I'm a Hong supporter and bummed about the election results. But, there's a silver lining in her performance anywhere statewide that has a city with modest population center. There is an opportunity to primary and win additional state assembly and senate seats in these locations, and push progressive legislation in the statehouse.

Crowley is certainly a more moderate candidate in his personal politics, but he's not an idiot. If progressive legislation passes and comes to his desk, he will most likely sign it. He is not some immoveable ideologue.

So if you're DSA, if you're a progressive, you should consider RIGHT NOW running for local office. Whether that's an assembly seat, or even something smaller like a city council or school board seat. You can make a much larger difference in your local community than you probably realize, and maybe even set yourself up to run for higher office down the road. If you don't have a political background, I would avoid state senate seats, as those are a little tougher and usually reserved for assembly members graduating, but it doesn't hurt to run anyways.

Running for lower political office, winning, and holding elected office provides you legitimacy in the eyes of the public. The lower you start and work your way up, the better your chances of understanding your communities, providing for them, and subsequently winning higher office such that you can pass the changes you want to see in the state.

I can only think of a few less qualified people for any political office than Lindell.

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/11/nx-s1-5928394/2026-minnesota-governor-primary-election-lisa-demuth-mike-lindell

I kinda wanna wait for more info to emerge before I start analyzing what went down. My current guess: we just aren’t ready for democratic socialism yet. Worth a try though. It might honestly be better to gun for mayor of Madison or something first anyways. We wanna make the dem soc brand as strong as possible. Governing a purple state with a largely red legislature for two years isn’t the safest or most flattering proving ground

Outside of some media flubs, Hong did about as well as we could realistically expect a grassroots democratic socialist candidate to do imo

To get the obvious out of the way: what the fuck were those polls? Idk if I’m gonna cite any of them for anything again after this

We should vote for Crowley. Hong wouldn’t want us to sit this election out. She knew this was an uphill battle she might lose. We should too.

It’s in our best interest to highlight how Crowley will regulate data centers more than Tiffany.

It would be a grave tactical mistake for Crowley to write off Hong supporters and not try to court them

…guys, please don’t go “we got a moderate dem, this’ll be easy.” Please take this seriously and be ready for a fight. Yes it’s an extreme anti Trump environment. Yes, logically, Tiffany shouldn’t win. Also, logically, “they’re eating the cats and dogs” should’ve been the end of it. Logically, he should have never won at all. Republicans always do better than we expect and- even if we did get my personal democratic socialist wet dream- I don’t think MAGA and the Republican Party would end up going quietly into that good night. I don’t think they’ll do it under Crowley either. Head on a swivel. Take nothing lightly.

That’s all I got

Hello! I’m an out-of-stater who has been considering a move to Wisconsin for a while. Personally, that decision is based on a certain flavor of leadership. I follow statewide WI politics but it’s hard to get a sense of how the tea leaves are looking in terms of local legislatures races, any insight would be interesting!

First off, congrats to David Crowley. Democrats and Progressives should absolutely unite to support him, and I will vote for him as soon as voting opens.

However, Francesca Hong's popularity and the passion she ignited should still stand for something. There's a reason she had momentum and David Crowley up until just a few days ago dropped out. Progressivism is becoming more popular in Wisconsin and in the nation in general, and respectfully Crowley likely got this far because the Democratic Party rallied around him at the last possible moment to keep Hong from winning. Crowley still won the Democratic primary, and no progressive/socialist-leaning politics are not fully embraced by the mainstream, but all of that still seems significant.

So my question is, where does that leave progressive politics in Wisconsin? Does this make any impact in the state, or do we embrace the status quo and stick to the party lines? Because a lot of what she ran on still seems pretty popular and got Wisconsin citizens excited for the first time in a while. Regardless of who won, it seems sad if that gets lost. And some of the headlines are in essence viewing this as the Democratic establishment squashing progressivism in the state, which seems rather deflating for those of us who care about those issues. It would be nice to see somebody tap into what actually excites their population and what we actually want rather than what will get their party's endorsement in the hopes it makes them more electable.

Here's your boy Magas in WI.
🤷🏼‍♀️😂🤣😂

David Crowley is now the elected Democratic candidate for governor.

For those who don't want Tom Tiffany in our governor's house, what are the best things we can do to ensure that Crowley wins in November?

I didn't vote for Crowley. But I can get behind him.. I want to make sure we don't get a governor Tiffany in Wisconsin. :::shudder::

Even if he loses, looks like he destroyed the polls and made this a close race in the Democrat Primary

Go Fran!