David Crowley said he will not campaign with Hasan Piker ahead of the November election, unlike Francesca Hong, who campaigned and fundraised with the controversial streamer before losing in last week’s Democratic primary.

“Look, I think we have to reach voters where they are,” the Dem gubernatorial nominee said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics-State Affairs. “But, you know, I have my ways of doing that. I don’t want to lend credibility to platforms, if you will, that I believe further divides us as a community, further divides Democrats, or further divides this country. But I do know that we have to focus on bringing everybody into this tent, and so I’m always willing to have those tough conversations.”

The Milwaukee County exec said Hong called him early Wednesday morning to concede, calling it a quick “but good conversation.”

“She called me that morning to let me know, basically wanted to thank me for the type of race that we ran, congratulated me, and I congratulated her on the type of leadership that she showed throughout this entire campaign, but also for pushing us even further,” Crowley said. “And so my goal is to make sure that we can create that unity.”

During the primary, Crowley told a group of supporters there weren’t a lot of policies he differs from with Hong.

“What I mean by that is there’s many things that everybody agrees on, right?” Crowley said. “I agree with, for example, that we need safe communities. I’m not sure if that’s a Democratic or Republican talking point. We need to make sure that we have access to public education, and we need to have access to healthcare. Look, when it comes down to Fran and I, yes, there are some things that we absolutely disagree on, but we do agree on is that we could come to the table just like this and negotiate how we move our party, how we move our people forward.”

Meanwhile, Tom Tiffany wouldn’t say definitively whether he wants Donald Trump back to Wisconsin to campaign for him ahead of November after the president endorsed Tiffany early in the race.

“The president’s going to make that decision,” the GOP gubernatorial nominee told “UpFront.” “He’s got his hands full both nationally and internationally. They’re going to do the midterm convention. He should decide what he’s going to do, because I can tell you, I independently decide what I’m going to do as far as our campaign, and we’re going to do what’s best to be able to win this election and do what’s right for the people of the state of Wisconsin.”

Tiffany said he was “prepared for whoever would come out” of the Democratic primary, saying, “It was clear the Democrat establishment, they did not want her.”

“I think I’ve thought all along there’s not a dime’s worth of difference in the candidates on the Democratic side,” Tiffany said. “They basically have adopted all the same policies. Really, the leadership of the Democratic Party has capitulated to this democrat socialist movement, and even David Crowley said a couple of weeks ago that my policies are going to be very similar to Francesca Hong’s.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, said in an interview Wednesday the GOP must work on turnout ahead of November, saying Trump needs to mobilize the Republican base to vote in Wisconsin.

There were about 491,000 votes cast in the GOP gubernatorial primary, compared to 792,000 in the Dem primary, according to unofficial returns.

“Yeah, I think one of the biggest challenges is turnout,” Tiffany said. “I think part of the reason there wasn’t as many people, there was not as dynamic of a governor’s race on the Republican side, so I think that’s part of the reason you see that fall off a little bit. But we’ve got to make sure we turn out people because we are in a position now when we get the greatest amount of turnout, Republicans win. So it will be a turnout election.”

“UpFront” also looked at a new Badger Battleground Poll that shows David Crowley with an edge over Tom Tiffany, 48% to 44%.

The poll of 500 likely voters, conducted Wednesday and Thursday, is one of the first snapshots in the race for governor after Crowley beat Francesca Hong in the Democratic primary last week.

“What it tells us is it’s a statistical tie,” said Keith Gilkes, a Republican strategist and executive chairman of Platform Communications, which commissioned the poll. “At the end of the day, yes, David Crowley is up by four points over Tom Tiffany. That’s well within the margin of error and very typical for this type of race. We’re in a purple state, so I wouldn’t expect anything else, and the campaign’s just starting.”

Tanya Bjork, a Democratic strategist and adviser on the poll, said the results in part could represent a post-primary boost for Crowley.

“But this poll has some kind of not great news for Tom Tiffany,” Bjork said. “I mean, technically, he should probably be leading right now. He spent all summer long running really great positive ads, and his ads were really good, trying to introduce himself to voters. And that doesn’t seem to have broken through, even though he was sort of unanswered all summer long.”

Among independent voters, the poll found Crowley leading Tiffany 42% to 30%.

“We have to get out there and get the message out about what Tom’s policies are and what his positions are and make sure people really truly understand the contrast,” Gilkes said. “What you see in the poll is kind of a reflection of what the general political environment is. We’re kind of starting at zero at the moment in terms of the prior in the general as opposed to the primary, and so moving forward the key part of this is going to be the independents. And look, everyone knows what our state comes down to — presidential fall elections, gubernatorial elections — this is plus or minus 20, 30,000 votes one way or another.”

In the poll, Crowley is viewed favorably by 43% of voters and unfavorably by 26%; Tiffany’s favorability sits at 38%, while 43% view him unfavorably. 

See more from the show.