Five weeks before Wisconsin voters choose a governor, former Assembly Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D) is using a recorded interview she approved for publication to reopen a fight that began inside Milwaukee County government and ended with her leaving the Legislature.
Ortiz-Velez served with David Crowley on the Milwaukee County Board from 2018 until she left for the Assembly representing the 8th District in Milwaukee. Ortiz-Velez believes the democrat establishment pulled a similar stunt on her as they did Francesca Hong, and wanted to tell her story on the record before November 3rd. “There’s more than meets the eye here,” she said.
In the interview, Ortiz-Velez said the story began when Crowley asked her for a primary endorsement. She told him she was supporting Sara Rodriguez, a former House colleague. He then requested a dual endorsement to be shared with Rodriguez, but Ortiz-Velez refused. She said Crowley became very upset, and was “screaming and yelling so loudly” she could not make out the words, “like a screamo band from the nineties.”
She said she told him, “David, I’m supporting Sara. Good luck, goodbye,” and hung up. She tells The Heartland Post he would be “disastrous for Wisconsin,” and it would be a “mistake” to elect him as Wisconsin’s 47th governor.
The week before she testified in Madison
Assembly Bill 306 introduced in the 2025 session, proposed a 60-day limit on emergency-power proclamations issued by a local government’s chief executive — including the Milwaukee County Executive office currently held by Crowley.
Ortiz-Velez was scheduled to testify on Sept. 10, 2025. Reporting at the time said she intended to accuse him of overreach during the pandemic and believed democrat colleagues were trying to block her.
On Sept. 3, legislative human resources revoked her Capitol access over an alleged threatening comment involving a firearm. Speaker Robin Vos’s office said the next day the restriction was “in error.” Vos’s spokesman said Minority Leader Greta Neubauer had reported the matter to Capitol Police, “who found it not to be credible.” Access was restored Sept. 4. Ortiz-Velez called the allegation a false accusation and said she had used “poorly worded hyperbole,” not a threat. She told investigators she thought the threat claim was tied to her contentious phone call with Crowley. Police records released in 2026 showed investigators did not find intent to harm and she was cleared.
On Sept. 8 — four days after that clearance and two days before the hearing — Assembly Democratic leaders, including Neubauer and Assistant Minority Leader Kalan Haywood, issued a public statement saying Ortiz-Velez “made a comment about shooting three members of our caucus who she has had personal disagreements with.” They said they referred the matter to human resources and Capitol Police, but she had already been cleared. By this point, Ortiz-Velez had already said she was leaving the caucus.
According to the Washington Examiner, Ortiz-Velez had been at the center of several disagreements over the last several weeks with her colleagues, including a public dispute with the newly-formed Hispanic Legislative Caucus over resolutions to highlight Hispanic Heritage Month.
On Sept. 9 — Crowley launched his campaign for governor after previously signaling his intent.
On Sept. 10 — she testified anyway regarding Assembly Bill 306 , despite her concerns the democrat party was conjuring up a fictitious narrative to undermine her credibility and deter her from testifying. Ortiz-Velez was an author of Assembly Bill 306 to cap local executives’ emergency power at 60 days. The version that became law was the Senate Bill, SB 310, signed in December as 2025 Wisconsin Act 61.
When asked whether Crowley had a hand in the September 2025 allegations, she repeatedly stated she lacks evidence he acted directly. However, she believes others were involved in what she calls false accusations, and she believes the false accusations were “related to what was going on with him” (his plans to announce his candidacy for governor ). The timing is “questionable” she said.
Luna, the primary, and Crowley’s machine
Democrats coalesced around Ismael Luna, a first-time candidate and Cathedral Center case manager. Crowley endorsed him, as did Haywood, Prado, and a list of labor and progressive groups. The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee put more than $110,000 into Luna’s campaign. Luna defeated Ortiz-Velez on Aug. 11, 73.7 percent to 26.3 percent (1,776 to 634). He faces Republican Angel Sanchez on Nov. 3 in a Democratic district. After the primary, Ortiz-Velez filed a Wisconsin Elections Commission complaint challenging Luna’s residency.
In the interview, she said she was told other candidates for Assembly and Senate could not receive gubernatorial endorsements — with one exception — her opponent, Ismael Luna. She alleges a Luna campaign operative had stepped down from the Milwaukee County Democrats and had worked in Crowley’s administration on research and policy.
Ortiz-Velez is asking voters to look at the sequence of events: a county executive seeking statewide office, a bill aimed at his emergency authority as Milwaukee County Executive, a Capitol fight the week she was due to testify, the police finding the claim not credible on Sept. 4, a Dem leadership statement on Sept. 8, Crowley announces his candidacy Sept. 9, the scheduled testimony on Sept. 10 where she highlighted his “overreach” during COVID, and Crowley’s endorsement of the Democrat who defeated her in the primary. Ortiz-Velez said a closer examination of his tenure in Milwaukee is the reason to not vote for Crowley.
Ortiz-Velez said she believes this was a well orchestrated political coup committed by those inside her own party. She believes it was designed to destroy her reputation and make her politically radioactive. She has spent the time since “trying to survive all of the attacks.”
Ortiz-Velez is a Milwaukee Democrat, a self-proclaimed “patriot who loves this country.” She is an “independent thinker” and would break ranks with her party if it meant putting her constituents above party establishment. She voted with Republicans on occasion, which angered her caucus. Then lost her seat after the establishment inserted itself into the primary election — the exact playbook used against Francesca Hong. Ortiz-Velez said she unapologetically refuses to lend her support for David Crowley this election cycle or any elected office going forward.
