Crowley Upsets Hong in Wisconsin As Progressive Surge Falters

By

Ed Kilgore,

political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015

The surprise winner.

The “progressive surge” story line that dominated Democratic primaries this summer came to an abrupt halt in Wisconsin yesterday, as Milwaukee county executive David Crowley narrowly upset democratic socialist legislator Francesca Hong in the gubernatorial primary despite having dropped out of the race earlier. Polling in the race was erratic due to the instability of the field; both Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez and former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes withdrew from the contest due to unrelated scandals, leading Crowley to revive his candidacy on July 18 after suspending it ten days earlier. Still, the gold-standard Marquette Law School poll gave Hong a 31-point lead over Crowley as of July 27, and the prediction markets treated her as a lead-pipe cinch as recently as August 10.