With two-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers declining to seek re-election, the battle for Wisconsin’s highest executive office features an open race between Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany.
For northern Wisconsin voters, the outcome holds significant stakes for local road infrastructure, rural healthcare funding, logging and tourism regulations, and wildlife management.
In addition to the gubernatorial race, positions of lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer are also on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Candidates for open seats are listed in alphabetical order by last name, and races with incumbents list the current officeholder first.
Democrat David Crowley currently serves as Milwaukee County Executive, a position he was elected to in 2020 as the youngest person and first African American to hold the office. A former community organizer and state representative for Wisconsin’s 17th Assembly District, Crowley earned his bachelor’s degree from the UW-Milwaukee.
Crowley’s platform emphasizes state investments in workforce housing, mental health infrastructure, public education and targeted property tax relief.
Backed by Gov. Tony Evers, Crowley advocates for protecting reproductive rights, expanding Medicaid access to bring federal funds to local healthcare facilities and bolstering state shared revenue for municipalities.
Crowley points to his bipartisan experience negotiating state shared revenue deals in county government as evidence that he can work across the aisle for rural communities. For the Northwoods, Crowley supports increasing state General Transportation Aids for county and town road repairs, offering financial subsidies to stabilize rural emergency medical services, and funding environmental initiatives to clean up PFAS contamination in municipal and private wells.
Republican Tom Tiffany has served as the U.S. representative for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District since 2020. A longtime resident of northern Wisconsin, Tiffany previously served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate. Before entering public office, he owned and operated Wilderness Cruises on the Willow Flowage and worked as a dam tender. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the UW-River Falls.
Tiffany’s platform focuses on tax reduction, regulatory reform, public safety and election integrity. He advocates for implementing a statewide property tax freeze, reducing state income tax rates, streamlining state agency operations and supporting law enforcement agencies.
Drawing on his roots in the Northwoods, Tiffany has focused on direct economic support for rural industries by rolling back environmental regulations on logging, agriculture and mining. He supports expanding state DNR timber sales, giving local county boards greater control over local wolf management targets, protecting traditional hunting and snowmobiling access on public lands, and eliminating state mandates that slow down local road construction projects.
The lieutenant governor stands first in line of succession to the governor, serves as president of the State Senate and fulfills executive duties as assigned by the governor.
Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on a joint ticket in the general election.
Democratic candidate Sarah Godlewski currently serves as Wisconsin Secretary of State, having previously served as Wisconsin State Treasurer from 2019 to 2023. She holds a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University and completed executive education at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Godlewski emphasizes rural healthcare retention, early childhood education funding and small business expansion. For northern communities, she advocates for expanding state grants to recruit and retain rural doctors and nurses, funding rural childcare co-ops, and expanding high-speed broadband infrastructure along rural highway corridors.
Republican David Varnam is the former mayor of Lancaster in southwestern Wisconsin and a public policy advisor. He earned his bachelor’s degree from North Central University.
His campaign focuses on workforce development, municipal mandate relief and rural economic growth. For northern Wisconsin, he advocates for increasing vocational trade training in rural high schools and technical colleges to address labor shortages in the timber, building and tourism sectors, alongside reducing state regulatory fees for small businesses.
In a rematch of sorts, Democratic incumbent Josh Kaul will again face Republican Eric Toney, whom he narrowly defeated in the 2022 election.
Kaul was elected attorney general in 2018. A former federal prosecutor and civil rights attorney, Kaul earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Stanford Law School.
Kaul emphasizes public safety funding, gun violence prevention, consumer protection and defending state environmental regulations.
He also highlights DOJ efforts to combat the drug epidemic, focusing investigative resources on drug trafficking in rural counties through Division of Criminal Investigation task forces. He supports increasing state aid for county district attorneys and sheriffs’ departments, along with environmental enforcement to protect northern watersheds and public lands.
Toney has served as the Fond du Lac County District Attorney since 2013 and is president of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association. He earned his undergraduate degree from Saint Norbert College and his law degree from Hamline University School of Law.
His campaign centers on violent crime reduction, bail reform, strict enforcement of state laws and increased support for law enforcement agencies.
Toney advocates for expanding state crime lab resources to speed up drug testing turnaround times for northern law enforcement agencies. He supports placing additional state prosecutors in rural counties facing heavy court caseloads and pledges to work closely with local sheriffs on border-to-border drug enforcement efforts along major northern transit corridors.
The secretary of state maintains official state records, holds custody of the Great Seal of Wisconsin and fulfills constitutional administrative duties.
Republican candidate Jay Schroeder is a real estate broker, former municipal plan commissioner, and previous nominee for Secretary of State. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the UW-Oshkosh.
Schroeder advocates for reforming the office to play an active role in administrative oversight, business filings, and election integrity advocacy. For the Northwoods, he supports streamlining state licensing requirements for rural entrepreneurs, tourism operators, and real estate transactions.
Democrat JoCasta Zamarripa currently serves as a member of the Milwaukee Common Council and previously served nearly a decade in the Wisconsin State Assembly representing District 8. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the UW-Milwaukee.
Zamarripa focuses on addressing rising family costs, fully funding public education, and opposing voter suppression efforts. For northern Wisconsin, she underscores the importance of leveraging the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) to protect and grow the Common School Fund, ensuring rural public school libraries receive consistent funding support.
Running for the Green Party is Pete Karas, a small-business owner and former Racine City Council member. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the UW-La Crosse and has served as a candidate-recruitment coordinator for the Wisconsin Green Party.
Karas advocates for systemic government reforms, including making the Secretary of State’s office a nonpartisan position, expanding public access to government records, lowering ballot-access thresholds for third-party candidates, and enacting automatic voter registration.
For northern Wisconsin, Karas opposes granting BCPL easements through state trust forests for major infrastructure projects, prioritizing ecological preservation and sustainable forestry over large utility developments.
The state treasurer serves as the chief financial custodian of state funds and sits on the BCPL, which manages state trust lands and administers municipal loan programs.
Incumbent John Leiber was elected Wisconsin State Treasurer in 2022. An attorney and former legislative staffer, Leiber earned his undergraduate degree from UW-Parkside and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Leiber advocates for fiscal restraint, returning unclaimed property to state residents, and protecting state trust assets.
He emphasizes prudent management of BCPL trust lands to balance sustainable timber harvesting with maximizing investment returns for public school libraries across rural districts.
Democratic challenger Yee Leng Xiong is a Marathon County Board Supervisor, treasurer of the D.C. Everest Area School Board, and executive director of New Beginnings for Refugees. He previously served as a trustee for the Village of Weston and on the Governor’s Financial Literacy Council. Xiong holds a high school diploma from D.C. Everest High School.
Xiong advocates for active oversight of state trust funds, expanding financial literacy initiatives, returning unclaimed property to residents, and improving fiscal transparency.
His priority is managing the state’s $1.3 billion Common School Fund to ensure rural school libraries receive direct financial returns. He supports expanding low-interest Trust Fund Loans to help northern towns, counties, and school districts finance roads, municipal buildings, and infrastructure projects without raising local property taxes.
See more election-related stories throughout this week’s edition.
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