Hong's 38% Primary Lead Tests DSA's Swing-State Appeal

State Rep. Francesca Hong, a 37-year-old DSA member, leads Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary at 38 percent in the latest Marquette poll, with a third of voters undecided ahead of Tuesday's balloting.

"There are a lot of people who are scared," David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive and Hong's main rival, said between campaign stops Monday. "She is a self-proclaimed socialist. There are a lot of people worried about not just this party, but this country moving in that direction."

The Marquette Law School poll released July 29 showed Hong at 38 percent, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes at 16 percent and Crowley at 7 percent, with roughly 34 percent undecided. Crowley dropped out July 8 and re-entered July 18 with the endorsement of outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, who is not seeking a third term. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her campaign July 17 after questions about campaign finance management, and Barnes exited July 30.

The winner faces Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in November in a state Trump won by less than one percentage point in 2024. Tiffany leads Hong by 1.7 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average, and former Gov. Scott Walker has warned Republicans against cross-voting for Hong, calling her "VERY dangerous" if elected.

Hong's platform includes a 17 percent income tax, publicly owned grocery stores, a state public bank, a $20 minimum wage, free universal childcare and a one-year moratorium on new data center construction. She has called for repealing Wisconsin's right-to-work law and reversing Walker's 2011 Act 10 union reforms. Her past social media posts, which she has since walked back, called for abolishing police and canceling Thanksgiving as a "colonizer holiday."

The race represents the latest test of whether democratic socialists can win statewide primaries in purple states. The DSA has already secured primary victories in deeply blue districts this cycle, including Melat Kiros unseating a 15-term congresswoman in Colorado and Abdul El-Sayed winning Michigan's Senate primary last week. But Wisconsin's electorate is more evenly divided, and Marquette polling shows more than half of registered voters view democratic socialists negatively.

Democratic strategist David Axelrod called Hong "a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica" on social media last week. Hong responded: "This tweet is a perfect example of why the consultant class keeps losing elections. They're totally clueless, and they're hellbent on keeping working-class people out of politics."

Even Sen. Bernie Sanders, the country's highest-profile democratic socialist, has declined to endorse Hong before the primary. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also refrained from backing her, a sign of the distance national progressives are keeping from the Wisconsin race.

A Fractured Field and a November Test

Crowley, who would be Wisconsin's first Black governor, has been barnstorming the state with Evers, warning that a Hong victory risks handing the governor's mansion to Republicans. Gregory Lewis, executive director of Souls to the Polls Wisconsin, said Black voters would be less motivated for Hong than for Crowley in a general election. "She's very, very liberal," he said.

Hong dismisses electability concerns, describing herself as "the only wage worker" in the race, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, a single mother and a renter. She would be Wisconsin's first woman governor, first Asian-American governor and the first Asian-American woman governor elected in the United States.

The last time a democratic socialist won a statewide primary in a competitive state was Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential run, when he carried Wisconsin's Democratic primary with 56.6 percent of the vote. But Sanders lost the state to Hillary Clinton in the general election by fewer than 23,000 votes, a margin that shows the narrow path for far-left candidates in Wisconsin.

A Hong victory would put a democratic socialist in the governor's mansion of a state Trump won twice, giving her authority over tax policy, labor law and the state's regulatory environment. Her proposed 17 percent income tax and plans for a state public bank and publicly owned grocery stores would mark a significant expansion of government's role in Wisconsin's economy, a shift that could ripple into neighboring states' policy debates.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.