MILWAUKEE, Wis. – As David Crowley celebrated Labor Day with Wisconsin’s working families, Tom Tiffany reaffirmed his opposition to raising the minimum wage. Tiffany has voted against raising the minimum wage, including saying the increase to a $15 minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 was a reason for voting against the bill. That bill offered pension relief for 22,000 workers and retirees in Wisconsin. Tiffany’s running mate, David Varnam, doesn’t support a minimum wage.

“MAGA Tom Tiffany would rather give billionaires tax breaks than give Wisconsin workers a living wage during an affordability crisis he and Donald Trump created,” said Crowley. “He voted against giving tens of thousands of workers and retirees pension relief because he opposes a minimum wage increase. I understand the struggle working families are facing every day across our state as a husband and father of three daughters. As governor, I’ll do everything I can to build a Wisconsin that works for everyone, and that includes raising the minimum wage and putting Wisconsin workers before corporations and billionaires.”

Crowley has a long record of supporting labor and creating good-paying, family-supporting jobs. In 2023, he helped negotiate the bipartisan deal keeping the Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin, which also secured union jobs to carry out work at American Family Field. This resulted in new jobs for Wisconsin labor union members, drawing workers from across the state to work on maintenance and improvements at the ballpark. Meanwhile, MAGA Tom Tiffany has sold out working Wisconsinites and called union members “kingpins”. Tiffany has spent his nearly 20 year political career taking money away from working people to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations.

What they’re saying:

FOX 6: Candidates spar on minimum wage


  • “I think a much better way is to do it through growth. So, he’s [Crowley’s] talking about taking it up as much as $20 an hour. Why set that as a ceiling? I want people to make more than $20 an hour. There’s very few people who are paid the minimum wage anymore: $7.25 an hour,” Tiffany said. “We should bring in good, high-paying jobs in Wisconsin and you do that by reducing regulations and also making sure that you reduce taxes in Wisconsin, so people have more money in their pockets.”

  • “I think all of us would agree that $7.25 an hour is much lower than the minimum that you need to survive in this state, so we do need to increase the minimum wage in this state,” Crowley said. “Increasing it to $20 an hour will give people the ability to afford the things that matter to them and their families, but you’re not going to get that with Congressman Tom Tiffany.”

CivicMedia: Crowley vs. Tiffany: A stark choice for Wisconsin’s working class


  • Tiffany was open that one of the reasons he didn’t support The American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 is because it was “filled with unrelated, job-killing policies like a $15 minimum wage mandate.”

  • While a state legislator, Tiffany voted several times against raising the minimum wage. And supported a bill that eliminated the requirements that factory and commercial workers be given a day off in a seven-day workweek.