After last night’s WISN 12 debate, it’s painfully obvious — Francesca Hong is the Democratic nominee for governor of Wisconsin.
A new State Navigate poll released this week shows the democratic socialist from Madison sitting at 44% among likely Democratic primary voters — a nearly 30-point lead over David Crowley (15%) and Mandela Barnes (14%). Pollsters are already calling the race done. The establishment’s late scramble to stop her failed. Early voting is underway, and the math no longer works against her.
Last night’s debate only confirmed it. Moderators (Gerron Jordan and Matt Smith) raised the DSA co-chair’s recent comments about abolishing the Senate and replacing the presidency and Supreme Court. Hong distanced herself from the full national platform, pivoted to affordability and taxing the rich, and walked away unscathed. No one on stage seriously challenged her. The other candidates largely stayed in their lanes while the frontrunner coasted.
This is bigger than the Wisconsin primary. Across the country, DSA candidates and policies are gaining ground, especially with younger voters. What started in deep-blue cities is now showing up in Midwest battleground states. The Democratic Party’s far-left radical flank is no longer content to stay on the sidelines. It is aggressively reshaping the party from the inside, pulling it further from the moderate, working-class voters who once dominated in purple states.
Hong’s rise should be alarming to mainstream Democrats. Local DSA chapters back her, revolutionary past statements on police, prisons, and the Senate are on the record, and Democratic primary voters appear ready to nominate her anyway.
For Republicans, the general election picture just got clearer. For Democrats, the establishment lost control of its own primary. Wisconsin voters will get the final say in November, but the far-left takeover inside the Democratic Party is already here. Early voting started July 28 and runs through August 9, with Election Day taking place August 11.
