MADISON, Wisconsin — Progressives believe they are on the cusp of another major victory against the establishment in the Wisconsin governor primary Tuesday — one that could pave the way for the movement in 2028 and beyond.
But so far, many national progressive leaders want nothing to do with the race.
A win by front-runner and democratic socialist Francesca Hong over Gov. Tony Evers’ handpicked successor David Crowley would be a major shockwave, setting up a key opportunity for the progressive movement to show its brand of politics can succeed in one of the most cutthroat battleground states. Some progressive organizers also argue that a Hong win serves as a test run of sorts for potential 2028 presidential contenders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
But the stars of the left like Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have not endorsed Hong despite having hit the trail for other prominent candidates, including Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. And a few have privately raised questions about the sharpness of Hong’s messaging and electability, as she navigates a series of controversies over her old social media posts advocating for canceling Thanksgiving and defunding the police — comments she now calls “bad takes” that she says she has learned from.
And other leaders say they aren’t familiar with who she is, underscoring the work Hong has ahead of her if she wins Tuesday.
“I don’t know her,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a brief hallway interview.
Sanders has said he would not endorse Hong and declined to comment when asked by POLITICO about the race last Friday on Capitol Hill. Two people close to the senator, granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations, said that even as Hong has invoked Sanders’ name and political ideology on the campaign trail, he doesn’t know her personally. Sanders has acknowledged he’s met Hong before, but indicated that’s the extent of their relationship.
Those two people added that Hong is less vetted and not as sharp on some of her messaging than other candidates — presenting more of a risk for Sanders, who has already been burned by endorsing Graham Platner in the Maine Senate race.
Ocasio-Cortez also declined to endorse Hong. “My focus has been in winning back the Congress, winning back the House, and positioning ourselves to have the best chance possible to win the Senate,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a recent interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, along with their advisers, say they’re more focused on control of Congress, and rarely endorse in state-level contests. But their lack of involvement, or even public encouragement of Hong’s campaign, could foretell just how immense a task Hong faces as she tries to convince moderate Democrats, independents and even people within her own progressive movement that she’s electable in November against Donald Trump-backed Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany.
General elections in the battleground state have been determined by extremely narrow margins in recent years. Trump won the battleground state in 2024 by just shy of 30,000 votes. Joe Biden won it by fewer than 21,000 votes in 2020.
Some Democratic officials in Wisconsin privately note Republicans have a big opportunity to hammer Hong on democratic socialism, which had a net negative rating among all registered voters in a July Marquette Law School poll.
But in spite of the hesitation from some top leaders of the left, a number of progressive groups are on board with her campaign.
“If Francesca Hong is elected the governor of Wisconsin, people are going to see somebody working very, very rigorously as the governor, like [Zohran] Mamdani is as the mayor of New York, to pursue a set of policies that people are rapidly going to recognize are in their best interests,” said Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America. “They’re going to embrace [Hong] as much as they have Mamdani, whose popularity right now is off the charts.”
On whether she can dispel electability criticisms that moderate Democrats often lob at progressives, Minsky said: “The proof will be in the pudding in November.”
A few federal-level progressive lawmakers have traveled to Wisconsin to campaign with Hong, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Hong has also channeled progressive star power in other ways: leftist influencer Hasan Piker rallied with her in Milwaukee earlier this month. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has also endorsed Hong.
Republicans in Wisconsin and at the national level are also already planning coordinated attacks against Hong for signing a questionnaire from the Madison-area Democratic Socialists of America stipulating candidates uphold the DSA platform and “view themselves as socialist organizers first, and legislators second,” as well as attacking her for her deputy campaign manager, a sex worker advocate named Renee Faust, having an OnlyFans account.
The Hong campaign pushed back on those attacks. “Renee Faust is a licensed mental health clinician who has spent her career providing care to trafficking survivors. She has helped build the largest grassroots campaign in Wisconsin history. The right-wing politicians attacking her are the same ones who want government dictating women’s health care decisions,” a Hong spokesperson said.
Hong’s allies privately attribute the lack of national endorsements from leading progressives to Sanders’ decision to stay out of the state-level race, arguing that others have taken a cue from him. However, the Vermont senator did endorse Troy Jackson for governor of Maine before Graham Platner dropped out.
Interviews with voters on the ground in Wisconsin show Hong has been able to tap into voters’ frustrations with party leaders and lean into local policies around cost of living to rally a strong enough base heading into Tuesday’s primary: She’s led Crowley by double digits in recent polls, though he’s been making gains.
If she can make it through the primary and general election against a Donald Trump-backed Republican, then she will force the Democratic establishment, and leading national progressives, to take notice.
“I feel like we’re at a point in our policies where Democrats are very happy to just kind of stay focused on being centrist,” Paige Gerber, a 33-year-old Hong supporter, said in an interview after running into Crowley at an ice cream shop campaign stop in Sheboygan. “And that’s where we’re losing in so many spaces, especially as we get more and more destitute in the economy. People are hurting, and people are really looking for … policies that are really for the people.”
Wisconsin Democratic officials are already planning a unity tour across the state with the governor and lieutenant governor nominees immediately following Tuesday’s primary, to try to turn the page from intense Democratic infighting between Hong’s allies and establishment Democrats in the state during the primary, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. State party chair Devin Remiker will join nominees on the tour.
Evers in an interview last Friday did not commit to endorsing or campaigning for Hong, should she win. But Democrats involved expect both he and Crowley would join the unity tour at some point ahead of November.
Still, many senior Democrats in the state believe Hong will need the help to convince enough voters in the purple state to turn out for her in November. They’re deeply concerned Hong isn’t running the kind of disciplined campaign that can defeat Tiffany.
“Socialism scares the shit out of the persuadable voters we routinely need to win here,” said one longtime Democratic campaign operative in the state, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “And the unforced errors will be deadly if she doesn’t sharpen some of her answers … for her past tweets and positions.”
A Democratic staffer who is supporting Hong said she “needs to be more on message about what actually matters,” adding: “ I don’t think she has to moderate her policies … she is just going to have to be more precise.”
Wisconsin’s lone Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who hasn’t endorsed in the race, said in an interview last Friday she “decided not to put my thumb on the scale,” though she does plan to back whoever wins.
When asked about Hong’s electability as a democratic socialist in a general election, Baldwin pivoted to an attack on Republicans.
“I’m preparing to bring up Trump’s record on the same things,” she said. “Look, this is a referendum this fall about whether we’re going to elect MAGA people or whether we’re going to stand up for health care, stand up for SNAP benefits. Those are the issues before the state.”