David Crowley and Tom Tiffany Win Wisconsin Primaries

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly won the Democratic primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 12, 2026, defeating Democratic Socialist State Representative Francesca Hong. Crowley secured approximately 39.8% of the vote to Hong's 39.4%, a margin of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 votes. The result was an upset, as pre-election polling had projected Hong to win by double digits. Crowley's victory followed a volatile campaign in which he initially suspended his bid before re-entering with the endorsement of retiring Governor Tony Evers.

Reporting was delayed in Milwaukee due to a human error where officials uploaded audit logs instead of election results from five USB sticks, necessitating a recount of approximately 30,000 ballots. Similar technical server issues caused reporting delays in Winnebago and Green counties. Hong's campaign was hampered by scrutiny over past social media posts calling for the abolition of police and the cancellation of Thanksgiving, while Republicans spent millions on ads supporting her to weaken the Democratic nominee.

On the Republican side, U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany won the gubernatorial primary decisively with over 95% of the vote, bolstered by an endorsement from Donald Trump. In other races, Democrat Rebecca Cooke won the primary for Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District to challenge incumbent Republican Derrick Van Orden. In the 7th District, Republican Michael Alfonso won the nomination to replace Tiffany. If elected in November, Crowley would become Wisconsin's first Black governor.