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Wisconsin’s Democratic race for governor remained too close to call as of 10 p.m. Tuesday as Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Madison Rep. Francesca Hong were locked in a tight contest for the nomination.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany easily won the Republican nomination after securing the state GOP and President Donald Trump’s endorsements early.
As early election results poured in, Crowley and Hong were separated by less than a percentage point, with each receiving about 40% of the more than 600,000 votes cast. State Sen. Kelda Roys and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan trailed far behind with percentages in the single digits.
The 2026 election for governor is an open seat after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers chose not to run for a third term. It’s the first open governor’s race in the state since 2010 when Gov. Scott Walker ushered in a conservative era during which Republicans dismantled public sector unions, increased pension and health insurance contributions for public employees, cut taxes and enacted gerrymandered legislative maps.
Democrats are hoping to take control of the state Legislature for the first time in 16 years after flipping the state Supreme Court to a liberal majority and enacting bipartisan legislative maps. But even with a legislative majority, the ability to enact Democratic legislation would still run through the governor’s office.
Hong, a democratic socialist, has led in the polls for months, and her primary victory seemed all but assured heading into Tuesday. But the close race mirrored a similar battle between establishment Democrats and left-wing activists in the Michigan U.S. Senate primary. Polls showed the left-wing candidate with a double-digit lead heading into last week’s primary, but he only won by 1 percentage point.
Crowley’s strong showing marks a stunning turnaround for a candidate who polled in single digits before he dropped out of the race in early July. Even in the final Marquette Law School Poll before the election, he only mustered 7% support to 38% for Hong, though 34% were undecided.
Crowley initially ended his campaign after he said he saw both poll and fundraising numbers show momentum for Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.
But then Rodriguez dropped out of the race after revelations of issues with her campaign finance reports, which led Crowley to return to the race with a historically rare endorsement from Evers. In the final week of the primary, the two-term governor joined Crowley on the campaign trail to champion Crowley as his successor.
Luca Farmer, a 21-year-old Madison resident, cheered and waved a poster reading “Hotties 4 Hong” as CNN results projected on a screen in Atwood Music Hall in Madison showed the state representative pulling closer to Crowley around 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Farmer said he had been following the race since Evers chose not to run for reelection last year. He said he voted for Hong because she is “policy first.”
But Farmer said he did not anticipate Hong and Crowley were going to be as close as they were Tuesday night.
“My heart is palpitating,” he said. “I did not think it was going to be this close. I was very confident, but I am still confident that we will win.”
Other results
In other primary results Tuesday, Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District for a rematch with Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden. The seat is rated a toss-up and one of two that national Democrats are hoping to flip to retake control of the House.
In the other, the 1st Congressional District in southeast Wisconsin, Mitchell Berman won the Democratic nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil.
Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, won the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional District in northern Wisconsin. The Democratic nomination was too close to call, though the seat being vacated by Tiffany leans Republican.
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Wisconsin’s Democratic race for governor remains too close to call is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
