Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has won the Democratic primary race for Wisconsin’s governorship, toppling his Democratic socialist opponent, Francesca Hong, who had surged in the polls leading up to Tuesday.
What turned out to be a razor-thin contest wasn’t called by the Associated Press until early Wednesday morning, after a delay in tabulating votes from Milwaukee. Earlier in the night, Hong had urged her supporters to unite behind the eventual winner for the November general election against Republican nominee, Rep. Tom Tiffany, who has been backed by President Donald Trump. “No matter who’s on this ballot, y’all, we are going to fight to win for one another,” Hong said.
The Democratic primary race has been chaotic. After the popular Gov. Tony Evers announced last year that he wouldn’t run for re-election, the state’s Lieutenant Governor and former Lieutenant Governor entered the race. But both dropped out amid separate controversies, leaving four candidates in the running: Crowley, Democratic socialist and state assemblymember Hong, former Secretary of the state Department of Administration Joel Brennan, and state Sen. Kelda Roys. Hong and Crowley were widely considered to be the top two contenders in the race, with Brennan and Roys polling in single digits leading up to Tuesday.
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Crowley, who is the first Black executive of Milwaukee County and the youngest person to serve in the role, was the fledgling hope of Democratic leaders in the Wisconsin primary race. National Democrats had voiced concerns that his main opponent, Hong, wouldn’t be able to garner enough votes to defeat the Republican nominee in November. Hong has generated controversy in recent months, including for past social media posts in which she called for abolishing the police and ending Thanksgiving for “celebrating colonialism”—both of which she has since walked back.
Crowley, meanwhile, was backed by prominent members of his party in the state, including Evers and Rep. Gwen Moore.
Crowley now heads into what is expected to be a close battle over which party will get to lead the purple state of Wisconsin; the Cook Political Report ranks the state’s gubernatorial race as a “toss up.”
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