WUWM's series "Where's Your Head At?" features voters with differing political perspectives weighing in on the issues that are most important to them in the November midterms and sharing how they're voting (or not) for Wisconsin governor.
Through our 2026 election survey, we learned that Wisconsinites want to hear from people with different political views. The survey also helped us connect with some of the voters we talked to. This series is one way we're hoping to help people better understand each other.
"Where's Your Head At?" was produced by WUWM's Maayan Silver and Susan Bence. Here are some of the takeaways we heard from the voters.
These are the individuals' personal opinions. Participants' answers may be edited for clarity and length.
Arturo Burgos
Lives in: Franklin
Occupation: Retired city of Milwaukee police officer
Burgos: I have a 10-year-old autistic child, and he is mostly non-verbal, so I am concerned with the cuts in Medicaid and the new limitations that this administration is bringing in.
The states have a lot of leeway in how they spend Medicaid money. They have to follow certain rules, but they got a lot of leeway in how they do it. I think [Democrat David] Crowley, having worked at the county level where it's all distributed and administered, has a much better idea [of how to spend Medicaid money].
Crowley recognizes the problems, the fiscal problems, and is willing to bring in as many groups as possible to discuss solutions. And unfortunately, in Milwaukee County, solutions are tax increases, but that's not going to be the case statewide.
I can't tolerate Tom Tiffany's refusal to admit that the previous election wasn't stolen as the president claims it was. I think it's a totally false and a non-starter to even consider him while he takes that stance.
Chris Lawrence
Lives in: Brown Deer
Occupation: Consultant, works for Milwaukee County Republican Party
Lawrence: I'm voting for Tom Tiffany because we have to take on this affordability issue. The government is growing at alarming levels and any time the government grows, our pockets as citizens shrink. So we got to get every single copper penny of that surplus back into taxpayer pockets.
I have a wife, she stays at home. I have five kids and I have one on the way. I'm a sole income household. So, and I got teenagers, I got them from teenagers all the way to newborn and one on their way. You can imagine my discretionary spending is relatively high. These aren't costs you can just escape by planning your lives and take away things.
No one wants to be in a war in Iran, but the Iranians chose this war. The worst result, the most highest cost we'll ever possibly face as a country is if Iran was to get a nuclear weapon...If we don't solve the Iran issue, it will kill us.
I would say one thing about Tom [Tiffany] that voters should understand is Tom is a family man. He's a good man, an ethical man. There's not a scandal or skeleton in sight. He's an honorable man, so even if you may disagree with him on 20 to 30% of the issues, you're dealing with an honest, trustworthy person who grew up in northern Wisconsin, which is much different from my life here in southeast Wisconsin, but I know Tom well.
Kate Burke
Lives in: Pewaukee
Occupation: retired engineer
Burke: I may have voted for a GOP candidate when my understanding of pro-life was strictly on the issue of abortion, but as I grew in my faith and understood it to be more comprehensive and beyond that one issue, I've become more and more left-leaning.
My faith really informs my decision of who I vote for, and I find that the Catholic social teaching really uplifts dignity of the human person from womb to tomb, and the dignity of the person throughout life is best addressed in the current day with the Democratic party.
If we damage creation so much that it is irreversible, we are going to be doing a lot of people to death. And this is already happening now with natural disasters that take place around the world. But it also happens with forcing migration. And it creates violence when people don't have enough food to eat because their climate has changed, when pollution damages people's health, even due to fossil fuel pollution or due to wildfire smoke, all these things are detrimental to the life and dignity of the human person.
So I did check out Tom Tiffany's report card with the Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and it is very poor. Even if we keep denying it, the climate will continue to change, and it will just get more and more difficult for people to survive who are living on the margins.
Jonathan Mark Edwin
Lives in: Milwaukee
Occupation: Pharmacy analyst
Edwin: I identify politically as a libertarian who is not very involved in the political system. What I like about libertarianism is that there's a great idea of self-ownership and having responsibility for your actions and being able to determine what is best for you.
For the 2026 midterm elections, I've decided not to vote for any of the major candidates. I'm not interested in a vote for Tom Tiffany because ... he says he's gonna lower taxes and I think that's a great thing, sure, I would like paying lower taxes. But he does comes across as, just generally promising a lot of things that I don't know if he can actually back up.
The thing that makes me the least interested in voting for [Democrat David Crowley] was he raised the county sales tax from 0.5% to 0.9%. And that actually has changed my consumer habits.
I think that instead of finding like a political cause that you can really say, like 'we're gonna end world hunger' or something like that, start a little bit closer to home and say, 'there's this problem in my community, in my life even, maybe. And I'd like to get involved with this' and then also evaluate is the work that I'm doing materially improving the quality of life for the people it impacts?
Melissa Klavins
Lives in: Mequon
Occupation: Food business
Klavins: I came out swinging hard in this gubernatorial election for Francesca Hong. I find myself identifying with her and her platform very much. When she lost, it was a painful experience, not just because she lost ... but because I feel that the platform for the Democrats has been to be quiet, behave, and fall in line and doing so has opened space for people to feel it's appropriate to attack me.
I really supported Hong on numerous platforms. What she was going to do in the first 30 days was substantial. Talking about childcare, availability for moms is huge. Minimum wage, livable wage being a minimum wage and then the data center moratorium, those were three of the top issues for me.
Earlier this week I wasn't sure I was going to vote, but as of today I will be voting for [Democrat David] Crowley, but I am also not voting blue down the ticket. I will be voting for a Green candidate for my congressional seat.
Crowley, in the last few days, I've heard that he's willing to put some stops to what's happening in the data centers immediately ... This is something that has been crucial to my support for all candidates ... I did not like Crowley's position. And he showed us that he is going to listen to the Hong supporters and make a move. And that was crucial.
