An old social media account with controversial posts about women, race and derogatory comments toward the LGBTQ community has been connected to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who recently relaunched his Democratic primary campaign for governor.
The story was first reported in an NBC News exclusive, which went on a deep dive into a 16-year-old X account, formerly known as Twitter, that is registered to the gubernatorial candidate.
According to the report, the account, which used a pseudonym, was active from 2010 to 2014, with the majority of the posts being made in 2010, ranging from “mundane to offensive.”
Crowley’s campaign confirmed he registered the account using his personal email address and did write some of the posts; however, his campaign denied that he authored any of the controversial posts, saying “it was operated with 10-12 others” in order to promote a bar and social club, according to NBC News.
The race for governor
Crowley is among the five candidates looking to succeed Gov. Tony Evers, who had previously avoided backing anyone in the race, which included his current lieutenant governor, Sara Rodriguez; his former lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes; and a former department secretary in his administration, according to NBC News.
This also comes less than a week after Rodriguez suspended her campaign amid discoveries of major inaccuracies related to financial reporting by her campaign manager, and just weeks before the Democratic primary, which is on Aug. 11.
The candidates running in the Democratic primary are Mandela Barnes, Joel Brennan, David Crowley, Francesca Hong and Kelda Roys.
New glimpse into governor’s race
A new Marquette Law School Poll offers a partial look at the Wisconsin Democratic governor’s race — but it comes with a significant caveat: The poll was conducted before David Crowley rejoined the race, after Sara Rodriguez dropped out last week, and before NBC News' report.
Despite the incomplete picture, two key takeaways emerge from the data. Forty-five percent of Democratic voters say they are still undecided, and Francesca Hong leads the Democratic primary field for the fourth consecutive time in the Marquette poll.
Hong holds 26% support among Democratic primary voters in the head-to-head matchup captured while Crowley was out of the race. The rest of the field includes Mandela Barnes with 15%, Sara Rodriguez, who dropped out of the race, at 11%, Joel Brennan at 2% and Kelda Roys at 1%.
You can read that full story here.
TMJ4 has reached out to Crowley for a statement regarding the NBC News report, but has not heard back yet.
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