Polls have closed in Wisconsin and Minnesota, ending voting on a night that tested whether the democratic socialist movement’s recent momentum could extend into a marquee governor’s race in a critical Midwestern swing state.
In Wisconsin, Democratic Governor Tony Evers’s retirement sparked a crowded and tumultuous race to succeed him, with the Democratic field narrowing in its final weeks to a contest between state Representative Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, and Evers-endorsed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
On the Republican side, Congressman Tom Tiffany entered the day carrying US President Donald Trump’s endorsement and facing little organised opposition.
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Polling in the campaign’s closing stretch showed Hong opening a commanding advantage over her Democratic rivals. A Marquette University Law School poll released the week before the primary found Hong leading the Democratic field at 38 per cent, with former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes in second place at 16 per cent and Crowley trailing at 7 per cent, with roughly a third of respondents still undecided.
That marked a considerable expansion from an earlier Marquette poll two weeks prior, which had shown Hong at 26 per cent.
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Hong’s rise has been closely watched as a test of how far the Democratic Socialists of America’s recent electoral gains could extend into statewide, swing-state politics.
Hong, a state lawmaker and former restaurant owner backed by Wisconsin-based DSA chapters and national progressives including Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, would become the nation’s first self-described socialist governor if she ultimately wins the race.
Her platform includes guaranteed paid leave and a one-year moratorium on building artificial intelligence data centres in the state.
Hong has faced sustained scrutiny over past social media posts calling for police departments to be defunded and abolished, positions her campaign says she no longer holds.
Addressing the criticism directly during a televised debate, Hong said, “The governor cannot defund the police, and I’m not here to govern by slogan. I’m here to make sure that I am the governor that is most serious about public safety, and that means investing in the things that we know prevent crimes.”
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Not every Democrat has welcomed Hong’s rise with enthusiasm. Evers and other establishment figures have rallied around Crowley instead, suggesting Hong would struggle to defeat Tiffany in November and could even drag down Democrats running in competitive down-ballot races.
Hong has pushed back forcefully against that argument, framing herself as the candidate best positioned to connect with frustrated voters.
“When people tell me that I’m one of them as the working-class candidate, what Democrats might be, and what other candidates might be getting wrong, is that people want someone that cares,” Hong said, warning of the consequences she believes a Tiffany win could carry.
Furthermore, she warned that Republicans “obviously believe that they have a path not just for Tom Tiffany to be governor, but for a Republican trifecta in Wisconsin, and that should scare every single one of us.”
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Tuesday’s vote followed a summer in which progressive candidates have repeatedly outperformed expectations in Democratic primaries nationwide, including Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s US Senate primary the previous week.
Democrats are also eyeing a pickup opportunity in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden narrowly survived a challenge from Democrat Rebecca Cooke in 2024, a race that could be shaped by whichever candidate emerges from Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary as the party’s standard-bearer.
With polls now closed across both Wisconsin and Minnesota, results were expected to be reported by the Associated Press and NBC News Decision Desk through the evening, offering the first concrete test of whether Hong’s polling lead would translate into a historic primary win.
