Yesterday I wrote that the race for the Democratic Party nomination for governor in Wisconsin was trending toward DSA-endorsed Francesca Hong, and that was before today's race became even more of a s**t show.
Already, it has featured candidates dropping out, getting back in, the rise of a Democratic Socialist candidate in purple Wisconsin, and now the exit of the former Lieutenant Governor under a cloud of potential scandal.
"The decision by Barnes came amid reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about a 2025 state Democratic Party review into allegations that Barnes was taking advantage of his role in the party to have sexual encounters with young adult women." https://t.co/pOYcFpZjif
— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) July 30, 2026
Barnes, in exiting the race, did not refer to the upcoming story detailing accusations that he abused his position in the Wisconsin Democratic Party to pressure young women to have sex. Instead, he delivered a blow to the establishment Democrats' hopes that Francesca Hong's rise could be derailed.
Thank you, Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/FKDjCaPdJZ
— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) July 30, 2026
He basically declared her the candidate, which amounts to giving the party the finger on his way out the door because somebody within the Party leaked documents detailing an internal investigation into Barnes.
Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, is surging in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary race for governor. Establishment figures show no signs of stopping her. https://t.co/kxvAkh1zcQ
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 30, 2026
Hong, who is riding high at the moment, will face significant challenges should she secure the nomination in the upcoming primary. She has a long list of controversial positions that she is trying to walk back, but is just not that good at doing it.
NBC: The DSA's platform includes abolishing the Senate, prisons, & ICE. You say that you don’t agree with some of it, are you trying to have it both ways?
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 30, 2026
HONG: There are issues that I disagree on, but…
NBC: You do consider yourself a Democrat Socialist, right?
HONG: Yes. pic.twitter.com/MO4evJOHtX
DSA members are not known for the subtlety of their positions or their desire to spin controversial statements, and she is learning on the job. However much she tries to backtrack, her long record or radical statements will haunt her in a state that is considered swing, but which has clearly trended Republican, at least in national elections.
In January 2026, she completed a questionnaire and interview affirming her “commitment to police and prison abolition.” pic.twitter.com/F4kBF914Pe
— Tiffany War Room (@TiffanyWarRoom) July 30, 2026
Hong is now backtracking on her long record promoting defunding the police, but her answers neither give confidence that she means it nor does her presentation make you like her very much. She has anti-charisma.
Francesca Hong:
— Jason Calvi (@JasonCalvi) July 29, 2026
-Perviously tweeted “Defund police”
-Once voted against a bill to punish local governments that cut funding for police
-Tonight, she said she wouldn’t sign a bill to defund the police.
-So I and then @jmart questioned her: pic.twitter.com/0VY9z75za7
Hong is also very unpopular with a vital Democratic Party constituency: black voters, who have not warmed at all to her. They were backing Barnes in the primary race before he bailed, and it's not obvious that they will turn out in large numbers in November to carry her across the finish line in what should be a close race, if she is still in it by then.
Here it is.@FrancescaHongWI’s plan to kick thousands of black children out of their schools, “is a slap in the face to black families.”
— Eric Bott (@EricJBott) July 29, 2026
As a big government socialist, Hong thinks she knows better than parents.
She is wrong.
pic.twitter.com/yQYEuvQAKj
Marquette's polling asked primary voters for their second-choice candidate, and if the results at all reflect stated preferences, Hong will benefit from his exit, picking up the most votes from his supporters.
MARQUETTE POLL: New overall race standing after Barnes drops out and his voters are reassigned according to their second choices.
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) July 30, 2026
🟦 Francesca Hong: 43% (+33)
🟦 David Crowley 10%
🟦 J. Brennan 3%
🟦 K. Roys 3%
Barnes supporters break 30% Hong, 16% Crowley, 8% Brennan, 5%… https://t.co/fZyHYZNTVK pic.twitter.com/BUAszlHZQf
So here is where things stand in the two swing states with major elections this year: the Democrats are choosing Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, a DSA-aligned Islamist candidate who polls 10 points behind his Republican opponent Mike Rogers over Haley Stevens, who runs even with Rogers and Francesca Hong, a full-blown socialist with the charisma of a Karen.
Never say never in politics, but neither of these candidates looks like a winner in November.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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