Socialists Suffer High-Profile Defeat In Wisconsin Primary Election

Milwaukee County executive David Crowley emerged the victor in the hard-fought Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor against democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong early Wednesday – giving the Democratic establishment a much-needed boost in light of recent progressive wins.

Decision Desk HQ projected the race for Crowley, who enjoys Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) endorsement, at around 2:20 am EDT. Crowley was ahead of Hong by over 3,000 votes when the primary was called.

The results are a far cry from the double-digit lead public polling suggested Hong held, underscoring that Democratic voters are even more divided than previously thought over their candidates and the direction of the party.

Most importantly, Crowley’s win offers center-left and more mainstream Democrats their first major win in recent weeks after several of their preferred picks lost in high-profile races like the Michigan Senate Democratic primary. Still, the mixed bag of primary results tonight — and more broadly this cycle — show that questions over the party are nowhere near settled.

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I wonder how that works in an exclusively Democrat vote

Do they still do midnight truck rolls with a pile of absentee ballots to swing the vote

— Robert G. Schaffrath

(@whobeu) August 12, 2026

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Wow. I guess openly telling Americans you hate them and their awful country isn’t a good campaign strategy. Who knew?

— Sarah Morgan (@IntrepidSarah) August 12, 2026

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What went Wong Commies?

Well done Wisconsin!

— JC Spiritrunr (@JCSpiritrunr) August 12, 2026

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The left wing suffered a high-profile setback on Tuesday at the hands of the center-left establishment in their ongoing battle for the ideological future of the party.

Seven days after far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in battleground Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, state Rep. Francesca Hong on Tuesday was upset in her bid to capture the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Wisconsin, another crucial swing state.

Hong, a state lawmaker from Madison, Wisconsin and a Democratic Socialists of America(DSA) member, was defeated by Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Associated Press reports.

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WOW. Socialists are furious after “human error” in Milwaukee WI after midnight caused 5 USB STICKS to NOT have the election results on them

So officials went back, “fixed” the data, uploaded it, and socialist Francesca Hong NARROWLY LOST by a few thousand votes to David… pic.twitter.com/u4JY00kwxe

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 12, 2026

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