MADISON, Wisconsin — Progressive activists are hopeful about a significant win in the upcoming Wisconsin gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, seeing it as a potential breakthrough against the political establishment. This victory could set the stage for their movement’s future successes in 2028 and beyond.
However, many prominent national progressive figures have shown little interest in the race.
A victory by Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist and current front-runner, over David Crowley, the candidate chosen by Governor Tony Evers, could send shockwaves through the political landscape. It could provide the progressive movement a crucial opportunity to demonstrate its viability in one of the most fiercely contested states. Some organizers within the movement also view a win for Hong as a potential precursor for 2028 presidential hopefuls like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Despite this, leading progressives such as Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have withheld their endorsements from Hong, even though they have supported other high-profile candidates like Michigan’s Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Some have privately expressed doubts regarding Hong’s messaging and her electability, as she deals with controversies stemming from past social media posts advocating for canceling Thanksgiving and defunding the police—remarks she now describes as “bad takes” from which she has learned.
Other prominent leaders admit they are unfamiliar with Hong, highlighting the challenges she faces should she win the primary.
“I don’t know her,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) commented briefly in a hallway interview.
Sanders has explicitly stated he will not endorse Hong and refrained from commenting on the matter when asked by POLITICO on Capitol Hill recently. According to two individuals close to Sanders, who spoke anonymously, even though Hong has mentioned Sanders’ name and political ideology during her campaign, he does not know her personally. Sanders confirmed having met Hong but indicated that their relationship does not extend beyond that interaction.
These sources also noted that Hong has not been as thoroughly vetted and her messaging lacks precision compared to other candidates, posing a risk for Sanders, who has previously faced setbacks from endorsements.
Ocasio-Cortez, similarly, chose not to endorse Hong. “My focus has been in winning back the Congress, winning back the House, and positioning ourselves to have the best chance possible to win the Senate,” she explained in a recent ABC’s “This Week” interview.
Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, along with their teams, emphasize their focus on congressional control, rarely endorsing in state-level races. Their absence of support or even public encouragement for Hong could signal the formidable challenge she faces in persuading moderate Democrats, independents, and even her own progressive cohort of her electability against Donald Trump-backed Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in the November elections.
General elections in Wisconsin have been decided by narrow margins in recent years. Trump clinched the state in 2024 by nearly 30,000 votes, while Biden won it by under 21,000 votes in 2020.
Privately, some Wisconsin Democratic officials acknowledge that Republicans have a significant opportunity to target Hong on her democratic socialist stance, which was viewed negatively by all registered voters in a July Marquette Law School poll.
Despite the hesitations from key progressive leaders, several progressive groups support her campaign.
Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, stated, “If Francesca Hong is elected the governor of Wisconsin, people are going to see somebody working very, very rigorously as the governor, like [Zohran] Mamdani is as the mayor of New York, to pursue a set of policies that people are rapidly going to recognize are in their best interests. They’re going to embrace [Hong] as much as they have Mamdani, whose popularity right now is off the charts.”
Regarding whether Hong can overcome electability criticisms from moderate Democrats, Minsky remarked, “The proof will be in the pudding in November.”
Several federal-level progressive lawmakers have traveled to Wisconsin to campaign with Hong, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Hong has also attracted progressive star power in other ways, with leftist influencer Hasan Piker rallying with her in Milwaukee recently. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has also endorsed her.
National and Wisconsin Republicans are gearing up for coordinated attacks on Hong for signing a questionnaire from the Madison-area Democratic Socialists of America, which calls for candidates to prioritize socialist organizing. They are also targeting her for her deputy campaign manager Renee Faust’s advocacy for sex workers and presence on OnlyFans.
Hong’s campaign has responded to these critiques, asserting, “Renee Faust is a licensed mental health clinician who has spent her career providing care to trafficking survivors. She has helped build the largest grassroots campaign in Wisconsin history. The right-wing politicians attacking her are the same ones who want government dictating women’s health care decisions.”
Hong’s supporters attribute the lack of national endorsements from prominent progressives to Sanders’ choice to stay out of the state-level race, suggesting others have followed his lead. Nevertheless, Sanders did endorse Troy Jackson for governor of Maine before Graham Platner exited the race.
Conversations with Wisconsin voters indicate that Hong has successfully tapped into dissatisfaction with party leaders and leveraged local policies on cost of living to build a strong base heading into the primary. She currently holds a double-digit lead over Crowley in recent polls, though Crowley is gaining ground.
Should she win both the primary and the general election against a Trump-backed Republican, Hong would compel the Democratic establishment and national progressives to take her seriously.
Paige Gerber, a 33-year-old Hong supporter, remarked after encountering Crowley at a Sheboygan ice cream shop, “I feel like we’re at a point in our policies where Democrats are very happy to just kind of stay focused on being centrist. And that’s where we’re losing in so many spaces, especially as we get more and more destitute in the economy. People are hurting, and people are really looking for policies that are really for the people.”
Wisconsin Democratic officials are planning a unity tour across the state with the governor and lieutenant governor nominees immediately following the primary, aiming to move past the intense Democratic infighting between Hong’s supporters and establishment Democrats. State party chair Devin Remiker will join the nominees on the tour.
In an interview, Evers did not commit to endorsing or campaigning for Hong if she wins, but Democrats anticipate that both he and Crowley will participate in the unity tour ahead of November.
Nonetheless, many senior Democrats in the state feel Hong will need additional support to attract enough voters in the critical swing state. They express concerns that Hong’s campaign lacks the discipline necessary to defeat Tiffany.
“Socialism scares the shit out of the persuadable voters we routinely need to win here,” said a longtime Democratic campaign operative in the state, who wished to remain anonymous. “And the unforced errors will be deadly if she doesn’t sharpen some of her answers for her past tweets and positions.”
A Democratic staffer who supports Hong commented that she “needs to be more on message about what actually matters,” adding, “I don’t think she has to moderate her policies … she is just going to have to be more precise.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who has not endorsed anyone in the race, stated in an interview that she “decided not to put my thumb on the scale” but intends to support whoever wins.
When asked about Hong’s chances as a democratic socialist in the general election, Baldwin shifted the focus to criticizing Republicans, stating, “I’m preparing to bring up Trump’s record on the same things. Look, this is a referendum this fall about whether we’re going to elect MAGA people or whether we’re going to stand up for health care, stand up for SNAP benefits. Those are the issues before the state.”
