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Francesca Hong, a candidate in the Democratic Party primary for Wisconsin’s governorship, casts her vote at a polling place in Madison, Wisconsin, with her son, on Aug. 11, 2026. (AFP/Yonhap)

Wisconsin state representative Francesca Hong lost a close race with Milwaukee County executive David Crowley for the Democratic Party nomination in the Wisconsin gubernatorial election.

While progressive Democrats had been making strides in major primaries ahead of the midterm elections this November, Hong’s loss represents a roadblock in the key Midwestern swing state of Wisconsin.

According to the Associated Press, Crowley had effectively clinched victory over Hong by a margin of 3,200 votes (0.4 points) with over 98% of votes counted as of 2:40 am on Wednesday, Eastern Time. The two candidates earned 313,321 and 310,110 votes, respectively.

With her narrow defeat, Hong lost the opportunity to vie to become the US’ first Korean American governor and the first female governor of Wisconsin.

Hong, 37, who identifies as a democratic socialist, is a Wisconsin State Assembly member representing the state’s 76th District (Madison). In 2020, she was elected as the assembly’s first-ever Asian American member.

In the primary race, she stirred up excitement with grassroots organizing and progressive pledges that included medical insurance reforms and opposition to data center construction. While polls just before the election put her a full 22 percentage points ahead of Crowley, she was ultimately unable to capture the win.

In a speech to her supporters just before the results were finalized, Hong said they had “built something that will change politics forever.”

“The work we have done will be remembered forever,” she continued, adding that she was prepared to keep fighting.

The Wisconsin primary had drawn attention as a testing ground for progressives’ ability to expand their reach in the Democratic Party ahead of the November midterms. A win for Hong would have been symbolically important, as it would be an example of a democratic socialist candidate overcoming a moderate challenger to serve as the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nominee in one of the leading Midwestern swing states.

Indeed, a victory in the November midterm elections in Wisconsin — a state taken by current President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024 — would have offered a powerful basis for arguing that progressives have the potential to appeal to working-class and moderate swing state voters. It could also have impacted the competition between mainstream and progressive Democratic Party members over the party’s course ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Crowley’s win marked a turnaround for moderate and mainstream Democratic Party candidates, who had been struggling in several recent primaries. The Hill characterized the result as a counterweight to recent progressive wins, saying it showed that the competition over the party’s philosophical direction is not yet over.

In a Democratic Party primary held the same day for the Minnesota senatorial race, progressive Peggy Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor, won over Angie Craig, a moderate member of the House of Representatives. In the Michigan senatorial primary last week, progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated moderate Haley Stevens, also a member of the House.

The divergent results with Hong’s loss in Wisconsin and the progressive candidates’ wins in Minnesota and Michigan suggest the competition over the Democratic Party’s course is likely to become even more complex.

Crowley, who reentered the race after previously bowing out last month, succeeded in rallying last-minute votes with an emphasis on his competitiveness in the gubernatorial race.

In November, he will compete against Trump-backed Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany. Wisconsin is considered one of the US’ leading battleground states, with victory margins in the range of 1 percentage point in the last three presidential elections.

By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent

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