Wisconsin Democrats chose David Crowley, a county executive, over democratic socialist Francesca Hong in Tuesday's gubernatorial primary, a race marked by candidate withdrawals, a mid-campaign suspension by Crowley himself, and well-funded attack advertisements targeting Hong's past statements.
Wisconsin Democrats select moderate over democratic socialist in gubernatorial primary
Wisconsin Democrats chose David Crowley, a county executive, over democratic socialist Francesca Hong in Tuesday's gubernatorial primary, a race marked by candidate withdrawals, a mid-campaign suspension by Crowley himself, and well-funded attack advertisements targeting Hong's past statements.
The primary was disrupted when two candidates dropped out amid scandal in the weeks before the election. Crowley also suspended his own campaign and endorsed another candidate before reentering the race with less than a month remaining, setting up a contest between establishment Democrats and the party's left wing.
Hong campaigned on issues including universal childcare, free school meals, and opposition to new data centers. She faced criticism, however, over positions she had taken during the pandemic, which both pro-Crowley groups and Republicans targeted in attack advertising.
Voter turnout among Wisconsin Democrats was notably high. Hong performed well in Madison and other liberal areas, but Crowley won Milwaukee and most rural counties.
The race was described as a broader test of progressive movement strength outside heavily Democratic cities.
Hong's difficulties were attributed in part to her association with a strain of early-2020s social justice activism, characterized in the article as 'Woke 1,' which the article describes as a rhetorical style around race, class, and social justice that peaked after 2020 and that alienated some centrist and working-class voters, including some in minority communities. Examples cited include calls to defund, abolish, or reform police and prisons, and a 2020 tweet by Hong proposing to cancel Thanksgiving.
The article notes that some left-wing politicians have since adjusted their public positions. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed are cited as examples of politicians who have walked back comments about defunding the police, instead focusing on affordability and healthcare and publicly discussing how their views evolved.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quoted as saying on Sunday: 'There was a huge opening of the Overton window during the pandemic. Rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.'
- The specific vote margin between Crowley and Hong is not provided.
- The nature of the scandals that caused two other candidates to drop out is not described.
- The specific candidate Crowley endorsed before reentering the race is not named.
- Hong's response to the attack advertisements is not included.
- The 'controversial positions' from the pandemic referenced in the article are not fully enumerated beyond the Thanksgiving tweet.
- Crowley's stated policy platform is not detailed.