Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany made the Green Bay metro his first campaign stop following the state Republican Party’s annual convention over the weekend.
“The Fox Valley, northeastern Wisconsin, the Green Bay area: You are ground zero,” Tiffany said May 18 to a roomful of supporters at the Village Grille Event Center in Bellevue. “This is where we need to turn people out in order to be able to win this election.
He spoke for about half an hour alongside former Republican Gov. Scott Walker while about 20 protesters chanted outside.
Tiffany outlined his vision of a conservative governorship for Wisconsin, stressing lower taxes, an audit of state agencies, and a reevaluation of the state’s education system. Throughout the event, Tiffany and Walker contrasted the platform as opposite to that of Minnesota, Illinois, and Democrats broadly, whom Walker repeatedly called “radicals.”
“They’re going to be not attacking Tom; they’re going to be attacking all of you, saying that your values are somehow not in sync with what people like their frontrunner thinks,” Walker told the roughly 50 attendees that included former Republican state Rep. John Macco in a red campaign-branded T-shirt.
In opening remarks, Walker cast Tiffany as a continuation of himself and former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, emphasizing their tax cuts.
Several of Tiffany’s most emphasized policies would challenge those enacted under outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, especially on issues of taxation and cost-of-living, which Tiffany said resembled those faced by Walker in his first years as governor over a decade before.
Tiffany continued criticism of Evers’ and Republican leaders’ deal to use $1.8 billion of the state’s projected $2.5 million surplus toward tax rebate checks, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, and education spending.
He said he did not support the deal “because [Evers] didn’t want to return all the money to the taxpayers.” Evers, for his part, has faulted those who opposed and voted against the deal of politicking, saying “they’d rather do what’s best for the next election than what’s right for the people of our state.”
Tiffany denied calling state senators to influence how they would vote, saying he called legislators to get information about the deal, then called senators to say he would not support the bill as a courtesy.
Responding to a question from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Tiffany said his first act as governor, on the first day, would be to undo a partial veto by Evers. Through a wording change in the 2023-25 budget, Evers had given public schools the voluntary authority to raise revenues up to $325 per student annually for the next 400 years, which Republicans have tried to reverse amid a statewide rise in property taxes.
Tiffany said his second action would be to audit state agencies “to root out the fraud and waste.” He repeatedly referenced Medicaid fraud in Minnesota that is under federal investigation.
“I refuse to allow Minnesota’s madness and Illinois’ insanity to become Wisconsin’s way of life,” Tiffany said.
Tiffany engaged the attendees in a call-and-response over what he said people wanted to see in a governor. Competition in the health insurance marketplace. Nuclear energy in the power supply. A decrease in utility rates. The preservation of farmland specifically from being turned into renewable energy sites or data centers. And calling “moms ‘moms,’ not ‘inseminated persons,’” which drew the loudest applause from the crowd.
Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, touted his support of the SAVE Act, a Republican-backed measure that must still pass the U.S. Senate requiring voters to give proof of citizenship upon registration.
He was also met by protesters who denounced his votes last July on the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and in January against the extension of Obamacare subsidies. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated about 276,000 Wisconsinites would be impacted by the One Bill Beautiful Bill’s $900 billion reduction to Medicaid spending over a decade, cuts which are expected to be effective by 2027. The protesters attributed the reduction to Tiffany, with chants of “Who cut our health care? Tiffany! Tiffany!” Health insurance costs under Obamacare, officially the Affordable Care Act, have also spiked.
When asked about the protesters, Tiffany said he was glad they were engaged in the political process. He continued that “the important thing to remember is that we did not cut Medicaid,” repeating a defense made last week by U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden. Tiffany also said that eliminating fraud would strengthen Medicaid.
Taking questions from attendees, Tiffany also said sanctuary cities, which limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, would be no more in Wisconsin under his governorship. He went further to say that he would ensure that local, county and state law enforcement coordinate with federal authorities on unauthorized immigration.
He said Wisconsin “has fallen behind Mississippi” on education. He appeared to reference a study showing that, compared to other states, Wisconsin has struggled to recover in math and reading performance since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Wisconsin still sees higher outcomes overall than the national average in reading and math.
Tiffany continued that “we’re going to tackle that, and we’re going to set higher standards, not low.”
There would be prohibitions on converting farmland into data centers with government subsidies, Tiffany said. He added that there would be no nondisclosure agreements signed by local communities when engaging with data center developers and that “we should make sure that there is local input.” He did not oppose new data centers entirely, saying that data center construction would happen with local support if his three preceding conditions were met.
Tiffany projected confidence that he would win the governorship in November. He repeated a saying that he attributed to Walker, that elections are won with money, messaging, and manpower.
“We have sharp messengers,” Tiffany said, “And we’re going to compete. We’re going to compete on the money-side, also. So we’re going to have a full-blown campaign that can win in November.”
In November, Tiffany will face whomever of the 10 Democratic candidates for governor win that party’s Aug. 11 primary.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mandela Barnes issued a statement following the event, calling Walker a “union-buster” and saying Tiffany’s appearance alongside Walker was “a slap in the face to every Wisconsin worker.”
(The story was updated to add new information.)
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. He also writes a weekly column answering reader questions about Green Bay. Contact and send him questions at 920-834-4250 or jlin@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Tiffany outlines conservative plans in Green Bay-area campaign stop
Reporting by Jesse Lin, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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