Crowley Amassing Large Pile of Campaign Cash

David Crowley. File photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is currently sitting on more than $200,000 in campaign funds, having raised most of it since the start of the year.

The county executive had a stellar fundraising quarter, raising $152,000 between Jan. 1 and June 30. The latest campaign finance report filed by the county executive shows he ended June with $208,836 dollars in his campaign account.

The county executive is up for re-election in 2024, and this successful fundraising quarter suggests his campaign has been gearing up since the start of this year.

Crowley never came close to fundraising numbers like that during his first run for office. Though his campaign did receive significant support from former County Executive Chris Abele‘s Leadership MKE political organization. That support came in the form of six-figure ad buys.

This is the largest bundle of campaign cash among Milwaukee elected officials and one of the largest fundraising hauls in the state. Gov. Tony Evers raised three-quarters of a million in the last six months as he rolled out of the 2022 gubernatorial election, in which his campaign spent nearly $42 million. U.S Sen. Tammy Baldwin raised nearly $3.2 million in this latest reporting period.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson also saw success, raising $162,000 in the past six months. Johnson finished the quarter with less cash on hand than the county executive, spending nearly $60,000 during this period. Roughly half of that went to consulting fees for Nation Consulting. Crowley is also working with Nation Consulting. The firm worked on Crowley’s first campaign for county executive. It also worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of Crowley ally Alex Lasry, a former Milwaukee Bucks executive and son of former part-owner of the team, Marc Lasry. But Crowley has thus far only racked up $6,000 in consulting fees from Nation.

Crowley’s campaign finance report shows donations from a number of local powerbrokers and leaders in business. The report also shows the support of a number of political action committees, including a handful of union-backed committees.

The county executive’s report shows he still has the support of Abele, who donated the individual maximum of $6,000 to Crowley’s campaign committee. Lobbyist Peter Kammer donated $5,000. As did Cory Nettles, founder and managing director of private equity firm Generation Growth Capital. Lasry donated $3,000. Former We Energies executive Thelma Sias donated $2,625. Attorney Emery Harlan and developer Barry Mandel both donated $2,500.

Crowley secured numerous other five-figure donations. His largest donors are retired executives and professionals working in health care, law, public relations, real estate, construction, architecture, lobbying, professional sports, financial services, energy and manufacturing.

The primary for the spring election is not until February. And no other candidates have stepped forward, yet.