Governor-elect David Crowley did not wait long to break a campaign promise.
When he launched his bid for governor in September 2025, FOX6’s Jason Calvi asked him a direct question. If Democrats won the governor’s office, Senate, and Assembly, would Crowley go forward with redistricting mid-cycle?
“No, I would not go forward with redistricting mid-cycle,” Crowley said. “Look, I believe in our democracy. We have to protect our democracy.”
He wrapped that answer in kitchen-table talk. The campaign, he said, should focus on affordability, housing, and the opioid epidemic. He wanted to be a governor for rural, urban, and suburban communities. Mid-cycle mapmaking, he told voters, was not part of the job he sought.
Five days after Crowley beat Republican Tom Tiffany and Democrats won both legislative chambers, giving the party its first Madison trifecta in 16 years, he sat down for his first post-election television interview on WISN 12’s UPFRONT and reversed himself.
Host Matt Smith noted that Democratic leaders had sounded open to redrawing Wisconsin’s congressional maps before the next census. Would they have Crowley’s support?
“I’m not even focused on that right now,” Crowley said. Then, in the same answer, he closed the case. “But just to put a nail in the coffin when it comes to this, if the bill was to reach my desk, I will sign it.”
That is mid-decade redistricting. Congressional maps are normally drawn once every 10 years after the census. A bill passed early next year would rewrite Wisconsin’s eight U.S. House districts in time for 2028, years before the 2030 census requires new lines.
Crowley still recited the affordability lines. On the same program, he said voters want “their property taxes lower,” more investment in public schools, and childcare and healthcare that are “affordable and accessible,” and that he looks forward to “working with our Democratic trifecta in order to get it done.” Smith asked whether Crowley would be a rubber stamp for the new Democratic Legislature.
“Look, I’ve served as a county executive, and you just can’t be a rubber stamp,” Crowley said.
Promising in advance to sign a remap the moment it hits his desk is a poor way to prove it.
The current map already produced a 4-4 Wisconsin House delegation on November 3. Democrats flipped the 1st and 3rd districts, unseating Republican U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden. For years, Democrats called those lines a gerrymander. In a wave election, the same map gave them an even split. Now they want another turn mid-cycle with a governor who told voters he would not give it to them.
Party leaders were more candid than Crowley was on the trail. Later that same September, Assembly Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer told Urban Milwaukee that if Democrats ran Madison in 2027, “that option is on the table.” She said, “Anyone can see the Congressional maps in Wisconsin are gerrymandered,” and that fair maps were “essential to a fair democracy.” Crowley told FOX6 the opposite, then waited until the votes were counted to get there.
Wisconsin voters spent 2026 hearing about grocery bills and property taxes. They were not asked to approve a mid-decade congressional remap. They were told on camera that it would not happen. Crowley won, Democrats took both chambers, and one of the first promises was to leave the maps alone until the next census.
If legislative Democrats send him a new congressional map, Crowley has already said what he will do. The candidate who said he believed in protecting democracy just promised to sign a mid-cycle remap he once rejected. So much for protecting our democracy.
