MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A new Washington Post feature by Karen Tumulty traces the remarkable personal story behind David Crowley’s stunning primary victory, ranking him as “the most surprising winner in this year’s turbulent primary season”, and noting that his path to politics is even more unlikely than his path to the nomination.

Tumulty details how Crowley, now Milwaukee County Executive and the Democratic nominee for governor, grew up in the 53206 zip code, one of the most heavily policed and incarcerated areas in the country. His parents struggled with addiction to crack cocaine, and the family was evicted three times before he finished high school, at times living without electricity or heat. A youth mentorship program, Urban Underground, later gave him structure and purpose.

Read more about David’s improbable rise to be the Democratic nominee for governor:

The Washington Post: This candidate won a stunning upset. His life before that is even less likely.

Read the full story here or excerpts below:

  • Now, the 40-year-old chief executive of Wisconsin’s most populous county could make history in November by becoming the state’s first Black governor. None of that would have seemed like what destiny had in mind for Crowley. His first home was one his father, a master electrician, bought from the city for $1 in 1984 and restored. His vivacious mother worked various jobs, including as a waitress and bartender.
  • “After eighth grade, Crowley got a job with a lawn maintenance company, he said, because it was “the only way that I was going to buy my own clothes, buy my own shoes.”
The third time the family was evicted, Crowley, a high school sophomore, came home to find their meager possessions on the sidewalk. Their former house on North 23rd Street was eventually demolished and is now a vacant lot.”
  • Crowley was known in high school as “Dirty,” a reference to his skin tone. “No,” Sharlen Moore, now a Milwaukee alderwoman, admonished when she heard him answer to that nickname. “Your name is David.” The Moores saw other worrisome signals. Crowley sometimes showed up late to meetings — or missed them entirely — because he had no transportation. They stepped in where they could; some nights, he slept on Sharlen’s couch.
  • “How can you focus on your own education?” [Crowley] said. “How can you focus on your own health care or job opportunities when you don’t know where you’re going to lay your head down at night?”

  • “His father overcame his addiction during Crowley’s early high school years, while “my mother took a little more time,” he said. “But you know, watching them go through what they went through, their challenges, helped me understand resilience.”


  • “I’ve learned a lot on this path — sometimes the hard way, sometimes the easy way — but always with the intention of setting a better example for my three daughters,” he told his fellow graduates. “When I decided to return to school, I wanted my kids to know that it’s okay to start over, to reinvent yourself, and to challenge yourself — even when life feels overwhelming.”
Crowley added: “We all have the ability to create the life we want.”