David Crowley Campaigns in Eau Claire as Election Approaches

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley visited Eau Claire over the weekend with less than a month until the midterm election.

Crowley spoke with local residents at Forage in downtown Eau Claire on Sunday morning, thanking them for their support and energizing them for the final stretch of the campaign. He also shared his plans to address data center development in Wisconsin, an issue that has risen to the forefront of voters' minds over the last year.

"I mean, I can't believe I'm now data center David Crowley," he said. "And I want to be very clear, we're going to be extremely aggressive about protecting our land, protecting our air, protecting our water quality. But it's also important that every single community have a seat at the table. Data centers need to earn their way. And if a community doesn't want a data center, they will not be forced to have a data center, and there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Healthcare is another issue of particular interest to the Chippewa Valley after years of working to address the sudden closure of two hospitals and a number of clinics. Amid those struggles, federal cuts to Medicaid have also put more rural healthcare facilities at risk with even more cuts scheduled to go into effect following the midterm election. Crowley highlighted expanding Badgercare and creating a public option for the program as a significant goal for his administration if elected to address that issue.

"And so my goal is to expand Badgercare," he said. "Turn it into an alternative to for-profit insurance, allowing people to pay into this pool to make sure that people don't fall through the cracks. Incentivizing our providers to make sure that people are within network and no longer have to travel hours away just to get the care that they need. It needs to be available whenever and wherever they need it. And so I'm looking forward to working with our rural communities, our rural hospitals, as well as the state legislature to make sure that we're finding a fix moving forward so we can bring costs down for everybody."

Crowley will face off with Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany for Wisconsin Governor in the November election.