Labor Unions Stand by Crowley

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley at campaign press conference with labor and skilled trade union leaders. Photo taken June 4, 2026 by Graham Kilmer.

Labor leaders are standing with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley as he heads into the final week of a tumultuous campaign for governor.

Leaders from nearly half a dozen labor and skilled trades unions, representing thousands of workers across the state, joined Crowley Tuesday to promote him as an ally for labor and the labor movement. The event provided the county executive an opportunity to hammer his core campaign themes: executive experience and delivering results, which have so far failed to gain traction among Democratic voters in the polls.

The campaign picked a spot with a view of American Family Field to give Crowley and labor leaders a visual reference for the Milwaukee Brewers stadium deal that kept the Brewers in Milwaukee and, as the unions see it, secured union jobs at the stadium until at least 2050.

Crowley was “instrumental” in negotiating the American Family Field deal that will keep the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee until 2050, said John Jacobs, vice president of the IBEW state conference.

American Family Field is a huge job of work for the IBEW members, drawing workers from across the state year-round to work on maintenance and improvements at the field, Jacobs told Urban Milwaukee. “We were involved from the very beginning in the hopes of keeping the team around and, in this case, pleasantly surprised until 2050, which is outstanding.”

The controversial deal will leave taxpayers funding upgrades at the stadium to the tune of $500 million. “But we knew the bigger picture, what it meant for our membership, and quite honestly, for the community as a whole,” Jacobs said.

The media cycle for the gubernatorial race has been driven in recent weeks by candidate departures, including Crowley’s own; scandals, including the revelation that Crowley had a semi-anonymous social media account years ago filled with crude posts; and questions about various candidates’ electability in the general election.

During the press conference Tuesday, Crowley stayed focused on policy and arguing his own electability, declining opportunities to comment on other candidates in the race. He ticked off his vision for labor policy at the state level: fully repeal Act 10, which stripped collective bargaining rights from public sector unions; restore prevailing wage laws and project labor agreements; and expand apprenticeship programs.

“[Republicans] weakened workers’ voices, attacked collective bargaining, and chipped away at the very institutions that help make Wisconsin one of the strongest manufacturing and labor states in this country,” Crowley said. 

At a Crowley campaign event the previous night, Gov. Tony Evers was asked if state Rep. Francesca Hong could beat Tom Tiffany. He replied, “probably not,” and said Hong seems to spend a lot of time “on Twitter” and talking about “extraneous issues… with people in this room who have seen tornadoes destroy their cities and we’re gonna spend time on that bullshit that others are talking about on Twitter, please, you can ask me one hundred times I’m gonna give you the same damn answer: This issue is around getting things done. [Crowley] has done it. Let’s get it going.”

With the governor’s quote echoing across social media, Crowley sidestepped questions about Hong’s electability, saying polling shows him better placed to beat Tiffany in the general election, before adding, “I’m not focused on what all these other candidates have got going on. I have tunnel vision.”

When pressed on how he is differentiating himself from Hong in the final days of the race, Crowley replied, “I’m not paying attention to anybody else’s policies. I am focusing on how we make sure that we can lift up the middle class, continue to build on the middle class.”

Then he launched into an attack on Republicans and former Gov. Scott Walker‘s Act 10. When discussing labor issues and surrounded by laborers, Crowley is in familiar territory. His father was an electrician with the IBEW, and that detail has been part of his story to voters since he launched his campaign.

His campaign, however, has so far failed to generate significant traction with primary voters, according to polling by the Marquette University Law Poll. The latest poll showed Crowley at 7% among Democratic primary voters, after exiting the race, then jumping back in with an endorsement from Evers. But the exit of Mandela Barnes from the race and the percentage of voters who haven’t made up their mind — 34% according to the Marquette poll — mean there are still a lot of votes to be captured.

Crowley said his nomination would help Democrats win down-ballot races across the state. Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming recently said a Hong nomination could make it easier to turn out Republicans. Crowley took a different tack, and said his work on state legislation like Wisconsin Act 12 means there are communities across the state that are investing in local infrastructure and public services because of “coalitions all across this state” that have already been built.

Labor leaders, too, are standing by Crowley because he has already delivered for them in the past, they told reporters Tuesday.

Mike Irvin, with Operating Engineers Local 139, said Crowley helped his union find land for a banner when they were running a public campaign against a contractor paying substandard wages. Mike Adamavich, Wisconsin state director for the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters, referenced the stadium deal. Jerry Biggart, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, remembers that Crowley worked on Act 12 with the Republican-controlled state legislature, which increased state shared revenue for smaller communities struggling to maintain fire and EMS budgets.

“David’s delivering around the state as county executive in Milwaukee,” Biggart said. “Imagine what he’s going to do for us as governor.”