Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly upset socialist Francesca Hong in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary Tuesday night, defying polls which showed the far-left state lawmaker easily securing the nomination.
The controversial former chef called Crowley early Wednesday morning to concede, Crowley’s campaign said. Crowley led by just over 3,200 votes out of more than 787,000 ballots cast as of 6 a.m. ET, a margin of .41 percentage points. Under state law, Hong was entitled to a recount since the margin was less than one percentage point but she would have had to pay for the process herself since the deficit was greater than .25 percentage points.
Crowley, 40, emerged late in the race as the choice of the state’s establishment Democrats. He had dropped out of the race in June but reentered in a bid to stop Hong after Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez’s campaign fell apart amid a campaign finance scandal and her predecessor Mandela Barnes dropped out just a few weeks before primary day.
“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.
“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.”
Crowley will take on Congressman Tom Tiffany, a Trump-backed Republican, in the race to replace retiring Democratic Governor Tony Evers. Crowley served three terms in the state legislature before being elected to the top post in the state’s most populous county. He distinguished himself from Hong by campaigning as a moderate who had the backing of Evers.
Hong is a card-carrying DSA member who previously called for abolishing the police and even argued that Americans should no longer celebrate Thanksgiving due to its allegedly problematic origins. She campaigned on banning data centers, hiking taxes on the wealthy, and setting up public grocery stores.
As Wisconsinites headed to the polls on Tuesday, strategists expected Hong would be boosted thanks to the disorganization of establishment Democrats who failed to quickly coalesce behind a more moderate candidate. Even though Rodriguez and Barnes had dropped out, their names still appeared on the ballot, which could have cost Crowley votes.
Hong also benefitted from Republican ad spending. GOP-allied groups funded pro-Hong spots in an effort to secure her primary election win, believing that her radical views would make her an easier opponent in the general. Hong was on the receiving end of $3.5 million in spending from the Republican Governors Association alone. Her total campaign fundraising amounted to less than a third of that.
Both Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — two of the country’s most prominent Democratic Socialists — declined to endorse her. Ocasio Cortez demurred when asked about Hong’s past comments during an appearance on ABC’s This Week.
My “understanding is that… Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances to her electorate” and “moved away from” her prior comments, she said. “And I have a local city councilman that has this… saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy. And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
Hong was born and raised in Madison, Wis., one of the most liberal cities in the country. She briefly attended UW-Madison before dropping out and working her way up in the restaurant industry to become an executive chef. She later opened her own ramen restaurant with her then-husband, though the restaurant has since closed.
She entered politics in 2020, successfully running for the open 76th state assembly district as a Democratic Socialist. She won only 28 percent of the vote, but secured a plurality in the crowded field nonetheless.
Her platform at the time included police abolition: “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option,” she claimed.
However, Hong has since backtracked on her stated desire to abolish the police, the U.S. Senate, and prisons.
One of Hong’s most controversial statements came in late 2020, when she tweeted: “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indigenous folx and women so be it.”
After receiving widespread backlash over her lackluster response, she told Politico, “My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving . . . yup. I don’t want to cancel it, I actually love it.”
Hong’s loss breaks a string a victories for the the Democratic Socialists of America, which has seen recent successes in primary elections across several states, including Pennsylvania, New York, Colorado and Michigan and is coming off the earlier high of electing Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani to the New York City mayor’s office last year.