Deliberately provocative title here, and I'm not going to go on record making a prediction, but I just have a bad feeling about it. The persistent bugbear on the Democratic side is voter turnout. Hong had momentum and energy, with the potential to drive strong turnout of the progressive and Democratic base. By the AP numbers I saw, she had majority support through much of the state, while Crowley won with a majority of Milwaukee voters. Which is to be expected, as that's where the biggest chunk of our population lives. But also, Milwaukee has historically had soft Democratic voter turnout.
Voters there chose him in the primary; will they show up for the general election?
16 Comments
MystValkyrie@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 23d
Elections have never really turned out my way since I aged into voting in 2016, but...this one hit extra hard. So I get where you're coming from.
I will absolutely show up for the general, but I'm feeling pretty demoralized and will probably not vote with my heart anymore. Crowley is still a progressive on all the issues other than data centers, but this "reach across the aisle" political style has been proven to fail since the Republican legislature stonewalls the aisle-crosser on day one, which is exactly what happened with Obama. He keeps trying to bring in center-right and Republican voters, but I haven't seen him to much to bring in progressives, and I'd like that in future campaigning.
He has the resume, the background, and the experience, but it's hard to get excited about him when he makes the same vague statements over and over. I recently watched an interview where he said that his vision is to take control of Wisconsin "for 8 to 10 years." I want a leader who is serious about making us a blue state for the foreseeable future like Minnesota and Illinois.
Sorry, rant over. Crowley 2026.
Edit: Okay, it seems like he's starting to campaign for progressive folks with his weed legalization plan. Hopefully we see more like that in the coming months!
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
You're talking about a state party chair, not the Governor...
The state chair who did it for Minnesota, is now the chair of the DNC.
While I don't know much about Wiscon's state chair:
https://wisdems.org/our-party/meet-our-chair/
He apparently was a Biden/Harris advisor, and that's rarely a good sign.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online · 7 pts · 23d
This is why I think it's good to shut down people who shit on Democrats and to remain stalwart about removing the enemy that is the GOP.
Ascrod@midwest.social · 2 pts · 23d
Disclaimer, I don't live in Wisconsin.
The centrist Democrats are enablers and are completely beholden to the oligarchs that have looted this country, so yes I will shit on them every day because they completely deserve it.
But I will not vote for a Republican.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online · 1 pts · 23d
What specific part of the DNC Policy Platform don't you like? Here is a link for reference: LINK
Do you take taxing the rich to be "looting this country"?
Ascrod@midwest.social · 3 pts · 23d
Their platform is just lip service; Their actions say that they do not want to improve the lives of average Americans without inconveniencing the large corporations and oligarchs who fund them.
Centrist Dems say they want to make healthcare affordable, but they do the absolute minimum to regulate insurers or drug manufacturers.
Centrist Dems say they want to make groceries and gas more affordable, but they have no problem emptying the treasury to pay for Israel's free healthcare, free college, and free bombs to drop on their neighbors.
Centrist Dems say they want to expand legal immigration, but conditions at the southern border grew worse during both Trump's and Biden's terms in office.
What frustrates me most is their Project 2029 proposal: Enforcing online age verification, effectively expanding the surveillance state and destroying internet privacy, instead of directly holding social media companies and advertisers accountable for their manipulative practices and dark patterns.
I have no problems with taxing the rich, but the centrist wing of the party has been loathe to actually do it, because that's who pays them.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online · 1 pts · 23d
Despite having 48 or less senators for over 13 years the Biden Admin passed a lot of beneficial laws adhearing to this platform and increased audits on the rich. Obama's 2013 tax plan reduced taxes on the lowest earners and increased taxes for the top 1%. When they had 58 seats in 2010 for only two months, less actually in session, they used it to get medical coverage to 70 Million more Americans, would have given Public Option similar to Germany if they had even 1 more seat as independent Joe Leiberman was the holdout and every single GOP was against.
The current online age verification laws all passed over a decade ago, in some cases 2 decades ago, and no new bills have made it out of committee afaik.
The GOP is literally deregulating those drug manufacturers and the insurers are implementing AI, which the GOP are also promoting.
The same with topics Immigration and Palestine, these are not valid reasons not to promote dems because the GOP are always far worse.
You're just blatantly spreading misinformation.
Ascrod@midwest.social · 2 pts · 22d
I unfortunately don't have time to respond to all of your points here, so I will be brief: my point is not "vote GOP because Dems bad". My point is vote for more socialist Dems. Instead of settling for the lesser of two evils, we should be pushing for actual, meaningful plans for change, not just "tweaking around the edges" like the last two Dem administrations. We have had big problems long before Trump came into power, and they have only gptten bigger since then. Anyone who isn't proposing actual solutions to those problems need to get out of the way.
Have a good evening!
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 23d
Neolibs always lose.
Even when they win elections, they will always demonstrate to the populace that electing a democrat was a mistake.
“Centrism” is fascism with the mask on, but it is still fascism.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 23d
Maybe because Milwaukee hates cops...
2017:
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/state-legislator-joins-aclu-lawsuit-against-stop-and-frisk-program-milwaukee-police
Like, I didn't know who this guy was yesterday, but considering that happened in Milwaukee, and after that he became a vice chair of the Milwaukee ACLU...
I feel like people from Milwaukee were familiar with him.
I've seen a lot of people claim he's a moderate/neoliberal, but I haven't seen anyone explain what parts of his policy fit that.
Be very cautious of people claiming we shouldn't vote D. They should at least be able to give some sort of explanation, not just labels used as insults.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 23d
He's also the Milwaukee county executive, so of course they know him. But I hadn't heard of him either, and that's really the issue. I don't care about people claiming that we shouldn't vote D, they're about as relevant as a fart in a hurricane, since they change the minds of exactly nobody. If anything, they might do some good by increasing people's awareness of politics. (It's an empirical fact that repeatedly raising an issue just hardens hardens people's attitudes and entrenches, rather than changing, their opinions.)
A lot more people are disconnected from politics, or marginally aware, at best. The question that I have is whether enough Milwaukeeans will come out for the general election to offset the lack of marginal voters from the rest of the state, whose attention is going to fade due to the lack of energy, enthusiasm, and sheer novelty of a candidate like Hong, combined with unfamiliarity with Crowley. And since Milwaukee has a track record of lower turnout, I worry.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
I mean, Wisconsin had the second highest turnout of any state in the last election...
I don't think turnout will be an issue, and without trump personally on the ballot, Republican turnout is definitely going to drop.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 23d
His endorsee is on the ballot, though. And the wildcard is that this will be the first election under the new Legislative districts, but still, more Republican-held seats are up for election than Democratic seats, and they've put up a couple of new constitutional amendments that throw red meat to the base to juice turnout. I hope to god you're right, but I can't shake the bad feeling about it.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
All state parties have been operating at "campaign levels" since February 2025...
Normally that wouldmt even have started yet, they'd just now be ramping up and it would last maybe two months every two years...
Dems are going to out perform everywhere, that's why there's such a big push to get the DNC chair to resign before midterms, after it there's not going to be any denying that this works better than neoliberalism.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 23d
If this is "campaign levels," that's depressing as hell.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 3 pts · 23d
Don't know about wisconsin but illinois republicans have doubled down on maga messaging. Which I guess plays well in the south but is super cringe on news shows. I personally do not see republicans as being a legitimate optionin any election and everyone in the us should be looking to see them not win any race of any kind. facism is not ok. violating the constitution is not ok.