On Thursday night, October 8, 2026, Tom Tiffany — the Republican running for governor of Wisconsin — appeared at a Green Bay campaign event pitched at Wisconsin hunters. His featured guest was Ted Nugent.
WISN reported that Nugent told the crowd he wanted to be in Wisconsin "because I know real Wisconsin," and that if "real Wisconsin shows up," the state would get "Christian, constitutional, conservation representation."
Nugent is not a random celebrity endorsement. He has a long, public, and well-documented record. Tiffany chose to stand next to it anyway, and when The Milwaukee Courier asked his campaign about it, the campaign didn't respond.
What Nugent has said about underage girls
This isn't a rumor that someone made up about Nugent. Much of it comes from his own mouth.
In a 1998 episode of VH1's Behind the Music, Nugent described himself as "addicted to girls," according to the transcript published by Snopes. The show told the story of his relationship with Pele Massa, which began in 1978. He was 30. She was 17.
Massa said on the program: "I was underage. Even back in the wild 70s it just wasn't really a terribly appropriate situation in most people's eyes. And now it would be criminal."
The show's narrator said Nugent "admits to a number of liaisons with underage girls," and that Massa's mother signed papers making him her legal guardian. Nugent's own explanation of the parents: "they figured better Ted Nugent than some drug infested punk in high school."
To be fair to the record: Snopes could not independently confirm the guardianship, Nugent denied "adopting" her on Joe Rogan's podcast in 2018, and Snopes notes Nugent has never been charged with a crime. The relationship may not have broken Hawaii's law at the time. But Snopes also points out that Massa "would have been considered underage in several other states" — and Nugent is the one who went on national television to describe it.
He also wrote and recorded a song called "Jailbait," which includes the line "I don't care if you're just thirteen."
What Nugent has said about a president
In January 2014, Nugent called President Barack Obama a "subhuman mongrel" in an interview with Guns.com. The Christian Science Monitor reported that he later admitted he "did cross the line."
That was twelve years ago. Everything in this post was public long before Tiffany put Nugent on his stage.
Not the first time Tiffany has picked company like this
This is the same candidate who went on a podcast whose host praised Hitler — a host who said Hitler "actually done some good things," in an exchange the Courier described as sarcastic — and accepted that host's offer to help his campaign.
A candidate for governor gets to pick who stands on stage next to him. It's one of the few things in a campaign that is completely in his control. Tiffany picked a man whose own VH1 documentary said he admitted to "liaisons with underage girls," who sang about a 13-year-old, and who called the first Black president a "subhuman mongrel."
In summary
On October 8, 2026, Tom Tiffany campaigned in Green Bay with Ted Nugent, who began a relationship with a 17-year-old when he was 30, was described on VH1 as admitting to "a number of liaisons with underage girls," recorded a song about a 13-year-old called "Jailbait," and called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel." Asked about appearing with Nugent, Tiffany's campaign didn't respond.
