Francesca Hong and David Crowley Battle in Wisconsin Democratic Governor Primary

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor primary on Tuesday narrowed to a contest between state Rep. Francesca Hong and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley after other candidates dropped out, with the winner set to face GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany in the general election.

“With 64 percent of the vote tallied, state Rep. Francesca Hong and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley were neck and neck”

The Washington Post

NBC News said Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ retirement sparked a crowded race to replace him, while FOX6 News Milwaukee framed the contest as “direction and soul of our state” in remarks by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil at Tom Tiffany’s primary night event.

CBS News

The Washington Post reported that with 64 percent of the vote tallied late Tuesday, Hong and Crowley were “neck and neck,” and it described Tiffany as the Republican nominee after the Associated Press called the race soon after polls closed.

CNN said Hong was neck and neck with Crowley, noting that more votes were still coming in from Hong’s base of Dane County, home to Madison, as the Democratic primary for governor played out as a proxy fight between factions of the party.

The Hill added that Hong, a 37-year-old chef and state lawmaker, held a strong lead in the wide-open primary to replace retiring Gov. Tony Evers and face off this fall against Tiffany, with Decision Desk HQ showing Hong leading with 33 percent support and Crowley at 12 percent.

As the Democratic primary tightened, The Washington Post described Hong as campaigning as a democratic socialist ready to tilt the state to the left, while it said Crowley pitched Hong wrapped up her campaign fielding questions about her pandemic-era posts describing Thanksgiving as a colonizer holiday and calling for its cancellation.

At a campaign event Monday near Madison, Hong told voters she had learned “you have some hot takes — sometimes bad takes — on Twitter, and I let my feelings out into the world,” and Crowley said, “All I can say is that I like Thanksgiving and my favorite food is dressing,” according to The Washington Post.

CNBC

Fox News reported that Scott Walker warned Hong she was “undermining” his own campaign in an interview, saying “One of the reasons she’s going to win the primaries today is that Democratic primary voters don’t see her as part of the establishment.”

The Hill quoted Decision Desk HQ chief elections analyst Geoffrey Skelleys saying Hong’s belated shift had not stopped some Wisconsin Democrats from panicking that Hong looks likely to win on Tuesday, potentially threatening the party’s ability to win in a battleground state.

CNN also highlighted that two high-profile left figures, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said they would stay out of the race, with Ocasio-Cortez telling ABC’s “This Week,” “I haven’t endorsed in that race.”

The stakes for the winner of Wisconsin’s Democratic primary were immediate: NBC News said the GOP primary was expected to produce Tom Tiffany, who would face either Hong or Crowley in the general election in November.

“Tiffany is the projected GOP nominee for governor, and will face either Francesca Hong or David Crowley in the general election in November”

NBC News

The Washington Post said the general election could feature two candidates with strong ideologies, and it described Tiffany as a congressman from northern Wisconsin who easily defeated a nominal opponent after President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Fox News reported that Crowley told Politico that Republicans want Hong as their opponent, saying “that Francesca Hong is the best candidate to lose these elections,” while it also quoted Hong telling an audience gathered at a senior community center in Siren, “We have to seize this moment, a moment of movement, and be brave in driving transformative change.”

Time Magazine described the Democratic primary as a scramble to block a socialist from winning in Wisconsin, and it said Crowley told the magazine, “You can't win this primary on ideology alone,” while arguing Democrats needed a winning coalition to “defeat the Republicans” in November.

In the broader Midwest context, CNN said the Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin would determine who faces Tiffany, while it also projected that in Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar would win the Democratic nomination for governor and await the outcome of a contentious three-way GOP primary battle for her opponent.