Daily Kos87%
Progressive surges in Wisconsin governor race as top rival drops out 28%
By Oliver Willis96%
7/31/2026, 11:30:00 AM
Keywords: 2026, Elections, Francescahong, Governorship, Mandelabarnes, Wisconsin, Badger State Progressive
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Self-Serving Bias, and Burden of Proof, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 11.3% saturation with 56 hits. Analysis detected 483 faulty-reasoning hits from 497 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 31.9% and a BS Rank of 28% (22,021 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 72.00% of the article peer group.
Progressive state Rep.
Francesca Hong is now the clear front-runner in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin’s governorship, and her leading rival for the nomination announced on Thursday he is dropping out.
The winner of that primary is expected to face Republican Rep.
Tom Tiffany, who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, though Trump’s net approval rating in the state is 25 percentage points underwater, according to The Economist.
A Marquette University Law School poll released on Wednesday found that 38% of Democratic primary voters support Hong.
That is an increase of 12 points from the pollster’s survey released the previous week.
In the new poll, former Lt.
Governor Mandela Barnes stood at 16% support.
But on Thursday, he announced he was dropping out of the race.
In a statement, Barnes said it has “become very clear who our nominee is going to be.”
Mandela Barnes, a now-former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, shown on July 28.
AP
The Journal Sentinel also reported that the state Democratic Party hired a law firm to investigate similar allegations last year but reportedly did not find any actionable behavior, and Barnes has not been accused of committing a crime.
The party establishment, including outgoing Gov.
Tony Evers, has coalesced behind Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
But in the latest Marquette poll, this has thus far translated to only 7% support.
Earlier in July, Crowley dropped out of the campaign but then returned when Lt.
Gov Sara Rodriguez left the race following a campaign finance scandal.
A democratic socialist, Hong has been running on a platform of progressive, populist issues that appear to be resonating with primary voters.
She has called for universal childcare, the creation of a public bank with state funds, and has called for a moratorium on data center construction—a stance that a significant majority of Americans are likely sympathetic to.
Hong has come under fire from right-wing media outlets like Fox News, which has played a significant role in advancing the Republican Party’s false narrative that Democrats are pushing for a communist takeover of the country.
In 2020, after police in Wisconsin shot Jacob Blake, a young Black man, seven times, Hong wrote on social media, “I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.”
In a Democratic primary debate this past Tuesday, Hong was asked about her statement.
“The governor cannot defund the police and I’m not here to govern by slogan,” she said, adding, “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.”
Hong is attempting to duplicate the success of democratic socialist candidates like current New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as well as a slate of congressional candidates also in New York.
Right now, in one of the most high-profile primary races in a swing state, she has all of the momentum.
Speakers
4speakers27%attributed speech363writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageHong
79 attributed words59% of attributed speech59% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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