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MADISON, Wis. — After a string of wins in mayors' races and congressional primaries this year, democratic socialists are hoping to nominate a candidate for governor Tuesday when Wisconsin voters head to the polls.
The prospect, while electrifying to members of the ascendant movement, is scaring establishment Democrats who worry about the ability of such a progressive candidate in a swing state where general election margins are often measured in fractions of a percentage point.
Ultimately, the general election could feature two candidates with strong ideologies. On the Republican side, Tom Tiffany, a deeply conservative congressman from northern Wisconsin, is running with the endorsement of President Donald Trump against political novice Andy Manske.
Most of the attention has been on the Democratic race, where democratic socialist Francesca Hong has led polls in a crowded field that has thinned in recent weeks.
What's at stake
Hong, a state lawmaker and former restaurant owner, has promised to put a hold on building data centers, slam millionaires with higher taxes and set up public grocery stores. She captured grassroots devotion but drew scrutiny in recent weeks for her past calls on social media to abolish the police and cancel Thanksgiving.
The Democratic primary turned chaotic soon after Gov. Tony Evers (D) decided last year not to seek a third term. Seven candidates entered the race, but some - including Mandela Barnes, a former lieutenant governor and the Democrats' 2022 nominee for Senate - dropped out as Hong's campaign surged.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley was among the first to exit the race, but he jumped back in it when Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez announced she was suspending her run because her past campaign finance filings were full of inaccuracies and she had far less money than she had claimed. Evers got behind Crowley and spent the last days of the race campaigning with him.
Also running were Joel Brennan, a former top aide to Evers, and Kelda Roys, a state senator.
Democratic socialists and other progressives have won primaries across the country this year, particularly in solidly Democratic cities and districts. A victory by Hong - much like Abdul El-Sayed's win last week in neighboring Michigan's Democratic Senate primary - sets up a general election test of whether an avowed progressive can win in a swing state.
Wisconsin races are often decided by one percentage point or less, as Trump knows from his narrow victories in 2016 and 2024 and narrow loss in 2020.
Hong, 37, has campaigned on “permanent affordability” and wants to provide free school lunches to all students, subsidize child care, raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour, end the state's school voucher program and establish a public bank. She would pay for her plans by legalizing marijuana and taxing the rich.
Crowley pitched a comparatively modest agenda and arguing his record running the state's largest county and serving in the legislature shows he can get things done. He wants to expand work apprenticeships, cut regulations for entrepreneurs and invest in housing, health care, schools and child care.
Hong wrapped up her campaign fielding questions about her pandemic-era posts describing Thanksgiving as a colonizer holiday and calling for its cancellation. At a campaign event Monday near Madison, Hong distanced herself from those posts, saying she had learned “you have some hot takes - sometimes bad takes - on Twitter, and I let my feelings out into the world.”
Fifteen miles away, at his own campaign stop, Crowley said he couldn't recall when he first learned of her posts. “All I can say is that I like Thanksgiving and my favorite food is dressing,” he said.
Evers in recent days said he didn't think Hong could win against Tiffany. But he said Monday he would campaign with her if she secures the nomination because he believes Tiffany would be the “worst governor in the state's history.”
Tiffany campaigned Monday with former Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and said he was ready to take on whichever Democrat wins the nomination. He noted Hong's fellow Democrats have largely avoided criticizing her, saying he believes the party's leaders “have capitulated to the big-government socialism that she is selling.”
Tiffany spent a decade in the state legislature before he was elected to the House in a special election in 2020.
Tiffany, 68, has embraced much of Trump's agenda, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that limited taxes on tips and overtime, tightened screening for food stamps and reduced spending on Medicaid. After Trump lost his 2020 reelection bid, Tiffany objected to certifying the presidential results in Arizona and Pennsylvania as part of Trump's bid to overturn the election, and said he would have done the same for his home state if objections had been heard.
In his run for governor, Tiffany is pledging to freeze property taxes, cut housing and health care regulations, support police, raise school standards, ban “sanctuary cities” and enforce work requirements for public benefit programs.
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