Report: Crowley allegedly promised $250,000 and job for wife to leave Wisconsin governor’s primary
An unnamed Democratic operative alleged in a Daily Wire report that Crowley negotiated the arrangement before briefly withdrawing from the primary in July. His campaign disputed the account.
Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Crowley agreed to withdraw from his party’s primary and endorse a rival in exchange for $250,000 for his political activities and a paid position for his wife in a future administration, an unnamed Democratic operative alleged in an Oct. 23 Daily Wire report.
Crowley’s campaign disputed any endorsement deal, with a campaign spokesman saying, “We have no idea what you are talking about,” according to The Daily Wire.
Crowley briefly withdrew from the race July 8 and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez the following day. He reentered the contest days later after Rodriguez’s campaign collapsed. Crowley went on to win the Democratic nomination and now faces Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in the Nov. 3 election.
Democratic insider describes negotiations over exit, endorsement
According to the Daily Wire, which cited a longtime Democratic operative with firsthand knowledge of the events, Crowley made the deal with Rodriguez as part of an effort to consolidate the vote against democratic socialist candidate Francesca Hong ahead of the Aug. 11 primary.
The outlet reported that the anonymous source was familiar with internal discussions in Rodriguez’s campaign. It also said it reviewed corroborating materials.
“At that time, the Rodriguez campaign and other Democratic Party advisors and insiders decided that there was a need to clear the field for a candidate other than Francesca Hong,” the advisor told The Daily Wire, adding that insiders believed Rodriguez was best positioned to win.
According to the outlet, the advisor said the “Crowley campaign made clear that David Crowley would not endorse Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez unless significant funds were promised for his campaign account or for his future political activities.”
The source alleged that the resulting agreement included the $250,000 for Crowley’s political activities and a guaranteed position for his wife, Ericka, in a future Rodriguez administration.
According to the insider’s account, Crowley withdrew and endorsed Rodriguez after the two campaigns finalized the agreement. At his July 9 endorsement announcement, he said he believed Rodriguez was the strongest candidate.
“I want to be very clear about something,” Crowley said. “Nobody called me or anything like that to ask me to step out of this race. This race is about making sure that we can have the best candidate run in this race.”
Rodriguez’s exit brought Crowley back into race
Rodriguez’s campaign unraveled days later amid problems with its campaign finance filings.
As Zeale News previously reported, Rodriguez fired her campaign manager after discovering what she described as serious mismanagement and inaccuracies in campaign finance filings. Her January reports contained hundreds of duplicate contributions, and she subsequently acknowledged having hundreds of thousands of dollars less than expected.
>> Rodriguez exits Wisconsin governor race as Democrats urge Crowley comeback <<
“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear that there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction — not just for this campaign, but for the primary and for Wisconsin,” Rodriguez said in a statement announcing her withdrawal July 17. “This race is too important to Wisconsin to let that happen.”
Crowley announced his return the next day with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement. Crowley defeated Hong in the Aug. 11 primary, less than five weeks after initially withdrawing from the contest.
The Daily Wire reported that neither Rodriguez nor her office responded to its requests for comment.
New poll shows close general election contest
The allegations come as polls show a tight race between Crowley and Tiffany. A survey conducted Oct. 19-23 for the League of American Workers found 47.7% of likely voters favored Crowley, 44.6% favored Tiffany, and 7.7% were undecided. The poll surveyed 1,213 likely voters and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
League founder and CatholicVote senior political advisor Cortes said Oct. 28 that the poll reveals the gubernatorial contest “will remain very tight into the final stages.”
He added, “In such races, the side that can turn out a larger share of fervent base voters will prevail.”
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