Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic governor primary ahead of Tuesday vote

politicsAug 10, 202625928

Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist state representative, leads the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin with double-digit statewide polling margins as voters head to the primary on Tuesday. Hong built her frontrunner status with a grassroots campaign focused on raising the minimum wage and proposing a wealth tax, and she discussed those priorities on the political podcast Center Stage, with Milfred and Hands. Top Democrats have publicly expressed skepticism about her candidacy, and the race has seen a last-minute shake-up as establishment figures try to shift the contest. Political operatives and reporting from Politico say pro-Republican PACs, including groups tied to the Republican Governors Association, have spent millions running ads to boost the Democrat they consider weakest in a general election matchup. Hong’s campaign emphasizes retail organizing, streaming ads, door knocking, and GOTV text programs that supporters credit with her rise to the lead. The primary outcome will determine whether Democrats coalesce behind Hong despite establishment unease and outside Republican spending ahead of a competitive November governor’s race.

Matthew Gertz

@mattgertz.bsky.social

Republicans spent millions of dollars running basically the only TV ads of the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary to back the candidate they believe will be easiest to beat, and now that candidate is leading the race. www.wispolitics.com/2026/sole-do...

3695h ago

Matthew Gertz78

To win more Democratic primaries, the center-left needs to convince Republican political operatives that candidate ideology doesn't impact voter behavior.

bmacknight.bsky.social8

She is going to win in the fall. Help her or get out of the way.

Charlie Mas7

Democratic party consultants and Republican party consultants are the same breed. They both think a Democrat has to be a centrist to win. GOP consultants promoted a progressive Democrat thinking she had no chance, and now they are learning what is narrative and what is reality.

UWS Pete6

Meanwhile Tom Nichols is arguing with online randos, some of them bots, that the Dems are choosing unelectable candidates.

Julie Wash5

She is the new Tulsi Gabbard. The polls were all wrong in MI—maybe the polls are being force fed to WI too.

allavut4

el-sayad was outspent 10 to 1 and was still able to win...maybe its the policy

Quoting this

Aubrey Gilleran63

See, Claire McCaskill's famous ratfuck of the Missouri Senate race in 2012 was done by running negative ads against Todd Akin in the primary, calling him radical and too conservative for Missouri. This allegedly led GOP primary voters to vote Akin. Doing it with a positive ad seems like a bad idea.

🗽LOLGOP🗽33

A super interesting test case. They’ve lifted Hong off with a message that’s perfect for November against a clown MAGA who tried to steal Wisconsinites votes in 2020, seemingly unaware of Wisconsin’s progressive roots.

Jesse Raub21

here’s the thing: Hong already had a high profile in state politics and has been generally popular. two of the other three main candidates have had scandals big enough to cause them to drop out and one dropped out due to low ratings only to try and jump back in and have a twitter scandal leak

marxuckerberg8

Wait, so none of the other candidates were running TV ads either? lol

Brett Fujioka2

Reminds me a little bit of how leaked internal data suggested that Hillary Clinton thought that Donald Trump was the only candidate that she could beat.

Taniel

@taniel.bsky.social

A lot is coming up Tuesday: —open governor races in Minnesota and, of course, Wisconsin —the special to replace Graham —the Flanagan/Craig primary —important prosecutor races in MN & VT —ideologically split Dem primaries (incl DSA candidates) for Congress & legislature Details: Details:

16818h ago

Decoding Fox News

@decodingfoxnews.bsky.social

Fox News is framing Democratic elected officials' support of Abdul El-Sayed as a scandal. He is not a DSA member and identifies as a capitalist. He also won the primary despite being outspent by millions. Also Francesca Hong is running for governor in Wisconsin not Michigan.

1494h ago

Mo in Columbus OH3

and it would not be a scandal if El-Sayed was a DSA member. It just shows how dumb Fox and their viewers are.

Dan Shafer

@danshafer.bsky.social

With less than 48 hours to go before polls open in Wisconsin, here is a roundup of all of our coverage of the Democratic primary — from news to commentary to podcasts to interviews to hosting a candidate forum and beyond. Let's recombobulate👇 www.therecombobulationarea.com/p/icymi-the-...

41Yesterday

Milwaukee's DrAwkward

@hotshotrobot.bsky.social

The data center moratorium issue is the issue with corporate Dems in a nutshell. The electorate clearly hates them but the Dems can't align with that position because they're too dependent on the corporate money/endorsements they crave. Yet Francesca Hong knows they're bad and rejects the money.

353h ago

Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin

@ecmclaughlin.bsky.social

How are Abdul El-Sayed and Francesca Hong finding broad success as so many Americans feel discouraged with politics & candidates? Today at 11 am ET, we're breaking down new reporting on what's actually working in these campaigns, along with the latest on Todd Blanche, youtube.com/live/yV3gr08...

272h ago

Feena van

@feenavan2099.bsky.social

If your trans or a ally and you live in Wisconsin that plans to vote for governor. I would vote for Francesca hong for governor.

166h ago

Sean Lim

@seanlimmn.bsky.social

Hello, Wisconsin! I’m so excited to be in Eau Claire, on a field trip with Sen. @omarfatehmn.com to knock doors for the one & only @francescahongwi.bsky.social for Governor! 🗳️🚪🐄 Solidarity knows no borders! We’re having great convos about workers’ rights, healthcare, fully funding schools & more.

1519h ago

conifergirl.bsky.social

@conifergirl.bsky.social

Part 2 The Left Finally Has Momentum. Don’t Waste It. By Tony Pentimalli The danger here is much bigger than Francesca Hong. Wisconsin statewide elections can be razor close, and if Hong wins the nomination but loses a winnable general election after Republicans bury her under old culture war

135h ago

Hyde T. Voltyge

@hydevoltyge.bsky.social

I apologize for the strawman but if I saw substantive criticism I'd amend this statement: A lot of men are being very misogynistic about Francesca Hong. If you truly don't believe she's a great candidate, go watch her ads and the Dem primary debate. Watch Fox News admit conservatives like her!

116h ago

sasha (they/them)

@returnedknyaz.bsky.social

this is also goes for Francesca Hong, who in ~48 hours will be the Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin

1320h ago

Jesse Raub

@jesseraub.online

Francesca Hong was doing well in the race without the dark money boosterism, and has been airing plenty of her own ads on streaming services, has an aggressive door knocking campaign, and good GOTV texting programs — something i haven’t seen from anyone else

95h ago

dropoutesq

@dropoutesq.bsky.social

My final pre-primary personal view in my individual capacity on each of the four candidates (Joel Brennan, David Crowley, Francesca Hong, and Kelda Roys). Hong is the only one who knew how to be a primary candidate in 2026. She's also the only one with no clue how to be the Governor. Agonizing!

Screen shot of my view on Brennan. Text available with poster.

914h ago

Quoting this

Clean Observer7

This is basically right. And she did it while mounting a campaign that was a messaging exercise until they realized she was leading in July. She also is the most risky for even getting there. It’s a bad scene. Sorry if you’re a fan, but we’re about to be subjected to very irrational levels of risk.

Ken Bazinet

@kenbazinet.bsky.social

"Unless and until we protect local communities from the power of corrupting money and politics, we're going to continue to see projects like this get pushed on to local communities despite themselves," said Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, NPR reported. #DataCenters #AI #Voters

69h ago

The Fighting Liberal Texan🌈🌊💙🦋Congress Switchboard 202-224-3121

@fightingliberal.bsky.social

Francesca Hong, the progressive leading a ‘messy’ race for Wisconsin’s governor: ‘They’re tired of the status quo’ Hong, whose grassroots campaign has made her a frontrunner, aims for primary win after public skepticism from top Democrats and a last-minute shake-up ...

54h ago

3 sources

theguardian.comFrancesca Hong, the progressive leading a ‘messy’ race for Wisconsin’s governor: ‘They’re tired of the status quo’madison.comWill Francesca Hong be the latest democratic socialist to win a Midwest state?hnow.liveFrancesca Hong, the progressive leading a ‘messy’ race for Wisconsin’s governor: ‘They’re tired of the status quo’

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Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic governor primary ahead of Tuesday vote

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