Two printed governor tickets are on Wisconsin's sample ballot. See both candidates and their running mates.
The Stated Record analysis: Tilt Democratic
Updated September 3, 2026
Who is running?
Printed ballot candidates
Tom TiffanyRepublicanLt. governor: David Varnam
David CrowleyDemocraticLt. governor: Sarah Godlewski
The sample ballot also includes an unnamed write-in line.
Source: La Crosse County Clerk official sample ballot
Checked September 2, 2026
Voter guide
The candidates, side by side
Background comes from government or official office records, and from the campaign's own biography where the bullet says so. Goals are summarized from each campaign's own platform page and stay attributed to the campaign. The record lines are official votes, sponsorships, and filings with the government source attached. Money is shown as filed, by the type the FEC records for the contributing committee, and is not evidence of why any position was taken. Money rows are itemized receipts from political committees; transfers from joint fundraising committees and the conduit entries for earmarked individual contributions sit on their own rows and are not additive with the rest; other memo entries, reimbursements, and receipts from organizations that are not political committees are excluded; each candidate's note gives the filing window and the reconciliation to the FEC summary.
Our synthesis uses the median-style ordinal rule described in Methodology. It is our analysis, not another independent rating.
What to know
The race in context
The reporting reviewed so far centers on one poll. Its sponsor, field dates, sample, methodology, and uncertainty need separate review before publication.
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Candidate records
The field, without the campaign gloss
Current public roles come from government sources. Campaign-finance IDs come from the FEC.
Profile links show what is public now, not a complete archive. Each link was confirmed through the campaign site unless a note says otherwise. Individual social posts enter the evidence record only with a post URL, date, context, and review note.
Issue comparison
What each campaign says
These are attributed platform positions, not promises The Stated Record has verified or endorsed.
Against extending the pandemic-era health insurance subsidies: “bailing out insurers again is not the solution.” Wants more choice and competition instead.
Would stop closing reliable power plants and back next-generation nuclear power. In Congress he urged regulators to keep coal plants open, citing manufacturing and data centers.
Would back police, end “soft-on-crime policies” and oppose early release for murderers, violent criminals and sex offenders. Would ban sanctuary policies statewide.
Would change state funding so cities and counties can pay for “well-trained police and fire departments.” Says he put county opioid settlement money into treatment and prevention.
The number of cards varies with what each candidate's official record supports, and every card carries the same required parts: what they say, what the official record shows, one label from the fixed list, and its limit. Each card is labeled narrowly, by rule. A single vote, sponsorship, or filing can match one claim without proving a candidate's whole record, and a card never says why someone did something.
The bill, H.R. 845, names Rep. Lauren Boebert as sponsor. Tiffany signed on as a cosponsor the day it was filed. The House passed it 211-204 on December 18, 2025, with his vote and five Democratic votes. It has sat in a Senate committee since.
Limit: Congress lists one sponsor per bill, so the record can't show who wrote it. His office's earlier release says he and Boebert introduced it together.
He says extending the pandemic-era health insurance subsidies would bail out insurers, and that more choice and competition would lower premiums instead.
He voted for H.R. 6703, which expands association health plans, adds oversight of drug-benefit managers and funds cost-sharing payments. It passed 216-211. Three weeks later he voted against H.R. 1834, which extends the larger premium tax credits. It passed 230-196. Neither is law.
He sponsored H.R. 3937, which would transfer a piece of national forest land to a Wabeno concrete company. The House passed it 410-1 on July 22, 2025. A Senate committee backed it in June 2026, and it has been on the Senate calendar since July 2026.
He introduced H.R. 5497 in September 2025. On February 11, 2026, the Natural Resources Committee voted 20-17 to send it to the House, with changes. The House has not voted on it.
In 2017 he was lead author of Senate Bill 395, which ended the state's “prove it first” limit on sulfide mining. It passed as the Assembly's copy, which he cosponsored and voted for, and became 2017 Wisconsin Act 134. The Act has the state post mine plans locally and notify local clerks and libraries, but notice to local governments was already law. It also repealed the section that let local governments take part as a party in the permit hearing.
Limit: He didn't name the bill; we read it as the 2017 law, the last one he led. Mines must still meet local zoning, but that rule is older than the Act, and local governments can still ask for a hearing after the state decides.
He voted for H.R. 1 in May and July 2025. It became law on July 4, 2025. It lets workers deduct up to $25,000 in tips and up to $12,500 of the extra pay for overtime from federal income tax, through 2028. The deductions shrink for incomes over $150,000.
He voted for H.R. 3632, which would let federal regulators, on a complaint from a state utility commission or grid operator, order a power plant to keep running if service is likely to fall short. It would also make owners give five years' notice before closing one. It passed the House 222-202 on December 16, 2025, and sits in a Senate committee.
Assembly Joint Resolution 10, filed February 24, 2017, states the Legislature's declaration that abortion is health care. Crowley is one of its 13 Assembly authors. It went to the Rules Committee and never got a vote.
His campaign says he co-wrote legislation to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, the state's youth prisons, and replace them with smaller sites closer to home.
“He co-authored legislation to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake”
In 2017 he co-wrote a bill for a youth facility in Milwaukee County, closer to home. It died. The 2018 law that ordered the closing had no named authors; a committee wrote it. He voted for it, and it passed the Assembly 95-0. In 2019 he co-wrote the follow-up law, 2019 Wisconsin Act 8, which kept the plan going and moved the closing deadline from January 1 to July 1, 2021.
County operations cut emissions 46 percent from 2005 to 2023, from 209,154 metric tons to 113,789. By 2019, the year before he took office, they were already down about 35 percent, to 136,347. About three-quarters of the drop came before he was county executive. In May 2026 the county put the cut at 48 percent through 2024.
Act 12 became law on June 20, 2023. It changed state aid to cities and counties and let Milwaukee County add a sales tax. Its authors were state lawmakers. He spoke at both committee hearings in May 2023, registered for information rather than for the bill. His written testimony backs it, calls it “truly historic progress” and says lawmakers spent “countless hours” with him and other local officials. In July the County Board passed the extra 0.4 percent county sales tax the Act allowed, and he signed it.
La Crosse County Clerk. Prints two tickets for governor and lieutenant governor, Tiffany and Varnam (Republican) and Crowley and Godlewski (Democratic), plus a write-in line. Read 2026-09-23; sha256 1dbfdb40.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Says information copied from these reports may not be sold or used for any commercial purpose. This site carries ads, so it links to the filings instead of reproducing them.
Congress.gov. Read through the Congress.gov API on 2026-09-23. Wisconsin's 7th District, service beginning in the 116th Congress in 2020. Bioguide ID taken from the by-state member list.
Office of Rep. Tom Tiffany. His House office's biography: elected in a May 2020 special election, earlier in the state Assembly and Senate, raised on a dairy farm near Elmwood.
Wisconsin State Legislature. The Legislature's biography: dam tender for the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company; elected to the Assembly in 2010 and the Senate from 2012.
PBS Wisconsin. Lists his campaign site and his X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts. Used to find his accounts because his campaign site blocked our reader.
Tiffany for Wisconsin. His governor platform. Confirmed as his by the “Paid for by Tiffany for Wisconsin” line. The site blocks our reader, so the owner loaded it in a browser on 2026-09-23, and quotes are checked against that saved copy.
Congress.gov. Read through the Congress.gov API on 2026-09-23. Sponsor: Rep. Lauren Boebert. Tiffany is an original cosponsor, dated 2025-01-31, one of 37. Passed the House 2025-12-18; referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee the same day, with no action since.
U.S. Government Publishing Office. Covers association health plans, oversight of pharmacy benefit managers and funding for cost-sharing reduction payments. Received in the Senate 2025-12-18; not law.
U.S. Government Publishing Office. As passed, it extends the enhanced premium tax credit for marketplace health insurance. On the Senate calendar since 2026-02-10; not law.
U.S. Government Publishing Office. Signed July 4, 2025. Sections 70201 and 70202 create income tax deductions for tips (up to $25,000) and for the extra pay for overtime above the regular rate (up to $12,500, or $25,000 for couples). Both shrink above $150,000 of income ($300,000 for couples) and end after 2028.
Congress.gov. Read through the Congress.gov API on 2026-09-23. Sponsor: Tiffany. Would convey national forest land to Tony's Wabeno Redi-Mix, LLC. Passed the House 2025-07-22. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ordered it reported favorably 2026-06-10; on the Senate calendar since 2026-07-23; not law.
Congress.gov. Read through the Congress.gov API on 2026-09-23. Sponsor: Tiffany, introduced 2025-09-18. The Natural Resources Committee voted 20-17 on 2026-02-11 to report it with changes. No House vote.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Introduced by Senators Tiffany and others. Passed the Senate 17-16 and the Assembly 58-39; approved by the Governor 2013-03-11 as 2013 Wisconsin Act 1.
PBS Wisconsin. Here & Now asked the candidates for governor about mining. Tiffany's answer is quoted in his own words. He does not name the bill; the report is about the 2017 repeal it says he led.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Introduced 2017-08-29 by Senators Tiffany, Fitzgerald and others. Repeals s. 293.50, the sulfide mining moratorium. Failed to pass 2018-03-28 without a Senate floor vote. Same relating clause and repeal list as AB 499 as introduced.
Wisconsin State Legislature. The Assembly copy of SB 395. Introduced by Rep. Hutton and others, cosponsored by Senators Tiffany, Fitzgerald and others. Passed the Assembly 53-38 on 2017-11-02; the Senate concurred 19-14 on 2017-11-07. Approved by the Governor 2017-12-11 as 2017 Wisconsin Act 134.
Wisconsin Legislative Council. Says the Act repeals the rule that a sulfide mine applicant show a mine that ran, and one that closed, for 10 years without polluting water. It replaces the old permit hearing with an informational hearing; anyone aggrieved can ask for a contested hearing within 30 days after the state decides. Lists no change to local zoning or local agreements.
Wisconsin State Legislature. The enacted text. Requires the state to make mine applications available in the city, village or town where the mine would be, and to send notice to local clerks and libraries. SECTION 32 repeals s. 293.43 (4), which let local governments take part as a party in the permit hearing; SECTION 34 repeals the hearing rules in s. 293.43 (5). sha256 12adb9fb.
Wisconsin State Legislature. The mining law before Act 134. It already required mailed notice of a permit hearing to the local towns, villages, cities and counties (s. 293.43 (3)), let those governments take part as a party in the hearing (s. 293.43 (4)) and paused the hearing until the mine showed it met local zoning (s. 293.43 (5) (e)). The zoning rule is s. 293.49 (1) (a) 6.; local agreements are s. 293.41; s. 293.50 was the moratorium. sha256 ae3846b5.
Wisconsin State Legislature. The mining law today. The zoning rule in s. 293.49 (1) (a) 6. and local agreements in s. 293.41 are still there. The local-government participation section, s. 293.43 (4), is gone.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Introduced 2019-04-25 by 35 representatives including Crowley, with Senate cosponsors including Tiffany. Became 2019 Wisconsin Act 8, published 2019-06-29.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Relating to the legislature's declaration that abortion is health care. Introduced 2017-02-24 by 13 representatives including Crowley; referred to Rules; failed to adopt 2018-03-28 without a floor vote.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Introduced by the Committee on Corrections, with no individual authors. Became 2017 Wisconsin Act 185, which required Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake to close. Published 2018-03-31.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Relating to a Type 1 juvenile correctional facility in Milwaukee County. Introduced 2017-08-07 by Representatives Young, Crowley, Bowen and others. Failed to pass 2018-03-28. His 2017 legislator page also lists AB 102, a study of Missouri's small-facility model, among his co-authored bills.
Wisconsin Legislative Council. Calls Act 8 trailer legislation to Act 185. It moves the Lincoln Hills closing deadline from January 1, 2021 to July 1, 2021.
Wisconsin State Legislature. Introduced by Representatives Kurtz, Rodriguez, Vos and others. Approved by the Governor 2023-06-20 as 2023 Wisconsin Act 12.
Assembly Committee on Local Government. Public hearing 2023-05-04. Lists County Executive David Crowley under 'Appearances for Information Only', not under 'Appearances For'. sha256 0d4b9a47.
Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection. SB 301 is the Senate's matching bill, with the same relating clause as AB 245. Public hearing 2023-05-23. Lists David Crowley, Milwaukee County, under 'Appearances for Information Only'. sha256 5d39429a.
Wisconsin Legislative Council. Written testimony filed at the Assembly hearing, linked from the AB 245 bill page. Page 5 is Crowley's; pages 3-4 are lead Senate author Mary Felzkowski's. The Senate hearing's materials (SB 301, May 23, 2023) hold no testimony from him. sha256 cbf916df.
Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. The extra 0.4 percent county sales tax, effective January 1, 2024. Adopted 15-3 on 2023-07-27. Scanned; read by OCR.
Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. The county's legislative record for the sales tax ordinance: adopted as amended by the County Board 2023-07-27, signed by the County Executive 2023-08-03, published 2023-08-09.
Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. The county's legislative record for the climate plan: adopted by the County Board 2025-04-24, signed by the County Executive 2025-04-25.
Milwaukee County. The county's climate plan, filed as File 25-262. Gives county operations' emissions as 209,154 metric tons in 2005 and 113,789 in 2023, a 46 percent drop, and lists David Crowley as County Executive. The Board resolution on the same file prints 2005 as 207,154, which would give 45 percent; the desk uses the plan's figure. The plan's 2005 and 2016-2022 figures come from the county's ClearPath inventories; its 2023 vehicle-fleet figure was modeled on 2022 data.
Milwaukee County. An audit of the county's ClearPath inventories, filed 2023-11-08. Appendix A, Table 5 gives county operations' emissions by year: 2018 141,979; 2019 136,347; 2020 111,789 metric tons. This is the series the plan's 2005 and 2023 figures come from. The county's first inventory (File 20-318, April 2020) used earlier methods and put 2018 at 146,678; it is not mixed in. sha256 69f2f820.
Milwaukee County Office of Sustainability. Cover memo for the county's first emissions inventory, dated April 10, 2020 and copied to Chris Abele as County Executive. Abele still held the office that day.
Office of the Milwaukee County Executive. Dated May 6, 2020, from David Crowley, County Executive, appointing a department director. With the April 10 memo, it puts his start as county executive between those dates. sha256 9180dc48.
Milwaukee County Election Commission. Election-night report, headed UNOFFICIAL RESULTS. County executive: Crowley 116,933 votes, 84.52 percent. The certified canvass was not read. The county site blocks our reader; checked against the Wayback Machine copy of 2026-09-19, sha256 1bd3fabf.
Office of the Milwaukee County Executive. The county's Office of Sustainability reports a 48 percent cut in county operations' emissions through 2024, against 2005. File 26-415, which the release cites, does not print that figure, and the 2024 inventory itself was not read. The site blocks our reader; checked against a copy saved 2026-09-24, sha256 9afcf29c.
U.S. Government Publishing Office. Lets federal regulators, on a complaint from a state commission or grid operator, order a generating unit to keep running, and requires five years' notice before a planned retirement. Referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee 2025-12-17; not law.
What this page includes, and what is not yet included.
As of Sep 26, 2026. Each area lists only what has passed its source check. How coverage works.
BallotIncluded
2 printed candidates, checked September 2, 2026 against the official election record.
Race outlookPartial
2 of 3 specialist ratings are current as of Sep 26, 2026. 1 stale rating stays visible with its date but is excluded from our analysis.
Reported contextNot yet
The reporting reviewed so far centers on one poll. Its sponsor, field dates, sample, methodology, and uncertainty need separate review before publication.
Words and recordIncluded
11 statement-to-action comparisons across 2 candidate records, each with a stated limitation.
Campaign financeNot yet
No campaign-finance snapshot is published for this race yet.
PollingNot yet
No published poll has been reviewed for this race yet.
No correction has been recorded for this race. Report an error.
Printed brief
Sources for this brief
Snapshot as of Sep 26, 2026. The live page may have changed since this copy was printed: https://statedrecord.com/races/wisconsin-governor-2026
La Crosse County Clerk official sample ballothttps://www.lacrossecounty.org/docs/default-source/county-clerk/sample-ballots/hc7-samp.pdf?sfvrsn=205238b3_1
Cook Political Report governor ratingshttps://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/governor-race-ratings