https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin Wisconsin en-US Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:13:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/campaigns/election-deniers-swing-state-control-arizona-nevada-wisconsin Adora Brown Secretary of state candidates in Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin have cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 election. Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:13:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/campaigns/election-deniers-swing-state-control-arizona-nevada-wisconsin Candidates with a history of denying the 2020 election results are on the ballot in states across the country this fall, running for the position of secretary of state. If they win, they would be uniquely positioned to exert control over their states’ elections.

At least three presidential battlegrounds — Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin — are among the states with candidates running in November who have cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 election. If they win, these candidates could be key allies to President Donald Trump’s efforts to obtain voter rolls and federalize election administration.

“They may just willingly give up election materials. They may just willingly give up cast ballots. They may just willingly give up election machines,” said Edward Caspar, chief counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan legal advocacy group. “By having conspiracy-theory-minded individuals in power, it really puts that at risk.”

Unlike in other primaries, the president has rarely weighed in on secretary of state races.

But Alexander Kolodin, the Republican nominee for the position in Arizona, was endorsed by Trump in July. That endorsement could play a key role in November, as it has in several Republican primaries.

“Being a Trump ally, getting the Trump endorsement, and at least supporting Trump's claims of election fraud in 2020, or even beyond that, seem to give candidates an electoral boost,” said Rich Barton, a research fellow for Unite America, a nonpartisan election-reform group. “Over the last few years, election denialism has become something of a litmus test within the Republican Party.”

When asked if the president is looking at these nominees as potential allies in implementing voting restrictions, the White House demurred.

“President Trump wants every state in America to clean up their voter rolls and fully secure their elections, regardless of whether they are led by Democrats or Republicans,” Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, told NOTUS in a statement.

In Nevada, Jim Marchant, who is best known for standing alongside a group of Republicans who signed fake electoral certificates claiming Trump won the 2020 election in Nevada, won his primary in June. He has repeatedly undermined the results of the 2020 election, including in an interview with NBC News in 2022 in which he said, “it’s almost statistically impossible that Joe Biden won.”

It’s Marchant’s second run for secretary of state and his second time facing Cisco Aguilar, the incumbent. Marchant made his first run for the position as the president of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group of election deniers who ran for top election roles in 2022. His campaign site this year states that he wants voters to submit proof of citizenship to register and cast ballots, wants results to be hand-counted, and wants universal mail-in voting to end. It also claims that Marchant was “a victim of election fraud” in 2020 when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress.

Marchant’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Next door in Arizona, Kolodin, who helped file a lawsuit that questioned the results of the 2020 election and was later thrown out by a federal judge, won his primary in July. He’s campaigning to “harden systems” and “count every legal vote,” according to his campaign site, against incumbent Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. Kolodin, currently a state representative, pushed and is campaigning on a proposition on track to appear on Arizona ballots this fall that could complicate voting, including through a measure that would require a photo ID to cast an absentee ballot.

“Arizona is a major swing state,” Kolodin said during a PBS debate in May. “The road to the White House runs directly through the Arizona secretary of state's office. It's incumbent that we put somebody in there who's ready to hit the ground Day 1.”

Kolodin’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Wisconsin’s Republican candidate, Jay Schroeder, is running on dismantling the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, a group of appointees who administer elections statewide. He told NBC in 2022 that he would not have certified the 2020 election results if he were secretary of state. Schroeder, whose campaign also did not respond to a request for comment, refers to the commission as a “failed experiment” on his campaign website.

“The current system is an arbitrary disaster that lacks the transparency Wisconsinites deserve,” Schroeder adds on his site.

One of Trump’s priorities is to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and tighten the requirements to vote by mail. The president’s long history of casting doubt on the integrity of elections has weakened voters' trust in election results across party lines.

“They are willing to say things to please the Republican base, to please Donald Trump, even if it's not a credible claim to start with,” said Rick Hasen, an election law expert and law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, of Republican candidates who agree with the president’s claims about the 2020 election. “It suggests that some of these people might be willing to help Trump subvert the outcome of elections if that's what Trump was trying to do.”
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/us-news/elon-musk-no-election-bribery-charges-wisconsin Torrie Herrington No jury would find that Musk’s actions constituted election bribery, a county prosecutor said Tuesday. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 20:59:26 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/us-news/elon-musk-no-election-bribery-charges-wisconsin Billionaire Elon Musk will not face charges for promising Wisconsin voters $1 million checks during last year’s state Supreme Court election, a county prosecutor announced Tuesday.

In July, the Wisconsin Elections Commission decided Musk likely broke the law when he handed out $1 million checks to voters just days before Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election. But no jury would find Musk’s actions constituted election bribery, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke said in an open letter explaining why the state declined to charge the tech billionaire.

Gruenke, a Democrat, described Musk’s initial post as a “poorly worded statement that was corrected and brought into compliance with the law.” Gruenke wrote the case would be “simple” without Musk’s famous name and the large amount of money involved.

The Tesla founder was heavily involved in an effort to flip control of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court last year. Musk and other groups spent at least $20 million supporting the Republican-backed candidate, Brad Schimel, who later lost to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford by 10 percentage points.

Musk handed out large $1 million checks to two voters when he spoke at a March 2025 event in the state. He declared the two voters as spokespeople for his political group.

Musk initially announced on X that he would speak in Wisconsin, with entrance limited to those who had voted in the state’s Supreme Court election — and added a financial incentive.

“I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote,” Musk said in the post.

Musk subsequently replaced that post with another, saying attendance to his speaking event was limited to people who signed a petition against activist judges, and that the checks would be given to two people who advocated for that petition.

The complaints later referred to Wisconsin’s elections panel focused on the social media posts Musk made days before the election, rather than the physical checks themselves.

The state’s election commission, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, voted 5-1 in a closed session last month to refer the complaints to the Brown County district attorney’s office. Gruenke was later appointed as the special attorney for the case due to a conflict of interest.

Gruenke on Tuesday said he doesn’t think a jury would find Musk’s posts reflect an attempt at bribery.

“Either way the first post is perceived, in the end nobody was paid anything of value for voting or promising to vote,” the La Crosse district attorney wrote. “Even if I could convince a jury that the original post was still a bribe, I do not believe that a jury would convict Elon Musk of a crime after considering the intent, the second post, and the fact nothing of value was ever given to anyone for voting for an incident occurring in March of 2025.”
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/data-center-governor-election-tom-tiffany-david-crowley Marissa Martinez The race could be a sign of Republicans’ ability to tap into growing national concerns about AI facilities. Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:18:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/data-center-governor-election-tom-tiffany-david-crowley Wisconsin hates data centers. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the state’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, wants voters to think his Democratic opponent doesn’t.

Tiffany entered the general governor’s race this week by claiming in a series of social media posts that Democratic candidate David Crowley wants to subsidize artificial intelligence facilities — even as the House Republican avoids supporting an all-out ban, instead calling for modest reforms and ending state subsidies for tech corporations.

Crowley says he doesn’t back a full moratorium on building AI facilities, instead supporting guardrails on the centers that already exist in the state. But Tiffany’s opening argument reflects a political reality: While data center protests are popping up and disrupting campaigns across the country, there are few places where the issue is currently as salient as it is in Wisconsin.

How the race plays out could be a sign of Republicans’ ability to tap into growing national concerns about the spread of AI facilities and their use of natural resources — a position that up until recently has been dominated by Democrats, largely due to the White House’s emphasis on developing AI in the U.S.

“I don’t believe him,” Kelly Gallaher, Racine Democratic Party chair, laughing while speaking about Tiffany’s promises to address the data center issue. “It was a politically expedient thing to say. … There’s nothing in his past that shows that he’s not amenable to influence from businesses or from the White House. So I just flat-out don’t believe him.”

It’s not surprising data centers have entered the general race so early, Gallaher said.

Developers have swarmed the state, including Microsoft’s recent investment of more than $7 billion in “the world’s most powerful AI data center” in Mount Pleasant, located in Gallaher’s Racine County.

Residents of the county she calls “Data Center Central” have voiced concerns about AI facilities for years — particularly after an infamous 2017 effort to build a Foxconn manufacturing plant there eventually failed, despite President Donald Trump’s heavy support at the time.

“We have seen this become a topic of conversation that really pre-exists this particular election,” Gallaher said. “It’s been building, and the candidates have been responsive to the talk on the ground, the temperature of the people who have really big concerns about them.”

On Friday, the Republican nominee posted a clip of Crowley speaking about an opportunity for the state to “become an AI and a data hub, not only for the entire country, but for the entire globe” before it flashes to Tiffany’s campaign logo.

In another shortened clip Tiffany posted on Thursday, Crowley says in an NBC interview that “data centers” are one way he differs from Francesca Hong, the progressive primary opponent he beat on Tuesday. Crowley at one point dropped out of the race before jumping back in nine days later, eventually beating Hong by roughly 4,000 votes.

The Republican’s campaign took the videos out of context, Crowley spokesperson Eddie Vale told NOTUS, chalking it up to “grasping at straws.” For instance, Tiffany’s NBC clip cuts out before Crowley finishes his thought: Hong supported a wide moratorium on the centers, while Crowley said he wants to not preempt economic development opportunities for communities.

“Tom Tiffany has not introduced any legislation to put any regulations on data centers across the country,” Crowley said in a statement Friday, blaming Wisconsin’s position on his Republican opponent and on Trump. “That is exactly what we need. That’s why we have a focus on creating state regulations to protect our communities across this country.”

The Tiffany campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Tiffany had cast data centers as a farmland issue earlier in his campaign, tying the loss of valuable agricultural estate to tech developers. But after Tiffany handily won his primary race with more than 95% of the vote, this week’s immediate pivot to cast his opponent as welcoming of data centers also foreshadows an upcoming tight race the Republican hadn’t fully anticipated.

The House Republican had likely expected to face Hong in the general election after her surge in polling weeks ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Now that he’s running against a more centrist opponent in Crowley, Republicans are scrambling for a new playbook.

While only 5% of Wisconsin voters chose data centers as their most important issue in a July 22 poll from Marquette University Law School, more than three-quarters of respondents said the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits in the same survey — an increase from 55% last October.

But candidates across the state have launched a slate of anti-data center ads anyway. Combined, Wisconsin gubernatorial campaigns this year spent more than $1.7 million on broadcast ads that mentioned or focused on data centers, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact — comprising around 10% of total ad spending ahead of the state’s primaries.

The spending was helmed by two pro-Crowley PACs that dropped roughly $1.6 million on ads mentioning data centers, including spots that promoted how Crowley would “stand up to Trump and crack down on AI data centers” once elected.

The issue also stretched to other races this cycle: Democratic House nominee Rebecca Cooke spent $229,000 on an ad against Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, casting herself as a pro-moratorium candidate, while a handful of state legislative campaigns spent around $64,000 on broadcast ads about the centers.

Republicans like Tiffany opposing business development is a “new wrinkle” in state politics, said Charles Franklin, director of Marquette Law School Poll. While voters are most concerned about cost of living, some may connect data centers to electricity rates in wider affordability conversations, he said.

“Bottom line is, this will be the first campaign in which data centers will be an issue,” Franklin said in an email. “That will likely increase the salience. But if both candidates are calling for regulation and protecting consumers, it won’t be a sharp contrast between candidates.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/francesca-hong-broadcast-ads-wisconsin Jenna Monnin The campaign’s decision to focus on digital platform advertising could have ultimately led to its demise, some strategists say. Fri, 14 Aug 2026 01:17:01 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/francesca-hong-broadcast-ads-wisconsin Francesca Hong’s Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign embraced the new era of campaigning for progressive candidates, from a social media-dominated bid to her democratic socialist-influenced policy platform.

But part of her razor-thin loss to David Crowley on Tuesday could be explained by the traditional, or a lack thereof: broadcast TV ad spending.

Despite leading the Democratic field by double-digit margins before the primary, Hong was the only active candidate to seek the governorship without running broadcast TV ads, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact.

Some strategists think the Hong campaign’s decision to focus on digital platform advertising ultimately led to its demise, costing her key parts of the electorate.

“In a primary, voters are more persuadable,” Democratic strategist Jared Leopold told NOTUS. “Especially in a smaller primary, it's a mistake to try to narrow cast too much because you actually do need to hit a wider swath of a primary electorate, because more people are likely to change their votes at the end than in a general election.”

The Democratic Socialist platform encourages disavowing certain large-dollar donors, meaning progressive candidates like Hong are working with a different set of funding than their opponents — even if rejecting corporate cash boosts them in the eyes of voters.

“This campaign is entirely people-funded: no corporate PACs,” the “About” section of her website says.

Hong’s opponents massively outspent her on advertising, regardless of the medium. Crowley — who briefly exited the race — reported $572,317 in media expenses, including $402,042 on TV ads, according to an analysis conducted by WisPolitics a week before the primary. He announced a six-figure TV buy when he reentered nine days later with the incumbent governor’s endorsement.

Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who Crowley will face in November, has already reported $7.6 million in media expenditures, including $3.9 million on TV.

Hong dedicated $150,200 to online ads, with nothing going to broadcast spots. Some of the only positive TV advertising for her campaign came from a super PAC tied to Republicans, which spent $2.2 million in an effort likely aimed at boosting her as an easier general election opponent for Tiffany — a common practice across both parties.

Her focus on digital spending tracks with the electorate of younger voters she was building, said Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks national political ads. Hong opted for more casual and conversational digital ads than the flashier and highly edited political advertisements traditionally run on broadcast TV — perhaps in an attempt to capture voters from a “tuned out” portion of the electorate, Ridout said.

“When you're running a very progressive campaign, I think you're trying to find voters who might be disillusioned by the way things are going,” he told NOTUS.

“Those people might have dropped out of politics for a while, and thus you're not necessarily going to be finding them watching the local news at 6 p.m. on broadcast television,” he added.

Neither campaign commented for this story.

Like fellow Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, Hong focused her ad buys on digital platforms and streaming services. But a few months before the New York City mayoral primary, Mamdani too eventually started running TV ads.

Exit polls show Hong won several counties helmed by colleges and certain cities like Green Bay, while Crowley swept the majority of Wisconsin’s rural districts, as well as Milwaukee County and its suburbs. Hong, however, appeared to overperform in rural counties in the state’s northwest — including St. Croix and Douglas — which also happen to sit in Minnesota media markets that saw fewer political ads on linear broadcast channels.

Even so, Hong’s lack of broadcast ads likely cost her blocs like older voters who can drive turnout, strategists say.

“It’s a mistake to not communicate with a part of the electorate,” Leopold said. “There’s still a lot of people, particularly older people, who watch a lot of TV.”

Because people crave authenticity in politics, digital ads that connect voters with the candidate in a positive way can stand out in an advertising environment defined by attack ads, Ridout said. But especially in a statewide race, “integrated campaigns that combine social media, CTV and broadcast” can make all the difference for candidates, he said.

“You can have targeted messages that only go to individuals, but sometimes all a campaign needs is name recognition,” Ridout said, adding that a blitz of broadcast ads can boost a candidate that much more. “People don’t vote for candidates they’ve never heard of before.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/wisconsin-governor-crowley-hong-establishment Elena Schneider, Christa Dutton In a shocker, David Crowley beat democratic socialist Francesca Hong for the Democratic nomination in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race. Wed, 12 Aug 2026 07:44:07 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/wisconsin-governor-crowley-hong-establishment David Crowley’s campaign rose from the dead and saved the Democratic establishment in Wisconsin — defeating democratic socialist Francesca Hong for the Democratic nomination in the state’s gubernatorial race.

In a dramatic, nail-biting finish, Crowley pulled off a massive upset in the swing state, where he mounted a three-week comeback to overtake Hong, whose leftist and politically fringe comments haunted her closing sprint. Crowley, who exited the multicandidate primary in early July and jumped back in a week later, was propelled by an endorsement from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Crowley will now face Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in November.

“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,” said Garren Randolph, Crowley’s campaign manager, in a statement.

The Associated Press called the race for Crowley shortly after 3:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

“I think primary voters freaked out about her electability, saying and doing weird stuff, and late deciders broke for him,” said Adam Carlson, a Democratic pollster. “Anxious voters who don’t want Tom Tiffany, an election-denier, and Wisconsin voters are well-trained, perennial swing state voters. Stakes are too high.”

Crowley’s victory cuts against recent progressive gains in New York City, Denver and Michigan — and raises serious questions over primary polling ahead of the 2028 presidential primary.

“The Democratic Party is going to have to grapple with how broken primary polls are ahead of 2028,” said Amanda Litman, co-founder of the progressive Run For Something, which endorsed Hong in her state legislative races. “Historically they’ve been part of the calculation for things like debate thresholds — that no longer makes sense, if it ever did.”

In Wisconsin, Crowley styled himself as the more electable candidate compared to Hong, whose leftist views and woke-era social media posts made Democrats in the state uneasy about her chances of beating Tiffany in November. The Republican Governors Association dropped more than $3 million on ads boosting Hong, an effort Crowley frequently highlighted on the campaign trail as evidence that Hong was the weaker general election candidate.

Hong led the polls in the final weeks of what had been a chaotic and crowded primary. Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, exited the race in early July because his campaign wasn’t gaining traction. He reentered with Evers’ support after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out following reporting inaccuracies in her campaign finance reports. Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, another candidate, dropped out soon after, shortly before the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that it was looking into allegations of sexual impropriety.

A private Aug. 5 memo, circulated by the Crowley campaign and obtained by NOTUS, argued that the primary electorate would ultimately mirror a traditional Wisconsin primary electorate and be “far older than the electorate being polled.” That path for Crowley ultimately bore out Tuesday, along with a surge of late deciders who ultimately sided with Crowley, several Wisconsin Democrats said.

"I am so proud of David — he's the future of our Party, and I can't wait for him to be our next governor," Evers said in a social media post. "For now, we polka. Tomorrow, we're back at work to win."

The large group of voters who were undecided late in the campaign appeared to break for Crowley, showing his stronger name ID and get-out-the-vote operation, said Brandon Scholz, an independent strategist in Wisconsin.

“Everybody chose to ignore the 20 percent undecided voters,” said a Wisconsin Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “We never saw a youth surge that was reshaping the electorate."

Late Tuesday, before the race was decided, Hong told her supporters that “in 11 weeks, no matter who is on this ballot, y’all, we are going to fight to win together.”

Hong’s loss does come with vindication for at least some progressives. National progressive stars who had rushed into other Democratic primaries sat out the Wisconsin race. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) didn’t endorse Hong, staying conspicuously absent from the primary just a week after helping push Abdul El-Sayed over the line in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.

Skepticism of primary polls grew last week after El-Sayed only narrowly beat Rep. Haley Stevens, despite polls for weeks showing him up substantially.

Crowley now faces a potentially challenging contest against Tiffany in a battleground state that President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2024. But Tiffany will have to reckon with Trump’s unpopularity and his own denial of the 2020 election results.

Wisconsin Republicans are left privately grappling with the reality they didn’t get their preferred Democratic candidate. One Wisconsin Republican operative, granted anonymity to speak candidly, acknowledged that “the entire Republican playbook was based on the certainty of running against a socialist deeply out of touch with any corner of Wisconsin that isn’t Dane County.”

“Whoops,” they added.

—

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/governor-race-democrats-election Christa Dutton Two gubernatorial candidates’ camps are drawing opposite conclusions after Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory on Tuesday. Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/governor-race-democrats-election In Wisconsin, a progressive gubernatorial candidate is polling far ahead of the other candidates before the battleground state’s Democratic primary next week.

That was the story in Michigan, too: Polls showed Abdul El-Sayed handily beating Rep. Haley Stevens ahead of Tuesday’s Senate primary — but he had barely edged out a victory by the time the race was called the next morning. Now, some Democrats wonder if the same will come to pass in Wisconsin, where polling has shown state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, leading her opponents by double-digit margins for weeks.

Among the most doubtful is Hong’s leading opponent, David Crowley, who previously suspended his race in July because he wasn’t gaining traction before reentering 10 days later. Tuesday’s disconnect between polls and election day realities in Michigan brings Milwaukee County’s executive to one of the most optimistic points of his campaign so far. His team sent out an internal memo on Wednesday telling supporters his race is similarly closer than polls indicate.

“Results in Michigan Tuesday night showed polling that failed to appropriately capture and reflect the primary electorate and well overstated the position of the race frontrunner,” the memo, first reported by WISN, says. “Democrats are in the driver’s seat in Wisconsin to choose David Crowley and have the best fighting chance against Tom Tiffany in November.”

If next week’s voter base resembles those of 2018 and 2022, the primary “does not have a prohibitive front runner,” the memo continues.

While El-Sayed’s win shows how a socialist candidate like Hong can similarly ascend, Michigan’s uneven polling shows how challenging it is to pull off accurate primary surveys, said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — especially in Wisconsin and Michigan, where voters of any party can opt to participate.

“There are questions about where Hong stands,” Burden said. “There’s an opportunity for Crowley, and the Michigan results might be an indicator for him that it’s still a possibility.”

Wisconsin and Michigan are two of the country’s most consequential battleground states. Crowley’s camp argues Stevens’ better-than-expected performance proves more moderate candidates can still make good showings despite a recent progressive surge within the party.

“We don’t have to talk in theoreticals anymore about how this might work,” said a Democratic strategist who backs Crowley, given anonymity to candidly discuss the race. “Yeah, Haley didn't win, but she lost by one point. But this isn't us just trying to explain what our theory of the case is. … There is more money coming through the door today. There is more enthusiasm.”

Hong’s campaign, meanwhile, considers El-Sayed’s victory a harbinger of success in Wisconsin for the party’s left-most flank, which saw several candidates win Democratic primaries in New York City and Denver’s heavily blue districts. Michigan showed that working-class people are “ready for something different,” Hong said in a statement to NOTUS, adding that her campaign has “never taken the size of any projected margin for granted.”

“Polls are snapshots, and Michigan was another reminder that campaigns are won by organizing and turning out voters,” Hong said.

Stakes for Wisconsin Democrats are high in the state, which Trump won by less than a percentage point in 2024. The governor’s mansion, currently occupied by Democrat Tony Evers, has alternated between Republican and Democratic administrations since the 1970s. And the left’s gubernatorial candidate pool has ebbed and flowed significantly this summer — even prompting a lawsuit from the state party over the ability to recast ballots that was eventually dismissed.

Lt. Gov Sara Rodriguez dropped out of the race after reporting “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in her campaign finance filings. Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes ended his campaign last week shortly before the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported it was looking into allegations of sexual impropriety. Crowley himself had dropped out of the race briefly before reentering with Evers’ endorsement.

Whoever advances from the Aug. 11 primary will face a tough race against Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany.

State Navigate, a nonprofit that conducts polling on state government elections, concentrated on including more rural, low-income and Republican voters after seeing Michigan surveys miss those groups, executive director Chaz Nuttycombe said of a new survey coming out this week. A poll the organization conducted in late July showed Hong up by 29 points.

“It’ll probably be closer than people think based on the results in Michigan last night,” said another Democratic strategist in Wisconsin, granted anonymity to candidly discuss the race. “I think people thought that it was going to be a little more lopsided than it ended up being, and that’s probably what’s going to happen here in Wisconsin.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/wisconsin-governor-francesca-hong-dsa-primary Elena Schneider Democratic socialist Francesca Hong has risen to the top of a chaotic gubernatorial primary, with major ramifications for Democrats’ future. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:23:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/wisconsin-governor-francesca-hong-dsa-primary FRANKLIN, Wis. — The first, second and third questions for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong at her meet-and-greet Thursday night revolved around her affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America.

Voters described a “real fear” she can’t win a general election for governor, questioned whether she’d tailor her policy platform to reach swing voters and asked for a primer on “what we can say to others when that concern comes up.”

This standing-room-only event captured Hong’s appeal — a packed, generationally diverse crowd, surrounded by dozens of hand-drawn signs for the once little-known state legislator — but it also reflected the angst of voters here. At times, it bordered on group therapy, with voters airing their concerns over Hong’s ability to win the governor’s race in a closely divided state that President Donald Trump won two years ago.

“In a super, super purple state, I’m worried she’s not going to catch the people on the fence,” said Faith Casselman, a 32-year-old medical education coordinator who attended the event.

This anxiety has defined much of the primary itself, as Hong’s opponents insist the state assemblymember would be unable to beat Rep. Tom Tiffany, the likely GOP nominee. As DSA candidates rack up victories in blue cities and districts, tapping into a deep discontent within the Democratic Party, Hong’s candidacy is the first test of it in a battleground state. The results, say Democrats in Wisconsin and Washington, will offer clues for how the party’s electorate might assess a potential DSA-aligned candidate, like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in the 2028 presidential primary.

“The Democratic brand is struggling. The Republican brand is struggling,” Hong told NOTUS in an interview. “The democratic socialist brand is starting to rise, especially among the voters who are hardest to reach, which are Gen Z and millennials.”

That isn’t a satisfactory answer, though, for some Wisconsin Democrats.

“If you’re trying to explain what DSA is or isn’t, you’re losing,” said a Wisconsin Democratic consultant not working with any of the gubernatorial candidates, who was granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, one of Hong’s opponents in the Aug. 11 primary, is left trying to make the argument that Wisconsin is not like the heavily Democratic places where the DSA has flourished this year. “New York City and the state of Wisconsin” are “different,” he told a dozen voters in the town of Baraboo, many of whom nodded along.

But as has been true in other major races this year, from Colorado to Maine to New Jersey, the Democratic establishment has struggled to fend off the rising far left. Wisconsin has turned into the most vivid showdown of those competing wings. Democrats in the state have seen a cast of traditional candidates rise and fall over the past month — all while that wing of the party has failed to coalesce around a single alternative.

In early July, Crowley dropped out and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, when it appeared she was uniting moderate support. But Rodriguez dropped out just over a week later, after her campaign acknowledged widespread campaign finance irregularities. Crowley opted to get back into the race with an endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers, who had previously said he’d remain neutral; backers of another candidate, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, decried the move as fracturing the center-left bloc again.

But then Thursday, Barnes, who’d been polling second-highest behind Hong, dropped out. In a video, he said the “front-runner is clear,” but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel soon after published a story about concerns within the party that Barnes had allegedly used his political role to facilitate sexual relationships.

Crowley, along with state Sen. Kelda Roys and former Evers administration official Joel Brennan, were all polling in single-digits, while Hong hit 38 percent support in a Marquette University survey conducted in late July. About a third of voters were still undecided.

“It’s a collapse of the establishment combined with the bumbling of a bad situation,” said Steve Schale, a national Democratic consultant. “The socialist doesn't have to get to 50 percent to win. It requires the normie class — mainstream, establishment, whatever it is — failing to recognize that threat and rally around one person.”

In Wisconsin, several voters described the primary campaign as “chaotic” and “unsettling,” or “basically a reality show,” as Caitlin Hapsel, a 38-year-old Greendale resident at Hong’s event in Franklin, put it. Nyaga Kariuki, a 25-year-old Milwaukee voter, said “the moderates just did not get themselves together.”

Moderates’ disarray is worrying Eleanor Chiquoine, a 72-year-old voter from Sauk County who was happy to learn at Crowley’s event in Baraboo that Barnes had dropped out — “Oh, that’s good,” she said. She worries that Hong is “unelectable” but she hasn’t been able to settle on another option.

“Whether it is fair or not, being labeled, in this state especially, as a democratic socialist, then that might be a harder sell than you think, and that’s my concern,” Chiquoine said. She left with a Crowley yard sign, but she said she planned to keep it in her dining room until she finally picks a candidate.

Those are the kinds of voters Crowley needs to win over in less than two weeks, a tall order for a candidate who’s still trying to build his name recognition outside Milwaukee and with early voting already underway.

Crowley, in an interview with NOTUS, said he sees a “clear path to consolidate these undecided voters” that’s “based off of my experience” leading Milwaukee County and as a state legislator.

He’s now making an all-out sprint to introduce himself to voters, helped by a surge in fundraising since he jumped back into the race. Another Wisconsin Democratic operative, granted anonymity to speak candidly and not affiliated with a gubernatorial candidate, argued that 60 percent of the electorate “doesn’t want to vote for Fran,” giving Hong a “hard floor and low ceiling” of support.

“There are enough voters out there, and if Crowley can muster enough resources and reach them, he can really do something here,” the operative said. “But that’s a narrow path.”

Republicans, Crowley said, have picked Hong as their preferred candidate, pointing to the $3 million in TV ad spending the Republican Governors Association has dropped boosting her. In a post on X last week, Tiffany previewed his own line of attack on Hong, describing her as “a card-carrying socialist committed to abolishing the police, the Senate, and prisons.”

“That should make us pause a little bit, right?” Crowley said at his meet-and-greet in Baraboo. “If they have an opportunity to pick our nominees and say, ‘Oh, this is what communism looked like, or this is what socialism looks like,’ what does that do [to] defining who we are?”

Hong, a single mother and restaurant worker, has already started to define herself with voters, particularly younger, more liberal ones. Like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Hong has tapped into a potent organizing network, activating 7,000 volunteers and campaigning aggressively online. In answer to the voters who wanted to know how she’d combat labels of communism, Hong said her campaign has put out “clarification videos on our positions” and urged voters to zero in on Tiffany’s record.

“Bringing it back to policy is how we combat that word that, you know, they called Joe Biden and Tony Evers,” she said. “We don't even have a $10 minimum wage in our state, let alone $19, so what makes you think we're going to make socialism happen?”

Eddie Phanichkul, a Democrat who is running to flip a state Assembly district in suburban Milwaukee and attended Hong’s event in Franklin, acknowledged that “the socialism and the communism part is going to be a challenge.” But he said he believed they could “overcome that challenge because we just have to talk to people.”

In an interview with NOTUS after speaking to a few dozen voters at a community garden in Milwaukee, Hong said, “Wisconsin is ready for a democratic socialist governor because we're fighting for the things that people are asking for” and “a growing number of voters who feel left behind and unheard.”

“Electability is the person who wins the most votes,” she said when pressed on how she’d appeal to voters come November. “I’m a proud democratic socialist. I’m not advancing a brand. I'm focusing on the policies, the socialist policies that improve lives.”

But some Wisconsin Democrats, particularly those focused on down-ballot state legislative races, don’t buy that argument. Some privately fret that Hong’s candidacy, and her DSA labeling, could make flipping state legislative seats more difficult and that money from Democratic donors would dry up.

In the districts where there are “data center fights, she might turn into a folk hero, and other places, it may be more complicated,” said a third Wisconsin strategist who is not involved in the gubernatorial primary. “People are incandescent about prices, the Iran war and data centers, so the question is, is all of that enough to overcome the kinds of attack ads Tiffany will surely be running the day after the primary.”

It’s Hong’s positions on the “defund police” movement that gives those Wisconsin Democrats the most heartburn, they said. “She’s somewhat backed off of that, but the receipts are there, the tweets are there,” the first Democratic consultant said.

In 2020, Hong posted several times in support of defunding the police after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. When a voter at the community garden event asked about her posts, Hong said, “We're in a different political climate than where we were five years ago, where the fearmongering of ‘defund’ is not as much of a priority when we're able to shift to the issues.”

Pressed on her position in the interview, Hong said her “values are established.”

“How I believe I can make sure that we have laws that reflect those values, that may evolve, but again, I think it's more important about what I'm going to do, and I'm going to be investing in things that we know would prevent crime,” she said. “I won't defund the police, and I cannot.”

DSA supporters, who gathered for their national meeting in Chicago over the weekend, are keeping a close eye on Wisconsin. Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, a DSA-backed candidate who won his own multicandidate congressional primary this year, said that “if Hong wins, it will affirm that the platforms of democratic socialist candidates are more broadly embraced by a diverse electorate than corporate media and institutionalists within our electoral duopoly care to admit.”

The DSA does have some political history on its side. At the Franklin Public Library event, one voter brought up Wisconsin’s legacy as the first state to elect a socialist to Congress, in 1910.

“Don't apologize for being a democratic socialist,” the voter told Hong, rushing to shake her hand. “That's part of Wisconsin's tradition. Welcome.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/mandela-barnes-wisconsin-governors-race Christa Dutton The former lieutenant governor exited as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said it was looking into allegations of sexual impropriety. Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:32:02 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/mandela-barnes-wisconsin-governors-race Former Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes dropped out of the crowded and chaotic Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin on Thursday.

Shortly after he dropped out, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that it was looking into allegations that Barnes had used his position to have “sexual encounters with young adult women.” The outlet initially provided few other details, adding only that it was continuing to report on the story.

The Journal Sentinel soon updated its story to add that the state Democratic Party hired a law firm last year to look into “similar claims,” but the information it received was “anonymous and unspecific” and was not actionable. The outlet also reported that the Democrat has not been accused of committing crimes.

“There are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing against Mandela," a campaign spokesperson told NOTUS.

Barnes’ statement announcing that he was suspending his campaign did not address the Journal Sentinel’s reporting.

“Last night I had a very difficult conversation with my staff,” he said in a video posted on X. “We’re incredibly proud of all the things that we’ve accomplished and all the resources that we have raised to spread our message, but it’s become very clear who our nominee is going to be.”

Leading the pack in the race is Francesca Hong, a state representative and democratic socialist. She has gained momentum in the final weeks of the primary campaign, with one poll by Marquette University Law School showing her more than 20 percentage points ahead of Barnes.

He did not explicitly endorse Hong in his announcement, but said he would work to help defeat Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is leading the Republican field.

That leaves four Democratic candidates ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, a race that is being closely followed given that it’s playing out in a battleground state.

Barnes’ exit is yet another shakeup in a primary in which Lt. Gov Sara Rodriguez dropped out after she reported “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in her financial campaign filings. That prompted Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had already dropped out of the governor’s race because his campaign was not gaining traction, to reenter with Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement.

Hong’s rise as the primary’s front-runner is being closely watched, as it’s a test of democratic socialists’ political strength outside of solidly blue districts and states.

Early voting is already underway in Wisconsin, which has created another twist in the race. On Wednesday, the Dane County circuit judge ruled that voters who had cast absentee ballots for Rodriguez would not be able to request new ones — a decision likely to apply to voters who cast ballots for Barnes too.

Democrats in the state were already concerned about Barnes’ electability. From the outset, his gubernatorial bid was haunted by his failed Senate run in 2022, when he lost to Sen. Ron Johnson by just 1 percentage point in a year that Evers won reelection by more than 3 percentage points.

Until his announcement, Barnes’ social media accounts hadn’t otherwise posted since Wednesday. Door-knocking events scheduled for Saturday still appeared on his campaign website, and his social media accounts encouraged supporters to vote early on Wednesday.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/campaigns/democrats-recast-ballots-wisconsin-primary Jenna Monnin The state party filed a lawsuit earlier this month after multiple candidates dropped out of the governor’s race and one candidate re-entered. Wed, 29 Jul 2026 23:07:19 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/campaigns/democrats-recast-ballots-wisconsin-primary Wisconsin voters returned more than 117,000 absentee ballots before one of the front-runners in the governor’s race dropped out and another contender jumped back in — but a judge ruled Wednesday that those voters are not allowed to request new ones.

The ruling shut down a lawsuit filed by the state’s Democratic Party against the Wisconsin Elections Commission to allow the absentee voters to submit new ballots because of the race’s changing nature.

“The unambiguous language of the statute does not allow a voter to spoil an absentee ballot after it is returned,” Dane County Circuit Judge David Conway wrote in his ruling, referencing the guidance the state elections commission rolled out earlier this month on voters’ ability to receive new ballots.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker denounced Conway’s decision and tied the commission’s decision to larger efforts to “suppress” mail-in voting.

“The decision to change the rules around voting that were a long-standing practice before Republicans' attempts to suppress absentee voting was wrong, and we disagree with the ruling today,” Remiker wrote in a statement — adding that the state party intends to “examine all of [their] options moving forward.”

“Their primary is already chaotic enough,” Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming told The Associated Press earlier this month about the lawsuit. “Election laws should not be changed to rescue one party from the consequences of its own actions.”

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who was seen as a front-runner in the governor’s race, dropped out on July 17 after reporting “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in her campaign finance filings. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley jumped back into the race on July 18 — after he’d dropped out on July 8 and endorsed Rodriguez — with support from retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Missy Hughes, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO, suspended her campaign earlier this month — triggering a decision by the state elections commission to block the ability to revote if a candidate drops out.

The commission voted 4-2 on July 9 to issue the guidance limiting voters’ ability to “spoil” their ballots and excluded circumstances like someone deciding to vote for another candidate.

In their suit, Democrats urged the court to issue a temporary restraining order against the policy.

Rodriguez’s and Hughes’ names remain on ballots, and the primary election is Aug. 11.

Five Democratic candidates — Crowley, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Milwaukee mayoral chief of staff Joel Brennan, state Rep. Francesca Hong and state Sen. Kelda Roys — are still in the running for the Democratic nomination.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/democrats-election-absentee-ballots Torrie Herrington The bipartisan panel blocked the ability to revote earlier this month after Democrat Missy Hughes exited the governor’s race. Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:21:08 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/wisconsin/democrats-election-absentee-ballots Wisconsin’s gubernatorial candidates keep shuffling before next month’s primary. Now, the state Democratic party is requesting Wisconsin’s elections panel allow voters who already cast an absentee ballot to vote again.

After thousands of Wisconsinites had already submitted their absentee ballots ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, Democrats’ candidate slate shifted twice within days. Front-runner Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her campaign last Friday. A day later, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley rejoined the race a week after he suspended his campaign, reentering with current Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement.

Earlier this month, the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission blocked the ability to revote if a candidate drops out after a different Democrat, Missy Hughes, exited the governor’s race in June. Because of that ruling, Rodriguez voters and people who would have backed Crowley may have lost their chance to vote for a candidate who will actually be in the running through August, the state Democratic party argues.

Over 80,000 ballots have already been submitted, but the party argues many of these votes are going to waste due to candidates dropping or reentering the race.

The commission voted 4-2 on July 9 to issue the guidance limiting voters’ ability to “spoil” their ballots and excluded circumstances like someone deciding to vote for another candidate.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker said “some voters will not be able to truly participate in our Democratic primary process” if the guidance is not reversed to allow new absentee ballots.

“Allowing voters to spoil and recast their ballots was standard practice in Wisconsin prior to attempts by Republicans to file frivolous lawsuits to muddy the waters,” Remiker said in a statement.

The state Democratic Party argues the new guidance should be rescinded because it reverses the commission’s own rule that was in place in 2022. It is also inconsistent with a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that stated voting rules should not be changed close to an election, they said.

In the past, Wisconsin voters were able to cancel submitted ballots and then request a new one up to three times, for any reason. But in October 2022, a county circuit judge ruled that this “ballot spoiling” practice was illegal. The 2nd District Court of Appeals reversed the 2022 ruling in February, finding that the lawsuit was not properly served.]]>