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By WisPolitics-State Affairs
The late-breaking Democratic governor’s primary appears at a turning point.
A recent WisPolitics straw poll and now a departure of one of the candidates could be signs that the now six-person race could see a real top tier as it heads toward the Aug. 11 primary.
The first major candidate to drop out of the race is Missy Hughes, the former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. secretary and CEO. As Dem moderates worry that liberals Mandela Barnes or Francesca Hong will win the primary, Hughes says it’s time for Democratic candidates to coalesce around a gubernatorial nominee to ensure the defeat of Tom Tiffany in November.
To advance that goal, she backed Lt. Gov Sara Rodriguez on June 22.
“True leadership means stepping aside and making sure that we coalesce around someone who can win in November,” Hughes said. “Sara is the best person positioned to beat Tom Tiffany, who is the most radical person in this race, and the person that we need to make sure does not become governor of the state.”
However, both Hughes and Rodriguez said they believed any of the remaining six Dem candidates could beat Tiffany, a Republican congressman from Minocqua, in a general election matchup.
Rodriguez thanked Hughes “from the bottom of her heart” for the endorsement and said she would continue to make her case to Wisconsin voters that she was best positioned to beat Tiffany in November.
“What she did today, stepping back, making a hard choice, putting the mission ahead of herself – that’s exactly the kind of Wisconsin spirit that makes me believe we are going to win this thing,” Rodriguez said.
Hughes in an earlier statement cited the need for Democrats to build a “broad coalition of voters” to win in November, saying Rodriguez was best suited to build that coalition.
Hughes led the WEDC for six years under Gov. Tony Evers before announcing her gubernatorial run last September. Evers chose not to run for a third term. Billing herself as a “Democrat who understands the economy,” Hughes struggled to distinguish herself in a crowded primary field.
March polling from the Marquette University Law School showed Hughes had some of the lowest name recognition of the then-nine Dem candidates running for governor. And she placed last in a WisPolitics straw poll of state Democratic Party activists conducted at its convention earlier this month; Rodriguez won that poll, trailed closely by Hong, a state representative from Madison.
Tiffany in a statement said that Hughes’ exit is “a reminder that there’s no room for moderates in today’s Democrat Party.”
“What’s left is a race to the left: Francesca Hong wants to abolish the police, Mandela Barnes supports a $2 billion tax hike, and Sara Rodriguez said she would craft the entire state budget behind a curtain,” Tiffany said. “The irony is that the Democrat establishment is worried about nominating a socialist, but every candidate in the field has embraced a far-left agenda that is out of touch with Wisconsin voters.”
MU Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin noted that Hughes’ small base of support was not likely to release many supporters to other candidates or simplify the alternatives to Rodriguez, Hong, and Barnes, the former lieutenant governor and 2022 Dem Senate nominee; Hong and Barnes have led polling of the field.
“Past primaries, especially with sizable fields, have not really taken off until late June or July, and so this race has time for shifts in support similar to 2018 or 2022, where most movement took place between late June and the August primary,” Franklin wrote in an email to WisPolitics.
Hughes notably broke from other Dems when she criticized her opponents for opposing a failed $1.8 billion surplus spending deal negotiated by Evers and GOP legislative leaders.
State Sen. Kelda Roys’ campaign dismissed news of Hughes’ endorsement of Rodriguez, saying it had “no impact on the state of the race.”
“After a generation of right-wing policies, this isn’t a moment for timid moderates with no track record of delivering. We have the opportunity to make transformative change for Wisconsinites — and need a proven leader to get it done,” spokesperson Jalen Knuteson said in a statement.
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