Crowley Reports Late Fundraising Edge Over Tiffany in Governor’s Race
Despite this Tiffany has raised more than twice as much money this year.
Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, left, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, right, shake hands before debating Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, at Marquette University Law School’s Eckstein Hall in Milwaukee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
The final fundraising reports in the race for governor show Democratic billionaires are helping give Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley a late fundraising edge over Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and the GOP billionaires backing him.
The latest numbers stand out because Tiffany had previously outraised Crowley nearly 2-1 throughout the campaign.
Filings with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission show Crowley raked in around $15.5 million between July 1 and Oct. 19, while Tiffany raised around $10 million. The lion’s share of the money going to campaigns came by way of transfers from state parties, which face no limits on how much they can accept from wealthy donors or how much they can give to candidates.
Crowley received $11.4 million in transfers during the reporting period from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, which reported getting $5.5 million from LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman; $2 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; $1.5 million from philanthropist Lynn Schusterman; and $1 million each from philanthropists Nina Singh Wanstrath and Lynde Uihlein.
Tiffany reported around $9 million in transfers from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, which got a single $13 million donation from GOP megadonor Diane Hendricks. In the latest reporting period, Hendricks was one of just six donors to the state Republican Party, accounting for nearly all of the party’s fundraising haul from individual donors.
Prior to report, Republicans dominated fundraising
Before the uptick for Democrats in the latest report, Tiffany had dominated Crowley in fundraising in 2026.
Since Jan. 1, Tiffany has raised nearly $50 million compared around $27 million raised by Crowley. Tiffany spent about $47 million over the course of the calendar year compared to about $23 million for Crowley.
The Democratic and Republican parties had seen similar gaps. The state GOP reported bringing in more than $57 million throughout 2026. That’s more than twice state Democrats’ haul of around $28 million.
That gap narrowed in the latest finance reports, which showed both parties raised around $15 million since July 1 when all transfers were factored in.
All told this year, Hendricks has donated more than $23 million to the Republican Party, and fellow conservative billionaires Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein have contributed a total of more than $32 million.
Hoffman has been the state Democratic Party’s biggest donor in 2026, giving more than $8.75 million. In addition to the recent donations from Bloomberg, Schusterman, Wanstrath and Lynde Uihlein, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gave $1 million to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin shortly after Crowley won the primary.
Crowley reports late fundraising edge over Tiffany in governor’s race was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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Ugh. While its great that Crowley is getting some more fluff to his war chest, this invalidates his arguments about Tiffany being bought by billionaires since Tiffany can just pull the hypocrite card now.