David Crowley wins Wisconsin Democratic primary, putting state’s first Black governor within reach

After briefly suspending his campaign, Crowley returned to defeat Francesca Hong in a closely watched race.

David Crowley has won the Democratic nomination for governor of Wisconsin, defeating Democratic socialist candidate Francesca Hong in a closely watched primary race that has arguably been chaotic and messy.

Crowley’s narrow victory was hard fought. After initially suspending his campaign on July 8, the 37-year-old Milwaukee County executive jumped back into the race days later after Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out due to campaign finance errors and a major funding shortfall.

Crowley re-entered the race with a major endorsement from current Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. The move was seen as a deliberate effort to thwart Hong’s momentum. The contest was seen as a litmus test of the strength of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, whose members pulled out major mayoral and congressional races in New York, Philadelphia, Michigan, Colorado, and D.C.

Hong, a member of the state Assembly who also works as a bartender-chef, remained a frontrunner in the race, based on most public polling. However, a significant number of polled voters remained undecided in the days leading up to Election Day. The race was also affected by tens of thousands of absentee voters already returning their ballots before several shakeups, including Crowley’s exit and return, as well as the campaign suspensions of Rodriguez, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes.

However, in Wisconsin, voters cast ranked-choice ballots, so any votes for a candidate who withdrew from the gubernatorial primary went to the voter’s second choice.

Crowley’s win sets him on a historic path to potentially becoming Wisconsin’s first Black governor, and only the fourth elected in U.S. history.

“The historic nature of this campaign is not lost on me,” Crowley previously told theGrio. “It’s more important that, even if I am the first, that I’m not the last.”

While some have called Crowley the “establishment” candidate — a term he rejected as a “slur” against him — the young Milwaukee leader says he comes from no establishment, having grown up in the state’s poorest zip code with parents who battled addiction and mental health challenges.

“I wasn’t born into the establishment. I was born into struggle,” he said. “I was evicted three times before I graduated high school for at least 15 years of my life. I moved every single year, and if it weren’t for a youth development organization at the time called Urban Underground that saved my life when I was a junior in high school, you know, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Crowley went from AmeriCorps to organizing as a youth and, eventually, to working as a staffer at the Wisconsin State Capitol, including serving as chair of the Black Legislative Caucus, before entering elected office.

Now, he faces the Republican gubernatorial nominee, U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany, whom Democrats have characterized as a rubber stamp of President Donald Trump’s extreme agenda that includes global wars and tariffs that are driving up the cost of goods, most especially gas, and culture wars over DEI and immigration that have left Black unemployment climbing and families traumatized and separated.

Crowley is presenting his candidacy as an opportunity to push Wisconsin into the future. He said Democrats must also build a “winning coalition” to win majorities in the State Senate and State Assembly, so that “Democrats can be a lot more aggressive than we have been in the past.”

As President Donald Trump sees record-low approval ratings, most especially on the economy, Democrats nationwide are hoping to capitalize on this in this year’s elections. However, as the affordability crisis grows, public polling shows more voters growing dissatisfied with both political parties.

“There’s a frustration with the Democratic Party, the fact that we haven’t put a vision and an agenda on the table,” said Crowley. He said he and Wisconsin Democrats have a “great opportunity” to “move our state forward” and “be a great example for the rest of the country, as far as how we win elections and how we push a Democratic agenda across the country.”

“I know that there’s so much more that we could be doing for working families, making sure that we’re tackling the affordability crisis, lowering utility prices, housing prices, creating greater access to childcare and to healthcare,” Crowley told theGrio. “We need a governor who’s going to be steady, who’s going to be responsible, who’s going to be focused on getting things done.”