(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin race for governor now has three favorites after a week of upheaval that left state Rep. Francesca Hong, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Gov. Tony Evers-endorsed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley as the main candidates.
The race also includes state Sen. Kelda Roys and Joel Brennan after establishment favorite Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out Friday. The week included firing her campaign manager for financial mismanagement followed by Crowley’s reentry into the race and endorsement by Evers, who is in Africa on a trip with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
The upheaval on the Democratic side of the race comes as U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany remains the heavy favorite to be the Republican candidate.
The changes in the race will lead to interesting results from the Marquette Law School Poll scheduled to be released on Wednesday. It finished sampling a week ago before Rodriguez’s exit and Crowley’s reentry.
“That actually doesn’t bother me too much because we also asked people’s second choice and so we can look at where those Rodriguez voters said they would go if she was not available,” poll director Charles Franklin said in a weekend interview. “On that score, we’re in good shape. On the other hand, a Crowley reentry, we took him out of the poll the day that he dropped out. So we don’t have much to say about him in this poll.”
Franklin added that he believes the poll will show that many voters remain undecided before the Aug. 11 primary and that last week’s developments could lead to more attention and focus on individual candidates.
Evers did not directly indicate in his endorsement why he waited until now to endorse Crowley but did say that he wanted the candidates to be able to make their case before he inserted himself with an endorsement.
“David is not only the best candidate to beat Tom Tiffany, he’s the right candidate for the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “He’s created thousands of new jobs, cut the county’s local emissions in half, and passed a balanced budget, all while delivering the largest property tax cut in the county’s history, and I know he’ll continue to deliver results statewide.”
Rodriguez said that she was “deeply hurt and betrayed by what happened. As I said on Monday, part of being a leader is taking swift action, doing the right thing, and being as honest as possible when there’s a problem.”
Barnes was critical of Crowley’s decision to reenter the race.
“David Crowley left this race for a reason,” Barnes Campaign Manager Darby O’Connor said in a statement. “After nearly an entire year in the race, the only attention he received was for a major healthcare scandal that threw Milwaukee residents off their insurance. He and his allies spent nearly a million dollars but gained absolutely no traction and was stuck in the low single digits.”
