Here & Now

Inside Wisconsin Politics: The 2026 Primary Election Arrives

Zac Schultz:
This week’s “Inside Wisconsin Politics” had more to say on the two leading candidates. I’m joined by WPR’s Shawn Johnson, Anya van Wagtendonk and Rich Kremer.

Shawn Johnson:
It seems like just a few weeks ago on this show, we were all kind of wondering where all these candidates in this big primary fit. What were their political lanes?

Zac Schultz:
Well, I think you have to look at this primary in the context of the national political mood for primary voters, which are Democrats that are mainly angry at Donald Trump and his administration. If you look at it in that frame, the establishment’s the bad guy. The establishment is national Democrats who haven’t done enough to stand up to Trump. So tapping into those voters meant you couldn’t be the establishment because then you were on the side of inertia. So Francesca Hong clearly moved to the left. She was going to fight, fight, fight. And a lot of the other Democrats in this race were trying to outflank her, and they just could not.

Anya van Wagtendonk:
But also David Crowley has a particularly kind of interesting personal backstory. He comes from a really sort of impoverished, challenged background in Milwaukee. And so up until, you know, he dropped out the first time in this race, he was kind of described as potentially not electable because statewide, there’s sometimes, you know, negative feelings about Milwaukee. There is, you know, always the racial element of the fact that there’s never been a Black man elected to statewide office in Wisconsin. So there were all these questions about him. Then he comes back with the endorsement of Tony Evers, and all of a sudden, he’s described as the establishment. It’s a little bit of threading the needle of I’m a viable candidate, but I will also stand up to the things that you’re angry about.

Rich Kremer:
Crowley raised more than twice as much money during the month of July. He raised $776,000 thereabout, and Hong brought in around $339,000. So that is a big sign that, at least in terms of money, Crowley’s campaign is getting some backing. And the other sign that caught my attention was Governor Tony Evers, you know, who endorsed Crowley’s campaign, which is definitely being framed as an alternative to Francesca Hong. He also gave $20,000 from his — from Evers’ campaign account to Crowley’s campaign account. That’s not a lot of money, but it could be a signal to Evers’ donors, Evers’ supporters that I’m not just saying I support this. I’m putting my money behind it.

Anya van Wagtendonk:
Francesca Hong is running a really unique, strange race. She has not raised as much money, but it doesn’t seem to matter. She’s making sort of headlines on her own, sort of organically rather than through these paid ways. And then all these other candidates are just trying to kind of catch up.

Shawn Johnson:
And she’s not putting herself on TV, but other people are. You’ve had these Republican groups consistently putting her in TV ads, calling her liberal ahead of this primary.

Anya van Wagtendonk:
She has spent $0 on television, which is just unheard of in any type of serious race. And she’s not running just a serious race; she’s running the leading race. She’s doing some, you know, digital media and things like this. But a lot of her campaign is very grassroots, very kind of door to door. And so you’re right, when we see — if you see her face on your TV or on your YouTube, it is because these Republican groups are paying for ads trying to get her over the finish line because they think she’s beatable. But meanwhile, she kind of says, you know, thanks for calling attention to my policies.

Zac Schultz:
You can get the full episode of “Inside Wisconsin Politics” wherever you get your podcasts.