What Explains Evers Endorsement of David Crowley for Governor?

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. File photo by Sophie Bolich.

If the July drama of Wisconsin Democrats were a play, it might be called You Can’t Make This Up.

One candidate for governor quits the race. The lieutenant governor blames her campaign manager for falsifying campaign-finance reports and then also quits the race. The Democratic governor then bypasses two candidates he had worked closely with to endorse the candidate who had ended his campaign days earlier.

The chaos wasn’t lost on Republicans, who are counting on their presumptive candidate for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, winning on Nov. 3.

“Watching Wisconsin Democrats is like watching a clown car crash into a parked semi-truck,” Republican Governors Association spokesperson Kolin Crompton told WisPolitics.

You’ve been busy, so you may need a short ticktock summary of the July adventure of Wisconsin Democrats.

July 8: Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley ends his campaign for governor. No poll or unofficial survey had him leading the field of candidates to replace the retiring Gov. Tony Evers.

July 13: Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez announces that her campaign manager had filed false campaign finance reports that included donations counted twice. The errors were discovered when Rodriguez’s campaign couldn’t pay for a new round of TV ads.

July 16: Rodriguez quits the race, saying the campaign finance controversy killed her chances. She was the third candidate to quit the race, if you count Crowley’s July 8 exit. Missy Hughes, former CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Authority, ended her campaign on June 22.

July 18: Crowley restarts his campaign for governor. While on a trade mission to Africa, Evers sends Wisconsin Democrats a gift they didn’t expect: an endorsement of Crowley in the Aug. 11 primary for governor.

“I’m all in on making sure Wisconsinites continue to have a governor who will stand up for the people of our state, who understands the challenges facing working families and has real plans to help, and who will work to do the right thing when it matters most, and that’s why I’m all in on David Crowley — and I’m urging Wisconsinites to join me in supporting him,” Evers said in a social media statement.

The endorsement stunned many Democrats, since Crowley said on July 8 he could not be elected governor.

The Evers endorsement also bypassed two other candidates who had worked closely with the governor: Mandela Barnes, lieutenant governor in Evers’ first term, and Joel Brennan, whom Evers appointed his first secretary of the Department of Administration (nicknamed “Department of All”) weeks after his 2018 election. Brennan held that job until 2022.

For his part, Crowley said it was an “honor” to get Evers’ endorsement.

“This isn’t about any of the other primary candidates,” Crowley told the Wisconsin Examiner. “This is about making sure that we have the best candidate that can defeat Tom Tiffany and his extreme MAGA agenda.”

It all left many Wisconsin Democrats asking why Evers endorsed Crowley.

Choose from some of these theories, or come up with your own:

-Evers believes Tiffany would easily defeat state Rep. Francesca Hong, of Madison, a Democratic Socialist, despite the wins those candidates have had in New York City, Colorado and Washington, D.C.

-The governor also remembers that Hong voted against the tax refund and K-12 education package he negotiated with the two top Republicans in the Legislature.

-Evers also doesn’t think state Sen. Kelda Roys, also of Madison, can be elected governor. Since she isn’t up for reelection this year, Roys is also in line for an important committee assignment — co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee — if Democrats win control of the Senate. Roys was also one of the 15 Senate Democrats who killed that tax refund and school aid package in May.

-Evers may also doubt that Brennan is well-known enough to be elected governor. When he announced Brennan’s resignation, Evers praised him for helping lead through the COVID-19 pandemic, calling him “a critical partner in supporting our state and our economic recovery efforts.”

Now, Evers’ message to Brennan may be, “It’s not personal, Joel. It’s politics.”

-Evers may feel that the political capital of Barnes peaked in 2022, when he lost a very close election to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

-Since Evers has stressed diversity, appointing a record number of minorities and women, he may want part of his legacy to be helping elect Crowley as the first Black governor.

What’s next? A new Marquette University poll this week will estimate whether Evers’ endorsement helped Crowley’s campaign.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com