{"id":245960,"date":"2026-08-12T09:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T09:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/245960\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T09:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T09:42:12","slug":"wisconsin-democrats-choose-david-crowley-as-nominee-for-governor-over-anti-israel-hong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/245960\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Democrats choose David Crowley as nominee for governor over anti-Israel Hong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moderate Democrat David Crowley won the Wisconsin primary for governor Wednesday morning, defeating democratic socialist, anti-Israel candidate Francesca Hong, who fell short of delivering another win for progressives in a battleground state.<\/p>\n

Crowley, who is vying to become Wisconsin\u2019s first Black governor, pitched himself as the candidate best positioned to win in November against Republican US Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Crowley narrowly defeated Hong<\/a>, who was hoping to ride the wave of recent victories by progressive, anti-Israel candidates, including Abdul El-Sayed<\/a> in neighboring Michigan\u2019s US Senate race last week.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed\u2019s win was the movement\u2019s first major success in a purple state. It also fed fears in the party\u2019s leaders that such candidates, farther afield and often carrying political baggage of past stances such as defunding the police, would struggle to beat Republicans and imperil the party\u2019s hopes of recapturing control of the Senate and House.<\/p>\n

Crowley didn\u2019t address supporters Tuesday night but was expected at a unity event later Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow, 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,\u201d Crowley\u2019s campaign manager Garren Randolph said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDemocratic candidate for Governor David Crowley, right, August 10, 2026, in Madison, Wisconsin (AP Photo\/Scott Bauer)<\/p>\n

Hong\u2019s loss in Wisconsin may have doused the progressive momentum, but it\u2019s far from snuffing it out. A democratic socialist coming close to victory in a battleground state sends a clear message: There\u2019s unignorable angst among the party\u2019s voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have built something that will change politics forever,\u201d Hong told supporters as the outcome of the race hung in the balance late Tuesday. \u201cThe work we have done will be remembered forever. I know we don\u2019t have the final results right now, but what I do know is we are ready to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her campaign manager Becky Cooper said after Hong conceded the race that she was \u201cproud of the race we ran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team campaigned clean, our souls are intact and we really made meaningful change for the progressive movement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press declared Crowley the winner once Hong\u2019s concession removed the possibility of a recount in the exceptionally close race.<\/p>\n

Hong could have requested a recount since Crowley\u2019s margin of victory was less than 1 percentage point. But because it was wider than 0.25 points, Hong\u2019s campaign would have had to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Progressives had wanted to notch a clear win, but national progressive leaders, most notably Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sat out the race and did not endorse.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDemocratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong speaks to reporters after voting in the primary election on August 11, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson\/Getty Images\/AFP)<\/p>\n

The movement is not entirely aligned. Not all candidates are democratic socialists or have endorsements from Sanders, but they are often tilling similar voter anger with politics and the party: over military aid to Israel, the amount of money wielded in campaigns, the Trump administration\u2019s immigration raids and the inexorable cost of daily life.<\/p>\n

Hong\u2019s record on Israel and antisemitism was of concern to Wisconsin Jews, as well as Democratic figureheads more broadly. She has appeared on livestream fundraisers with Hasan Piker<\/a>, the left-wing strident Israel critic who has rallied with Hong, as well as twice with Michael Beyer, aka \u201cMike from PA,\u201d who has called Jewish identity \u201ca constructed ethnicity, this demonic ethnicity, wholly invented.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has also called the war in Gaza a genocide, a charge that Israel vehemently denies.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Democrats are hoping to unite after tight primary battle<\/p>\n

Democrats in Wisconsin are hoping to capitalize on low approval ratings for Trump in a state he won in 2016 and 2024 to retain control of the governor\u2019s office and flip both chambers of the Legislature to earn full control of Wisconsin state government for the first time since 2010.<\/p>\n

Both Hong and Crowley said in the waning days of the race that they expected Democrats to come together and unite to defeat Tiffany, a congressman from conservative, rural northern Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ultimate goal is to make sure we don\u2019t have a MAGA extremist occupying the governor\u2019s office,\u201d Crowley said Sunday.<\/p>\n

Democrat David Zimmerman, a 79-year-old retired industrial engineer professor in Madison, voted for Crowley on Tuesday. He said Hong\u2019s chance of beating Tiffany in November \u201cworries me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s going to have trouble winning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tVoters cast their ballots at a polling station in Olbrich Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, August 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n

The photo finish is just the latest twist in a chaotic primary that saw two major candidates drop out amid scandals. Crowley had also dropped out in early July, but he got back in 10 days later with Gov. Tony Evers\u2019 endorsement.<\/p>\n

Both of them crisscrossed the state in the final week, making the case that Crowley was the better matchup against Tiffany in a swing state known for close elections where independent, moderate voters often decide the outcome.<\/p>\n

Hong, a single mother and former line cook, tapped into Democratic anger with the party\u2019s mainstream and Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old known for sprinkling her comments with profanity and leaning into her edgy and sometimes humorous social media profile excited the liberal wing of the party. Hong called for free childcare and healthcare and a moratorium on artificial intelligence data center construction. But she also wrestled with her past support for defunding the police, saying at the race\u2019s only debate that she would not support cutting law enforcement funding.<\/p>\n

She also drew criticism for past social media posts in which she called for canceling Thanksgiving because \u201cwe should stop celebrating colonialism\u201d and disparaged Valentine\u2019s Day as \u201canother day capitalism tells you how to show love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hong has since downplayed the posts as her attempt at making jokes.<\/p>\n

Evers\u2019 decision not to seek a third term created an open race for governor that initially had seven Democrats file to run.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tRepublican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany talks to supporters during a campaign event, July 29, 2026, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez appeared to be making a move to consolidate mainstream Democratic support in July, but she dropped out in the middle of the month amid a campaign finance scandal. That led Crowley, who had dropped out a week earlier and endorsed Rodriguez, to get back in the race, this time with Evers\u2019 backing.<\/p>\n

Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who was seen as an early front-runner after nearly beating Republican US Sen. Ron Johnson in 2022, bowed out less than two weeks before the election amid questions about inappropriate behavior.<\/p>\n

In one more twist, reporting the results of about 28,000 absentee ballots from Milwaukee was delayed until early Wednesday morning after a human error related to uploading the data, the city\u2019s election leader said shortly before midnight Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moderate Democrat David Crowley won the Wisconsin primary for governor Wednesday morning, defeating democratic socialist, anti-Israel candidate Francesca…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[42118,22474,19410,1275,22475,37,68415,67384,19499],"class_list":["post-245960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-2026-us-midterm-elections","tag-abdul-el-sayed","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america","tag-democrats","tag-hasan-piker","tag-israel","tag-milwaukee","tag-progressive-democrats","tag-wisconsin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117081889196483342","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}