MADISON – Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will revive his campaign for governor after a massive upheaval in the Democratic primary this week.
Crowley will hold a campaign rally at 3rd Street Market Hall in Milwaukee to announce his return to the race, a spokesman said.
The news comes as the field is rocked by the rapid implosion of Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s campaign just as it appeared to pick up momentum toward closing in on apparent frontrunners state Rep. Francesca Hong and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
Democratic strategists worked behind the scenes to bring Crowley back just a week after he ended his own campaign and backed Rodriguez, who withdrew from the race July 17. Senior Democratic strategists confirmed Friday that Gov. Tony Evers was “very strongly considering” backing the county executive.
Hong, a democratic socialist who has maintained momentum since she launched her underdog campaign in September 2025, said she welcomes Crowley’s return to the race and will remain focused on building a winning coalition.
“I welcome David Crowley back into the race, and I look forward to the perspective he’ll bring as we each make our case to Wisconsinites over the next three weeks,” Hong said. “Competition is good for democracy, and voters deserve a substantive debate about the future of our state. Our campaign will remain focused on building the working-class coalition it will take to defeat Tom Tiffany and deliver permanent affordability for Wisconsin families.”
Internal and statewide polling had shown in recent weeks that most decided Democratic voters favored Barnes, Hong or Rodriguez. But Democratic insiders said Friday that Barnes’s campaign has stalled despite him entering the race with the most name recognition of all the candidates after his unsuccessful 2022 U.S. Senate bid.
“From everything we’ve seen, this was Mandela Barnes’s race to lose, and he’s been losing it,” said one highly placed Democrat.
In a statement Friday night, Barnes campaign manager Darby O’Connor said Crowley “left this race for a reason.”
“He and his allies spent nearly a million dollars but gained absolutely no traction and was stuck in the low single digits,” O’Connor said. “With just three weeks until Election Day and after nearly 70,000 people have voted, this Hail Mary serves no purpose other than playing spoiler and handing our state to Trump’s handpicked candidate in Tom Tiffany.”
Barnes’s campaign earlier in the day pointed to a post on X from Barnes’s pollster who said the primary is a race between the former lieutenant governor and Hong. State Sen. Kelda Roys’s campaign has also argued the primary is a two-person race – but between Hong and Roys, who reported the most cash on hand in their finance reports for the first half of the year.
“We need to move forward and unite behind the strongest candidate to beat Tom Tiffany and deliver a Democratic Legislature, which is Kelda Roys,” said Roys campaign spokesman Jalen Knuteson. “We have been on TV statewide for over a month and still have more cash on hand than most of the field, the most endorsements by far, and the most momentum.”
Roys and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan have consistently trailed the top candidates in polls, but both said they’ve seen renewed interest in their campaigns in the days since Rodriguez announced she had fired her campaign manager after she said she discovered her account was more than $1 million short of what she believed she had.
Crowley and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes both ended their campaigns in recent weeks and endorsed Rodriguez – Crowley just days before Rodriguez announced she had fired campaign manger Kara Spencer. Hughes posted on X on Friday urging Crowley to “get back in this race.”
Campaign finance reports filed Wednesday showed Crowley ended the current reporting period, which concluded June 30, with $315,179 in his account.
Hong reported $410,563 on hand; Roys reported $406,493, Brennan reported $359,583 and Barnes reported $204,208.
The wide open Democratic field emerged after Evers announced a year ago he would not seek a third term as governor. The winner of the primary will face Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Exec David Crowley getting back into governor’s race
Reporting by Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
