Bombshell News and the Democratic
Primary for Governor, former
Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes
dropped out of the race yesterday.
Here to unpack the news, UW-La
Crosse Professor of Political
Science, Anthony Tragoski.
And thanks very much for being here.
Thank you. So first of all, what's
your reaction?
Just another plot twist in
this campaign.
I mean, for months and months, Fred,
there wasn't much happening in the
Democratic primary.
Not a lot of activity,
not a lot of voter attention, and
now in the month of July, everything
has happened all at once.
And so it's just been a flurry
of fast moving political
developments all leading up to that
key primary election.
So, though trailing,
Barnes was polling second
to Francesca Hong and
had solid name recognition from
his run for Senate against Ron
Johnson.
What is afoot here?
Yeah, I mean, he did have
excellent name recognition coming
into the campaign.
He had a national donor base
that he could draw on.
But ultimately, it seemed like he
just wasn't able to catch up
to Hong.
It's worth noting, Fred, that during
the debate this week, he didn't
directly go after Hong.
He did not go negative on
Hong, if anything.
Barnes was more focused on David
Crowley than he was the frontrunner.
To me, it symbolized how Barnes
just couldn't quite get going in
this campaign.
I think he started the campaign in
general election mode, really
focusing on Tom Tiffany more
than his Democratic opponents.
But that might have been a misstep
because while he was
trying to portray a sense of
inevitability around his nomination,
Francesca Hong was quietly building
a lead.
But if Barnes dropping out
had anything to do with
the journal Sentinel reporting about
him using his political
influence to basically
get dates, though
nothing criminal reported
there, he would have
known that that
was out there, but he must have
considered it not to be
disqualifying.
It's one of the mysteries of this
campaign.
Like, why did this
come out now?
Not to mention, Fred, why
did not come out during the 2022
U.S. Senate race?
I mean, Barnes' whole
argument behind why he could be
electable this time around was that
all the bad stuff was out on the
table.
The 2022 U.
S. Senate campaign was a brutal,
negative campaign that had revealed
all of the bad and so there would be
nothing new this time around.
Turns out that wasn't true.
And so it just undermines one
of the justifications for his
candidacy and one of the arguments
he made in favor of his
electability.
And yet what's being reported
and was reportedly
kind of investigated by
the State Democratic Party,
it seems thin.
You know, it really raises
the question to me what his
future might hold in the Wisconsin
Democratic Party, like how people
within the party are going to view
this report, what came out in the
Journal Sentinel, the investigation
that was conducted by the party.
What his future may hold
in light of this report plus
his two unsuccessful runs for
office.
So Barnes dropping out,
where does it leave the remaining
candidates, including Evers
endorsed Milwaukee County Executive
David Crowley?
Yeah, I mean, for David Crowley, the
question is if he can get some
of those barn supporters and if he
could quickly catch up to Francesca
Hong because the clock is ticking
and poll The after pull shows that
Hong is the front runner.
Now I can see signs that
Hong is already subtly pivoting
to the general election.
She got through the debate just
fine. I was stunned that
she did not have any
of her opponents go after her during
the debate.
I'm sure her team was elated that
she got through the debate unscathed
because I thought that was the last
and best opportunity for her
opponents to shake up the campaign.
So I was expecting all these
fireworks and.
All these negative attacks on Hong,
and that just didn't happen.
So she's comfortably the front
runner. But like you said,
Evers is now getting behind
Crowley. He had the endorsement
earlier. He's raising money for
Crowley, he's getting out on the
trail. So it remains to be seen if
Crowley can make a last ditch effort
to catch up with Hong.
Meanwhile, Republicans and their
candidate and Tom Tiffany have
got to be loving this because
even Democrats say this
is full-on chaos.
Oh, it absolutely is.
And Tom Tiffany has been running a
very positive, biographical
style campaign, trying to develop
his political brand outside of his
congressional district.
I think Republicans and Tiffany
are now also starting to shift into
general election mode, gearing up
for a race against Francesca Hong.
And what a race it will be.
Anthony Chagaski, thanks very much.
Thank you.
I mean, yeah,
the national media is
just salivating over this.
Oh, I know.
I know, I know.
It's it's going to be like another
like the national media is going
to descend on Wisconsin once
again.
So I mean, Francesca Hong is going
to be one of the most talked about
Democrats in the country for the
next three months.
Yeah. Yeah.
She seems to be up for
it, so.
There you go.
All right, thank you so much.
Appreciate it, have a great weekend.
Great to see you.
Thank you.