Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley won Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday. He faces President Donald Trump-endorsed Republican nominee U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in the November general election.
The Associated Press called the race at 2:34 a.m. on Aug. 12 when Crowley had 39.8% of the vote with 98% counted. Hong had 39.4%.
Should Crowley win the gubernatorial election, he will become Wisconsin’s first Black candidate to be elected governor.
He defeated Madison Rep. Francesca Hong, who polled far ahead of every candidate, including Madison Sen. Kelda Roys and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan.
Crowley, who was endorsed by Gov. Tony Evers, won Milwaukee County by nearly 3,000 points. Hong, who was the runner-up and democratic socialist choice, won Dane County by over 11,000 votes.
“David Crowley is grateful to Wisconsin voters, the volunteers who powered this campaign, and everyone who stepped forward to participate in this primary,” Crowley's campaign manager said in a statement posted to X early Wednesday. “The choice in November has always been clear. We can move Wisconsin forward with leadership focused on solving problems, or we can bring the division and extremism of Tom Tiffany and Donald Trump to Wisconsin.”
Crowley’s narrow win came as a surprise. A recent Marquette Law School Poll found Hong leading the Democratic field by 22 percentage points over former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and 31 points over Crowley. Barnes had since dropped out of the race.
Despite Hong’s strong polling and appeal as a new generation of Democratic leadership, she did not garner support from establishment Democrats. When asked on Aug. 3 if Hong could defeat Tiffany in a gubernatorial election, Gov. Evers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “probably not.”
The general election is set for Nov. 3.
