David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, won the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin, according to The Associated Press. His stunning upset sets up a showdown with Representative Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, a Republican with close ties to President Trump who easily won his party’s primary.
A surprise surge in the final days of the race helped Mr. Crowley narrowly defeat Francesca Hong, a chef, state lawmaker and democratic socialist who had held a commanding lead in the polls for months. Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, endorsed Mr. Crowley, who out-raised Ms. Hong in July with the embrace of the more centrist Democratic establishment, and joined him on the campaign trail, warning Democratic voters that Ms. Hong would likely lose to Mr. Tiffany.
The win was all the more remarkable because Mr. Crowley had dropped out of the race in early July as his support and campaign funds dwindled. He only jumped back in 10 days later to accept Mr. Evers’ endorsement, saying that he and his wife had prayed and arrived at the decision to return. Mr. Evers told Democratic primary voters that Mr. Crowley was the candidate most likely to beat Mr. Tiffany in November.
“We are seeing an incredible shift of momentum,” Mr. Crowley said last week.
During his campaign, Mr. Crowley promised that if elected, he would push to build more housing in Wisconsin, improve the health care system and raise Wisconsin’s minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2030, from the current $7.25.
He faced Ms. Hong; Sara Rodriguez, the state’s lieutenant governor; Mandela Barnes, a former lieutenant governor; Kelda Roys, a state lawmaker; and Joel Brennan, a former state cabinet member.
A Marquette University Law School poll released last month showed Ms. Hong leading the field with 38 percent of the vote, Mr. Barnes with 16 percent and Mr. Crowley with seven percent.
But that field steadily imploded. In the final weeks before the primary, Ms. Rodriguez ended her campaign when she discovered financial mismanagement.
Perhaps the best-known candidate in the race at the time, Mr. Barnes, abruptly suspended his campaign in late July, saying in a message to supporters that it was time to focus on beating Mr. Tiffany.
Mr. Tiffany, 68, grew up on a farm, worked as a dam tender and now represents a conservative-leaning district in western Wisconsin. He has said that his priorities as governor will be to lower taxes, bring transparency to health care and protect farmland in Wisconsin.
Mr. Trump declared in his endorsement of Mr. Tiffany that the congressman has “always been at my side.” As the primary drew near, Mr. Tiffany presented himself as a bulwark against “big-government socialism,” saying that his opponents wanted to empty prisons and abolish the police. He was the only major candidate on the Republican ballot.
“We’re going to paint that clear contrast every single day between the craziness of the left and the common sense that we’re going to bring to Madison,” Mr. Tiffany said at a recent campaign stop.
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