Democratic gubernatorial primary too close to call

The winner of the race will face U.S. Rep Tom Tiffany, the GOP nominee for governor, who easily defeated his Republican challenger, and his running mate David Varnam. Varnam defeated Will Martin, who had the endorsement of the state GOP and had been campaigning with Tiffany.

The Democratic primary, which started with seven candidates, all of whose names appeared on the ballot even after three dropped out, dwindled to four candidates competing for the nomination. At 12:25 p.m. Crowley had 39.9% of the vote and Hong had 39.6% with 94% of the vote counted. State Sen. Kelda Roys and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan trailed the two leaders with 7.6% and 4.7% of the vote respectively.

Crowley launched his campaign in September 2025, dropped out in July and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, then reentered the race when Rodriguez dropped out. Gov. Tony Evers, who had declined to express a preference in the race before the final days, encouraged Crowley to rejoin the field and campaigned for him up until Election Day.

Worried that Hong, a democratic socialist, state lawmaker and chef, could not win the general election, undecided Democratic primary voters flocked to Crowley’s resurrected campaign. Hong ran a campaign based on a cadre of grassroots volunteers and a strong  social media strategy. Polls showed her dominating the field with a double-digit lead toward the end of the campaign, a result that was not matched by vote tallies on Election Night.

Victory parties but no result

The crowd gathered at Atwood Music Hall in Madison for Hong’s victory party started the night in a hopeful mood, singing to Pink Pony Girl by Chappell Roan, Stateside by PinkPantheress and Wannabe by the Spice Girls. Supporters made signs at a table and took photos together. Loud boos rang out when President Donald Trump and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany appeared on the large screens showing CNN’s election night coverage.

In the two weeks leading up to the election, Crowley and Evers raced across the state to reintroduce Crowley to voters with Evers telling people he thought Hong would not be able to beat Tiffany. 

April Brown, a Madison resident, said the issues she is most concerned about this election year are affordability, data centers and queer and trans issues. She and her wife, who came out as trans three years ago, moved to Dane County about a year ago from Georgia. 

“The South was increasingly becoming hostile towards people like us, like her,” Brown said. “When I found out about Fran being, not only my district representative in the state Assembly, but also she was running for governor and found how passionate she was about LGBTQ rights, I knew I had to throw my support behind her.” 

Brown said she would get behind Crowley if he won, but she felt hope voting for Hong. 

“I think she really resonates with people because she gets people and she wants to help people,” Brown said. 

Crowley’s supporters gathered at the Regency Ballroom in the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Milwaukee Tuesday night.

Darryl Morin, national president and board chairman of Forward Latino, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, and other local elected officials joined the crowd.

Throughout the evening, Crowley maintained a slight lead over Hong as vote totals were reported across the state. Updates on the large TV screens in the ballroom were greeted with cheering from the crowd. 

Talk of a possible recount began as Crowley maintained his razor-thin advantage. 

Calls for unity

Just before 11:30 p.m., Hong addressed her supporters, thanking them and telling them that they have “built something that will change politics forever.”

“In 11 weeks, no matter who’s on this ballot, we are going to fight to win for one another,” Hong said. “We will win together, united. Because everyone who’s running in this race, they know that we can make better possible and we must make better possible.”

After Hong left the stage her campaign staff wished everyone a good night and the lights in Atwood Music Hall were turned up. 

Hannah Ecay, a 25-year-old who wore a Madison Area DSA shirt, said she doesn’t have kids, but wants to one day and that’s part of why she supports Hong and her affordability agenda. 

“I don’t have kids yet, but when I do childcare and public education are very important to me, and I’d like to see those things be set up now, before I have children,” Ecay said. 

Ecay said she would vote for Crowley in the general election if he wins.

“Anyone’s better than Tom Tiffany, but I won’t be as excited about it as I would be for Francesca,” she said. 

As votes were being tallied in Milwaukee, election workers announced that a mistake had been made where some of the flash drives used to record the election results were downloaded with audit data instead of information from 15,000 absentee ballots. The mistake was expected to take over an hour to fix. Congresswoman Gwen Moore addressed Crowley’s supporters, saying that she believes that “the red bird will fly,” referring to a story from Crowley’s wife of having seen a red cardinal — a significant religious symbol to her — which she interpreted as a sign that Crowley should re-enter the race. 

By the end of the night Crowley maintained a miniscule lead of 39.5% to Hong’s 39.6% of the vote. Crowley did not appear at his watch party to address supporters before it ended with no official result. 

Jarrett English, a community organizer in Milwaukee, said that he respects both Hong and Crowley. “I’ve known David since he was an organizer, and so I know that he works hard,” English told the Examiner. “He was always going to do well in Milwaukee because he’s been an incredible county executive, arguably the most successful county executive in a generation, at least in terms of the amount of things that have gotten accomplished with housing, with mental health, with not necessarily shared revenue but getting more revenue for the metro area. All those things show that he is more than ready to be at a higher level.” 

English feels that both Hong or Crowley would make for fantastic governors. “I personally will be happy with whoever wins,” said English, saying that while he doesn’t always agree with Crowley that he’s “a bridgebuilder” and that Hong “is the same.”

Donna Davis, managing partner for Vox Pop Solutions and a Crowley supporter who traveled from Florida, said that “Crowley’s candidacy, who Crowley is and what he believes in, is an idea and a moment whose time has come.” Observing Crowley’s  unexpected surge which kept him in the lead most of the night, Davis said, “I think people want something different. I think they’re unsure about the unknown. I mean this is the Midwest, and people like what they know. And he fits Wisconsin.” 

Davis said that Crowley’s performance Tuesday night is a sign that “Milwaukee is ready to move into the 21st century, Wisconsin is ready for the 21st century.” If she were asked  just three years ago whether his success would have been possible, “I would’ve told you ‘absolutely not.’ I wasn’t even really sure that this was the moment because we’re in the middle of a very divisive era in American history. But this is a democracy, and the voters have the final say.”

Moving into the general election

The Democratic nominee for governor will be joined on the ticket by Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, who is running in November for lieutenant governor and faced no primary opponent. She previously served as state treasurer from January 2019 to January 2023. Evers appointed her to her current position. 

Democrats have their work cut out for them as they seek to beat Tiffany, a three-term congressman who currently represents the state’s largest congressional district in the northern half of the state. Wisconsin’s statewide races are typically decided by close margins, including in 2018 when Evers defeated Gov. Scott Walker by about 30,000 votes. 

Ahead of Election Day, Democratic candidates had been discussing uniting following the primary to defeat Tiffany.

Godlewski, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan and the Democratic nominee for governor planned to meet for a unity breakfast Wednesday morning in the Madison area, seeking to move past the divisiveness of the primary with less than three months until the general election.

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