David Crowley formally endorsed Sara Rodriguez for governor a day after ending his own bid, and he called on other Dems to rally around the lieutenant governor as the best bet to beat Republican Tom Tiffany this fall.
But the campaigns of frontrunners Mandela Barnes and Francesca Hong yesterday sought to make the case that Crowley’s backers are more aligned with their platforms.
Meanwhile, Kelda Roys announced she’s raised $1.2 million for her bid. The campaign of Joel Brennan said the former DOA secretary wished the county executive well, but he’s “focused on making his case to Wisconsin voters between now and August 11.”
Crowley is the second former Dem gubernatorial candidate to back Rodriguez after dropping out of the race; former WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes did the same after ending her campaign June 22.
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Crowley, the Milwaukee County exec and a former member of the Assembly, told a Milwaukee news conference he put his ego aside in dropping out of the race to focus on what’s best for the people of Wisconsin.
“All the candidates should be looking really hard as far as what do they want to see as an outcome,” he said.
Crowley also told reporters no one called on him to drop out, and he made the decision on his own.
His move comes as some Dems have worried that Hong’s democratic socialist ties would make it difficult for her to win a statewide election in a purple state like Wisconsin.
“I want to be very clear that there was no establishment process,” Crowley said. “This is me making a decision in this race to support Sara Rodriguez because I believe that she is the best candidate.”
Hong campaign manager Becky Cooper said the campaign would welcome Crowley’s backers.
“We respect his decision, but feel his former supporters’ concerns align much more closely with our platform of permanent affordability for the working class,” she said.
Barnes’ campaign, meanwhile, argued he’s in the best position to pick up support from Crowley, a fellow Black candidate from Milwaukee. To back up its argument, Barnes released polling from mid-April that showed him backed by 30% of the 800 likely Dem primary voters surveyed, with Hong at 23% and Rodriguez at 17%.
The campaign released details of the poll such as the margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. But it didn’t share details on its argument that more than half of the 5% backing Crowley in that nearly 4-month-old poll would go to the former lieutenant governor.