It’s going to be a sprint,” Neylon said of the turn around time between elections. “There’s not a lot of people paying attention to the county executive race right now when you have the general election on the horizon. People are talking about the governor’s race. People are talking about the majorities, and I’m part of that.”

In the race for the Assembly, Neylon faces a challenge from Democrat Stephen Tryon, an author. He won his 2024 election in a 59.1% to 40.9% vote against his Democratic opponent. 

Neylon said wants to help Republicans keep their majority as Assembly Democrats are seeking to flip five seats and put Republicans out of power for the first time in 16 years, but that he also has unfinished business in the Assembly that he’d like to work on.

“When I left Madison at the end of last session, I didn’t leave thinking it was over,” Neylon said. “I think it’s actually a positive thing, not something that I’m going to apologize for.”

With Vos and other GOP leadership retirements, Neylon said he wants to be involved in choosing a new leader for Assembly Republicans. He said there is also some legislation that he would want the opportunity to propose, including on AI and regulating Flock license plate readers. 

Neylon said it was a difficult decision, but there wasn’t much strategic thought put into running for both seats. He said he sees an opportunity in the county executive role and thinks he is best suited for the job due to his ability to listen to people and work collaboratively. 

“At the end of the day, the ultimate consideration was, do I want to do this? And I do,” Neylon said. “I think that when you look at the opportunity that Waukesha County Executive presents to be able to be an advocate and a leader in a community that I love, that I care about, that I want to protect for my kids to make sure that they have the same opportunities that we do. It just felt like I had to raise my hand and step up, and I felt a sense of commitment and responsibility to do so.”

Kapenga is known for being a staunch conservative and fiscal hawk, who wants to cut taxes and reduce government services. He has at times been the lone “No” vote on bipartisan legislation, including a law to provide additional coverage for breast cancer screenings. He’s also been part of hardline Republican intraparty feuding that led to legislation failing or Republican leaders turning to Democrats for help getting bills across the finish line.

One issue that has defined the race so far is taxes. Waukesha County is one of two counties in the state that do not impose a local county tax on top of the state sales tax of 5%. During his tenure, Farrow had proposed a plan to implement a sales tax to avoid steep cuts in services. It was withdrawn in January 2025.

Neylon and Kapenga have said they are opposed to implementing a sales tax. 

“Things cost more. Based on the last budget projected deficits into the future at the current levels of spending, so there’s been an interest in looking at different ways to increase government revenues,” Neylon said. “I think we need to be more innovative about the solutions we’re offering to people instead of always just going back to we need to raise tax.”

Neylon said he wouldn’t look to shared revenue from the state to help with the county’s fiscal issues, however, he said he would lobby state lawmakers to allow the county to keep more revenue from fees that currently go to the state. 

Neylon has said he would also bring his focus on regulatory reform to county government, including to rising housing costs by looking to ease zoning and permitting rules that he says slow construction. He has spent much of his legislative career focused on rulemaking, including as the the lead author of the REINS Act, the Walker-era law that requires state agencies to halt the rulemaking process for any proposed administrative rule estimated to cost $10 million or more. He also served as the chair of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rulemaking.

Kapenga, who has worked as a certified public accountant, told O’Donnell that his experience would help provide a different perspective to county government. 

“I think it really works well with the challenges that we’re facing as we go forward,” Kapenga said.

Kate Murrain, a realtor and mother of two Middleton-Cross Plains School District students, said she has a couple of questions before she makes her mind up whether to vote for the district’s $118.5 million referendum request. 

Murrain told the Wisconsin Examiner that she wants to see a side-by-side comparison of budgets, one of if the referendum passes and one if it fails. Her questions reflect the competing concerns that surfaced in a recent public discussion of rising property taxes and the school district’s troubles meeting rising costs. 

“At this point, without any information and being as educated as I need to be I would vote no,” Murrain said, adding she noticed that the meeting was attended by a relatively small group of neighbors who appeared to be pro-referendum. “I was surprised. I expected to walk into 100 people having questions to get better educated. I’m just shocked that this is the turnout.”

Murrain was one of about 20 who gathered in the performing arts center of Middleton High School on Sept. 17 to listen to district leaders explain the request and take questions. The district is holding at least four of these sessions open to the public leading up to the Nov. 3 election.

Middleton’s request is part of a wave of more than 70 school district referendum requests this fall seeking $1.6 billion in support from property taxpayers. Under Wisconsin’s school funding system, there is a cap on how much school districts can bring in through a combination of state aid and property taxes. To exceed the caps, Wisconsin school districts have to go to voters for approval. 

Among the requests 17 are for one-time building costs, eight are recurring, to provide permanent support for operating costs, and the remaining are non-recurring, slated to help with operating costs but for a set number of years.

By the end of the year, the total number of referendum requests appearing on spring and fall ballots will total more than 150. Eight of the school districts asking voters for more money in November are trying for the second time this year after a spring request failed. 

In April, 75 referendum requests went before voters. According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, 46 of those passed — a 61.3% approval rate. The Policy Forum found that a similar result in November would represent “a substantial decrease from the 70.1% approval rate in 2024” and the “lowest approval rate of any even-numbered year since 2010, when voters approved 52.7% of referenda.”

The Middleton-Cross Plains School District request is the second largest referendum ask  on ballots in November behind Green Bay Area School District, which is seeking $158 million over four years and is currently a party in a lawsuit suing the state over the school funding formula.

Middleton is considered “property rich,” meaning it gets less state aid than other school districts and relies more heavily on property taxes for its budget. According to school leaders, about 80% of the district budget comes from property taxes. The other 20% comes from state aid. 

The request would be split to provide $24.9 million in year one of the referendum. That amount would continue the funding the district is currently receiving through a 2022 nonrecurring referendum. The next three years the funding would rise by about 3% each year to account for inflation, so $27.9 million in year two, $31.1 million in year three and $34.6 million in year four.

Bob Hesselbein, the school board president, told the Examiner that the district considered about six different referendum scenarios.

“Like a lot of districts within Wisconsin since 2010, we have been forced to find operational funding with our own community because the state each year is giving us in real dollars less in buying power,” Hesselbein said. “We recognize with the economics going on now in the country, we didn’t want to ask for more because everyone’s hurting.”

The district conducted surveys while working to develop the question. In one survey of about 1,800 community members, 66% said that they would probably or definitely vote for a 2026 referendum. Those who opposed the referendum cited property-tax fatigue, spending reductions and a preference for state level solutions. 

Hesselbein said the district hasn’t had a “No Vote” committee form. In other districts, “No Vote” and “Yes Vote” committees will form and can come into contention with one another as residents concerned about rising property taxes are pitted against those who want their schools to be able to meet costs.

One attendee at the recent meeting in Middleton asked for clarification on the actual cost to individual taxpayers of the referendum and said he was worried about how the additional taxes would affect seniors on a fixed income.

An explanatory page provided by the district shows that property taxpayers could expect to pay no additional money in the first year, $21 in the second, $40 in the third and $59 in the fourth. However, the numbers are pegged to $100,000 of property. The district said it provided the information in the form it did so individuals could do the math easily depending on the cost of the house. 

“Who has a $100,000 house in Middleton?” the attendee said. “I’d rather see the average house in there, so people can get a feel as to what you’re looking at.” 

The average cost of a house is $500,000 in Middleton, meaning in the second year of the budget an average homeowner could expect to pay an additional $105 in property taxes in the second year of the referendum.

“You’re going to be squeezing me,” the attendee said. “You want to keep everything status quo. There’s room to cut.” 

If the referendum fails the district will have to cut its budget by about 20%. 

Whether the referendum passes or not, the district plans to cut $5 million from its budget, though conversations are just beginning on where those cuts will come from. 

“We’re going to probably find ourselves cutting some of the enhancements to education, not the meat of what we do here,” Hesselbein told the Examiner, adding that it likely wouldn’t mean layoffs, but retirements may mean conversations about dividing work among current employees instead of a new hire. 

The same retiree who spoke up about the cost of the referendum asked why the district wasn’t turning to state lawmakers. 

“I called Sen. [Dianne] Hesselbein’s office last year, and asked, what have you done to get more money?” he said. “I got the typical political run around.”

Gov. Tony Evers and Republican lawmakers tried to pass a deal earlier this year that would have tapped the state surplus to give schools some additional funding and send rebate checks to property taxpayers. The bill failed in the Senate, where most Democrats opposed it, saying it didn’t do enough to help schools or spend money responsibly, along with a couple of Republicans, who opposed the spending. 

Since then, progress on school funding changes have been stalled as most politicians have turned their attention to the upcoming elections. 

Bob Hesselbein, who is married to the Democratic leader of the Senate, said he had some inside information for the disgruntled taxpayer at the Middleton meeting.

“I happen to know Sen. Hesselbein pretty well,” he said, drawing a few chuckles in the room. 

“You can yell and swear all you want,” he added. “In Dane County, we have very pro-education representation in both our Assembly and our Senate. Unfortunately, they’re a minority within the state of Wisconsin, and until the rest of the cities, Wisconsin, come to that realization that their public schools are being damaged, we can’t expect anything different from our local politicians, because that’s the constitutional laws of our state.”

Sen. Hesselbein has said that Democrats will pass legislation to fund public schools in January. 

“We are going to be fully there for our public schools, especially when it comes to special education reimbursement,” Sen. Dianne Hesselbein said at a press conference last week. “One thing that school administrators are telling us all across the state — principals as well — that they want to see something they can count on and they want to rely on it.” 

Sen. Hesselbein said that her caucus has started having conversations over the summer about what needs to happen, including putting more money into special education and general aid. She said Democrats are also looking at other states to understand how the school funding formula could be changed.

“We’re also looking at a long-term goal of seeing what other states are doing and how they are funding their public schools, but that’s going to take probably a multi-year task to try to figure that all out and talking to our friends in Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois,” Hesselbein said. 

Meanwhile, school districts continue to rely on taxpayers to help them meet costs. 

Jim Coursey, treasurer of the Middleton school board, explained the stakes to Murrain. 

“If we were to lose that 20% of the budget, there will be no question that classrooms will be impacted, that’s too much,” Coursey said. “That’s going to lead to larger class sizes because it’s going to lead to a reduction in the number of staff that we’re going to be able to have supporting. It’s going to lead to elimination of programs.” 

Murrain, who said she values the education her children are receiving, remained unconvinced.

“I don’t know, it’s tough… I would need to see exactly where those funds are being allocated,” she said.

Both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Wisconsin Senate have said of their efforts to win control of the chamber that their candidates are staying focused on issues close to home. However, this week the focus of the race for the 17th Senate District turned to a country 6,000 miles away: China.

The race in Wisconsin’s 17th Senate District, a key district that will help determine control of the body, pits Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), the incumbent in the race, against Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon), a two-term state representative. Marklein was first elected to the seat in 2014 after serving two terms in the Assembly and has served for the last two sessions as the co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, which drafts the state budget.

The subject of China entered the race when the Jacobson campaign began running an ad last week that claimed Marklein had “invested thousands of dollars in Chinese corporations” while voting against a “measure that would have made Wisconsin buy more American made products.” The ad displays an image of Marklein’s face beside the Chinese flag. 

“While Marklein was making money off of his Chinese investments, he was stealing money from American workers like me,” a man dressed as a construction worker says in the ad. “Someone who sold us out like that should never be in the state Senate.” 

The ad led to Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), head of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, to call a press conference to defend Marklein Tuesday. Testin called the ad “deceptive” and a “sick smear campaign.”

Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Elections Research Center, told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email that it’s “quite unusual for China or another other foreign country to be much of an issue in a campaign for a state legislative seat.” 

Burden said the “focus on China in the 17th district is a kind of proxy for other issues,” including concerns about politicians “enriching themselves unethically because of investments” as well as worries about the construction of new data centers that some Wisconsinites see as drain on resources and harmful to the environment in addition to being related to U.S. AI developers’ competition with China. 

The ad, however, is seeking to tie some of Marklein’s prior reported investments to his lack of support for a Democratic bill in 2013 that would have required state and local contracts to give preference to materials manufactured in the United States.

Wisconsin public officials and candidates are required to file a Statement of Economic Interests under state law to disclose financial relationships and prevent conflicts of interest. 

According to his 2022 statement of economic interest, Marklein had over $50,000 in a WisdomTree Emerging Markets Fund as well as between $5,000 and $50,000 in investments in the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Fund. According to Sofi, investing in emerging market funds means owning shares in companies from India, Brazil, South Africa and China with the latter representing a large portion of many emerging market index funds.

Marklein’s most recent statement of economic interest included no emerging market funds.

In his press conference defending Marklein, Testin appeared to think the ad was related to investments made through the Wisconsin Retirement System, saying Jacobson, and every state employee, has similar investments. (The Wisconsin Retirement System is not prohibited from making investments in businesses in China, though Republicans have proposed barring the State of Wisconsin Investment Board from doing so in the past.)

Testin said Jacobson was “trying to be tough on foreign adversaries now that it might be politically beneficial for her.” 

“The truth is that Jacobson could have spent months standing up to our nation’s adversaries like China, but when she had the opportunity to support meaningful legislation that would protect Wisconsin from foreign influence, she voted no,” Testin said, referring to bills that would have restricted business with China. 

Testin proposed and Marklein co-authored a bill that would have barred Wisconsin agencies from contracting with certain foreign businesses, including China. Two other bills would have prohibited China from buying Wisconsin land and prohibited the University of Wisconsin system from providing study abroad and research there.

“Jacobson has no backbone, only a slick eye for political gain. She’s quick to point a finger at people like Sen. Marklein when it benefits her, but when she has the chance to help Wisconsin, she’s only interested when there could be gains for her,” Testin said. 

Jacobson voted against the two bills that passed the Assembly. Both were vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers. The issue has also come up in the race for governor, with Republican candidate Tom Tiffany saying he would have signed at least one of those bills as governor.

Burden said connecting politicians to China could “tarnish” their reputations. According to a Nov. 2025 Marquette Law School Poll, 65% of Americans held an unfavorable view of China and its leader, President Xi Jinping, while 19% said they had a favorable view of China. 

Burden said of Jacobson’s ad that “a connection to Marklein’s potential support for Chinese businesses and government is a way for her to point out to voters without a strong partisan preference why he should be defeated.”

Will Karcz, a spokesperson for the State Senate Democratic Committee, said in a statement to the Examiner that the ad was meant to provide voters in the 17th with “the truth of Howard Marklein’s personal foreign investment history.”

“Howard has repeatedly voted against protecting Wisconsin manufacturing while cashing in on tens of thousands of dollars he invested in Chinese-owned corporations,” Karcz said. “He got rich on the backs of Wisconsin workers. Jenna Jacobson is running to make Wisconsin stronger while Howard has spent the last 10 years putting his bottom line ahead of his constituents.” 

Whether the message resonates with voters is unclear. 

Todd Allbaugh, a former Republican who grew up in Richland Center and formerly worked for Sen. Dale Schulz, told the Examiner in an interview that he was confused when he saw the ad about a week ago. He lives in Madison, but still has family in the district. 

“I’ve seen this ad now probably somewhere around 20-ish times. It was baffling,” Allbaugh said. He said he didn’t understand what it was trying to get at until he looked it up using Claude, the AI assistant developed by Anthropic. “If you have to go to Claude to figure it out, it probably isn’t a really effective ad.”

Allbaugh acknowledged that Marklein has some advantages in the race given his status as an incumbent. Marklein won his 2022 race with 60% of the vote, though the district has changed considerably under the new maps. It now represents Iowa, Lafayette, Green, Crawford and Grant counties as well as parts of Dane County. 

“I know the 17th Senate District pretty much like the back of my hand because it’s home,” Allbaugh said. “With the newly drawn maps it’s certainly become more competitive for Democrats, probably the most competitive in a very long time.” 

Allbaugh said that he thinks Marklein is “scared for his political life,” as he is suddenly running in a competitive district and that can be seen in his campaign. One of Marklein’s recent ads positioned him as a bipartisan “bridge builder” and as “your man in the middle” and highlighted tax cuts that have been made while he’s been in office as well as some investments that have been made into local EMS and into the Lone Rock Bridge, which opened this year after two years of construction. 

In Allbaugh’s opinion, Jacobson’s campaign should focus on local issues that Marklein has had some say over. He noted the closure of the UW-Platteville Richland Center campus and the UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County campus that have happened while Marklein has chaired the Joint Finance Committee as well as the struggle that public schools in the district have had. 

“I think she’s a super strong candidate. She’s affable. She is enormously more likable and connects to people better than Howard Marklein, and I would if I were advising them, which I’m not, I would lean into that,” Allbaugh said. “Be authentic instead of listening to consultants with boilerplate things that they’re using in the other races. It doesn’t seem like a smart use of money when there are so many more easily understood issues that are particular to the 17th Senate District.”

Jacobson’s economic statement of interest from 2022 and 2024 does not list any emerging market funds.

Her 2024 statement lists an investment in the American Funds The New Economy Fund. According to the Capital Group website, it is mainly invested in the U.S. though it has a mix of investments abroad. About 15% of the fund is in Asia, including China.

Another planned debate between Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has been canceled as Tiffany declines to participate in more than one debate ahead of the Nov. 3 election. 

The planned debate was jointly sponsored by the Milwaukee County Intergovernmental Cooperation Council, TMJ4 and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was to be held at the UW-Milwaukee campus. 

“We are deeply disappointed that scheduling did not work out to make this happen,” the organizations said in a statement. “We hope that Wisconsin’s next governor will make local government a significant focus of his administration.” 

TMJ4 reporter Charles Benson said in a post on X that Tiffany had indicated he would only do one debate and Crowley was not available for the original date proposed by the channel, though his team was interested in finding another date for the debate. 

This is the second debate to be canceled after Tiffany declined to participate. The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, which has hosted gubernatorial debates since 1990, canceled its proposed debate two weeks ago. Tiffany told conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell that he didn’t agree to the debate because he thought one debate was sufficient. 

“I had no time. There was lots of negotiations going on behind the scenes,” Tiffany said. “One debate is sufficient to be able to cover the issues that need to be covered.”

Crowley’s campaign manager Garren Randolph said in a statement that Crowley was looking forward to the debate. He criticized Tiffany, saying he is “refusing more debates because he doesn’t want to face voters and answer tough questions about his record of supporting an endless war that’s resulting in record high gas and diesel costs, as well as voting for every single one of Donald Trump’s tariffs that are crushing Wisconsin farmers and manufacturers, and driving up costs on everything from groceries to the new shoes parents are trying to buy for their kids as they go back to school.”

The Examiner has reached out to the Tiffany campaign for comment. 

Both candidates plan to participate in an Oct. 21 debate hosted by WISN-12. It will be moderated by WISN-12 reporters Matt Smith and Gerron Jordan and will cover topics including cost of living, taxes, immigration enforcement, data centers and election security.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley vowed Monday to pass a slate of measures to cut down on corruption in government with proposals he said would prevent elected and public officials from profiting from their positions. 

Crowley, who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, said he would include the policy items in the upcoming state budget if elected governor. Election Day is Nov. 3.

“State elected officials… are there to serve the public to do a public service, not to just sit in public office. They are there to use their offices to help people. That could be anything from helping get a pothole filled to securing legislation for a new healthcare facility,” Crowley said during a press conference outside the state Capitol. “It should not be a vehicle to get rich by gaming the system. We see that running rampant in Washington right now, while Wisconsinites are facing higher costs on everything from gas to groceries to their health care.”

Crowley said the proposals would demand transparency and accountability from elected officials in the face of Congress not taking similar steps.

Two of the proposals would seek to bar politicians from being able to make money from knowledge they acquire through their public work. Crowley wants to ban politicians from trading individual stocks and require public officials who already own stocks to place then in a mutual or index fund or blind trust so they don’t have specific knowledge of the individual stocks they own. Another proposal would prohibit elected officials from participating in prediction markets and prohibit public employees from using insider government knowledge to personally profit.

“Prediction markets should be used for things like sports — not profiting off of our politics,” Crowley said. “Our political system is already overrun with dark money from billionaires. We don’t need to give them or others any reason to make more money off of their money by trying to further influence our elections.”

Crowley also said he would seek to prohibit members of the Public Service Commission from working for utility or energy companies for two years after leaving office. PSC commissioners are responsible for regulating public utilities including electricity, natural gas, water and telecommunications. 

Wisconsin law currently only bars former commissioners from testifying before the PSC for a year after leaving office. 

Crowley said he wasn’t worried the restriction would discourage prospective commissioners. The governor is responsible for choosing appointees to the Public Service Commission and appointees are subject to confirmation by the state Senate. 

Crowley did not point to any specific examples, but said the proposal is meant to prevent conflicts of interest. 

The final policy would prohibit the deletion of documents and correspondence by state legislators. 

Lawmakers in Wisconsin have had an exemption since 1961 from a law that requires a broad array of public officials to keep their records of communication and other official documents related to their work. The exemption allows legislators to delete emails and destroy records as long as they have not yet been requested under the public records law. 

Crowley said changing this will ensure that “journalists, the courts and most importantly you, the public, can see how their elected officials are or are not serving them.” 

Outgoing Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers have previously sought to close the loophole, though the proposals have gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

“We have seen lawmakers try to hide how they spend taxpayer dollars on things that absolutely in no shape or form serve the public,” Crowley said.

Crowley said the proposals would help restore trust in the government. 

“We need these laws on the books because the system as it is today does not work for working Wisconsin families,” Crowley said. “They see politicians across the state and in Washington doing better than them. They’re doing fine, and in many cases, they’re thriving, and how can that be when diesel right here in the state of Wisconsin is nearly $6 a gallon?… It’s because of legalized corruption.”

Tiffany said in a statement that he has not traded any stocks while serving in Congress. He said he agreed there should be strong policies implemented to “to root out fraud and corruption at every level of government” but said he would go further than Crowley. 

“We should modernize OpenBook Wisconsin so taxpayers can easily search how their money is being spent, set clear response-time standards for open records requests, create agency dashboards that disclose contractors and violations, and strengthen ethics rules to prevent legislators from subcontracting for lobbying entities. As governor, I’ll also audit all of state government to uncover waste, fraud and corruption and make sure taxpayers are getting the results they deserve,” Tiffany said.