Whoever wins the race for Wisconsin governor next month, both candidates say the state needs more homes. That's something contractors have been saying for years. The disagreement is about how to get there.
Wisconsin Public Radio reported Oct. 8 that affordability is the top issue for voters this fall. The Marquette Law School poll released Sept. 30 found 45% of Wisconsin voters named inflation and the cost of living as their most important issue. No other issue came close.
The two major-party candidates are Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
WPR reported that both candidates say they want to increase housing supply, do something about rising utility bills, and repeal Wisconsin's minimum markup law to lower gas prices. That's a fair amount of common ground on paper.
They split on the role state government should play.
Two different approaches
Crowley's plan focuses on lowering the cost of essentials, including child care, health care and housing, through more state spending. It calls for more funding for housing programs that address both supply and demand, along with more money for child care providers and a BadgerCare expansion. WPR reported Crowley didn't specify how the plan would be paid for, but suggested the state's roughly $3 billion budget surplus and taxes on "billionaires" and "billionaire companies."
"We have to tackle the affordability crisis, whether we're talking at the gas pump, groceries, housing, childcare, healthcare, you name it," Crowley told WPR.
Tiffany's plan focuses on cutting taxes and regulations. He says regulations make it more expensive to do business and raise prices for consumers, "from housing to childcare," as WPR put it. His plan includes a 10% tax cut for families earning less than $150,000 a year, a property tax freeze after repealing Gov. Tony Evers' partial veto that raised school district revenue limits for 400 years, and returning the surplus to residents.
"State government has plenty of money. It does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem," Tiffany told WPR.
The bigger cost picture
WPR's story also laid out why so many people feel squeezed. Average gas prices in Wisconsin are above $4 a gallon. National inflation has stayed above 3% since March, and Midwest inflation over the past year has been around 3.6%, said David Fuller, an economics professor at UW-Oshkosh. He said real wages are down slightly over the past year, a bit more in Wisconsin than nationally. Tariffs are adding to the pinch: the nonprofit Tax Foundation estimates tariffs imposed in 2025 amounted to a $1,000 tax increase per U.S. household on average, and about $820 this year.
A report from Forward Analytics, the research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association, found that over the past 25 years the cost of housing and health care has outpaced both inflation and wages in Wisconsin, according to WPR.
Fuller also cautioned that a governor's power over inflation is limited. "There isn't a whole lot that local or state politicians can do to meaningfully affect the inflation rate because that tends to be driven by national forces," he said.
Why it matters for Contractors
Housing is one place where a governor can make a difference, and both candidates say so. The difference for contractors is in the tools each would use.
A spending-focused approach like Crowley's points toward more state money in housing programs. For contractors, public money usually means more funded projects to bid on, along with the paperwork and reporting that come with public dollars. A deregulation-focused approach like Tiffany's points toward lowering the cost and hassle of building, through tax cuts and fewer rules. That could mean faster approvals and lower overhead on private jobs, depending on which regulations change.
Neither plan has turned into a bill yet, and the details will matter more than the campaign pitches. Whoever wins will also have to work with the Legislature. But builders, remodelers and trades who depend on housing starts have a real stake in the answer.
We're not telling anyone how to vote. Our suggestion is simple: read both plans, look for the specifics on housing, permitting and infrastructure, and ask the people asking for your vote what they'd do to get more homes built in your town.