David Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive, won the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor after beating the democratic socialist Francesca Hong in a tight contest.
Crowley pulled off a last-minute victory in the critical swing state after re-entering the campaign and snagging an endorsement from Tony Evers, the outgoing governor.
With most votes counted, Crowley had 39.8% of the vote, ahead of Hong’s 39.4%, according to the Associated Press: a lead of just more than 3,000 votes. The race came down to the wire, with Hong and Crowley running close to each other as each batch of results came in.
Polls had shown Hong as a clear frontrunner during the campaign, but with large chunks of voters still undecided and an ever-changing field of candidates, polling was difficult. Polls in Michigan had similarly shown the progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed with a more sizable lead than he ended up with in his victory in the Democratic primary for US Senate.
Hong, a chef and former restaurant owner from Madison, ran on a platform that included childcare for all, free school meals and a one-year moratorium on the construction of new datacenters, which differentiated her from her Democratic colleagues in the governor’s race.
Crowley welcomed those who voted for Hong in Tuesday’s primary to join him in the lead-up to November’s general election. “I look forward to earning their support,” he told reporters.
While the messy Democratic primary has been branded as a “battle between the left and the center”, Crowley argued this was an inaccurate characterization.
“We may not agree on every policy,” he said. “We may not use the same labels, but we all want safe communities, strong schools, affordable healthcare, good-paying jobs, and a brighter future for all of our children.
“Every one of us has something much bigger to unite around, and that is keeping Maga extremism from bringing the chaos we see in Washington into our neighborhoods right here in the state of Wisconsin,” said Crowley.
Evers, a Democrat who has served as Wisconsin’s governor since 2019, did not seek re-election. He endorsed Crowley, who re-entered the race after leaving it earlier in the cycle.
Evers hailed Crowley as “the future of our Party” in a social media post overnight. “For now, we polka,” he said. “Tomorrow, we’re back at work to win.”
In a statement on Wednesday morning, Hong congratulated Crowley and said she would support him in the general election.
“The last 11 months have been one of the greatest joys of my life. Traveling the state, meeting people in churches and dive bars and bike races and dance parties and in their homes, and hearing about what matters most to them informed every decision we made on the trail,” she said. “It will continue to inform the work we do – and ask our supporters to do – moving forward.
“This campaign was not about getting one person into office. It is about a building movement for permanent affordability and a government that puts working people first. Our movement is strong and the work isn’t done. I am overwhelmingly proud of our team and the work they have done to achieve that goal.”
Crowley’s pitch to voters in the waning weeks of the campaign was electability: he felt he was more poised to win against Tom Tiffany, a Republican congressman and ardent Trump supporter who ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Tiffany voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election, which Trump lost.
Crowley previously told the Guardian: “We knew that the stakes were too high for me to sit on the sideline, and that we need the best candidate, not just with executive leadership, but somebody who has a proven track record of getting things done. And that’s what voters want. They want someone they can trust. And that’s why we got back into this race.”
Hong’s previous statements had dragged her down in recent days, including past support for defunding the police and a tweet calling to cancel Thanksgiving, which she had since retracted. She had previously vowed to use her grassroots network built during the primary to aid whoever won.
Kelda Roys, a state senator, and Joel Brennan, who previously led the Wisconsin department of administration, rounded out the Democratic field.
There were entries and exits from the chaotic race in recent weeks. A previous top contender, Sara Rodriguez, left the race after campaign finance irregularities, after which Crowley re-entered the race, with Evers’ backing. Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in 2022, dropped out on 31 July.
The Wisconsin governor’s race became the latest test of the progressive wing of the party’s durability with Democratic voters in the midwest, after Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan last week. Next door, Minnesota voters were also weighing a US Senate primary between a moderate and a progressive. Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, won the Democratic primary for Senate over Congresswoman Angie Craig. The midwest primaries came after a wave of wins of progressives and Democratic socialists in solidly blue parts of the country.
Democrats in Wisconsin are angling for a governing trifecta, trying to win back control of both chambers of the state assembly and keep the governor’s office so they can enact a full agenda.
The governor’s race is expected to draw huge money and attention – Wisconsin is a close state for most statewide elections, and its voters are known to swing in either direction depending on the candidate or platform.
Elsewhere in Wisconsin, voters in the western part of the state chose Rebecca Cooke, a blue dog Democrat, to advance and face the Republican Derrick Van Orden in the third congressional district, a key pickup opportunity for Democrats. Cooke previously ran for the seat in 2022 and 2024, coming close to Van Orden.
Emily Berge, a former Eau Claire city council president, ran against Cooke. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsed Cooke, which angered some local Democrats who saw it as interfering in a primary. Berge’s momentum, amid a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, had other national groups spending to boost Cooke, who they believe is better placed to win the district.
