David Crowley Unfiltered: Data Centers, Healthcare & the 2026 Wisconsin Governor’s Race

Alright, tough questions about data centers.

Okay.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Are you ready, data center Dave?

That is funny.

So, this is Tom Tiffany's name for you.

Yeah.

Do you deserve it?

Absolutely not.

You know, I want folks to understand.

that we're going to do everything that we can to protect all of our farmland, all of our people when it comes down to these data centers.

When I

think about data centers, if a community doesn't want them, they shouldn't be forced to actually have a data center in their backyard.

And as I continue to say, there's no ands or buts about that.

And so we have to make sure that we're holding them accountable.

But if they do decide to move into a community, they have to one, utilize you in your labor.

And not one single penny should be

move to Wisconsin taxpayers.

We don't want to pay for their energy.

We don't pay for any of their infrastructure costs.

And if they're polluting or destroying our environment, they're going to be major in financial consequences.

Hello and welcome to the Dr. Kristen Lyderly show.

I'm Dr. Kristen Lyderly and I don't have a guest in studio with me today.

Instead, I got to hang out with

David Crawley, he was in Green Bay last week and we got to spend some time together talking about all the important things, especially data centers.

Everybody wants to know what's the scoop of Crawley and data centers.

We went there, but we also talked about his Badger basics plan.

housing costs, marijuana, Act 10, all of those things.

And of course, healthcare, because duh, me.

So we had a lovely conversation and we've captured it here for you.

So let's get into it.

Our first segment is about data centers, something that is very much heating up in this race.

Tom Tiffany says he's

data centers, but his record proves otherwise.

He's voted in support of non-regulation for data centers.

I mean, this is a guy who has been hand in hand with Trump, who is very pro data center, his entire congressional career.

But now he's changing his tune.

But David Crawley has actually been very consistent.

So listen up, hear what he has to say.

All right.

Tough questions about data centers.

Okay.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Are you ready?

Data center Dave?

That is funny.

So this is Tom Tiffany's name for you.

Yeah.

Do you deserve it?

Absolutely not.

You know, I want folks to understand.

that we're going to do everything that we can to protect all of our farmland, all of our people when it comes down to these data centers.

When I

think about data centers, if a community doesn't want them, they shouldn't be forced to actually have a data center in their backyard.

And as I continue to say, there's no and, is, or buts about that.

And so we have to make sure that we're holding them accountable.

But if they do decide to move into a community, they have to one, utilize unilater.

And not one single penny should be

move to Wisconsin taxpayers.

We don't want to pay for their energy.

We don't pay for any of their infrastructure costs and if they're polluting or destroying our environment, they're going to be major in financial consequences.

And that's

the total contrast between me and my opponent.

he has voted for the big ugly bill.

Not only did that strip away money from like Medicaid, Medicare, but that gave $70 billion to the same tech companies that are steamrolling communities to this day, right here in the state of Wisconsin.

He also voted, you know, was the deciding vote when it came down to banning AI regulations.

So we can't even do that here in this state.

And he also voted for the Speed Act, which allowed for data centers to actually continue to steamroll like we're seeing.

And so we're going to make sure that we're

protecting our communities and when I become the governor of this great state, we're going to make sure that the free ride that these big tech companies have been getting no longer under this administration.

I want to make sure I ask this question correctly because I'm quoting

you.

Do you regret saying that Wisconsin could be an AI and data center hub for the entire globe?

Or was that comment taken out of context?

That was taken out of context.

And that was a comment that was made way before anybody knew what this election was going to look like.

And what I was trying to speak to is the fact that we have so many data centers that are currently here, right?

And so.

While we're talking about the future, we haven't done enough to protect ourselves from what is happening right now.

And so these data centers, they do provide some level of economic growth, but we have to make sure that we put those guard rails in place to make sure that we're protecting our environment, protecting our water, protecting our farmlands, and not seeing those costs be a burden on Wisconsin taxpayers.

up here in Northeast Wisconsin in Wrightstown, in Greenleaf, most recently in Tigerton.

We've seen these data centers come in and they're giving people information.

They're saying things like, well, this will be the technology that will prevent your car from hitting a deer in the future.

Using really deceptive language to trick these people who are looking for economic growth.

They're looking for good paying jobs and they're put in a situation where it's really tricky for them to make good decisions.

What would you say to someone who lives in Tigerton and they're trying to figure out is a data center right for us or not?

Well, one, I want them to know that we're going to be a

partner,

right?

We're going to work directly with them because many of these local communities don't even have the resources.

to make sure that they're protecting their environment, to make sure that they're actually benefiting from these big, large corporations that are moving into their communities.

And I want folks to know that we're going to protect them.

We're going to utilize the Department of Natural Resources to protect our environment, to make sure that we're testing, you know, also around these areas to make sure we're not taking so much water out of the ground, right?

And we know how this is, this can have the potential to take so much of our farmland.

And when we think about the state of Wisconsin, we're known for manufacturing.

We're known from our farm...

I don't want to take that identity away from who we are.

I want to make sure that we can preserve everything that is made Wisconsin and continue those rich traditions moving forward.

One thing you'll notice about the conversations that David Crawley and I had is that they're going to be in different spots because we walked to different places to talk about different things.

And in between our conversations, we just chatted, small talk, and you can catch some of those little moments on my other platforms and on shorts here.

But one thing that I really appreciated was his authenticity.

And the way he really spoke to the issues that we're hearing people say all the time, affordability, the cost of gas, groceries, housing, not being able to live our lives in a meaningful way.

And he's developed this plan called Badger Basics to address so many of these issues, really drawing from his own background, having grown up in a challenging environment, not having a lot.

but being able to take that experience and turn it into something really positive as he runs for Governor of Wisconsin.

So check out what David Crawley has to say here about his Badger Basics plan.

First question.

Okay.

Badger Basics.

Yeah.

Cute name.

What does it mean?

Badger basics is about making sure that we're providing the basics for every family who lives in a badger state, right?

And it's built on three particular pillars.

Affordability, making sure that they can afford groceries, afford their home, afford utilities.

The second pillar is care, right?

That's when we talk about childcare from our young kids.

But it's also about health care and senior care for our older adults and making sure that everybody has access to seeing a provider no matter where they are.

And then last,

opportunity.

I want our young people, all families to have, if not the same, more opportunities that I had growing up.

And so every young person who's graduating college or an adult that is looking to change careers, we want to make sure that those opportunities are

available for them.

So how does that translate to making Wisconsinites lives better?

The average Wisconsinite who's listening right now, what does that mean to me?

Well, what that means is that one,

We'll put more money in your pocket, right?

And so you don't have to continue to spend more money, right?

We have seen a rise in property taxes because the state of Wisconsin hasn't been funding our public schools adequately, right?

We have seen grocery prices rising and a lot of this is because of this war of choice that we're seeing in Iran.

you know, high gas gasoline prices, high diesel prices, making things that's just just much more affordable.

But when you think about opportunity and care, we know that we need to expand badger care.

I think about rural communities and seeing many of the clinics and hospitals that have been closing all across the state because of the cuts we've seen to Medicare and Medicaid, which unfortunately my opponent, Tom Tiffany, actually voted for.

But this is about making sure that we can move ahead and that.

When the tide rise all the boats rise because so many folks feel like they've been they've been left behind as I always say if you don't have a seat at the table You're on the menu, and this is an opportunity to provide a seat for everything.

That's right All right housing is one of the two biggest cost drivers that you are targeting What is the actual mechanism that gets more homes built?

It's easy to say we need more homes.

How do we make it happen?

Well, there's a few things that we can do

And when I think about Milwaukee County, we've been able to work directly with local municipalities to incentivize working directly with them and understanding that there isn't this one-size-fits-all solution,

right?

And so, one, we have to work with our local municipalities.

How do we incentivize zoning to allow for more foreplexes or duplexes or assessable dwelling units?

Because that density, that helps to one,

property taxes right

when you

think about creating more density helps to lower those property taxes because it's being spread out amongst those who are living there when I think about housing workforce housing specifically moving those closer to manufacturing plants or to the hospital so we can recruit more people not to just come to Wisconsin but retain the folks

right

that we also we also have and when I think about housing like that's the most critical

building block of a family of a young person, right?

I can't have anybody think about their own health care, their own, you know, job opportunities or how they're going to get access to a doctor when they don't know where they're going to lay their head down at night.

So I like to look through a lens of the social determinants of health, but by working directly with municipalities, we can utilize the Wisconsin Housing Economic Development Authority.

working directly with developers, working with other lenders as well to make sure that we're providing affordable housing, but also, you know, senior housing.

housing for people with disabilities.

I would say that we also need market rate housing because there are people who can afford it, but unfortunately we don't have the supply.

You're speaking my language, social determinants of health, because people

think of

health care as just being health care.

We're going to talk about health care in a little bit, but health care is so much more.

It's clean water and clean

air and a

place to rest your head at night and all of that

stuff.

It's extremely important because as you said, it's education.

It's

access to health care, it's housing, it's access to public transportation, access to clean...

air and water.

So when we look at the social determinants of health, my goal for the state of Wisconsin is to make it the healthiest state in the Midwest come 2035.

Yes, I love that so much.

One thing we have to do though in Wisconsin, our minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

You have a plan to raise it to $20

an

hour.

How does that work and why will it make a difference in our pockets?

I mean.

There's a big difference between $7 and $25.

When I tell my kids, they were like,

that's

a great idea.

Let's do it.

I mean, I still think about the fact that, you know, when I had my, you know, my first job, you know, my father and my mother taught me the value of hard work.

And so the very first job I had was lawn maintenance.

And it was,

it was, it was physical work, you know, doing, you know, cutting folks grass, doing, you know, pruning different types of trees, doing gardening and farming and no longer own capacity.

But I was making $7 an hour then.

Right.

And we're talking about now, so many years, so many decades later, and it's 725.

It's crazy.

Right?

And what we're doing is we're forcing people, right, to have to rely on social services.

You know, and many, many folks who make more than $7.25 an hour who still need social services.

And so we have to, we have to get with these times and making sure that people can actually get access to a family sustaining opportunity.

And by going to $20 an hour is going to keep more money and people's

pockets, but it's also providing dignity for that worker, right?

Because workers have been on the menu here in the state of

Wisconsin.

Whether we've seen that through Act 10 under Scott Walker's era, whether we've seen that because we haven't actually raised the minimum wage.

And for me, it's not just thinking about every single worker, right?

Think about some of the people who are taking care of our most vulnerable populations, right?

Who are doing home health care work or taking care of people with disabilities, yet they can't take care of themselves.

Right.

And so we have to raise the minimum wage to instill dignity, but more money in the people's pockets who are doing extremely important work in our own communities.

Because when you've got enough money, when you can earn enough money by working, you can buy the things that you need

to live a

meaningful life.

Absolutely.

I'm glad you mentioned Act 10.

That is a priority for you repealing

Act 10.

And

what does that look like in real life?

It means working directly with the legislature.

I mean, in order to give dignity and respect to the workers who are building up our hospitals, who are building our apartment buildings, who are building up our schools, they need to have a seat at the table.

I

think all workers deserve the ability to bargain for their wages, for their benefits, and for safe working conditions.

And what I appreciate about unions, they don't just do it for their members.

Those men and women who are.

do is paying members.

They do it for everybody.

You know, that's a prime example of making sure that when the tide rise, all the

votes rise.

Right.

Yes.

And let's also talk about legalizing marijuana.

This is a huge issue.

We're the only state.

I mean, every state around

us has legalized marijuana.

I call us a donor hoe.

Because, I mean, you can go anywhere.

And just think about it.

Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois.

I mean, Governor Pritzker has thanked Wisconsin residents.

because of how much money we are spending in Illinois each and every single time.

So these are.

opportunities that we're actually missing out on, right?

But also revenue generating opportunities.

This is how we can fund early childhood education.

It's how we fund our public schools, public safety all across this state.

And so by not doing so, you know, we're just allowing people to spend their money in other communities while they reap the benefits of having legalization.

And so for me, it's way past due.

It is

time to allow our farmers to get access to this.

It's time for entrepreneurs to have access, and it's time for those who

want to indulge and take care of themselves, right?

When I think about, you know, a cancer patient who may be struggling themselves with so much pain and don't want to necessarily take an opioid.

Maybe they can't get it because they can't get access to health care.

Absolutely.

That's their only option.

That's their only option.

So this is incredibly important for this state.

And I think it's not going to just allow people to get access to it, but it's going to be a revenue generating opportunity for us to save more

money.

Win-win.

Absolutely.

That's Badger Basics addressing so many of the affordability issues that people are living with right now and we can't talk about affordability without mentioning.

care, health care, reproductive access, child care, the entire picture, it all fits together.

And of course, this one's personal for me, right?

Like I spent two decades taking care of moms and babies and families.

And I was the named plaintiff in the case that restored abortion access here after the dobs decision.

So this is really fundamentally important stuff to talk about.

So we're going to talk about health care here in this next segment, as well as

the rural voter and how David Crowley, the North Side Milwaukee guy, actually is the guy for folks living throughout Wisconsin.

So let's watch it.

I want to hear about your health care plan because so many Wisconsinites are struggling right now.

How will your health care plan help Wisconsinites?

I mean, one, I think it's we have to first acknowledge that there are so many families struggling.

When we think about the big ugly bill cutting a trillion dollars in Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare, taking away the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, that devastated many communities across this entire state and across this country.

And this is where you see rural communities and urban communities sharing some of the biggest burdens, clinics that are closing, hospitals that are closing.

And so when I think about our rural communities, one, we have to expand mobile crisis care.

right more mobile units to make sure that people aren't falling through the cracks or don't have to travel right one to three or hours away you know just to get the care that they need but for the state of Wisconsin this is about how do we expand bachelor care yeah right and open it up as an alternative to for-profit insurance you know you'll have a sliding scale premium based off of people's income and this provides an opportunity for us to provide the comprehensive care not just physical mental dental

vision and so I envision us making sure that

We, we blanket the entire state of Wisconsin working with our providers so no one falls through the cracks and there's no out of network expenses for those who are just looking to get the care that they need.

Right?

Because you get stuck if you're in a small town and your insurance doesn't jive

with the

system that you, where you live, you get stuck and so many people can't even put gas in their car.

Right.

To get to the place that they need to

go.

Right.

And this is, this is doubling down the affordability crisis, right?

Because when you had, when you, when you have to pay for your health care now,

Well, can I afford my utility bill?

Can I afford my home?

Can

I

afford childcare?

Can I afford, you know, and so we can't continue to create, manufacture almost these competing priorities for families that we represent.

And we see that, you know, happening in Congress.

And so we have to do what we need to do here as a state of Wisconsin and continue to put pressure at the federal level to make sure that we're fixing health care where it needs to be fixed.

That's right at the core.

Oh yeah.

States can't do this alone.

No, it's Band-Aids at the state level.

I'm getting hand signals over there.

We have to talk about abortion.

Because as you know, I'm an OBGYN doctor.

I fought hard to bring abortion care back to the state of Wisconsin.

We know that Tom Tiffany co-sponsored a six-week abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest.

We know where he stands.

He wiped all that information off of his website so people wouldn't know.

The guy who's talking about transparency took all that information away.

You're very transparent.

What is your stance on abortion and how will you do?

How will you support abortion care here in Wisconsin?

Well, let's just say an abortion is health

care,

you know, and we need to ban and get rid of this.

1849 abortion ban that we've had on the books for since that long.

And we need to make sure that we're protecting all women's rights.

Protecting reproductive hair.

And I think about reproductive health care, excuse me.

When I think about the fact that I'm a girl dad, times three.

I know you

are.

And I want to know how the same rights that their grandmother had, not less.

And this is an issue that we thought that we have fought so long ago.

And the fact that we're still having this conversation lets me know that we can't go back.

Tom Tiffany, Donald Trump, they would rather go back.

They would rather strip women of their rights, strip them from having access to abortion.

We need that.

That is health care.

And we need to recognize that we have to codify reproductive health to be a part of state statute.

I would argue it needs to be a part of our state constitution so we don't continue to see the pendulum swing when it comes down to reproductive health.

I have one other question

for

you.

Tom Tiffany is running this folksy fish fry old-fashioned you betcha kind of campaign We're in an attempt to appeal to people who live in rural Wisconsin.

You're north side of Milwaukee guy

Yeah,

how do you appeal to the you betcha crowd?

Well, you know the only person that he said you betcha two more than anybody is Donald Trump But the way you know one you know one of my favorite quotes is about Teddy Roosevelt

And

I think I think I've said this before but no one cares what you know until they know how much you care And I think that what we have not done enough is build

relationships, real relationships, authentic relationships.

And I think there's too many transactions happening in politics, you know, at the local, the state and the federal level.

But when you have an opportunity to talk to somebody and you're asking them about their children, you're asking them about their neighborhood, you're asking them about their schools or what they do, you know, for a living, you build a different type of relationship.

And I think that what I want to stress to all 72 counties that we all have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

You

know, every single community is different.

As a county executive, I represent 19 different municipalities.

They all fall somewhere different on the political spectrum.

They all have

their own needs, their own wants, and their own personalities.

But it's our job to understand is that we have to lift one another up.

And when it comes down to our small rural communities, our mid-sized suburban communities, or even our large urban centers, we all want to see safety in our communities.

We all want to have access to a good public school,

access

to quality health care,

and

afford to live under a roof.

And so this is really about breaking down the barriers, breaking down the walls that have been created quite frankly under BAGA.

right in order for certain people to continue to have power and so when I think about you know our rural communities right like one I've done a lot of hunting and fishing across this state you know and I was lucky enough to have teachers at a very early age who grew up on family farms and so I've been on their farms and have milk cows and many people don't know they're like

As county executive, I have the only dairy farm in Milwaukee County, right?

Yes, yes.

We actually have cows within our Milwaukee County Zoo and we actually milk them and we just need somebody to help us distribute the milk.

But you would be surprised of how much I actually have in common with our rural communities.

And I'm looking forward to continuously building those relationships.

But more importantly, making sure they have a seat at the table to lend their voice to the solutions that's going to work for them, and that's going to be sustainable for future generations.

I, for one, was not aware that there was a dairy farm at the Milwaukee Zoo, so I learned something, too, today.

Actually, I learned a lot today.

I really appreciated spending time with David Crawley talking about data centers, such a hot topic, as well as all of the things that he is doing to make life more affordable for Wisconsinites and health care, of course, but not just health care.

the care continuum, how we take care of our kids and our families and our communities.

If you want to learn more about David Crowley, you can go to Crowley4wi.com or you can find him on the socials at David C. Crowley.

Again, so much thanks to David Crowley and his team for hanging out with us in Green Bay last week.

And I hope you all enjoyed the show.

Please do share, like, comment.

All of that does make a difference.

And let me know what you want to see in the future.