David Crowley beats Francesca Hong:\u00a0<\/strong>Why was the whole country watching Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race? Because Francesca Hong seemed like an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-esque character: a socialist bartender and chef, with good political instincts, who seemed to come out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

Now, she’s out. The Milwaukee County executive, David Crowley, beat her and will now face off in the general with Rep. Tom Tiffany, “a Republican with close ties to President [Donald] Trump who easily won his party’s primary,” notes<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Crowley is decently pro-business and comparatively moderate for a Democrat. He will certainly be a welcome improvement over Hong, who felt like a blast from the woke past (wanting to cancel Thanksgiving!) and was a legitimate class warrior who wanted to massively redistribute the wealth of the rich in her state.<\/p>\n

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This is all a bit of a surprise: Polls did not anticipate this good of a performance from Crowley. When Hong had been surging, “Crowley had suspended his campaign in early July<\/a>\u00a0only to\u00a0jump back in<\/a>\u00a0a few weeks later shortly after Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez\u00a0was forced to leave the race<\/a> amid a campaign finance scandal,” reports<\/a>\u00a0Politico.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So far this year, candidates from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have logged House primary wins in New York City, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Denver. But it’s possible that this phenomenon is limited to really urban, really blue areas, and that more normal suburban and rural voters are freaked out by this rhetoric. We should take the DSA momentum seriously, but these candidates’ appeal might be blessedly limited.<\/p>\n

It had really seemed like Hong was going to win it all, but it’s a huge relief that she didn’t. With all due respect (to bartenders, but not to socialists), let’s hope she goes back to bartending\u2014no need for politics.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin moderate wins: <\/strong>Rebecca Cooke won her primary in Wisconsin, vying for a seat in the U.S. House. Cooke is the daughter of dairy farmers, who worked as a waitress and now runs a small business. She describes herself, via her campaign website<\/a>, as having “worked her way through college with the help of Pell Grants, local scholarships, financial aid, and multiple jobs.” She’s portraying herself as an everywoman in a campaign season where that type of Democrat has been hotly desired by operatives, but she legitimately seems a helluvalot better than, say, Maine’s disgraced Graham Platner. The electorate agreed: Cooke won the Democratic primary easily and will now go up against Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican who is running for his third term (“who defeated her in 2024 by fewer than three percentage points,” adds<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Wisconsin’s third congressional district\u2014where Cooke and Van Orden will face off\u2014is kind of weird. It went for Barack Obama, then it went for Trump in the last three presidential races. Cooke has faced her opponent before and seems to be approaching this race with some caution and prudence: There is no talk of Medicare for All, socialism, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), or any of that. She doesn’t seem to be that kind of Democrat. She seems like a straight shooter in a district that probably needs that type of candidate.<\/p>\n