As Wisconsin Democrats rallied in Madison over the weekend, there was a divide among party die-hards on the best type of candidate to be the party’s gubernatorial nominee.
Many, including Doris Schoneman, a retired nursing professor from Waukesha County at her 10th Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention with her husband David, prefer Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. Schoneman said Rodriguez, who won the most votes in a WisPolitics straw poll, could appeal to both rural and urban communities.
But an almost equally large contingent, including Vernon County delegate Alexander McDonough, are backing Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, who came in second in the straw poll. McDonough, who was attending his first convention, said he was inspired by the Democratic socialist.
It’s an all-too-familiar question Democrats will be debating until the Aug. 11 primary with seven candidates on the ballot: Should they choose a candidate who appeals to the average Wisconsin voter in the general election or a candidate who excites the party’s base?
Wisconsin Democrats have an opportunity to control state government for the first time in 16 years should they win the governor’s office and gain majorities in the Senate and the Assembly. After Republicans won the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature in 2010, they drew gerrymandered legislative maps, passed a strict voter ID law and enacted Act 10, which dismantled Democratic-supporting public sector unions.
“The people in this room led us out of the wilderness,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Devin Remiker told the crowd on Saturday. “The people in this room took back the Supreme Court and made it the people’s court again. The people in this room shattered the gerrymander. The people in this room kept pushing our lines forward year after year, and now we stand at the gates of a castle with walls so high Republicans thought that we would never climb over them, and we are about to.”
The WisPolitics straw poll found 27.5% of convention-goers backed Rodriguez as the Democratic nominee for governor with Hong a close second at 23.1%.
Some attendees told Wisconsin Watch they were still undecided on who they would vote for in the coming weeks.
“I’m looking for someone who’s ready to fight and do the work,” said William Garcia, the 3rd Congressional District chair. “I think that we’re gonna win all three. I think we’re gonna win the Assembly, the Senate and the governorship. And that means, in my mind, that I need someone who’s prepared to spend the six months after they’re sworn in doing every policy that we’ve been talking about for 12 years.”
Wisconsin Democrats have not seen a gubernatorial primary of this size since the 2018 race when 10 candidates, including eventual winner Gov. Tony Evers, ran for the chance to go up against then-incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Democrats won every statewide office on the ballot that year, disrupting nearly a decade of Republican control of the Capitol in Madison. But because Republicans gerrymandered legislative maps in 2011 to insulate themselves from a Democratic wave, Democrats have not held either the Assembly or Senate and were unable to enact any sweeping legislative agenda for all eight years Evers was in office.
The candidate who wins the nomination on Aug. 11 is expected to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump and received the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s endorsement last month. Tiffany has one primary opponent — Andy Manske, a 27-year-old medical service technician.
Evers on Saturday told the crowd that Democrats need to show up, as a Tiffany victory could put Wisconsin in an “even worse position” than when he took office in 2019.
“I want everyone to think about all our hard work and all of the progress we’ve made,” Evers told the crowd Saturday evening. “That’s what’s at stake this fall.”
Gubernatorial candidates make their case
The seven Democrats running for governor walked the convention hallways Saturday afternoon, dipping in and out of meetings of the Black Democrats or the veterans’ caucus with staffers in campaign T-shirts close behind. They held hospitality suites to schmooze convention-goers with themes including disco for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a classroom for teachers-union-endorsed Sen. Kelda Roys, “The Forward Tap” tavern for Rodriguez and dive bar decor for former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
And in speeches Sunday afternoon, Hong drew the largest cheers as she walked out to “Golden,” the Oscar-winning song from the Netflix movie “KPop Demon Hunters.”
She spoke of historical Wisconsin political figures like former Secretary of State Vel Phillips, former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson and former Gov. and U.S. Sen. “Fighting” Bob La Follette to suggest that her campaign aligns with the state’s progressive history.
“These folks were called unreasonable, impractical and unelectable and told their ideas should be tempered by convenience. Yet today they’re considered visionaries because possibility is bound only by our ambition,” Hong said. “We must ask ourselves whether conviction is once again strong enough to meet the demands of dangerous and desperate times.”
Missy Hughes, the last candidate to speak and the last place finisher in the straw poll with 1.6% support, found a tepid crowd with some people who got up to leave as she began her remarks. The crowd still gave her a laugh after she compared inheriting challenges from Foxconn as Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO to cleaning up after her children.
Barnes, who placed second-to-last in the straw poll with 6.9% support, told the crowd about a phone call he received from former President Barack Obama after he lost the 2022 U.S. Senate race to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, when Obama reminded Barnes that he lost a congressional race before becoming a U.S. senator and ultimately president. Barnes said his experience from the 2022 race puts him in the best position to fight against Republicans in November.
“I know that when they swing at you, you get right back up and you fight back twice as hard,” Barnes said. “I can tell you, I came through the fire stronger, and I have more experience than anybody else in this race.”
Joel Brennan, who placed fifth in the straw poll with 8.7%, contrasted Tiffany’s career in the Legislature and in Congress with his work leading the Department of Administration under Evers.
“We proved that competent, honest government can solve major problems when the people running it believe in it,” Brennan said. “Tom Tiffany is ready to trot out that old playbook, but he’s added some ingredients: Donald Trump’s division, chaos, and neglect. Tom has spent his time in Madison and Washington making things materially worse for Wisconsin families at every turn, but you know what? We are not going back.”
Crowley, who placed fourth in the straw poll with 13.1%, said his role running Milwaukee County makes him the only candidate with executive experience equivalent to the governor.
“I’ve brought together labor leaders, business leaders, local governments, advocates, and working families to get things done,” Crowley told the crowd. “And at a moment when Wisconsin needs bold leadership focused on delivering results, I’m ready to bring that same approach to the governor’s office.”
Roys, who placed third in the straw poll with 19%, leaned on her years in the Legislature to highlight that she has bills and plans to enact as governor, instead of “social posts” or “bullet points.”
“I’m the only candidate in this race with over two decades of passing progressive legislation,” Roys said. “And this moment demands moral clarity, political courage, and the willingness to use political power to make our lives better.”
Rodriguez, who ran onstage from the back of the convention hall, compared her approach to the campaign with her career as a nurse.
“Since I’ve been your lieutenant governor, I’ve done what any nurse would do: show up, listen, care, be there where it counts, and stay until the job is done,” Rodriguez said. “At union halls in Kenosha, at dairy farms in Clark County at small businesses in small towns, 72 counties, every single one, every single year, because the job I’m asking you for starts with showing up and then standing up.”
Who is electable?
Convention delegates and guests were split on who is the right candidate for the party at this moment.
Some Democrats see this year as the time for progressives to shine. Hong’s supporters say that, as the youngest Democratic candidate in the governor’s race, she is pulling in young voters with a progressive message, such as a moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers and calls to abolish prisons.
“Francesca Hong has a very serious pull with the younger crowd. A lot of younger voters are looking for someone who is very progressive,” said Sevannah Polsin, member of the Fox Valley Young Democrats. “I think a lot of younger voters are disappointed in the impact that Democrats have had in the past.”
Hong supporters at the convention also compared her to recently elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who like Hong is a Democratic socialist.
“Seeing Mamdani, for example, in New York, I think those policies would be like ‘now’s the time,’ right?” said convention attendee Nelson Ojeda. “I think (Hong’s) policies will push Wisconsin in the right direction.”
But a top concern among delegates was whether the party’s nominee can beat Tiffany in November. Some convention-goers told Wisconsin Watch the party needs a candidate to grab the attention of rural swing voters needed for a Democratic win.
Lisa Simonds, a delegate from Baraboo and second vice chair of Sauk County Democrats, said her vote will likely go to Brennan for his experience in the Evers administration and effort to campaign in rural areas. She said while other candidates are focused on the larger cities and ignore rural areas, Brennan had visited her county party in rural Sauk County.
“Joel just seems to have the combination of the intelligence, the experience … the understanding of how life works,” Simonds said. “He cares about the issues that matter to me.”
While Simonds applauded Hong’s drive, she said she is too young to be the party nominee.
Ojeda said Tiffany has a much larger social reach with his endorsements from the state GOP and Trump, as well as launching multiple statewide ad buys. Brennan is currently the only Democrat with a statewide advertisement, which launched last week.
“(Tiffany) has a huge advertising presence, that’s one thing that I felt like is maybe a little bit of a gap,” said Ojeda, who is leaning toward Hong. “I think Democrats have the opportunity to improve there. … I think that’ll change as we get down because of the number of candidates that are running.”
Ojeda said he hopes the primary ballot will narrow before Aug. 11.
Other Democrats were concerned about the lack of a clear front-runner at this point in the race. Convention attendee Ahmed Hollowell said the state party not endorsing a candidate is “creating a detriment.”
Hollowell said he is not making a decision until he learns more about the candidates.
“I think the only thing that would probably make this accelerate is probably if Gov. Evers were to endorse someone,” Hollowell said.
Evers did not endorse any candidate over the weekend, but said in his speech that the “Democratic candidate is going to need each and every one of us, and I know that, because that’s how I won.”
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