David Crowley grew up in Milwaukee’s 53206 ZIP code, where his family was evicted three times in two years. In 2020 he became the first Black person and the youngest person elected Milwaukee County executive.
He took office at 33 and was reelected in 2024. His record runs to the practical: pensions, overdoses, evictions and mental health care.
Growing up
Crowley’s parents struggled with drug addiction but kept working. His father bought and fixed up a two-story, four-bedroom house near 23rd and Burleigh. The family lost it when the taxes went unpaid. “We didn’t have any running water, we didn’t have any heat or electricity,” Crowley told TMJ4 in 2020. After that, he said, the family was evicted three times within two years.
As a teenager he joined Urban Underground, the youth organizing group run by Reggie and Sharlen Moore, and credits it with pointing him toward public life. He graduated from Bay View High School.
He started at UW-Milwaukee in 2006 and dropped out his first semester for an electrical apprenticeship. Nearly two decades later, while he was county executive, he went back. On Dec. 15, 2024, he received his degree in community engagement and education and gave the commencement speech. He told WPR he did it for his three daughters and in memory of his mother, Valerie, who died in 2023.
Behind the scenes, then the Assembly
Crowley worked on Russ Feingold’s 2010 Senate campaign, then became an aide to Milwaukee County Supervisor Nikiya Harris Dodd. When she won a state Senate seat in 2012, he went to Madison as her policy director.
In 2016 he finished third in a Milwaukee Common Council primary. Weeks later the 17th Assembly District seat opened up. He won the Democratic primary with 56% and had no opponent in November. He served from January 2017 until 2020.
County executive
Crowley beat state Sen. Chris Larson in April 2020, an election upended by COVID-19. On May 4 he was sworn in outside his home in the Nash Park neighborhood. Court of Appeals Judge Joe Donald gave the oath. “Not just the symbolism, but the responsibility that comes with being the first is something I am very keenly aware of,” Crowley said.
The county’s money problems predated him. Crowley pushed for more local revenue at the Capitol. The result was 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, which let the county add 0.4 percentage points to its sales tax. Crowley signed the increase in August 2023, raising the county rate from 0.5% to 0.9% as of Jan. 1, 2024. The money goes to pension obligations and to avoid deeper cuts.
Other parts of his record:
- Evictions. In 2021 he signed the measure creating Right to Counsel Milwaukee, which provides free lawyers to eligible residents facing eviction or foreclosure.
- Overdoses. In 2023 he signed legislation releasing more than $11 million in opioid settlement money for prevention and treatment, including free vending machines stocked with Narcan and fentanyl test strips.
- Mental health. The county closed its Mental Health Complex on Watertown Plank Road in 2022 and shifted care to a new Mental Health Emergency Center and community providers.
- Climate. In April 2025 he signed the Climate Action 2050 plan, which aims for net-zero emissions from county operations by 2050.
Second term
In April 2024 Crowley beat Ieshuh Griffin with 84.5% of the vote.
He and his wife, Ericka, are raising three daughters.
He is 38, two terms into the county’s top job, and one of the Democrats people name when they talk about who might run for governor in 2026.
