David Crowley Elected Wisconsin’s First Black Governor — Four Months After Quitting the Race
Wisconsin made history on Tuesday night. David Crowley defeated U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany to become the state’s governor-elect — the first Black person elected governor in Wisconsin’s 178-year history, and he did it at 40 years old. The Associated Press called the race at 11:28 p.m. Eastern, and Tiffany conceded to Crowley that night.
Story: Associated Press race call and results; reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, State Affairs and FOX6 Milwaukee.
The road there is the story. Crowley grew up in Milwaukee’s 53206 ZIP code, on the city’s north side — a neighborhood long cited among the poorest in the country. His family lost its home when he was 10 years old, and he was evicted from two more homes before he finished high school. He started working as a community organizer as a teenager, later organized for U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold’s 2010 campaign and worked as a legislative aide.
In 2016, at age 30, Crowley was elected to the Wisconsin state Assembly. In 2020, he was elected Milwaukee County executive — the youngest person and the first Black person to hold that job — and he was still serving in that office when he ran for governor.
Four months ago, this ending looked impossible. Gov. Tony Evers retired rather than seek a third term, and Crowley entered the race to succeed him — then dropped out in early July, saying his campaign had no path. Days later, the candidate he had endorsed, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, left the race herself. Evers encouraged Crowley to get back in and endorsed him. Crowley made it official on July 18, then narrowly defeated state Rep. Francesca Hong in the August 11 Democratic primary, by fewer than 4,000 votes.
The general election was the most expensive governor’s race in Wisconsin history — more than $195 million spent overall, per WisPolitics — and Crowley’s side was outspent nearly two-to-one. It did not matter. Per the AP’s count, Crowley finished with 1,438,721 votes to Tiffany’s 1,221,668, with about 98.5 percent of the vote reported. He will also be only the third governor in state history born in Milwaukee, per the Journal Sentinel.
At his Milwaukee victory party, Crowley put it in his own words: “Because of you, a boy who grew up facing evictions will now live in the governor’s residence.”
From evicted three times as a kid in 53206 to the governor’s mansion — what does a win like this say to the kids growing up right now in the neighborhoods Crowley came from? Let us know in the comments.
