Crowley Wins Wisconsin Democratic Primary for Governor

David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, won the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin, pulling off a late victory over state Rep. Francesca Hong after re-entering a race he had abandoned earlier in the cycle.

The contest came down to the wire, with Hong and Crowley running close to each other as each batch of results came in. Polls had shown Hong as a clear front-runner, but large numbers of voters remained undecided and the field of candidates shifted repeatedly, making the race difficult to survey. A similar pattern played out in Michigan, where polling showed progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed with a wider lead than he ultimately carried in his Democratic Senate primary win.

Hong, a chef and former restaurant owner from Madison, campaigned on child care for all, free school meals and a one-year moratorium on the construction of new data centers, a platform that set her apart from other Democrats in the race.

Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who has served since 2019, did not seek re-election. He endorsed Crowley after Crowley returned to the campaign.

Crowley's closing argument was electability. He said he was better positioned to defeat Rep. Tom Tiffany, an ardent Trump supporter who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination and who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election.

"We knew that the stakes were too high for me to sit on the sideline, and that we need the best candidate, not just with executive leadership, but somebody who has a proven track record of getting things done," Crowley previously told The Guardian. "That's what voters want. They want someone they can trust. And that's why we got back into this race."

Elsewhere on the Wisconsin ballot, Michael Alfonso, the 26-year-old son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, won the Republican nomination in Tiffany's 7th District. Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic primary in her third attempt to unseat Rep. Derrick Van Orden in the toss-up 3rd District.