11 Claims About the Candidates for WI Governor — And the Facts
With candidates debate coming soon, lots of false claims being made.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, left, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany face off in the race for Wisconsin governor. (Andy Manis for Wisconsin Watch and Zoey Elwood / Wisconsin Watch)
On Wednesday night, the candidates for Wisconsin governor will face off in their only debate ahead of the Nov. 3 election — and based on how the campaign has gone so far, a lot of claims and accusations will fly.
To help voters sort through the noise, Wisconsin Watch and our partners at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have been fact-checking claims about the candidates.
Do you know whether Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic nominee, supports releasing half of Wisconsin’s prison population, or whether homicides have increased 57% under his watch?
How about U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee? Do you know whether he voted to defund the police or for a $68 billion tax break for data centers?
Before you watch the debate at 7 p.m. Wednesday on WISN.com, read on to know the facts.
And before you vote, check out our other Fact Briefs and our comprehensive voter guide too.
Claims about Crowley
Does David Crowley support releasing half of Wisconsin’s prison population?
No. Tiffany cited Crowley’s 2019 support for Gov. Tony Evers’ goal as support for his claim that Crowley “wants to let half the prison population out in Wisconsin.” Evers’ goal was aimed at gradually achieving the 50% reduction.
Did Milwaukee juvenile homicides increase 57% under David Crowley?
No. The number of juvenile homicide victims in Milwaukee County has ranged between 19 and 27 annually, with no clear trend upward or downward, since Crowley took office. Plus, most law enforcement in the county is done by city and village police departments; they are not under the control of the county executive.
Have major Milwaukee County taxes generally increased under David Crowley?
Yes. Milwaukee County sales and property taxes have increased while Crowley has been county executive, though property taxes have increased less than the statewide average.
Did David Crowley approve providing tablets to jail inmates?
Yes. Crowley gave final approval to a 2022 contract requested by the Sheriff’s Office and approved by the Board of Supervisors that provides communication tablets to inmates and approved a three-year extension in 2025.
Claims about Tiffany
Did Tom Tiffany receive more than 90% of his campaign donations from 3 billionaires since July 2026?
Yes. Of the $26 million from July to September 2026, 93% came from Diane Hendricks, Richard Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein.
Has Tom Tiffany supported defunding the police?
No. Crowley claimed Tiffany voted six times to defund the police. None of those House votes would have taken money away from law enforcement.
Has Tom Tiffany voted five times against ending the Iran war?
Yes. Against five U.S. House resolutions from March through July directing President Donald Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran.
Did Tom Tiffany vote to give data center operators a $68 billion tax break?
No. Congress did not vote up-or-down on giving data center operators a $68 billion tax break. An attack ad cited Tiffany’s vote for the Big Beautiful Bill Act. It contains business tax breaks, including 100% depreciation, but they are available broadly, including for data centers, to deduct the cost of many investments.
Has Tom Tiffany supported Donald Trump’s positions the vast majority of the time?
Yes. Various measures show Tiffany has rarely diverged from supporting Trump since Trump began his second term in January 2025.
Did Tom Tiffany try to overturn the 2020 presidential election result?
Yes. Tiffany took several steps in a failed attempt to reverse Democrat Joe Biden’s win over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Claim about both candidates
Have David Crowley and Tom Tiffany both expressed support for data centers?
Yes. Both have emphasized how they would regulate artificial intelligence data centers, but they also have spoken favorably of them. Crowley: Wisconsin can “become an AI and a data hub not only for the entire country, but for the entire globe.” Tiffany: Data centers are “exciting new technology.”
This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Interesting which ad claims were chosen here for fact checks. What about the most common ones I see?
But did Crowley cut a cake? Did someone who worked for him that worked for him file a form late regarding healthcare?
Did Tiffany repeatedly vote to stop the release of the Epstein files? Did Tiffany vote to cut Medicare for millions and give the money to the uber wealthy?
Really skipped the hard hitters!
No matter who wins, Wisconsinites will lose. One will be bad, the other worse. Thank you Governor Evers for endorsing the wrong candidate. And thank you, to a certain culture who will vote only if one of your own is on the ballot. Learn how to think critically. We will all pay the price.
Tom Tiffany is worse. Wisconsin is better off witb Crawley over Tiffant hands down.
Republicans support a child rapist as president, a corrupt facist government with ICE as it’s gestopo.
Tom Tiffany with a Republican Majority in the state legislature will be a nightmare.
jmpehoski: Why do you think Wisconsinites “will lose” with Crawley as governor? He’s done a great job in Milwaukee County after previous county execs provided little, and some, like a certain former governor, downright dangerous!
mpbehar: I admit Crowley inherited a mess created by the Ament administration that the Walker and Ebele administrations were unable or unwilling to try to correct. Crowley has made progress in rectifying that situation which included raising taxes. Ironically, Tom Tiffany is now using those tax increases against him. Crowley should be commended for his progress in that regard.
However, as a person dependent on public transit, he and the IMO useless County Board let me down big time by lax oversight at best of the former inept management of MCTS which instituted a policy which encouraged fare evasion for years. It also hid its serious financial issues from Crowley and the Board for years. I will be paying for the rest of my life with fewer routes and longer waits. Crowley obviously doesn’t realize that a vibrant, well run pubic transit system is vital for a growing, thriving community.
He also had lax oversight over some of his employees, who allowed the County health insurance program to lapse, This disrupted the ongoing treatment of one retiree I know, endangering his already fragile health.. So although Crowley has made progress in rectifying the mess created by his predecessor, his IMO major errors dealing with MCTS and lax oversight allowing health insurance to lapse for thousands of employees and retirees indicate he is not yet ready to be governor. However, I am voting for him as the lesser evil, because I believe Tiffany will do much more damage to this once great, progressive State.
JMPEHOSKI: Thanks for your comments. I’ve worked indirectly with Crowley (sorry, I misspell his name often as “crawley”) on older adult issues, and we’ve had our share of drama regarding the flooded McGovern Senior Center, and a lost opportunity to build a new senior center building with housing in the park. But what seems to motivate voters are anything related to the Parks. M-Co public transit just didn’t have the voter motivation to move things towards a regional solution, which seems so foundational. Almost every big city in the country has a regional transit authority that connects the downtown hubs with distant suburban locations. But they share similar challenges.
Thanks to ChatGPT: “Regional public transit structures vary significantly across the United States, often struggling to bridge out-of-county suburbs with central cities due to fragmented political boundaries, funding models, and historical design.
“• The “County Line Problem”: In many U.S. metropolitan areas, transit systems are funded and managed at the county or municipal level rather than a unified regional scale. When a bus or rail line crosses a county or municipal border, it often encounters a funding or governance wall, leading to sudden service drops, separate fare systems, or the complete absence of cross-border routes.
“• Suburban Opt-Outs and Resistance: Many wealthy or conservative out-of-county suburbs historically opted out of regional transit taxing districts or declined to fund connecting routes into the central city to limit low-income access, control local taxes, or discourage urban commuters.
“• Milwaukee as a Typical Example: In regions like southeastern Wisconsin, public transit is heavily partitioned by county lines. For instance, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) operates primarily within Milwaukee County, and direct transit options to adjacent counties like Waukesha or Ozaukee are sparse, often requiring cumbersome transfers or non-traditional connections like shared-ride taxis.
“• Exceptions with True Regional Authorities: Major metropolitan areas with mature multi-county or state-chartered regional authorities (such as the MBTA in Boston, NY’s MTA, Chicago’s CTA/Metra, or Washington D.C.’s WMATA) do run heavy rail, commuter trains, and express buses that actively knit out-of-county suburbs into the urban core. However, even in these systems, suburban service is often oriented around peak-hour “downtown-in, suburbs-out” work commutes rather than all-day reverse-commuting or suburb-to-suburb travel.”
Having a strong public base to advocate in all three counties would be a great start, and finding alternate funding for perhaps alternative ways of providing public transit. This should match the passion of folks supporting County Parks!