It's been a tumultuous past few weeks for Democrats in Wisconsin's governor's race.
First, as we discussed on the last Capitol Notes, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley dropped out of the race and endorsed Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez. Then, Rodriguez discovered that her campaign manager was mismanaging campaign finances and Rodriguez dropped out the race. Then Crowley got back in and Gov. Tony Evers endorsed him.
WUWM's Maayan Silver sat down with JR Ross, editor of WisPolitics.com, to talk it through.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Maayan Silver: What should voters make of the Evers endorsement?
JR Ross: This is a play by an establishment figure to try and shape the primary.
Now, looking back when Missy Hughes dropped out of the race, it was pretty simple. It wasn't like some in the party said, "Hey, you don't have a shot. You should drop out." She came to the conclusion she had no path to win the nomination and no money to get there if she did have a path.
When Crowley dropped out the first time, same thing. No money, no path. When Rodriguez dropped out, it was because [her] campaign was a mess, but it wasn't like people were telling her, "Hey. You don't have a shot, you need to leave this this race."
This is an example of somebody in establishment, i.e. Tony Evers, trying to put his thumb on the scale of the primary and saying that he doesn't think Francesca Hong can win in November. So he's going for broke with David Crowley. Now, we'll see if it works. The question is, are there enough resources behind Crowley leaping back in the top tier of candidates? And are there are enough people who are worried about Hong's chance of success in November to kind of turn against her or not vote for her come Aug. 11, in the primary.
You were talking about democratic socialist Francesca Hong. She's leading the polls. And interestingly, Republicans are apparently running ads on behalf of her. What are your takeaways there?
I think the Republican Governors Association is up to around $3.8 million so far — that's reported spending — to quote-unquote "oppose Hong." But if you look at the ad, it features her saying that she's the only candidate who'd take the party back to its progressive roots, talks about opposition to Donald Trump's immigration policies, her opposition to ICE. It's running heavily in Madison and Milwaukee, which are two markets that are key for Democrats. There are buys on cable that suggest that this is really about trying to highlight her positions for Democrat primary voters.
You know, you see this all the time: parties, groups, playing in primaries, trying to get their favorite candidate because Republicans believe that Francesca Hong is unelectable come November. And if they get her, then it makes it easier for [Republican] Tom Tiffany to win the governor's office come November.
With all these musical chairs of candidates on the Democratic side, what does all this shifting around mean for voters who may have already cast absentee ballots?
The elections commission has said you cannot spoil your ballot and have a do-over. So if you've already turned in your absentee ballot and you voted for somebody who's dropped out, that's it. You can't ask for it back and do it again.
Now, that wasn't the case before. [The election commission] voted 4-2 to say you can't spoil your ballot, but that is now an issue for people because we have to send out absentee ballots as early as we do in Wisconsin because of federal requirements to make sure that overseas voters, or those in the military, get their ballots in time. So with such a long window, if you cast your ballot right away, you do risk that somebody could drop out of the race that you voted for.
As of sometime last week, more than 80,000 people had turned in their ballots already. So we're well north of that at this point. And that's it. If you voted and you don't like who you voted for it, you're done. You're stuck with that person through the primary.
Democrats are suing the Wisconsin Elections Commission about that though, right?
There's a lawsuit — like how quickly can that move? You know, there's a principle in elections you don't want to change the rules of the game while things are going on. Now, Democrats argued the elections commission changed the rules right before voting started. They're not happy about that. I just don't know how quickly a court can move to say yay or nay if these guys should be able to spoil their ballots. And then what? We go to the appeals process, we go to Supreme Court. How quickly can they all move to have an answer before Aug. 11?
Check out WUWM's Voter Guide for more information about the Aug. 11 primary election.
