In test of Democratic Party's future, next stop is in battleground Wisconsin

Progressives face another next big test in battleground Wisconsin, where state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, appears to be the front-runner in the turbulent Democratic primary for governor.

In Wisconsin, Hong, a former restaurant owner who represents the capital city of Madison, has led the field of governor candidates in statewide polling, despite some late efforts in the party to unite around an alternative candidate ahead of the Aug. 11 contest.

Candidates are vying to win the first open gubernatorial seat since 2010, replacing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who announced last year that he wouldn't run for reelection.

If Hong wins, it could be another big victory for democratic socialists.

Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America have won primaries in deep-blue districts in New York City and Colorado. In Michigan, a swing state, progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated a centrist candidate endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the Senate Democratic primary.

Some Democrats are worried Hong could struggle to court independent voters against Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive GOP nominee backed by President Donald Trump, and could be a drag on other Democrats down the ticket when they hope to retake majorities in the state legislature, Susan Knower, a former Democratic party chair of Sauk County in Wisconsin, told ABC News.

Also complicating matters is that some voters already have cast absentee ballots for Democrats who have bowed out of the race but remain on the ballot.

David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, exited the campaign in July but revived it days later after receiving Evers' endorsement. Crowley trailed behind Hong in the most recent Marquette Law School poll in July.

Crowley has raised more than $775,000 -- more than double what Hong posted during the same period in July, according to a pre-primary campaign finance report.

Knower told ABC News she fears Evers' backing of Crowley might produce the opposite intended effect and boost Hong's prospects as the nominee in what would be a gift to the GOP.

In recent national media appearances, Hong has reversed some past positions she took on social media, including calls to abolish the U.S. Senate and defund the police.

Those previous statements, argued Knower, are "so, so extreme that it'll be easy for [Republicans] to run against her."

In a CNN interview last week, asked if she still wants to "cancel Thanksgiving," something she wrote in a since-deleted post from 2020, Hong said, "Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities."

She added: "I think there I wanted to make sure that people understood that there are multiple views, but views can evolve."

While she clarified in an interview with Politico that Thanksgiving is her "favorite holiday," her opponents pounced on the comments. Tiffany said socialists like Hong "want to destroy the traditions and culture that unite us. They want to tear America apart."

Evers criticized Hong over it, saying that her "entire campaign" has been dealing with her past social media posts -- prompting Hong to push back.

"We have the most developed platform with detailed plans on over 100 different policy points and she would love to talk about them whenever people are done asking about 7-year-old tweets," Hong's campaign said in a statement.

In a hypothetical matchup with Tiffany, a Hong victory would indicate that democratic socialism can prevail in a purple state while a loss would greatly hurt their progress, according to Anthony Chergosky, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

"If Hong were to lose, it would be a clear opportunity for the center-left faction of the Democratic Party to try to regain control of the party and to go into 2028 aiming to discredit the electoral viability of democratic socialism," he said.

Either way, Chergosky added: "the recriminations would be epic."

In battle for control of Congress, two competitive U.S. House races

While Tiffany has cast the gubernatorial election as a choice between "chaos" and "common sense," some Republicans have leaned into that messaging in the state's congressional races.

With Tiffany's bid for governor, the congressman's seat in the state's ruby-red 7th Congressional District is up for grabs.

Michael Alfonso, 26, is one of five GOP candidates running for the nomination. He is the son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who held the seat for eight years before stepping down in 2019. Alfonso won a coveted endorsement from Trump, but has faced some criticism from Republicans over his age and what they say is a lack of experience.

Alfonso said in a recent televised debate that he is still working as an accountant for his local parish in Hayward, Wisconsin.

Alfonso, like other Republicans across the state, has said socialism is "infecting America's youth."

On the Democratic side, former state Rep. Fred Clark, business owner Chris Armstrong and attorney Ginger Murray are running for the nomination.

And as Democrats hope to retake the House majority, they are looking to unseat Republicans in Wisconsin's 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts.

Mitchell Berman, an emergency room nurse, is widely considered the front-runner in a three-way Democratic primary in the 1st District. He is largely campaigning on access to healthcare in his bid against GOP incumbent Rep. Bryan Steil.

In the western and central parts of the state, Democrat Rebecca Cooke is mounting a third bid to unseat Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a U.S. Navy SEAL veteran in the highly competitive 3rd District.

Cooke nearly ousted Van Orden in the 2024 general election, but lost by a nearly 3-point margin. In June, Trump stumped for Van Orden and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited a farm with him.

But anti-establishment fervor has also seeped into the Democratic primary. Cooke, backed by the campaign arm of the House Democrats, is fending off a challenge from progressive Emily Berge, a former Eau Claire City Council member.

"I think we have seen local elements of the party become emboldened to push back against the national party institutions because the national party has become so dysfunctional and unpopular," Chergovsky said of Democrats.