Rep. Tom Tiffany Announces Run for Governor of Wisconsin

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) announced on Sept. 23 that he will run for governor of Wisconsin in the 2026 general election.

Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District, unveiled his campaign in a video posted on social media. He joins a small field of Republicans competing for their party’s nomination against a larger field of Democrats who are seeking to succeed 73-year-old incumbent Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, who is retiring after two terms.

“Farms are disappearing, factories are shutting down, and our children’s educational results are falling behind Mississippi,” Tiffany said in the video, indicating that taxation, farm policy, and social issues would be the policy focus of his campaign.

“I will freeze property taxes, protect our farmland from Communist China, and I’ll preserve our Wisconsin values. … Girls’ sports will stay for girls, moms will be moms [and] not ‘inseminated persons,’ and common sense will win.”

“We cannot let Minnesota’s madness and Illinois’s insanity to take over here in Wisconsin,” he said, referring to the Democrat-run states neighboring Wisconsin that have adopted progressive policies in recent years.

Wisconsin is a battleground state in U.S. presidential elections and thus receives a high degree of political attention during statewide races. In the past six presidential elections, the state has voted for the eventual winner and played a key role in the winner’s Electoral College victory.

Tiffany’s primary opponent, so far, is Josh Schoemann, the executive of Washington County in the southeastern part of the state. In the Democratic primary, several high-profile candidates are running, such as Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, and two state representatives.

Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. J. Mandela Barnes, the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nominee in 2022 who lost to incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), has also publicly expressed interest in running.

Although Tiffany announced his run on Sept. 23, he held a “campaign kickoff” event on Sept. 24 and repeated the announcement on different media.

Before joining Congress, Tiffany served in the state Senate for seven years and in the state Assembly for two years. He won a special election to Congress in 2020 for a seat vacated by Sean Duffy, who currently serves as U.S. secretary of transportation.

Tiffany’s run for governor means that he is not likely to run for reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives, creating an open race in his district.