Tony Evers messed this up badly. He engaged too late. Normal Democrats did. They helped build, and are now pandering to, their own Frankenstein socialist monster. No one even got a hand on Francesca Hong, rhetorically speaking, because they didn’t bother to try. Why?
They’re scared of her base. It’s never a position of strength to start from a position of fear. If Francesca Hong wins the Democratic governor’s primary today – and she probably will – it’s their own damn fault.
Normal Wisconsin Democrats and the party are like a football team that had the ball at the 20-yard line, but they ran EVERY SINGLE PLAY wrong. Tom Tiffany should send WisDems a big fruit basket with a note, “Thank you for delivering me a fruitcake as my opponent. See you in November.”
Tiffany, the normal state dad, has wisely shifted away from solely railing about Hong wanting to abolish everything in the world to talking about how he will help young people buy their first homes. Smart. Don’t let her seize the affordability narrative. He put on a suit and tie, which paints a nice contrast to Hong’s weird Maoist crayon-colored jumpsuits. He did this in Oconomowoc, which is populous, and he wasn’t wearing a Carhartt jacking or talking about milking cows this time.
Tiffany has to say what he’s for, what he will make better and how, not just what he’s against. People vote for hope, not anger.
Of course, Tiffany also needs to define Hong through the crazy stuff that she’s said and believed until five minutes ago when she started pretending she doesn’t believe any of it anymore. However, it’s great that he’s broadening his affordability message.
Tom also went to the Black River Falls Culvers that Hong fled after she had an anxiety attack from being around so many old white people.
They should make the Culvers a historic landmark.
Who’s the Coach?
You have to wonder: Who is the Democratic Party’s coach? Devin Remiker, the hapless #Wisconsin Democratic Party chair? Tammy Baldwin has fallen through a trap door, Gwen Moore is a goof, Mark Pocan is kissing Fran’s as* because he needs her to win this so she doesn’t run against HIM, Ben Wikler is off on an egotistical book tour while Rome burns, the Epstein island visitor checks have dried up and… who is running this party???? Maybe that’s the problem.
They’ve even screwed up the optics at the end here. Tony Evers left the pickleball court and is doing everything he can to push the David Crowley boulder up a very large hill, and he’s moving it, but probably not enough. One envisions him grudgingly entering this ugly arena against the socialist gladiators. He was probably looking forward to gardening, taking up knitting, doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku or Wordle with Kathy, playing cribbage, going to buffets, whatever old retired folks like Evers tend to do when they retire. And now he had to engage because literally no one else was doing it.
David Crowley, Sock Puppet
But they messed that part up too. Not only did they pick a guy at 3 percent in the polls after so many people already voted, but now they’re making David Crowley look like Evers’ sock puppet. And, no, that’s not a comment about race. If Evers was treating Joel Brennan like a sock puppet during interviews and hogging the cameras while Joel stood sheepishly by his side, I would say the same thing. Stop emasculating the poor guy! He can handle this himself! Part of this imagery problem is the fact that Evers looks so much older and so much taller.
They should have let Crowley stand on his own two feet more. Have Evers there, but make HIM the sidekick and David the Lone Ranger. Instead, Evers is taking charge of all the TV interviews, and the images they’re putting out make him look like grandpa who is desperately trying to bail out his nephew from trouble. Meek David stands next to state grandpa, looking sheepish, who is doing all of the heavy lifting. It makes him look weak, even silly.
What the Democrats really needed was for Evers to get in this three months ago before so many people voted, and for someone – anyone, please, for the love of God, someone – to get a spine on that side, to actually take some swings at Hong, to define her, to say: “We aren’t standing for this. I won’t. This isn’t what the Democratic Party represents. No, we won’t abolish the police or the Senate. This is CRAZY! I will defend capitalism!”
But no one had the spine to have that Sister Souljah moment (see Bill Clinton, 1992). Democrats are too afraid to defend capitalism. What does that say about the state of their base?
Evers should have engaged for Sara Rodriguez three months ago and cleared the field. She could have won. You have to wonder whether chief of staff Maggie Gau and comms flame thrower Britt Cudaback harbored petty grievances that played out here. ON the other hand, Rodriguez proved herself spectacularly incompetent, and her campaign implosion really screwed over her party and probably robbed them of their last, best chance. The whole Crowley thing feels desperate and too little, too late.
Could David Crowley Win?
Could Crowley still win the primary? Maybe. But unlikely. The path is narrow. If he somehow does, it will be because Democrats spent millions in targeted voter contacts that you and I don’t see. It will be because the folks who turn out in an August primary aren’t the same as the ones who sit on TikTok, and the folks who actually turn out skew REALLY OLD. They’re basically the demo of the old white people who scared Hong out of Culvers, and they’re just not her constituency. College kids are scattered throughout the state because campuses are still off for summer, and that’s HER demo, but organizing them in August is like herding cats.
Probably Crowley surges but Kelda Roys surges too (old Democrats like her up north for some reason), and Joel Brennan gets a bit, and the people who quit but whose names are still on the ballot get a percent or two, and, because so many people already voted for Sara Rodriguez and Mandela Barnes before they quit… well that’s the race right there. I think it will be closer than people think, just like the #Michigan race, but Hong wins. The fractured field will get them in the end.
Instead of defining Hong, the Democrats all stood meekly around kissing her as* because they’re scared of the raucous base that is eating their party alive. They’re scared of the Hasan Pikers and the angry college kids in pro-Gaza encampment tents.
The Democratic Party BUILT this Frankenstein. They have sown the seeds of identity politics, hatred toward police, distrust of capitalism, and so on, for years. Now the leopard is about to eat their face, and no matter how much they pander to her, if she wins, it will. Fran Hong isn’t really a Democrat. Were she to win a general, the power of the party would shift to #DSA and the Wisconsin Democratic Party would become a toothless shell, rendered impotent by latching itself to the leopard instead of trying to spear it when they had the chance.
In fairness to Evers, he’s really the only Democrat who has been willing to sort of say any of this. It’s just that he did it way too late.
The National Democrats Freak Out
It’s gotten so bad that national Democrats, like David Axelrod and even AOC, are TEARING THEIR HAIR OUT BY THE ROOTS. They get the stakes.
AOC refused to endorse Hong and made a weird reference that “Woke 1 was crazy!” Meaning even she gets that the Squad needs to roll out Woke 2.0, a softer version, now that the movement has been hijacked by a charismatic but destructive socialist sitting in Gracie Mansion in New York. You know it’s gone too far when the people who want to abolish the elected presidency are surging.
Axelrod, an Obama guy, went on a tirade against Hong and Michigan lefty candidate Abdul El-Sayed (who is to the right of Hong, slightly). He said it’s better if they lose. He called Hong “a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica.” Good line, David. Tom Tiffany can use it in November. It’s all true.
The image of Hong as a fire-breathing revolutionary is fake. She’s flipped on almost every position like a craven politician. She’s the child of a UW sociologist and music teacher. The guy with the actual hardscrabble background is David Crowley. Her flaky positions – freaking out over old white people at Culvers, wanting to abolish the Senate and prisons – probably play at the Marxist professors’ picnics and BLM or Freedom Inc. style organizing sessions she’s used to, but they aren’t going to play in Altoona.
Axelrod gets what some people don’t: Hong as the nominee doesn’t just help Tom Tiffany win. It helps Eric Toney win the AG race, Derrick Van Orden win the 3rd congressional district race, and Republican legislators win swing district races that could determine control of that body. And the DVO race could determine control of Congress. After all Ron Kind, a Democrat, held that seat for two decades. The stakes are high.
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