Tom Tiffany Sells Himself as Folksy Everyman in Race for Governor
Republican downplays his very partisan voting record and ties to President Trump.
Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany talks with supporters at his gubernatorial campaign’s “Freedom Fest” event at West Bend’s Elderberry Manor wedding barn June 28, 2026. Rich Kremer/WPR
In late June, a couple hundred Republicans gathered at the Elderberry Manor wedding barn in West Bend for a “Freedom Fest” event celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. The smell of barbecue filled the air. Kids got their faces painted in a tent set up on the lawn. Nearby, people played cornhole, tossing bean bags into targets emblazoned with stars and stripes.
Inside the bright red barn, the audience erupted when U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for governor, rounded the corner and took the microphone under a massive American flag.
“I got to tell you, I really feel kind of at home here,” said Tiffany, joking that it looked like the Elmwood barn he grew up in. “Well, they only threw me out in the haymow a few times. They usually let me sleep in the house.”
Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany enters the Elderberry Manor wedding barn in West Bend to a standing ovation by supporters attending his gubernatorial campaign’s “Freedom Fest” event in June. Rich Kremer/WPR
Tiffany called growing up on a Wisconsin dairy farm in western Wisconsin with his six siblings a blessing and hailed the state’s industrial, forestry and manufacturing heritage. He then lamented that Wisconsin has been in “decline” under eight years of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ leadership.
Tiffany didn’t mention President Donald Trump during his short speech, but he vowed to make Wisconsin “great once again” if elected governor. He framed the race as a choice between “common sense” and “socialism.”
The campaign for governor will change in a hurry after Aug. 11, when Democratic voters pick their candidate from a once-crowded primary field. But for now, this is the version of Tom Tiffany Wisconsin voters are getting to know — a folksy dam tender from Northern Wisconsin who visits barns, cracks dad jokes and runs millions of dollars of ads that promote his love of all things Wisconsin, from the Packers to old fashioned cocktails.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for Wisconsin governor, speaks to supporters at his campaign’s “Freedom Fest” event on June 28, 2026 at the Elderberry Manor wedding barn in West Bend, Wis. Rich Kremer/WPR
That message has gone largely unanswered by Democrats, giving Tiffany a window to set his own narrative in a year when Republicans nationally are on the defensive.
At stops like the event in West Bend, he’s presented a confident front, boasting that not only would he win the governorship but that Republicans would keep their majorities in the Senate and Assembly.
“We’re going to paint that clear contrast every single day between the craziness of the left and the common sense that we’re going to bring to Madison.”
Trump endorsement spared Tiffany from a messy primary
There are five Democrats from either Madison or Milwaukee working to distinguish themselves in a primary for governor that has recently spawned intraparty attacks.
That’s something Republicans are all too familiar with after going through their own contested primary for governor in 2022 between construction executive Tim Michels, the Trump-endorsed candidate, and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. That race, which turned especially negative, divided the GOP, leaving Michels weakened as he lost to Evers in November.
Republicans looked to be headed for a potential repeat last fall. When Tiffany entered the race in September, he was briefly facing Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and businessman Bill Berrien.
But Berrien dropped out soon after the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported he used a social media site to follow a transgender porn star. And Schoemann dropped out after Trump endorsed Tiffany.
Rep. Tom Tiffany speaks to attendees at a roundtable hosted by President Donald Trump on Friday, June 5, 2026, in Chippewa Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Trump’s backing insulated Tiffany from any attacks on the right, but he hasn’t spent much time talking about the president, whose approval ratings have hit all-time lows.
Instead, his ads have shown him in quintessentially Wisconsin scenes, inside a dairy barn chiding Madison politicians for “milking taxpayers,” or atop a dam proclaiming that families are “underwater.” Tiffany, who was the dam tender on the Willow Flowage for 29 years, tells viewers it’s “time to send in the dam man.”
Longtime Republican consultant Mark Graul has known Tiffany for 25 years. He told WPR Tiffany’s ads show him for what he really is: “a genuine, authentic guy.”
“He’s not slick. He’s not, you know, a super-polished politician type,” said Graul. “He’s a guy who used to take people out on cruises up on the flowage in northern Wisconsin. So he’s just a normal guy … raised a family … middle class, small business guy. So, I think he’s doing a good job of showing people that’s who he is.”
Tiffany’s record is more partisan
Tiffany’s ads, and his speeches, have presented a relatively straightforward platform. He’s promised to cut regulations on businesses and stop investment firms and data companies from buying homes and Wisconsin farmland. He says he’ll repeal Evers’ 400-year veto that opened the door for schools to increase property taxes. His message has been focused on lowering costs.
But there’s another side to Tiffany. In Congress, and before that in the state Legislature, he’s been among the most conservative lawmakers, someone who’s willing to attack his political adversaries.
Tiffany made a name for himself in the state Assembly and Senate by sponsoring a contentious bill to clear the way for a massive iron mine in Northern Wisconsin. While the mine never materialized, the debate over the 2013 law divided the north, not to mention some in the Legislature.
Dale Schultz, a former Republican senator, was the bill’s most outspoken GOP opponent and told WPR he remembers dealing with Tiffany.
“I remember a guy who was pretty mean, pretty heartless, and to my way of thinking, entirely too close to a mining industry, which needed very careful watching,” said Schultz.
Retired Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz at his farm near Richland Center, Wis. in 2021. Bridgit Bowden/WPR
Tiffany won his U.S. House seat in 2020, and there have been few times when he has broken with Trump since then.
By one measure, he’s the most partisan member of Wisconsin’s U.S. House delegation. The Lugar Center, a Washington-based think tank, publishes a biennial index of representatives’ willingness to work across party lines. In 2023, it ranked Tiffany 379th in the U.S. House, which has 435 members.
Tiffany has been closely aligned with Trump when it comes to the 2020 election. He signed on to a Texas lawsuit challenging former Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin, and he voted to object to Pennsylvania and Arizona election results on Jan. 6, 2021. Tiffany also vowed to object to Wisconsin’s results, but that vote was called off after Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany speaks before Vice President JD Vance’s remarks Thursday Feb. 26, 2026, at Pointe Precision in Plover, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
There’s no doubt Tiffany’s opponents see his Trump ties as a major weakness this year. A day after he announced his campaign, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin dubbed him “Tariff Lover Tom Tiffany” for voting to uphold Trump’s fees paid by companies importing goods. Democrats have also called him an “election denier” for backing Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss.
Tiffany says making the race about Trump is a ‘mistake’ for Democrats
Tiffany hasn’t backed away on either front.
In an interview with WPR after his campaign’s “Freedom Fest” event, he defended Trump’s tariffs, claiming Democrats are ignoring examples of companies like Harley Davidson bringing manufacturing jobs back to Wisconsin.
He has also defended his votes that sought to overturn the 2020 election, stating “unscrupulous” election officials in Dane and Milwaukee counties allowed “hundreds of thousands of illegal votes to be cast and counted,” echoing claims by Trump that have been rejected by the courts.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for Wisconsin governor, signs the yard sign of a supporter at his campaign’s “Freedom Fest” event on June 28, 2026 at the Elderberry Manor Wedding Barn in West Bend, Wis. Rich Kremer/WPR
When asked if he supports Trump’s current push to only allow voters on a federally approved list to mail their ballots, Tiffany deflected. He said most election clerks around Wisconsin do good work, “but there’s a couple clerks that have fallen down on the job, and we’ve got to make sure we have election integrity.”
“I think Democrats will be making a serious mistake in just making this race about Donald Trump, because we’re going to make it about the state of Wisconsin,” said Tiffany. “That’s ultimately what people want to hear. What are you going to do for the future of the state of Wisconsin?”
Cook Political Report Senate and Governors Editor Jessica Taylor told WPR that Democrats have a lot of ammunition for campaign commercials about Tiffany’s past. She said he hasn’t really tried to separate himself from Trump, whose approval is dropping even in states he carried two years ago.
President Donald Trump arrives at a roundtable event Friday, June 5, 2026, in Chippewa Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Even if Tiffany tried to create distance from the president, Taylor said such a move carries risk.
“Trump doesn’t let Republicans have any daylight,” said Taylor. “If you criticize him in any way, it’s going to be more detrimental to you because he’s going to go after you, and that could hurt you with the base.”
One issue where Tiffany appears to have shifted his messaging some is abortion. A year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal Roe v. Wade abortion protections, he co-sponsored a bill banning abortions nationwide after six weeks of pregnancy. But when he announced his campaign in 2025, Tiffany claimed that wasn’t his position, and said he supports Wisconsin’s 20-week ban.
Tiffany’s ads have gone largely unanswered. That’s about to change.
Democrats have been trying to paint Tiffany as a “MAGA extremist” since he got into the race for governor, but University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky told WPR the party’s onslaught hasn’t fully engaged.
Democrats have a “pretty straightforward” line of attack, Chergosky said. But he sees a potential path to victory for Tiffany if everything breaks his way.
Chergosky said voters in races for governor tend to “vote the candidate” more than they do in elections for U.S. House and Senate, which are more widely seen as referendums on the president. He said that could insulate Tiffany from Trump’s unpopularity.
Supporters of Congressman Tom Tiffany’s run for governor tuck into barbecue at a “Freedom Fest” event hosted by his campaign June 28, 2026 at the Elderberry Manor wedding barn in West Bend. Rich Kremer/WPR
Tiffany can also appeal to both Trump supporters and more traditional “Scott Walker conservatism” due to his time in the Legislature during the former Republican governor’s eight years in office. Chergosky said that could make a difference in a midterm election, when many Trump voters tend to stay home.
“To the extent that Tiffany can pile both of those things together, he could have a brand that captures multiple key elements of the Republican Party,” said Chergosky
.But once the Democratic primary is over, money will pour in to help the winner, and the dynamics of the race will change dramatically. Chergosky said Tiffany has never before faced what’s about to hit him.
“We have absolutely no idea what it looks like when Tom Tiffany faces tens-of-millions of dollars in negative ads,” said Chergosky. “So, that’s one of the wild cards here.”
WPR is profiling all of the candidates for governor. To read more, visit wpr.org/elections.
As the Democratic primary heats up, Republican Tom Tiffany has campaigned for governor on his own terms was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
