Francesca Hong and Mandela Barnes lead Democratic primary showing strong support for socialist agenda
Looking at the 2022 and 2026 gubernatorial primaries is absolutely fascinating—a tale of two cycles. Republicans had a bloody primary between Rebecca Kleefisch and Tim Michels that ultimately resulted in Governor Evers serving a second term. Democrats have their own primary, but it has quite reached the mud-slinging levels that Republicans launched in 2022. The laundry list of Democratic candidates vying for position have yet to trade any real barbs as the primary is still months away. However, while Tom Tiffany is sitting comfortably at 40% support with no current realistic challenger, the Democratic primary is looking redder.
While Sara Rodriguez, Missy Hughes, and Joel Brennan fight over the “moderate” lane of the primary, Francesca Hong and Mandela Barnes are ahead of the pack according to the latest Marquette Law Poll—sitting at 14% and 11% respectively. While barely double-digit poll numbers is hardly anything to write home about, a quarter of Democratic primary voters are solidly socialist red.
Mandela has rehabbed and repackaged himself from his failed 2022 Senate run where he was attacked for posing with an “abolish ICE” shirt or when he called the founding of the country “awful.” He has now positioned himself with more electable rhetoric and a stronger focus on the economic issues, but that doesn’t mean the countless attack ads go away. Barnes’ entire 2022 Senate record is up for grabs. Even then Barnes attempted to distance himself from his controversial stances, but it couldn’t save the race. Despite that, his name ID is above 50%, which is more than double any other candidate in the Democratic primary.
Francesca Hong, in many respects, took Mandela’s platform from 2022 and expanded upon it, but gave it genuine legs. She is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and does not shy away from any controversy that label brings. That has resulted in her third straight leading poll and is trending toward growing her base of support.
The reality is that I don’t believe Mandela or Francesca would govern any differently despite Mandela’s moderated tone. They are both occupying a far-left lane composed of slightly different stripes of socialists. Francesca’s base of support comes from grassroots, card-carrying socialists, while Mandela has lost this crowd in favor of the more common primary voter who knew him from his 2022 failed Senate run.
As of now, the two far-left front-runners of the Democratic primary have played it nice, but don’t expect it to last long. If Francesca’s momentum continues, the fighting that will ensue will hardly look like a simple lovers’ quarrel.
Regardless, Wisconsin’s Democratic candidate for Governor will undoubtedly be the reddest in recent memory.
