Wisconsin Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Tom Tiffany (Republican) and David Crowley (Democrat) are the candidates for governor of Wisconsin in the November 3, 2026 general election. Semblen has analyzed 51 ads in this race; 39 used at least one manipulation technique, most often loaded language and name calling.
Tom Tiffany (REP), David Crowley (DEM).
On the ballot as listed by Ballotpedia. 51 ads analyzed, 39 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.
37 of 49 (76%) flagged · Loaded Language (26), Name Calling (20), Appeal to Fear (19)
YouTube
2 of 2 flagged · Appeal to Fear (1), Appeal to Prejudice (1), Black-and-White Fallacy (1)
Reported Meta spend
$71,200–112,963 on all ads, $64,400–99,027 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“bragged” — Loaded Language, paid for by Tiffany for Wisconsin
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
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A small box with these findings and the newest ads, updated as new ads are analyzed. Free for newsrooms, blogs and campaigns alike; it links back here.
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Each side is the campaign plus the groups backing it. How a group is placed is explained below the table.
Side
Ads
With at least one technique
Most common
Tiffany (R)
17
14 of 17 (82%)
Loaded Language (12), Appeal to Prejudice (9), Name Calling (9)
All from the campaign; no ads here from groups placed on this side.
Crowley (D)
11
8 of 11 (73%)
Loaded Language (6), Name Calling (6), Appeal to Fear (4)
Crowley's campaign
10
7 of 10 (70%)
Loaded Language (6), Name Calling (5), Appeal to Fear (4)
1 group backing Crowley
1
1 of 1
False Urgency (1), Name Calling (1)
Not placed on a side (6 sponsors)
23
17 of 23 (74%)
Loaded Language (9), Appeal to Fear (8), Black-and-White Fallacy (7)
Read this before comparing the sides. Ads that attack an opponent use these techniques far more often than ads that introduce a candidate, whoever runs them, so the side running more attack ads shows a higher share. A technique is about wording, not about whether an ad is true. These are online ads only (Meta and YouTube), not television.
Appeal to Prejudice (1), Black-and-White Fallacy (1), Card Stacking (1)
How a group is placed: by its own filings with the Federal Election Commission. A group is with a candidate when it reported spending to support that candidate, or to oppose the other one in the general election. The parties' own committees are with their nominee. Spending against a candidate in a primary places a group nowhere, and neither does our reading of its ads: a group with no such filing is listed as not placed. The sponsor table gives the reason for each.
Decide what counts
Not everyone would call every technique manipulation. Untick the ones you'd call ordinary persuasion and the count updates.
76% of the 51 ads here use at least one of the techniques ticked below (39 ads).
Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 69% of ads.
The words doing the work
The words that show up most in phrases our model flagged as loaded language or name calling in this race's ads, by number of ads.
illegal immigrantin 6 ads· e.g. “illegal immigrants”, “bragged about being an "accomplice" to illegal immigrants”
accomplicein 5 ads· e.g. “accomplice”, “bragged about being an "accomplice" to illegal immigrants”
MAGAin 5 ads· e.g. “MAGA billionaires”, “MAGA Republicans”
moneyin 5 ads· e.g. “dark money groups”, “hard-earned money”
sanctuaryin 4 ads· e.g. “sanctuary state”, “California-style sanctuary policies”
affordin 3 ads· e.g. “Wisconsin can't afford David Crowley as governor”, “can't afford”
agendain 3 ads· e.g. “David Crowley's tax-and-spend agenda”, “tax-and-spend agenda”
buyin 3 ads· e.g. “buy this election”, “buy Wisconsin”
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Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Wisconsin's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
51 ads, newest first. Video transcripts are shown as the model read them, without caption cues like [music].
Showing the 1 ad paid for by David Crowley for Wisconsin. Show all 51 ads
President Barack Obama
Paid for by David Crowley for Wisconsinvideo · 0:48from 2026-10-08
Hi, this is Barack Obama. I've known a lot of leaders, but I haven't known many like David Crowley. David's life story is about overcoming adversity and his life's work is about bringing people together.
Like me, David started out as a community organizer and he happens to be a girl dad, too. David and his wife Erica are raising three daughters in public schools. As the leader of Wisconsin's largest county, he created jobs and balanced the budget.
And as governor, David will fight to make Wisconsin more affordable so that you're paying less at the pump, at the doctor's office, and less at the end of the month. There is nobody better to lead Wisconsin forward so vote David Crowley for governor.
Glittering Generalities: The promise to make Wisconsin 'more affordable' is a vague, emotionally positive pledge without specific policy substance — for example: make Wisconsin more affordable and lead Wisconsin forward.
Exaggeration/Hyperbole: The absolute superlative claim that there is 'nobody better' is an overstatement beyond what evidence supports — for example: 'There is nobody better to lead Wisconsin forward'
Glittering Generalities
Exaggeration/Hyperbole
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
Watch on YouTube ↗Transcript above is auto-generated; the analysis is of the spoken words.
Follow Tom Tiffany vs. David Crowley
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in WI and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names WI's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
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