David Carl Crowley

Early life and education

Crowley was born on May 14, 1986, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Crowley's parents struggled with drug addiction during his childhood, and the family lost its home when he was 10 years old. His parents eventually divorced. Crowley was evicted from two more homes before graduating from high school.

Crowley graduated from Bay View High School, and first attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2006, leaving during his first semester and returning intermittently in later years. Under the mentorship of Reggie and Sharlen Moore and their community organizing group Urban Underground, as well as serving as a Public Ally and working with individuals impacted by the justice system at the nonprofit Project RETURN, Crowley became interested in issues of policing and local government.

Crowley resumed his undergraduate studies while serving as county executive and earned a bachelor's degree in community engagement and education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in December 2024, delivering the commencement address at his graduation ceremony.

Early political career

While attending college, Crowley began working in politics as a campaign organizer for U.S. Senator Russ Feingold's 2010 re-election campaign. After the election, he took a job as a legislative aide to Milwaukee County supervisor Nikiya Harris Dodd. When Harris Dodd was elected to the Wisconsin Senate in 2012, Crowley suspended his education to work as her policy director at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.

Crowley made his first attempt at elected office in 2016, when he ran for a seat on the Milwaukee Common Council. He came in third in the February nonpartisan primary election and did not advance to the general election. Later that month, his employer, Nikiya Harris Dodd, announced she would not seek re-election in Wisconsin's 6th Senate district. The move prompted Assembly member La Tonya Johnson to declare for that office, creating an open race in the 17th Assembly district. Crowley entered the race and won the Democratic primary with 56% of the vote. He was unopposed in the general election and entered office on January 3, 2017. He was re-elected in 2018.

Milwaukee County executive (2020–present)

In November 2019, after incumbent Chris Abele announced he would not seek re-election, Crowley announced his candidacy for Milwaukee County executive. In the February primary election, Crowley came in a close second to state senator Chris Larson, defeating county board chairman Theodore Lipscomb and businesswoman Purnima Nath. Crowley received the endorsement of outgoing executive Chris Abele, who had been challenged by Larson for the office in 2016. Abele went on to spend heavily on behalf of Crowley through his political action committee, Leadership MKE. The April election was significantly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin. Crowley defeated Larson by 1,026 votes.

Crowley was sworn in as county executive on May 4, 2020, in the front yard of his home because of restrictions on public gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. He resigned his seat in the Assembly effective June 18, 2020, as required by a 2015 Wisconsin law prohibiting a person from simultaneously serving as a member of the legislature and a county executive.

As county executive, Crowley oversees an annual county budget of about $1.4 billion. When he took office, the county was already facing longstanding financial problems that were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address these problems, Crowley worked alongside organizations including the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and the Wisconsin Counties Association to seek additional local revenue authority. He also lobbied Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson, Democratic and Republican state legislators, and Governor Tony Evers in support of a state funding agreement. The resulting legislation, 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, authorized Milwaukee County to impose an additional 0.4-percentage-point sales tax. The County Board approved the increase in July 2023, raising the county sales tax from 0.5% to 0.9%, and Crowley signed it the following month. The tax took effect on January 1, 2024. County officials said the additional revenue was needed to address pension obligations and avoid further cuts to county services.

Crowley's other policies have addressed opioid addiction, housing affordability, and carbon emissions. In 2021, he signed legislation creating Right to Counsel Milwaukee, a program providing free legal representation to eligible residents facing eviction or foreclosure. In 2023, Crowley signed legislation distributing more than $11 million in opioid-settlement funds among 15 county programs, including treatment for people in the county correctional system and vending machines dispensing naloxone and fentanyl test strips. In April 2025, he signed Milwaukee County's Climate Action 2050 plan, which calls for net-zero carbon emissions from county operations by 2050.

2026 Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign

In 2024, the Wisconsin political press began to speculate about whether Governor Tony Evers would run for a third term in the 2026 gubernatorial election; at that time, Crowley was named as one possible candidate to succeed him. Evers announced on July 24, 2025, that he would not seek re-election. Crowley announced the next day that he planned to run for governor.

Crowley formally launched his campaign for governor on September 9, 2025. He was endorsed the next day by Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson. Crowley faced a crowded Democratic primary field that included Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes, state senator Kelda Roys, state representative Francesca Hong, former Wisconsin Department of Administration secretary Joel Brennan, and Missy Hughes, the former CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. In the first major campaign finance reports—covering the second half of 2025—Crowley reported raising about $789,000 and had about $602,000 cash on hand, putting him in the strongest financial position of any of the gubernatorial candidates at that point.

Despite his fundraising, Crowley struggled to gain support in opinion polls. A March 2026 Marquette University Law School poll found him at 3% among Democratic primary voters. At the Democratic Party of Wisconsin state convention in June, Crowley placed fourth in an informal straw poll, with 13% support from delegates. On June 22, Hughes suspended her campaign and endorsed Rodriguez, who had won the straw poll. Crowley announced on July 8 that he was suspending his campaign and formally endorsed Rodriguez the following day.

Days later, Rodriguez fired her campaign manager after discovering that her campaign had hundreds of thousands of dollars less cash on hand than expected. Rodriguez suspended her campaign on July 17, saying continuing problems with its financial reports would be a distraction. As the Rodriguez campaign was collapsing, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the incumbent governor, Tony Evers, was "very seriously considering" a plan to bring Crowley back into the race. Hughes, who had previously dropped out and endorsed Rodriguez, tweeted "@DavidCCrowley get back in this race!" Crowley re-entered the race on July 18; Evers endorsed Crowley the next day. A Marquette poll conducted from July 22 to 27 found Crowley at 7%, with 34% of Democratic primary voters undecided.

Personal life and family

Crowley married his wife, Ericka, in 2016; they have two daughters together, and Crowley is also the stepfather of a daughter from Ericka's previous relationship. Crowley has served as vice chair of the Milwaukee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He has also served on the chapter's board. He is a member of Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals and the Milwaukee NAACP.

Crowley's parents struggled with drug addiction. His mother, Valerie, died in 2023.

Electoral history