Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley beat democratic socialist state lawmaker Francesca Hong by 39.8% to 39.4% in Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday night — and it wasn't even the closest race Hong lost. That distinction belongs to her battle with political relevance, which ended years ago.
The margin was razor-thin. The rejection was not.
Hong ran on abolishing police, abolishing prisons, abolishing borders, and raising taxes to fund government-run grocery stores. Wisconsin Democrats — not Republicans, not moderates, but actual Democratic primary voters — looked at that platform and said no thanks. Crowley, backed by outgoing Governor Tony Evers, pulled off what NBC News called an upset despite polling in single digits in a late-July Marquette University Law School survey. Over one-third of voters were still undecided heading into Election Day, and when they made up their minds, they ran the other direction from the DSA candidate.
Then there's the Hasan Piker factor. The Marxist Twitch streamer threw his weight behind Hong's campaign, which at this point should qualify as a campaign finance violation against whoever he endorses. Piker acknowledged on his stream that "the knives will be out" after Hong's loss. He's right about that much. Politico's post-mortem headline read: "The far left hits a wall."
The spending gap makes this even more revealing. Crowley and allied groups poured roughly $4 million into advertising. Hong and her supporters? Less than $500,000. She was outspent eight-to-one and still managed to make it close on name recognition and DSA enthusiasm alone — which means the socialist wing has energy but not enough voters, even in a Democratic primary.
Hong's public record didn't help. She told supporters it was "about f*ing time we 86 Trump." She described her biracial son's experience as "being in proximity to whiteness." She once called for canceling Thanksgiving, then later told voters her "favorite holiday is Thanksgiving." Crowley didn't need opposition research. He just needed to let Hong speak for herself.
The Republican nominee is Rep. Tom Tiffany, who has President Trump's endorsement. If Crowley wins the general, he'd become Wisconsin's first Black governor. But that's a November question. The August answer is simpler.
The DSA had a chance to prove its movement could win where it matters — not on Twitch streams or Twitter threads, but on an actual ballot in a swing state. Their own party's voters weighed the pitch and picked the other guy.
When your closing argument needs a Twitch streamer to go viral, you're not running a political campaign. You're running a content strategy.
