Latest news with #DemocraticPrimary
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Evers sounds off on gubernatorial race days after announcing he won't run
APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Governor Tony Evers said that a crowded democratic primary in the governor's race will only make the winning candidate stronger, although he said it's unlikely he'll endorse a candidate during the primary. Evers sounded off on a gubernatorial race that he no longer will be a part of during a stop at Frio Mexican Treats in Appleton Monday afternoon. He announced last week that he won't run for a third term, reiterating to reporters Monday that a major factor in his decision was his desire to spend more time with his family. Local 5 News asked Evers if he's worried that the Democrats lost their best opportunity to win the governor's office when he decided to not run for a third term. 'I think I changed the way things are working in the state of Wisconsin (changed the perception) that we can't have a Democratic governor,' Evers said. 'I got things done, things accomplished in a bipartisan way as much as possible. Do I think that I would have won, sure, but I think the best candidate out of the primary will do just as good as I could do.' Evers said deciding to not run for governor was the most difficult decision he's ever had to make. Lieutenant governor Sara Rodriguez and Milwaukee County executive David Crowley have already launched their campaigns for governor on the Democratic ticket. Chicago Cubs Icon Ryne Sandberg dead at 65 'I went through a primary and there were 20 candidates going through the democratic primary and that made me a better candidate,' Evers told reporters. Governor Evers was at Frio Mexican Treats as part of a series of 'Ice Cream Town Halls' that coincide with national ice cream month. In Appleton, he met with community leaders to talk about the state budget, answer questions, and connect how what happens in Madison impacts people in the Fox Valley. Republican candidates for governor also spoke with Local 5 News about the landscape of the gubernatorial race now that Evers is out. 'Little disappointed because I wanted to run against Governor Evers,' said Republican gubernatorial candidate Josh Schoemann. 'I think the contrast of what I've done in Washington County in the last six years compared with what he's done. The candidates that are coming out are even more extreme so that contrast will be even more bold as well.' Schoemann is the Washington County executive and a military veteran. He launched his campaign for governor back in May. Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas inducted into Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame 'I am the only candidate in this race or who is talking about joining this race who has proven I can win a primary and a general election,' Schoemann said. 'I have proven here in Washington County that I can bring voters of all stripes out to vote for me. I think that reflects well into the general election in 2026. People have shown in the first 90 days of the race that I'm the candidate they want to see.' Businessman and former Navy Seal Bill Berrien told Local 5 News that all of the potential Democratic candidates are in the 'same mold' as Evers and that in the past six years under Evers leadership the state has gone in the wrong direction. '(If I'm governor I will bring the) philosophy of my company where we say hire for attitude, train for skill,' Berrien said. 'More value created, more value captured. If we can extend that philosophy across the state, we can create an environment of prosperity for everyone.' Former Republican governor Scott Walker said over the weekend he will not run for governor again. Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski said she won't run for governor, but would consider running as lieutenant governor on a democratic ticket. While taking questions from reporters Monday in Appleton, Evers reaffirmed his commitment to closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Andrew Cuomo gets out on the streets of New York as he tries to take City Hall
Andrew Cuomo made his way across New York City's five boroughs over the weekend stopping into public housing cookouts in Harlem, pouring rum behind a bar in Brooklyn and walking in the Colombian Day Parade in Queens. It's all part of a new campaign strategy for the independent candidate to get out and hear directly from New Yorkers about how anxious they are, how suffocating the cost of living in the city has become, and, according to him, how they believe he still has a shot to take City Hall despite a stunning 12-point loss to political newcomer Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary last month. While residents of the Johnson Houses in East Harlem grilled burgers and hot dogs, part of an annual family day celebration across some public housing complexes around the city, Cuomo made his way around the courtyard smiling for selfies and shaking hands while peppering residents with a 'vote for me in November' along the way. The mostly Black, older residents in the courtyard that day were quick to recognize him and reach out for a handshake. 'This guy who is running, what's his name? Mamdani. I'm not with that,' said a man who was sitting inside a car smoking a cigar. Cuomo moved in for a handshake and a picture. 'You were my governor, so you know I got you,' the man told him. Cuomo shook his hand, replied with a 'thank you, brother' and walked away. The reception was mostly warm besides an occasional detractor, including a man who pulled Cuomo in for a handshake, took out his phone for a selfie, and as the former three-term governor of New York smiled for the camera, told him, 'I can't wait to watch you lose again.' Cuomo was unfazed. 'New Yorkers, God bless them. You know, they tell you exactly what's on their mind and what they're thinking, what they're feeling,' Cuomo told CNN on Saturday. Cuomo has spent the last few weeks on a public self-reflection tour acknowledging the mistakes of his primary campaign, saying he misjudged just how many young and first-time voters would turn out in the election. He admits he didn't work hard enough to meet voters on the streets of the city, confessing he miscalculated just how central the affordability crisis and the cost of housing have become to New Yorkers. 'They are nervous, anxious, frustrated, angry,' Cuomo said, adding, 'They want to make sure you hear it, and that you understand it and that you feel what they're feeling, and that requires that direct communication.' New York City's June Democratic primary made history across a range of categories: Mamdani, a three-term state assemblyman with little name recognition and brief government experience, managed to leapfrog over a crowded field of candidates, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, to become the Democratic nominee. The city's youngest voters, along with many New Yorkers who had never voted in primary elections, helped put Mamdani over the finish line in historic fashion. The 33-year-old, for his part, captured the electorate with a robust social media presence and a relentless focus on affordability. He promised a rent freeze for the city's rent-stabilized apartments; to make buses free; and to open supermarket stores in each borough that would be subsidized and operated by the city. Cuomo has dismissed those ideas as overly simplistic and unrealistic. He told CNN while he agrees that more political involvement among the city's youngest residents is ultimately a good thing, he worries idealism might be getting the best of them. 'They have real issues, and I think it's important that we have a real conversation with them about the issues because I get the problems, but make sure the solutions aren't so simplistic,' Cuomo said. The former governor, who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations that he has denied, relaunched his campaign as a third-party candidate. He has since focused most of his attention on his base — sectors of Black New Yorkers and White working-class voters. During Saturday's interview, Cuomo stopped short of saying his campaign has written off the city's younger residents. When asked whether he would still try to appeal to young supporters, Cuomo said he wanted to make sure they understood the complexity of government. He suggested they had fallen captive to Mamdani's social media prowess and his digestible proposals, which he says are complicated to execute and risk leaving a generation of young people disappointed by a government he believes is likely to fail. 'People get turned off because somebody runs for office and says, you know, 'I have a magic wand,'' Cuomo said. ''I'm going to make everything more affordable. I'm going to make buses run fast. I'm going to wave a wand and all of that is going to happen,' and then nothing happens.' Cuomo has said Mamdani's proposal to freeze the rent for the city's 1 million rent-stabilized tenants would not go far enough to solve the issue of affordable housing. He also says landlords whose bottom line would be impacted would have no incentive to fix apartments or keep them in good working condition. Instead, Cuomo believes the city should focus on increasing the housing stock by building more of it. 'There is no easy answer that really addresses affordability without constructing more supply more affordable housing now,' Cuomo said. His message to voters, he said, is that they should 'be smart.' 'It's not change for the sake of change, it's change for the sake of progress, and to make progress you actually have to know what you're doing, and the solutions have to be possible, feasible and effective,' he said. Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign, dismissed the criticism. 'No amount of disingenuous pandering can distract young New Yorkers from the truth: Zohran is going to tackle the affordability crisis that failed leaders like Andrew Cuomo caused,' Pekec said. Cuomo has said Mamdani is a 'threat' and could be 'dangerous' to New York City, warning that his policies could bring about damage that would take more than a decade to fix. But despite those concerns, Cuomo told CNN he would continue to live in New York City even if he loses in the general election. 'Third-generation Queens, where else could I go with this accent?' Cuomo said. Despite acknowledging he had not lived in Queens in decades and that he actually spent most of his time in the suburbs of New York City and Albany while he was governor — and explaining that New Yorkers are fiercely protective over the definition of a New Yorker — Cuomo again told CNN he plans to stay. 'I would never leave New York,' he said. In contrast with Mamdani's mostly positive campaign, Cuomo for now has continued to cast the city in a dark light, describing it as a place that is sometimes out of control. Public safety remains a central part of his message, along with proposals that include a plan to hire more police officers to tackle what he describes as a persistent crime problem. 'Crime is up and people feel that it's up, and it's combined with the homeless, mentally ill that are on the street and you're afraid that when you walk past them that they may attack you,' Cuomo said. 'So yes, we have a crime problem.' New York City's crime rate picture is much more nuanced. While shootings and murders are down through the first half of 2025, sex crimes have remained stubbornly high. In a report released this month, the NYPD reported a decline year over year across six of the seven major crime categories. Public safety is the area where Cuomo and Adams, who is also running for reelection as an independent, likely agree. And for now, Adams is using the bully pulpit at City Hall to tout his accomplishments on public safety. On Sunday, Adams stood next to New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to tout the department's work to get illegal guns off the street — more than 3,000 have been collected this year, bringing the total number of illegal firearms taken off city streets to more than 22,700 since the beginning of his administration, the mayor said Sunday. 'We have witnessed the lowest number of shootings and homicides in the recorded history,' Adams said Sunday. 'If guns are not on the street, they cannot be used to harm innocent people and we accomplished that.' For now, Adams has made it clear he plans to stay in the race. Cuomo, who has endorsed a proposal to back whichever Mamdani challenger is polling the highest in September, would not say whether his campaign is working to push Adams out of the race. He dismissed Adams' accusations that working to push out the incumbent, who is just the second Black mayor in the city's history, is disrespectful. 'I don't think this has anything to do with race,' Cuomo said. 'If you cannot win and you are just a spoiler then you're going to wind up electing Mamdani. If you believe what you say, which is that Mamdani would be a really negative force for the city, and you care about the city, then you do the right thing.'
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Andrew Cuomo gets out on the streets of New York as he tries to take City Hall
Andrew Cuomo made his way across New York City's five boroughs over the weekend stopping into public housing cookouts in Harlem, pouring rum behind a bar in Brooklyn and walking in the Colombian Day Parade in Queens. It's all part of a new campaign strategy for the independent candidate to get out and hear directly from New Yorkers about how anxious they are, how suffocating the cost of living in the city has become, and, according to him, how they believe he still has a shot to take City Hall despite a stunning 12-point loss to political newcomer Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary last month. While residents of the Johnson Houses in East Harlem grilled burgers and hot dogs, part of an annual family day celebration across some public housing complexes around the city, Cuomo made his way around the courtyard smiling for selfies and shaking hands while peppering residents with a 'vote for me in November' along the way. The mostly Black, older residents in the courtyard that day were quick to recognize him and reach out for a handshake. 'This guy who is running, what's his name? Mamdani. I'm not with that,' said a man who was sitting inside a car smoking a cigar. Cuomo moved in for a handshake and a picture. 'You were my governor, so you know I got you,' the man told him. Cuomo shook his hand, replied with a 'thank you, brother' and walked away. The reception was mostly warm besides an occasional detractor, including a man who pulled Cuomo in for a handshake, took out his phone for a selfie, and as the former three-term governor of New York smiled for the camera, told him, 'I can't wait to watch you lose again.' Cuomo was unfazed. 'New Yorkers, God bless them. You know, they tell you exactly what's on their mind and what they're thinking, what they're feeling,' Cuomo told CNN on Saturday. Cuomo has spent the last few weeks on a public self-reflection tour acknowledging the mistakes of his primary campaign, saying he misjudged just how many young and first-time voters would turn out in the election. He admits he didn't work hard enough to meet voters on the streets of the city, confessing he miscalculated just how central the affordability crisis and the cost of housing have become to New Yorkers. 'They are nervous, anxious, frustrated, angry,' Cuomo said, adding, 'They want to make sure you hear it, and that you understand it and that you feel what they're feeling, and that requires that direct communication.' New York City's June Democratic primary made history across a range of categories: Mamdani, a three-term state assemblyman with little name recognition and brief government experience, managed to leapfrog over a crowded field of candidates, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, to become the Democratic nominee. The city's youngest voters, along with many New Yorkers who had never voted in primary elections, helped put Mamdani over the finish line in historic fashion. The 33-year-old, for his part, captured the electorate with a robust social media presence and a relentless focus on affordability. He promised a rent freeze for the city's rent-stabilized apartments; to make buses free; and to open supermarket stores in each borough that would be subsidized and operated by the city. Cuomo has dismissed those ideas as overly simplistic and unrealistic. He told CNN while he agrees that more political involvement among the city's youngest residents is ultimately a good thing, he worries idealism might be getting the best of them. 'They have real issues, and I think it's important that we have a real conversation with them about the issues because I get the problems, but make sure the solutions aren't so simplistic,' Cuomo said. The former governor, who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations that he has denied, relaunched his campaign as a third-party candidate. He has since focused most of his attention on his base — sectors of Black New Yorkers and White working-class voters. During Saturday's interview, Cuomo stopped short of saying his campaign has written off the city's younger residents. When asked whether he would still try to appeal to young supporters, Cuomo said he wanted to make sure they understood the complexity of government. He suggested they had fallen captive to Mamdani's social media prowess and his digestible proposals, which he says are complicated to execute and risk leaving a generation of young people disappointed by a government he believes is likely to fail. 'People get turned off because somebody runs for office and says, you know, 'I have a magic wand,'' Cuomo said. ''I'm going to make everything more affordable. I'm going to make buses run fast. I'm going to wave a wand and all of that is going to happen,' and then nothing happens.' Cuomo has said Mamdani's proposal to freeze the rent for the city's 1 million rent-stabilized tenants would not go far enough to solve the issue of affordable housing. He also says landlords whose bottom line would be impacted would have no incentive to fix apartments or keep them in good working condition. Instead, Cuomo believes the city should focus on increasing the housing stock by building more of it. 'There is no easy answer that really addresses affordability without constructing more supply more affordable housing now,' Cuomo said. His message to voters, he said, is that they should 'be smart.' 'It's not change for the sake of change, it's change for the sake of progress, and to make progress you actually have to know what you're doing, and the solutions have to be possible, feasible and effective,' he said. Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign, dismissed the criticism. 'No amount of disingenuous pandering can distract young New Yorkers from the truth: Zohran is going to tackle the affordability crisis that failed leaders like Andrew Cuomo caused,' Pekec said. Cuomo has said Mamdani is a 'threat' and could be 'dangerous' to New York City, warning that his policies could bring about damage that would take more than a decade to fix. But despite those concerns, Cuomo told CNN he would continue to live in New York City even if he loses in the general election. 'Third-generation Queens, where else could I go with this accent?' Cuomo said. Despite acknowledging he had not lived in Queens in decades and that he actually spent most of his time in the suburbs of New York City and Albany while he was governor — and explaining that New Yorkers are fiercely protective over the definition of a New Yorker — Cuomo again told CNN he plans to stay. 'I would never leave New York,' he said. In contrast with Mamdani's mostly positive campaign, Cuomo for now has continued to cast the city in a dark light, describing it as a place that is sometimes out of control. Public safety remains a central part of his message, along with proposals that include a plan to hire more police officers to tackle what he describes as a persistent crime problem. 'Crime is up and people feel that it's up, and it's combined with the homeless, mentally ill that are on the street and you're afraid that when you walk past them that they may attack you,' Cuomo said. 'So yes, we have a crime problem.' New York City's crime rate picture is much more nuanced. While shootings and murders are down through the first half of 2025, sex crimes have remained stubbornly high. In a report released this month, the NYPD reported a decline year over year across six of the seven major crime categories. Public safety is the area where Cuomo and Adams, who is also running for reelection as an independent, likely agree. And for now, Adams is using the bully pulpit at City Hall to tout his accomplishments on public safety. On Sunday, Adams stood next to New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to tout the department's work to get illegal guns off the street — more than 3,000 have been collected this year, bringing the total number of illegal firearms taken off city streets to more than 22,700 since the beginning of his administration, the mayor said Sunday. 'We have witnessed the lowest number of shootings and homicides in the recorded history,' Adams said Sunday. 'If guns are not on the street, they cannot be used to harm innocent people and we accomplished that.' For now, Adams has made it clear he plans to stay in the race. Cuomo, who has endorsed a proposal to back whichever Mamdani challenger is polling the highest in September, would not say whether his campaign is working to push Adams out of the race. He dismissed Adams' accusations that working to push out the incumbent, who is just the second Black mayor in the city's history, is disrespectful. 'I don't think this has anything to do with race,' Cuomo said. 'If you cannot win and you are just a spoiler then you're going to wind up electing Mamdani. If you believe what you say, which is that Mamdani would be a really negative force for the city, and you care about the city, then you do the right thing.'
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Andrew Cuomo gets out on the streets of New York as he tries to take City Hall
Andrew Cuomo made his way across New York City's five boroughs over the weekend stopping into public housing cookouts in Harlem, pouring rum behind a bar in Brooklyn and walking in the Colombian Day Parade in Queens. It's all part of a new campaign strategy for the independent candidate to get out and hear directly from New Yorkers about how anxious they are, how suffocating the cost of living in the city has become, and, according to him, how they believe he still has a shot to take City Hall despite a stunning 12-point loss to political newcomer Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary last month. While residents of the Johnson Houses in East Harlem grilled burgers and hot dogs, part of an annual family day celebration across some public housing complexes around the city, Cuomo made his way around the courtyard smiling for selfies and shaking hands while peppering residents with a 'vote for me in November' along the way. The mostly Black, older residents in the courtyard that day were quick to recognize him and reach out for a handshake. 'This guy who is running, what's his name? Mamdani. I'm not with that,' said a man who was sitting inside a car smoking a cigar. Cuomo moved in for a handshake and a picture. 'You were my governor, so you know I got you,' the man told him. Cuomo shook his hand, replied with a 'thank you, brother' and walked away. The reception was mostly warm besides an occasional detractor, including a man who pulled Cuomo in for a handshake, took out his phone for a selfie, and as the former three-term governor of New York smiled for the camera, told him, 'I can't wait to watch you lose again.' Cuomo was unfazed. 'New Yorkers, God bless them. You know, they tell you exactly what's on their mind and what they're thinking, what they're feeling,' Cuomo told CNN on Saturday. Cuomo has spent the last few weeks on a public self-reflection tour acknowledging the mistakes of his primary campaign, saying he misjudged just how many young and first-time voters would turn out in the election. He admits he didn't work hard enough to meet voters on the streets of the city, confessing he miscalculated just how central the affordability crisis and the cost of housing have become to New Yorkers. 'They are nervous, anxious, frustrated, angry,' Cuomo said, adding, 'They want to make sure you hear it, and that you understand it and that you feel what they're feeling, and that requires that direct communication.' New York City's June Democratic primary made history across a range of categories: Mamdani, a three-term state assemblyman with little name recognition and brief government experience, managed to leapfrog over a crowded field of candidates, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, to become the Democratic nominee. The city's youngest voters, along with many New Yorkers who had never voted in primary elections, helped put Mamdani over the finish line in historic fashion. The 33-year-old, for his part, captured the electorate with a robust social media presence and a relentless focus on affordability. He promised a rent freeze for the city's rent-stabilized apartments; to make buses free; and to open supermarket stores in each borough that would be subsidized and operated by the city. Cuomo has dismissed those ideas as overly simplistic and unrealistic. He told CNN while he agrees that more political involvement among the city's youngest residents is ultimately a good thing, he worries idealism might be getting the best of them. 'They have real issues, and I think it's important that we have a real conversation with them about the issues because I get the problems, but make sure the solutions aren't so simplistic,' Cuomo said. The former governor, who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations that he has denied, relaunched his campaign as a third-party candidate. He has since focused most of his attention on his base — sectors of Black New Yorkers and White working-class voters. During Saturday's interview, Cuomo stopped short of saying his campaign has written off the city's younger residents. When asked whether he would still try to appeal to young supporters, Cuomo said he wanted to make sure they understood the complexity of government. He suggested they had fallen captive to Mamdani's social media prowess and his digestible proposals, which he says are complicated to execute and risk leaving a generation of young people disappointed by a government he believes is likely to fail. 'People get turned off because somebody runs for office and says, you know, 'I have a magic wand,'' Cuomo said. ''I'm going to make everything more affordable. I'm going to make buses run fast. I'm going to wave a wand and all of that is going to happen,' and then nothing happens.' Cuomo has said Mamdani's proposal to freeze the rent for the city's 1 million rent-stabilized tenants would not go far enough to solve the issue of affordable housing. He also says landlords whose bottom line would be impacted would have no incentive to fix apartments or keep them in good working condition. Instead, Cuomo believes the city should focus on increasing the housing stock by building more of it. 'There is no easy answer that really addresses affordability without constructing more supply more affordable housing now,' Cuomo said. His message to voters, he said, is that they should 'be smart.' 'It's not change for the sake of change, it's change for the sake of progress, and to make progress you actually have to know what you're doing, and the solutions have to be possible, feasible and effective,' he said. Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign, dismissed the criticism. 'No amount of disingenuous pandering can distract young New Yorkers from the truth: Zohran is going to tackle the affordability crisis that failed leaders like Andrew Cuomo caused,' Pekec said. Cuomo has said Mamdani is a 'threat' and could be 'dangerous' to New York City, warning that his policies could bring about damage that would take more than a decade to fix. But despite those concerns, Cuomo told CNN he would continue to live in New York City even if he loses in the general election. 'Third-generation Queens, where else could I go with this accent?' Cuomo said. Despite acknowledging he had not lived in Queens in decades and that he actually spent most of his time in the suburbs of New York City and Albany while he was governor — and explaining that New Yorkers are fiercely protective over the definition of a New Yorker — Cuomo again told CNN he plans to stay. 'I would never leave New York,' he said. In contrast with Mamdani's mostly positive campaign, Cuomo for now has continued to cast the city in a dark light, describing it as a place that is sometimes out of control. Public safety remains a central part of his message, along with proposals that include a plan to hire more police officers to tackle what he describes as a persistent crime problem. 'Crime is up and people feel that it's up, and it's combined with the homeless, mentally ill that are on the street and you're afraid that when you walk past them that they may attack you,' Cuomo said. 'So yes, we have a crime problem.' New York City's crime rate picture is much more nuanced. While shootings and murders are down through the first half of 2025, sex crimes have remained stubbornly high. In a report released this month, the NYPD reported a decline year over year across six of the seven major crime categories. Public safety is the area where Cuomo and Adams, who is also running for reelection as an independent, likely agree. And for now, Adams is using the bully pulpit at City Hall to tout his accomplishments on public safety. On Sunday, Adams stood next to New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to tout the department's work to get illegal guns off the street — more than 3,000 have been collected this year, bringing the total number of illegal firearms taken off city streets to more than 22,700 since the beginning of his administration, the mayor said Sunday. 'We have witnessed the lowest number of shootings and homicides in the recorded history,' Adams said Sunday. 'If guns are not on the street, they cannot be used to harm innocent people and we accomplished that.' For now, Adams has made it clear he plans to stay in the race. Cuomo, who has endorsed a proposal to back whichever Mamdani challenger is polling the highest in September, would not say whether his campaign is working to push Adams out of the race. He dismissed Adams' accusations that working to push out the incumbent, who is just the second Black mayor in the city's history, is disrespectful. 'I don't think this has anything to do with race,' Cuomo said. 'If you cannot win and you are just a spoiler then you're going to wind up electing Mamdani. If you believe what you say, which is that Mamdani would be a really negative force for the city, and you care about the city, then you do the right thing.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley says he plans to enter Democratic field for governor
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said on Friday he would take steps to enter the Democratic primary for governor, saying the "stakes are simply too high to sit on the sidelines." Crowley, while not an officially announced candidate, signaled his plans a day after Gov. Tony Evers announced that he would not seek re-election. "I care deeply about the direction Wisconsin takes from here. It is more important than ever that Wisconsin continues to have strong leadership," he said in a statement on July 25. "Governor Evers has laid a strong foundation. I believe it's our responsibility to build on that progress — and I look forward to engaging in that conversation with the people of Wisconsin." More: 12 key moments in the Tony Evers era as Wisconsin governor If elected, Crowley would become the state's first African American governor, after becoming Milwaukee County's first African American county executive in 2020. For more than a year, Crowley, 39, has been coy about whether he would actively seek higher office, routinely stating he planned to carry out his term as county executive after his re-election in 2024 while also keeping the door open to a gubernatorial run. Crowley has more than $200,000 in campaign cash on hand, according to his July 2025 campaign finance report. He has also received roughly $71,000 in contributions through June 30 this year. He's received individual and committee contributions, including from Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Ann Jacobs and commissioner Mark Thomsen and former Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry. While Crowley was raised in one of the state's toughest ZIP codes — 53206 — he later pursued a career in politics, serving as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly between 2017 and 2020. Three years ago he also decided to pursue a degree at UW-Milwaukee and graduated last December, all the while carrying out his duties as county executive. Crowley has in the past expressed support for legalizing marijuana, preserving access to abortions in Wisconsin, and has criticized President Donald Trump's spending plan's effects on Medicaid and food stamps. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who served in the state Assembly after Crowley left, is the only candidate in the primary as of Friday, July 25. But the field will all but certainly grow. Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and state Sen. Kelda Roys are considering bids, among others. (This story is developing and will be updated.) This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Exec David Crowley says he plans bid for governor Solve the daily Crossword
