A new Washington Post profile of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley highlights how his “stunning upset” in last month’s gubernatorial primary was just the latest twist in a remarkable “against-the-odds” personal story. As the Post’s Karen Tumulty reports, Crowley “roots his priorities in the scorching experiences of his life,” bringing people together to make life better for families across Milwaukee County — and soon, across the Badger State as he runs to make history as Wisconsin’s first Black governor.

Read more about Crowley’s comeback story: 

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

  • David Crowley, the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin governor, ranks as the most surprising winner in this year’s turbulent primary season. But the Milwaukee County executive’s against-the-odds story began long before election night.
     
  • Crowley’s parents became addicted to crack cocaine, and his family was evicted three times before he graduated high school. At times, he and his two brothers lived with no electricity or heat.
     
  • He spent his first 10 years in northern Milwaukee’s 53206 Zip code, long infamous for having one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates.
     
  • 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.
     
  • As a politician, Crowley tends to frame issues in technocratic policy terms. He speaks of how “housing instability” is a “critical social determinant.” But he roots his priorities in the scorching experiences of his life. “How can you focus on your own education?” he 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?”
     
  • At a time when the Democratic Party is beset by fierce ideological struggles, Crowley prides himself on pulling factions together.
     
  • A second-term assemblyman when he ran for county executive in a nonpartisan election six years ago, Crowley eked out a narrow victory over a better-known, more liberal rival to become the youngest-ever and first Black executive in a county that is more than 60 percent White.
     
  • In 2024, Crowley cruised to reelection with 85 percent of the vote. He carried the poorest wards and the richest, the majority-Black and majority-White, the most Democratic and most Republican.
     
  • As county executive, Crowley put together tens of millions in private and government funding to build affordable housing developments in Milwaukee’s suburbs, something that had never happened before.
     
  • Evers, the Democratic governor, whose 11th-hour backing of Crowley fueled his primary win, continues to advise him. “At the end of the day, in Wisconsin, you have to spend your time in all 72 counties and talk to people directly, making sure that you’re listening at the same time,” Evers, who did not seek a third term, said in an interview. “That’s how you win. I know that, and he knows that.”