David Crowley pulls off upset over Francesca Hong in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor

NBC News projects that Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive backed by Gov. Tony Evers, narrowly defeated Hong, a democratic socialist state lawmaker, in the key battleground state.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has won the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s race for governor, NBC News projects, dealing a major upset to democratic socialist Francesca Hong.

The result marks a dramatic turnaround for Crowley, who had dropped out of the race roughly a month ago after initially struggling to gain traction only to re-enter days later with outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement.

Hong, a state lawmaker from Madison, had led in the polls in the final stretch of the race, but faced growing scrutiny over her past controversial positions and general election viability. Her loss is a setback for progressives, who have found success in other high-profile primaries around the country this year against establishment-backed candidates.

Crowley will face Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is backed by President Donald Trump, in a general election that will be one of the marquee gubernatorial matchups this fall. Crowley took 39.8% of the Democratic primary vote to 39.4% for Hong with 98% of the expected vote tallied.

Crowley, 40, has served as Milwaukee County executive since 2020. Before that, he was a member of the state Assembly representing an urban Milwaukee district. As recently as late July, he was in the single digits in the well-regarded Marquette University Law School poll, with a large plurality of voters behind Hong, but more than a third saying they were still undecided.