Mandela Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, abandoned his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor on Thursday, the latest jolt to a tumultuous primary that has divided the state party.
His exit came as State Representative Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, has built a broad base of support and polled well ahead of Mr. Barnes and other more moderate candidates. In a message posted online announcing his exit, Mr. Barnes said that “it has become very clear who our nominee is going to be.”
Wisconsin Democrats see this year as an opportunity to build power in a closely divided state, with President Trump’s poll numbers slumping and redrawn maps providing Democrats a fighting chance to flip the State Legislature. But the primary for governor has been rocked in recent weeks by a series of cast changes, controversies and conflicting visions about what sort of Democrat can win in November.
Ms. Hong’s campaign has energized voters across the state in recent weeks, drawing a younger crowd to campaign events and pressing a platform that includes allowing local governments to raise income taxes on high earners and putting a freeze on the construction of new data centers.
Some Democrats, however, have expressed concern that Ms. Hong’s policies might be unpalatable to moderate voters in the general election. Wisconsin Republicans, who believe Ms. Hong would be an easier general election opponent, have cheered her rise in the primary polls and have spent at least $2.2 million on ads which appear to be aimed at boosting her campaign.
Wisconsin is about evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Gov. Tony Evers, the Democratic incumbent, decided not to seek a third term.
Representative Tom Tiffany is expected to be the Republican nominee.
The primary election is set for Aug. 11. Ms. Hong still faces several opponents in the primary, including David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, who is running with Mr. Evers’s endorsement.
Mr. Barnes served for four years as lieutenant governor under Mr. Evers. But rather than seek a second term as lieutenant governor in 2022, Mr. Barnes ran for the U.S. Senate and lost to Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, even as Mr. Evers won a second term. That loss raised doubts among many Democrats about Mr. Barnes’s electability.
Though Mr. Barnes entered the race for governor with strong name recognition, he struggled to build momentum in a large and fractious primary field. As Ms. Hong consolidated support from the party’s left wing this summer, establishment-oriented Democrats looked for a relatively moderate candidate but struggled to coalesce.
Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez seemed to be emerging as the establishment’s preferred candidate this month, but her bid unraveled when problems with her campaign finance reports emerged. After she withdrew from the race, Mr. Crowley, who had previously suspended his campaign amid woeful poll numbers, announced that he was getting back in. Mr. Evers bypassed Mr. Barnes, his former governing partner, and endorsed Mr. Crowley.
After receiving claims about Mr. Barnes’s personal behavior toward women in an anonymous letter, the Wisconsin Democratic Party in 2025 retained a law firm to investigate, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information. The claims could not be verified by the law firm, the person said.
The state party’s investigation was previously reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
There have been no specific public claims of misconduct involving Mr. Barnes, and the former lieutenant governor has not been charged with a crime.
“There are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing against Mandela,” Darby O’Connor, his campaign manager, said in a statement on Thursday.
Amid the tumult, Ms. Hong has remained in command of the race. A Marquette Law School poll released this week showed Ms. Hong with 46 percent of the vote, 25 points ahead of Mr. Barnes, her nearest rival. Mr. Crowley, who polled in a distant third place, moved quickly on Thursday to try to pick up some of Mr. Barnes’s supporters.
“To everyone who backed Mandela: there’s a place for you in what we’re building,” Mr. Crowley wrote on social media.
Ms. Hong made a similar pitch.
“To everyone who supported Mandela because you believe working people deserve a government that fights for them, I welcome you to our movement,” she said in a statement.
Mr. Tiffany, a former state legislator who grew up on a dairy farm, has seemed to relish the possibility of a general election matchup with Ms. Hong, whose policies he has described as outside the mainstream.
“It’s become clear that, with all the chaos in the Democrat primary, socialist Francesca Hong is on track to become the Democrat nominee for governor,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “This election is not about red versus blue. It is about whether Wisconsin stays Wisconsin.”
Kellen Browning and Ruth Igielnik contributed reporting.
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