The five Democratic candidates for governor in Wisconsin almost entirely refrained from lobbing attacks at each other during their first and only debate Tuesday night, even as the volatile race enters its final two weeks.With early voting underway ahead of the high-stakes Aug.
11 primary — and with a huge chunk of Democratic voters still undecided — no one on stage took even a semblance of a swing at polling frontrunner Francesca Hong, a state representative from Madison and a democratic socialist, despite concerns from some in the party about her viability in a general election.The only tense moment of the hourlong debate came between Hong’s top two rivals for the nomination.
Lt.Gov.
Mandela Barnes jabbed Milwaukee County Executive Crowley for re-entering the race this month with outgoing Gov.Tony Evers’ endorsement after Lt Gov.
Sara Rodriguez abruptly dropped out.“It’s been mentioned that the county executive had his campaign resurrected by special interests in a dark room with people with their thumb on the scale,” Barnes said.
“Things will always be the same with that sort of leadership.We should be asking for more.”Crowley didn’t directly respond, but at another moment said that, “I was actually born into struggle” and that “I’m not here to protect the establishment.”Otherwise, the three candidates, along with state Sen.
Kelda Roys and Joel Brennan, the former Department of Administration secretary, expressed near-total agreement on a litany of issues, including lowering property taxes, scaling back a school voucher program and taxing people earning more than $1 million annually.Not even Hong’s affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America emerged as a point of controversy from her competitors, even as Democrats have increasingly expressed fear that she would be too far to the left to defeat Rep.Tom Tiffany, the likely Republican nominee, in November in the swing state.
Hong has faced criticism over the course of ...