MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Wisconsin's candidates for governor made their cases to voters Wednesday night, facing off in their only scheduled debate before Election Day.

Democratic nominee and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Republican nominee and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany met at the Lubar Center inside Marquette University Law School's Eckstein Hall for the hourlong debate, hosted by WISN.

CBS 58's Adam Rife and Meredith Hackler were there as the candidates sparred over affordability, taxes, transportation, abortion, public safety and the 2020 presidential election, among other issues.

Affordability emerged as one of the central themes of the night, with the candidates offering different approaches to reducing costs for Wisconsin families.

On affordability, Tiffany argued for returning state surplus dollars to taxpayers and reducing taxes, telling reporters after the debate that voters are looking for solutions to rising costs.

"We delivered that message tonight about how we can return money to the taxpayers of the state of Wisconsin," Tiffany said. "But we can also control costs for them, and that's what people are looking for in Wisconsin, is answers."

During the debate, Tiffany said he wants to return the state's projected surplus to taxpayers and eliminate state taxes on tips and overtime. However, he said returning the state surplus wouldn’t include giving out rebate checks, like Americans saw during COVID-19. Instead, he says he wants to return the surplus by giving long-term tax relief. One policy he says would accomplish that is by giving a 10% tax cut to people making 150K or less a year.

Crowley called for what he described as a fairer tax system while putting more state funding toward public schools in an effort to reduce pressure on local property taxpayers.

Education was another key issue, with both campaigns arguing their candidate offered the better approach to funding Wisconsin schools while controlling costs for taxpayers.

Crowley did not appear in the post-debate media availability, with campaign surrogate and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler speaking on his behalf. The Tom Tiffany campaign sent out an email blast following that decision saying:

David Crowley refused to face the media, despite agreeing to do so beforehand. Before the debate, the Tiffany and Crowley campaigns flipped a coin to decide who would go first in the post-debate press gaggle. Crowley’s team committed to participating, as did the Tiffany campaign.

Wikler said Crowley didn’t need to because he won the debate.

"David Crowley won the debate," Wikler said. "Sometimes you have a candidate who needs to come out and do damage control. I think that's what we just saw from Tom Tiffany. Tonight, I think David Crowley is going to be celebrating with a whole bunch of Wisconsinites across the state who saw very clearly that David Crowley knows how to lead, and Tom Tiffany knows how to dismantle."

Tiffany pushed back on that assessment, saying his focus throughout the debate was on explaining what he would do as governor rather than attacking his opponent.

"I do this. I've been through these debates before, and it was clear. He wanted to be very aggressive during the debate," Tiffany said. "As I said in the debate, it's clear who he is against. That's not what the voters and viewers are looking for tonight. They want to know what you're for as governor, and I delivered that message."

The candidates also clashed over transportation funding. Tiffany rejected potential new user fees, tolls, and indexing the state gas tax to inflation while saying transportation could receive additional funding through the state budget. Crowley said he was open to options including tolling or other user fees but opposed indexing the gas tax.

The 2020 presidential election also became a major point of disagreement. Moderators questioned Tiffany about his votes in Congress objecting to the certification of election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Tiffany cited concerns about private money used to support election administration. Both candidates said during the debate that they would certify the results of the 2028 presidential election regardless of the outcome.

Abortion and public safety also produced sharp differences between the candidates. Tiffany said he supports Wisconsin's current 20-week abortion limit and would not sign a six-week ban, while Crowley said decisions about abortion should remain between patients and doctors and has supported efforts to protect abortion rights in the state Constitution.

Wikler said Crowley's focus on taxes and public services reflects priorities he believes cross party lines.

"David Crowley was pretty clear, believing billionaires should pay their share of taxes to fund public schools, that we should reduce costs for regular folks," Wikler said. "And those are views that are supported by people of every party and no party. He's heard from across the state of Wisconsin from Republicans and Democrats alike that this is a top priority."

Wednesday's debate represented one of the final major opportunities for the two candidates to make their cases side by side before Wisconsin voters choose the state's next governor on Nov. 3.