Polls show a close race, but Tiffany has a huge financial edge thanks to billionaire backers
MADISON (CBS 58) — New poll numbers show the race for governor is close, but the fundraising race is anything but. Tom Tiffany has raised more than three times as much money as David Crowley.
Campaigns rely on donations to get their messages out to voters across the state through advertising and voter outreach. Right now, Tiffany has a significant financial advantage over Crowley, thanks in large part to support from several wealthy Republican donors.
Campaign finance reports show Tiffany has received more than $43 million in contributions, compared with more than $12 million for Crowley. More than $24 million of Tiffany’s total came from three billionaires, something Crowley was quick to criticize.
“Why would they contribute that amount of money to a politician? It’s because these billionaires know that if they buy Congressman Tom Tiffany in this election, he will sell Wisconsin out to them. To them, this is clearly just monopoly money,” said David Crowley, the Democratic candidate for governor.
Tom Tiffany responded to Crowley with the following statement:
“David Crowley is jetting between Washington, D.C., and California with Kamala Harris while his campaign takes thousands from AI interests and defund-the-police advocates and millions from the billionaire-backed Democrat Party of Wisconsin. He is fully embracing an agenda of higher taxes, soft-on-crime policies, and massive data centers all over Wisconsin,” the Tiffany campaign said.
Crowley recently attended a campaign event in California with Kamala Harris and actor Sean Penn.
“Dick Uihlein, Liz Uihlein and Diane Hendricks have given tens of millions of dollars to the state Republican Party, and the state Republican Party has then transferred that money to the Tiffany campaign, making the Tiffany operation flush with cash,” said Anthony Chergosky, an associate professor of political science at UW-La Crosse.
The candidate with the most money is not always guaranteed to win. The latest Marquette Law School poll shows Crowley holding a three-point lead over Tiffany among likely voters and a one-point lead among registered voters.
“It shows us that money on its own does not necessarily determine the election outcome. There are so many factors in this campaign that are going to influence the outcome, including Donald Trump’s approval rating, the price of gas and unique state-level issues that both candidates are trying to take important positions on,” Chergosky said.
Chergosky added that one reason fewer donations are coming into Crowley’s campaign is that several wealthy Democratic donors are spending their money on U.S. House and Senate races in an effort to flip control in Washington.