David Crowley 'possibly' interested in running for governor in 2026
David Crowley 'possibly' interested in running for governor in 2026
From The Recombobulation Area’s extended interview with the mayor and county executive.
The Recombobulation Area is a ten-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winningweekly opinion column and online publication written, edited and published by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.
As part of an extended joint interview The Recombobulation Area held with both Mayor Cavalier Johnson and County Executive David Crowley, both leaders were asked about their political futures.
Crowley said he would “possibly” be interested in running to be Wisconsin’s next governor in 2026.
Crowley is currently seeking re-election for a second term as Milwaukee County Executive. The general election for that race is part of the Spring Election on April 2, with the primary on Feb. 20. With the filing deadline just weeks away, significant challengers have not emerged, and Crowley is widely expected to win re-election.
The lifelong Milwaukeean was elected to his current role in the Spring Election in 2020, winning a close race against State Sen. Chris Larson, by just over 1,000 votes. He made history as the first Black man elected to be Milwaukee County Executive.
Mayor Johnson also addressed his political future, saying he’s currently focused on winning re-election in the spring. Like Crowley, Johnson does not yet face a significant challenge.
Beyond that, Johnson said he does have aspirations to one day run for higher office, but did not specifically address the governor’s race in 2026.
“We’ll see what happens in the future,” he said.
The Recombobulation Area endorsed Crowley before the primary in the 2020 race for Milwaukee County Executive, and endorsed Johnson in the race for mayor in 2022.
You can watch the full video interview with Johnson and Crowley here on Substack.
VIDEO: End-of-year interview with Mayor Cavalier Johnson and County Executive David Crowley
You can also watch it on YouTube.
The full conversation is also available here at The Recombobulation Area as a podcast, which you can listen to here.
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 17 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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