Trump loyalist US Rep. Tom Tiffany enters Wisconsin’s open governor’s race

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A fierce loyalist of President Donald Trump who represents a broad swath of Wisconsin’s rural north woods in Congress entered the governor’s race in the battleground state Tuesday, shaking up the Republican primary.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany becomes the front-runner over the two other announced Republican candidates who have less name recognition and support from key conservative donors.

The governor’s race is open for the first time in 16 years after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers decided against seeking a third term. There is no clear front-runner among the numerous Democrats who are running, and Evers hasn’t endorsed anyone.

Trump has not endorsed anyone, which will be key in the August GOP primary. Tiffany said earlier this month, after reports that Trump declined to immediately endorse him, “I’m not worried about endorsements. I think we focus too much time chasing endorsements."

Another GOP candidate, businessman Bill Berrien, has faced fierce criticism on conservative talk radio after he backed former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary and said in August 2020 that he hadn’t decided whether to support Trump.

The third Republican in the race, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, has also tried to court Trump voters. He represents a suburban Milwaukee county that Trump won with 67% of the vote in 2024.

“I have the experience both in the private sector and the public sector to be able to work from Day One,” Tiffany said in an interview on “The Dan O'Donnell Show” announcing his candidacy.

“I give us the best chance to win in 2026,” he said, promising to make the governor’s race one of the most competitive in the country by raising up to $40 million himself to attract additional outside spending.

Reacting to Tiffany’s announcement, Schoemann said he looked forward to a primary “focused on ideas and winning back the governor’s office.”

Even if he lands a Trump endorsement, Tiffany faces hurdles. In the past 36 years, gubernatorial candidates who were the same party as the president in a midterm election have lost every time, except for Evers in 2022.

Tiffany has cruised to victory in the vast 7th Congressional District, which covers nearly 19,000 square miles (50,000 square kilometers) encompassing all or part of 20 counties. Tiffany won a special election in 2020 after the resignation of Sean Duffy, who is now Trump’s transportation secretary. Tiffany won that race by 14 points and has won reelection by more than 20 points three times.

But candidates from deep-red rural northern Wisconsin have struggled to win statewide elections, largely because of the huge number of Democratic voters in the state’s two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison.

Prior to being elected to Congress, Tiffany served just over seven years in the state Legislature. During his tenure, he was a close ally of then-Gov. Scott Walker and voted to pass a law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

Tiffany also voted in favor of legalizing concealed carry and angered environmentalists by trying to repeal a state mining moratorium to clear the way for an open-pit mine in northern Wisconsin.

In Congress, Tiffany has upset animal welfare activists with his push to take the gray wolf off the endangered species list, which would open the door to wolf hunting seasons.

In 2020, Tiffany voted against accepting the Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania as part of an effort to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win. He was one of just 14 Republican House members in 2021 who voted against making Juneteenth a national holiday.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Devin Remiker branded Tiffany as “Tariff Lover Tom Tiffany,” highlighting his support for Trump’s tariffs, his push at the federal level to ban abortions around six weeks of pregnancy.

“We’re going to show Wisconsinites what a fraud he is and defeat him next November,” Remiker said.

When asked about his abortion stance Tuesday, Tiffany said he stood by the current Wisconsin law that bans abortions after about five months of pregnancy. He also reiterated his support for Trump's tariffs.

Tiffany promised as governor to freeze property taxes, lower income taxes, improve schools, bolster job creation, overhaul the state Department of Natural Resources and protect farmland from foreign ownership.

Tiffany, 67, was born on a dairy farm and ran a tourist boat business for 20 years. He has played up his rural Wisconsin roots in past campaigns, which included ads featuring his elderly mother and one in which he slings cow manure.

The most prominent Democratic candidates for governor are Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez; Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley; state Sen. Kelda Roys; and state Rep. Francesca Hong. Others considering getting in include Attorney General Josh Kaul, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and former state economic development director Missy Hughes.