Here & Now

Both candidates for governor were interviewed just before the U.S.

Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's mail in ballot plan.

Here's Zach's interview with Democratic candidate Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.

David Crowley, thanks for your time.

Thank you for having me.

Glad to be here.

So immediately after the primary, it seemed like a lot of the commercials, the attack ads against you were going to focus on data centers.

But recently there's been a shift to affordability or taxes or crime.

Do you think that's going to be the new standard line that this campaign is going to be waged on?

Affordability?

Is the number one issue that you hear.

No matter where you're going, whether you're talking housing, whether you're talking childcare, health care, you name it, families are getting squeezed in every single direction.

And the problem is that even if they are making more money, they're getting less because so much is so much more expensive nowadays.

And so our plan is the Badger plan to make sure that we can lower costs for our working families and give them better access to childcare and health care, which is a stark contrast when it comes down to Congressman Tom Tiffany, who is voted for the Canadian terrorists that are ravaging communities.

Our farmers and manufacturers all across Wisconsin.

So when you see Tom, Tiffany and his allies going after you.

On crime or kids running around at the state fair, is that just the same old, same old, or what's your reaction to that?

Well, I don't trust Tom Tiffany when it comes down to public safety.

I mean, we're talking about against releasing the Epstein files, who voted six times to defund police here in the state of Wisconsin and quite frankly, he praised the January 6th ers when they were being pardoned, with some of them actually being charged with child molestation and things of that nature.

You know, when it comes down to my the way that I govern, this is about making sure that we're protecting everybody throughout the state of Wisconsin.

And I've done it as a county executive.

We've increased costs for our public safety, for our courts, and to make sure we're investing upstream to stop crime from occurring in the first place.

Republicans have made a history of attacking Milwaukee in elections when it's necessary.

It's interesting to contrast you with the last governor from Milwaukee County, Scott Walker.

How would you compare and contrast your record with his as county exec and what you might do as governor?

Well, you know, they know me as the recycle man back home because we've picked up every single candidate they've kicked down the road for so long.

And quite frankly, I've had to work with the Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature to, to clean up Scott Walker's mess.

And, you know, I want to make sure that we can do the exact same thing.

When I become governor of this great state.

We're stealing dignity and respect to our teachers who work in our public schools each and every single day, making sure we're investing in childcare to make sure our children are getting a better foundation of learning before they enter into our public school system, and just making sure that we can coalesce, bring people to the table.

When it comes down to the policies that we need here in the state of Wisconsin.

When it comes to the topic of affordability, there's different definitions of what's affordability when between Republicans and Democrats, Republicans like Tom Tiffany want to talk about property taxes or income taxes.

Democrats are talking more about spending and tariff impacted consumer pricing.

Which do you think voters will relate to more?

Look, I'm a husband and a father raising three amazing girls, and I grew up in a working class household.

So I know exactly what working families are going through right now, struggling to keep a roof over their head because their property taxes or the rents continue to rise.

We've seen many people lose their health care, mostly because, you know, Congressman Tom Tiffany voted for the big ugly bill, which cut $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare and reduced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.

In January of this year.

Tom Tiffany stood in front of a gas station and had a tweet about how low gas prices were.

How does that tweet hold up today and how does that impact this race?

Well, I think that that that treat didn't get didn't age very well because we are now seeing some of the largest increases in, in gas today.

And that's why I have a plan to actually eliminate the minimum markup law that we have on gas, which is increasing the prices for consumers each and every single day.

And the thing about this, this gas tax is that it's not supporting, you know, our small businesses or filling the potholes.

This is just guaranteed profit for big oil.

And I know it's a popular thing because even Congressman Tom Tiffany stole my idea.

And this is leading people to think that it is his look.

At the end of the day, we have to make sure that we're lowering our costs.

And if Tom Tiffany wants to stand up, he needs to stand up to Donald Trump again.

This is largely a result due to the war in Iran.

And Tom Tiffany has voted to protect this war, protect those terrorists, and we need him to to act.

We need him to answer as to why he isn't fighting for Wisconsinites.

One of the attacks that Tiffany campaign is using now has to do with tablets being given to inmates in Milwaukee County.

Explain that program and why you authorized its use again.

Well, this is a program that we implemented not too long ago, and this is something that we take seriously.

And we've been working with our sheriff's department as well.

But, you know, utilizing these tablets is actually a best practice.

They're used in 48 out of 50 states.

And you know what's unfortunate and what Tom Tiffany omitted is that the fact that he actually voted for these types of iPads here in the Department of Correction during the Scott Walker era.

He also admitted about the fact that Donald Trump and his administration are utilizing this same exact program.

And they just started it this year.

Right.

And so we know that we need to have the processes and the procedures in place.

But, you know, Congressman Tom Tiffany, he wants to continue to divide and distract when it comes down to public safety.

You can't trust them on it because he he's not willing to give you all the information.

We're still waiting to hear what the U.S.

Supreme Court will do with the Postal Service rules that have been proposed by the Trump administration.

But what impact would that have on Wisconsin if those went through?

And what advice would you give to absentee voters about how they should handle their ballot this fall?

Look, it is unfortunate seeing what Donald Trump is doing when it comes down to to mail in voting here in the state of Wisconsin, we have had the same laws on the books for decades, which have allowed people to cast their ballot by mail or to do it in person, and we're going to continue to follow Wisconsin laws.

But I want to encourage everybody.

1 if you're going to mail in your ballot, do it early, do it quickly, and do it as soon as possible.

And if you feel like you're getting close to that deadline, go visit your municipal clerk and drop that.

Drop your ballot off at your at your clerk to make sure that your voice is being heard.

And as the governor, it is our job to make sure that we are protecting democracy, protecting people's ability to cast their ballot and to, to, to instill dignity.

Right?

We have free and fair elections here in the state of Wisconsin, and I'm always going to sing and yell at the mountaintops about how I believe in our election system, but you're not going to get that with Congressman Tom Tiffany.

I mean, we're talking about someone who voted against certifying the 2020 election for Wisconsin voters, someone who's not willing to stand up and say Donald Trump actually lost the 2020 election, and he's not willing to stand up and say how these laws, these policies that Donald Trump is putting, putting in place, how they're going to hurt many of our rural communities.

And quite frankly, they're going to hurt not just Democrats, Republicans, independents everywhere across this state, but our administration.

We're going behalf of our communities to make sure that they can cast their ballot, no matter where they are in Wisconsin.

Tom Tiffany, he did not want to say the word Trump.

And throughout our entire interview, when asked about that, he didn't want to use the president's name.

We've looked at his website.

He stripped pretty much all mentions of the president away from him.

What does that say?

Why?

Why would he be doing that?

I think he wants to run away.

You know, you know, Congressman Tom Tiffany, he's been the Maga extremist and wants to run away from the fact that he has been lockstep with Trump for the past decade.

He has been one of the most conservative members that we've had here in the state of Wisconsin, being a part of the Freedom Caucus, but also not fighting on behalf of Wisconsinites.

Congressman Tom Tiffany cannot and will not defend his own actions nor defend why he's protected this president.

And that's why we need a governor who's going to stand up, someone who's going to bring folks from all political factions to the table to make sure that they can live healthy lives, productive lives, and put more money and save more money in their pockets as we move forward.

And that's what you're going to get in the next governor.

When I'm elected on November 3rd.

thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Filling up the gas tank in your car is increasingly