Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly upset Democratic socialist Francesca Hong in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday night, despite polls showing Hong in front by double-digits in the final stretch before polling day.
Crowley’s campaign said the 37-year-old state legislator and member of the Democratic Socialists of America called Crowley early Wednesday to concede the race. Hong trailed her rival by more than 3,200 votes out of more than 787,000 ballots cast as of 6 a.m. ET., a margin of 0.41 percentage points.
Under Wisconsin law, Hong could have requested a recount since she trailed by under one percentage point, but would have had to pay for it since her deficit was greater than 0.25 percentage points. State law does not provide for automatic recounts in close races.
Crowley, 40, was the late choice of Wisconsin’s Democratic establishment after Lt. Gov Sara Rodriguez and her predecessor Mandela Barnes dropped out of the race in recent weeks. Crowley had initially dropped out and endorsed Rodriguez last month, but re-entered the race in an effort to stop Hong after Barnes quit.
“To Francesca [Hong], Kelda [Roys], Joel [Brennan] and every candidate who shared their vision for Wisconsin, thank you. They challenged all of us to think bigger about what our state can become,” Crowley’s campaign manager Garren Randolph said in a statement name-checking his candidate’s primary rivals.
“From day one, this campaign has been about what comes next for Wisconsin: making life more affordable, strengthening our schools, creating good-paying jobs, and making sure opportunity reaches every corner of our state,” he added.
“Now, David is focused on bringing people together, earning the support of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and anyone who believes Wisconsin is at its best when we work together and deliver results.
“David is ready to get back to work, build a broad coalition, and win in November.”
“Our team campaigned clean, our souls are intact and we really made meaningful change for the progressive movement,” Hong’s campaign manager Becky Cooper said after she conceded, while the candidate herself told supporters Tuesday night in Madison: “We have built something that will change politics forever.”
Crowley, who will face GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany in the November general election, would be the Badger State’s first ever black governor. --->READ MORE HERE
Radical socialist Francesca Hong suffered an upset loss in Tuesday night’s Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary – one of several battlegrounds in the fight for the future of the party.
Hong’s defeat after polls showed her leading her nearest rival by close to 20 percentage points was just one of many surprises on a night that saw a longtime congressman ousted in Connecticut, a Trump-endorsed candidate trounced in Minnesota, and the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline secure a spot in a special runoff to fill his seat.
Here are five takeaways from another action-packed primary night.
1. The far-left’s kryptonite: Turkey Day
Note to future socialist candidates: Keep Thanksgiving out of your mouth.
Unless and until Hong succeeds in gaining higher office, she will be forever remembered in Wisconsin politics as the candidate who called to cancel Thanksgiving, that most American of celebrations.
Hong, 37, had just been elected to the Badger State’s legislature when she attacked the “colonizer holiday” in a since-deleted November 2020 X post.
That would have been awkward enough to explain, but Hong somehow made it worse for herself when she delivered a 46-second filibuster on the topic to CNN’s Kaitlin Collins last week, reproduced below in full:
“I’m a chef, and one of the first meals that I made that was for the community when I was 16 was a Thanksgiving meal. I always think my hospitality background and owning a restaurant for seven, eight years, that bringing folks around the table to share conversation and build community is always a good thing.
“But Thanksgiving is also a time that’s incredibly painful for many people in our communities. So I think there I wanted to make sure people understood there are multiple views, but views can evolve.
“And the position I’m running for right now — and I think my background as a chef will actually help me become a better governor that’s able to bring more people to the table.”
No further questions, your Honor.
Wisely realizing she had stepped in it, Hong told Politico’s Playbook podcast days later that her “favorite holiday is Thanksgiving” and “I actually love it,” but she’s just “kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to holidays in general” — which is backed up by other social media posts ranting about Valentine’s Day, the Fourth of July, Christmas, Halloween, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
It was all enough to send Wisconsin’s Democratic power brokers sprinting to line up behind Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who re-entered the race just in time to prevent a Hong victory from making them national punch lines.
2. Graham name faces ultimate test in South Carolina --->READ MORE HERE
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