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and now. In this week's
Inside Wisconsin politics

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had more to say on the two
leading candidates. I'm

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joined by NPR's Shawn
Johnson, Anya van

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Wagtendonk and Rich Kremer.
>> It seems like just a few

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weeks ago on this show, we
were all kind of wondering

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where all these candidates
in this big primary fit.

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What were their political
lanes?

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>> Well, I think you have
the context of the national

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political mood for primary
voters, which are Democrats

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that are mainly angry at
Donald Trump and his

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administration there. If
you look at it in that

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frame, the establishment's
the bad guy. The

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establishment is national
Democrats who haven't done

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enough to stand up to Trump.
So tapping into those

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voters meant you couldn't
be the establishment

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because then you were on
the side of inertia. So

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Francesca Hong clearly
moved to the left. She was

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going to fight, fight,
fight. And a lot of the

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other Democrats in this
race were trying to

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outflank her, and they just
could not.

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has a particularly kind of
interesting personal

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really sort of impoverished,
challenged background in

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Milwaukee. And so up until,
you know, he dropped out

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the first time in this race,
he was kind of described as

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potentially not electable
because statewide, there's

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a there's sometimes, you
know, negative feelings

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about Milwaukee. There is,
you know, always the racial

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element of the fact that
there's never been a Black

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man elected to statewide
office in Wisconsin. So

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there were all these
questions about him. Then

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he comes back with the
endorsement of Tony Evers,

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and all of a sudden he's
described as the

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establishment. It's a
needle of I'm a viable

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candidate, but I will also
stand up to the things that

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you're angry about.
>> Crowley raised more than

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twice as much money during
the month of July. He

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raised $776,000 thereabout,
and Hong brought in around

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$339,000. So that is a big
sign that, at least in

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terms of money, Crowley's
campaign is getting some

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backing. And the other sign
that caught my attention

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was Governor Tony Evers,
you know, who endorsed

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Crowley's campaign, which
is definitely being framed

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as an alternative to
Francesca Hong. He also

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gave $20,000 from his from
Evers campaign account to

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Crowley's campaign account.
That's not a lot of money,

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but it could be a signal to
Evers donors, Evers

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supporters that I'm not
just saying I support this.

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I'm putting my money behind
it.

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>> Francesca Hong is
running a really unique,

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strange race. She has not
raised as much money, but

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it doesn't seem to matter.
She's making sort of

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headlines on her own, sort
of organically rather than

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through these paid ways.
And then all these other

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candidates are just trying
to kind of trying to to

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catch up.
>> And she's not putting

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herself on TV, but other
people are. You've had

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these Republican groups
consistently putting her in

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TV ads, calling her liberal
ahead of this primary.

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>> She has spent $0 on
television, which is just

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unheard of in any type of
serious race. And she's not

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running just a serious race.
She's running the leading

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race. She's doing some, you
know, digital media and

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things like this. But a lot
of her campaign is very

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grassroots, very kind of
door to door. And so you're

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right, when we see if you
see her face on your TV or

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on your your YouTube, it is
because these Republican

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groups are paying for ads
trying to get her over the

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finish line because they
think she's beatable. But

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meanwhile, she kind of says,
you know, thanks for for

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calling attention to my
policies.

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>> You can get the full
episode of Inside Wisconsin

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Politics wherever you get
your podcasts. Earlier this

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week, Madison police in
week, Madison police in