Hong’s loss is Crowley’s gain
The polling indicated Hong’s win was a foregone conclusion, and it would be by double digits. Large double digits.
And yet she lost – by a small margin, but a loss. The Democrat establishment breathes a sigh of relief, and the GOP is unhappy because she was considered easy to beat.
Her voters may be angry enough to stay home in November. Then again, they may rouse themselves to vote for Crowley in order to avoid the big bad GOP.
This may be a good time to note that Hong was one of the worst candidates I’ve ever seen, and I’m not just talking about her DSA idiocy or her Thanksgiving angst or her saying she is “white adjacent” because she has a half-white son. Those things are terrible, and there were plenty more where those came from. But what I’m referring to is her extreme vocal fry, like gravelly chalk on a blackboard, and her complete lack of dynamism.
There’s a pattern emerging between this contest and the one in Michigan that was won by El-Sayed. Although in the case of Wisconsin the DSA candidate narrowly lost and in Michigan the DSA-adjacent 🙂 candidate narrowly won, in both races the polls were terrible predictors and in both the DSA- candidates were considered way way ahead. Were the polls just bad, or was there fraud in Wisconsin (and I suppose there could have been both)? After all, in these races the DSA people were running against the Democrat establishment that controls the vote-counting, not with it.
Take a look at the Wisconsin polls for the race. Even as recently as 8/7, Hong was extremely far ahead. What happened? You can see the basis for fraud allegations in this article; judge for yourself.
What I think is that most of the electorate wasn’t familiar with how awful Hong was until shortly before the primary vote, and when they learned of her previous statements and her extremist views they changed their minds. I don’t think fraud was necessary, although it’s certainly strongly possible. One of the reasons I tend to think the result wasn’t fraudulent is that I followed the vote-reporting very closely, checking last night every twenty minutes or so starting about an hour after the polls had closed, and Crowley was ahead all the way. At all points his lead more or less resembled his ultimate victory margin, although it waxed and waned somewhat. He took a small lead early and he kept it for the duration. I saw no evidence of vote-dumping there.
What’s most upsetting is that Hong almost won, and in a purple state like Wisconsin. Very sobering. However, we’ve become used to the extremism of the Democrat base this voting cycle.
Unilaterly
Suppressed
Ballots
What’s most upsetting is that Hong almost won, and in a purple state like Wisconsin. Very sobering.
Praise the Lord she lost. But, it’s extremely sobering. We’re are all dancing on excrement now, and hoping we don’t fall in.
You know… The Democrat leadership went a long, long ways towards inciting this mob activism and mob hatred over the last ten years. I’d argue over the last 25 years. I would presume that these leaders must have thought that this would all work to their advantage and that the downside would be minimal. It seems to me that it did create advantages for them, but that they grossly underestimated those downsides.
Crowley was the Milwaukee County county executive and thus in control of the Milwaukee machine (or perhaps it should be said the Milwaukee machine is in control of him). That machine is where the election fraud happens.
Hong’s base of support was in the other heavily Democrat Wisconsin county: Dane County, home of Madison and the University of Wisconsin. Madison brings college enthusiasm to the table, but it’s not big enough to go against the Milwaukee machine if the machine decides to flex its muscle.
We should consider ourselves fortunate that the primary happened outside of the UW school year, or Hong could very well have won it. Either that, or the machine makes it obvious and says “What are you going to do about it?” The answer from the Wisconsin governor and the Milwaukee County county executive would have been “Nothing.”
TommyJay:
The DSA candidates remind me of the Eagles’ song “New Kid in Town.”
I’m not sure Crowley will have an easy time in the general election. He dropped out because of poor support and fund-raising and jumped back in only when establishment Dems realized Hong might win. He doesn’t seem to be wildly popular outside of Milwaukee.
Kate:
That may be enough, especially because Milwaukee is a blue voting machine city.
neo,
I have my old friend visiting me for car week in Monterey. A 35 year tradition. He had been an inveterate reader of the New Yorker, and was relatively left wing most of his life, though he’s probably say he’s been a Dem leaning independent. Now, he’d probably say that he didn’t leave the Democrat party; it left him.
Anyway, he showed me this Bill Maher video. Oh my.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRIjYHVh5kI
Then I showed him your video with the former DSA member who quit in disgust from your post several days ago.
I love that Eagles song. Written by JD Souther. Most songs have a chorus with static lyrics. Some vary the chorus just a tiny bit. “New Kid” has a chorus that evolves with the cresting fame, then the fade, then the bitterness. Watching your former girlfriend with her new guy. Ouch. He chose her poorly. Kinda like voting for a Mamdani or a Hong.
TommyJay;
Glad to hear about your friend. Not a single one of my friends has undergone a similar change, unfortunately.
Love that song. Good lyrics, too.