Union Members, Activists Slam Tiffany Over Healthcare and Tax Breaks

Tom Tiffany puppet. Photo taken April 15, 2026 by Graham Kilmer.

Democratic allies are hitting U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, over his record on health care and tax cuts.

SEIU Wisconsin and local community activists held a rally outside the Republican Party’s Milwaukee office at 2244 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Protesters chanted “Who cut our health care? Tom Tiffany” and “Who loves billionaires? Tom Tiffany?” The protesters even brought along a massive papier-mâché puppet of Tiffany with a placard reading “I love billionaires” slung around his neck.

The rally-goers were trying to raise awareness of Tiffany’s support for the Big, Beautiful Bill, which extended the 2017 tax cuts that greatly benefit corporations and the wealthiest taxpayers in the country, while he also voted against reauthorizing premium tax credits through the Affordable Care Act that lowered the cost of health care for millions of people across the U.S.

“We want people to know what Tom stands for,” Anthol Farrar, a vice president with SEIU Wisconsin, told Urban Milwaukee. “So if you want higher health care [costs], if you want to help the billionaires get richer, you know to vote for.”

Many Americans are struggling economically, Farrar said, adding that he thinks recent statewide elections have proven Wisconsin residents are seeking political change. “That’s how Americans speak, we speak with our vote,” he said.

Recent polling by Marquette Law School found the cost of living and health insurance were the top concerns for registered voters in Wisconsin.

“I think it’s a very bad time, if you’re a person that supports billionaires, if you’re out here trying to run for office,” Farrar said.

LuAnn Bird, a former Democratic candidate for public office and a community activist, told Urban Milwaukee voters need to understand Tiffany’s voting record before the upcoming gubernatorial election. She pointed to the massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid included in President Donald Trump‘s One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law last year. The cuts started taking effect Jan. 1 this year.

“We’re losing money this year, seniors are losing money because Tom Tiffany voted for the big bad, beautiful bill,” Bird said.“We want to make sure we connect the dots that he voted to take that away, that he has not stood up to Trump once, not once.”

Marty Calderon, a pastor and community activist on Milwaukee’s South Side, stopped by the protest Wednesday. In the past, he has worked with conservative candidates for elected office and was involved in the establishment of a Republican Party office on the city’s largely Hispanic southside.

He emphasized to Urban Milwaukee that he was not there representing any partisan interests and was merely stopping by to witness the protest. He said he thought it would have little impact on the race.

“Nothing wrong with protesting… I’m all for that,” Calderon said. “There’s a decent crowd here, but you know, how effective is this going to be to stop Tom Tiffany from getting in office?”

One of the protesters, Donna Cuyler, has been active during the past year protesting the Trump administration’s aggressive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, including the prosecution of former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, and cuts to health care funding. For Cuyler, the latter issue is personal.

“I am one of the thousands of people in Wisconsin being impacted by the failure to extend the enhanced premium tax credits,” she said.

Now that the tax credits are gone, Cuyler’s health insurance premiums will cost her an additional $8,000 this year, she said. To pay them, she’s dipping into her retirement savings.

“[Tiffany] would rather shut down the government and starve kids by cutting SNAP, rather than fund the ACA enhanced premium tax credits,” Cuyler said. “I need to be here, and so should everybody else.”

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