August 12, 2026

JIM GERAGHTY: Francesca Hong’s Bad Night.

Back in 2017, before he became the kind of guy who checks under his bed every night for Israelis, soon-to-be-former Kentucky GOP Representative Thomas Massie observed about President Trump’s rise in the Republican Party:

I thought they were voting for libertarian Republicans. But after some soul-searching, I realized when they voted for Rand [Paul] and Ron [Paul] and me in these primaries, they weren’t voting for libertarian ideas — they were voting for the craziest son of a b**** in the race.

It’s an easily forgotten facet of American politics that parties aren’t required to nominate the craziest son-of-a-b**** in the race. You can nominate the second-craziest, or the third-craziest, or if you’re really willing to be daring, nominate a candidate who doesn’t seem crazy at all.

Yesterday, faced with a potential gubernatorial nominee who hates a bunch of American holidays, Wisconsin Democrats pulled it together and got just enough votes to nominate Milwaukee County executive David Crowley instead of the DSA candidate, Francesca Hong. As of this writing, Crowley has a bit more than 313,000 votes, and Hong has a bit more than 310,000. The Associated Press called Crowley the winner at 2:34 a.m. local time.

Ed Morrissey adds, “Stunner in WI: Hong Goes Wrong As Night Goes Long:” “The party got what it wanted, but in the worst possible way. Their rescue of the hapless David Crowley and his own inept campaign will stick in the craw of DSA and progressive activists. The narrowness of the loss makes the establishment intervention even more obvious and (in their minds) egregious. Hong still got over 310,000 votes in the primary, and a significant part of that electorate will walk away and may not come back in time for the November election, in a state where no one wins with dramatic leads, and again, in a state Trump won two years ago. Also, the establishment may have won by beating Hong, but their prize is a candidate who couldn’t run a competent campaign on his own and who only returned when the party co-opted it as a desperate last resort.”

UPDATE:

Posted at 10:35 am by Ed Driscoll