MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Voters in Wisconsin and Michigan elected candidates who campaigned on investments in mental health treatment, addiction services, affordable housing and community violence prevention despite millions of dollars in opposition advertising portraying them as soft on crime, according to the criminal justice advocacy organization Serious About Safety PAC.
David Crowley was elected Wisconsin’s next governor, while Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s U.S. Senate race in the Nov. 3 election. Both Democrats emphasized public safety approaches that included preventing crime through community investment while supporting accountable law enforcement.
Serious About Safety PAC, which supported both candidates, said Crowley’s opponents and their allies spent more than $21 million on advertisements portraying him as weak on crime, while El-Sayed faced approximately $43 million in advertisements criticizing his public safety positions.
The organization characterized the results as evidence that candidates can successfully campaign on approaches emphasizing crime prevention rather than relying primarily on punishment and incarceration.
In Wisconsin, Crowley, who previously served as Milwaukee County Executive, campaigned on expanding mental health crisis response, substance use treatment and community violence intervention programs.
His public safety platform emphasized addressing the circumstances that contribute to violence while maintaining support for effective and accountable policing.
Serious About Safety PAC ran advertisements supporting Crowley in Wisconsin media markets ahead of Election Day, promoting his approach to public safety.
Following the election, SASPAC board member Ellen Flenniken criticized the opposition advertising and praised Crowley’s campaign.
“Crowley’s opponents and their allies invested more than $21 million in ads that tried to paint Crowley as ‘too soft on crime.’ Despite those efforts to stoke fear, Wisconsin voters elected a governor who ran on delivering safer, stronger communities,” Flenniken said.
Flenniken argued that the election demonstrated support for public safety policies combining law enforcement accountability with investments intended to prevent crime.
“Voters want elected leaders who support effective, accountable policing and invest in the solutions that prevent crime before it happens,” she said.
She cited Crowley’s support for mental health crisis response, drug treatment programs and community violence intervention as central elements of his campaign.
“Wisconsin voters want real solutions to public safety, not ‘tough-on-crime’ scare tactics,” Flenniken said.
Similar themes emerged in Michigan, where El-Sayed, a physician and former public health official, campaigned on expanding affordable housing, mental health services, addiction treatment and community violence prevention.
According to Serious About Safety PAC, El-Sayed faced approximately $43 million in opposition advertisements portraying him as soft on crime and questioning his ability to protect public safety.
The organization ran advertisements supporting El-Sayed in Michigan media markets before the election.
Flenniken said El-Sayed maintained his public safety positions despite the attacks, emphasizing investments in social services alongside police accountability.
“El-Sayed didn’t succumb to the fearmongering attacks and instead held his own and emphasized real solutions that make communities safer: supporting police while holding them accountable and making investments in affordable housing, mental health and addiction treatment, and community violence intervention,” she said.
Flenniken said Michigan voters had elected a candidate who viewed public safety as extending beyond traditional law enforcement.
“Michiganders need a leader in the Senate who understands comprehensive public safety,” she said.
El-Sayed has previously advocated treating criminal justice policy as a public health issue, arguing that investments in community services can reduce the circumstances that contribute to crime and incarceration.
During a 2020 University of Michigan discussion addressing incarceration and public safety, El-Sayed criticized the reliance on policing and incarceration to respond to social problems that could be addressed through earlier intervention.
“There are so many ways that society has failed to deal with real problems and has used policing and jails as a stopgap for all of these failures,” El-Sayed said.
He also called for policies intended to reduce incarceration and prevent people from entering the criminal legal system.
“Any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons and to keep people out of jails and prisons is policy that we need to be investing in,” he said.
The approaches promoted by Crowley and El-Sayed reflect a broader debate over whether public safety policies should focus primarily on responding to crime through arrests, prosecution and incarceration or place greater emphasis on preventing harm before it occurs.
Criminal justice reform advocates argue that mental health crises, substance use disorders, housing instability and community disinvestment can contribute to circumstances associated with criminal legal system involvement.
They contend that investments in treatment, stable housing and community-based violence prevention can reduce those risks while limiting the economic and social consequences of incarceration.
Research has documented how detention can affect employment and housing stability, including for people who have not been convicted of a crime.
A New York City Criminal Justice Agency study found that pretrial detention was associated with employment difficulties, job loss and housing instability among people awaiting trial.
Additional research summarized by the Prison Policy Initiative found that 30% of people detained for four to seven days reported losing their jobs because of their incarceration.
Such findings have contributed to arguments that reducing unnecessary detention and expanding community services can help prevent the economic instability that often accompanies criminal legal system involvement.
Supporters of prevention-focused public safety policies argue that spending on housing assistance, behavioral health treatment and violence intervention can complement law enforcement by addressing problems before they escalate.
Critics of approaches that reduce reliance on incarceration maintain that effective policing, prosecution and meaningful criminal penalties remain necessary to deter offenses, hold people accountable and protect communities.
The Wisconsin and Michigan elections took place amid broader debates over crime, public spending and the role of government in addressing public safety.
Although Crowley and El-Sayed won despite opposition advertising criticizing their criminal justice positions, the results alone do not establish that voters supported them primarily because of those policies.
Economic concerns, partisan preferences and other campaign issues also shaped the elections.
Serious About Safety PAC nevertheless pointed to both victories as examples of candidates who maintained prevention-focused public safety platforms while winning statewide races.
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