{"id":37702,"date":"2026-08-11T02:17:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37702"},"modified":"2026-08-11T02:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:17:42","slug":"as-francesca-hong-surged-democratic-rivals-held-their-fire-from-the-politics-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37702","title":{"rendered":"As Francesca Hong surged, Democratic rivals held their fire: From the Politics Desk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260810-Francesca-Hong-aa-339-679ccc.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-3fabec\" class=\"body-graf\"><em>Welcome to <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/link.nbcnews.com\/join\/5cj\/nbc-news-politics-signup\" target=\"_blank\"><em>From the Politics Desk<\/em><\/a><em>, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.<\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1c21ab\" class=\"body-graf\"><em>In today\u2019s edition, I take a look at the lack of attacks Francesca Hong has faced on the Wisconsin airwaves. Plus, Allan Smith dives into an unexpected bipartisan pairing in Pennsylvania. <\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8f0d86\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/link.nbcnews.com\/join\/5cj\/nbc-news-politics-signup\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c3ab4f\" class=\"body-graf\"><em>\u2014 Adam Wollner<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"body-hori-rule\"\/>\n<h2 id=\"anchor-415560\" class=\"body-heading\">As Francesca Hong surged, Democratic rivals held their fire<\/h2>\n<h3 id=\"anchor-34e685\" class=\"body-heading\">Analysis by Adam Wollner<\/h3>\n<p id=\"anchor-5cb3c9\" class=\"body-graf\">In the final stretch of Wisconsin\u2019s Democratic primary for governor, <strong>Francesca Hong<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/francesca-hong-democratic-socialist-message-wisconsin-primary-rcna591134\">has confronted growing criticism<\/a> from members of her party that she is too far to the left to win a general election in a swing state.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-afb148\" class=\"body-graf\">But very few of those attacks have come directly from her Democratic opponents \u2014 one possible reason she has managed to build a double-digit lead in the polls.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d5834e\" class=\"body-graf\">At the end of last week, an outside group backing Milwaukee County Executive <strong>David Crowley<\/strong> \u2014 who has emerged as Hong\u2019s main rival \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/platform.adimpact.com\/viewer\/983f8401-dc5f-43f3-b148-a939edd06fec\">launched a TV ad<\/a> saying that \u201cFrancesca Hong\u2019s record is a distraction we can\u2019t afford.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-dc8271\" class=\"body-graf\">It marks the first broadcast ad from a Democratic-aligned group attacking Hong all primary season, AdImpact data shows. The pro-Crowley group had been focused on positive spots the last few weeks after their candidate re-entered the race as moderate Democrats scrambled to find an alternative to Hong. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6f8085\" class=\"body-graf\">Hong has also been targeted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Yu2gGSXJpSo\">nearly $3 million in ads<\/a> from a group linked to the Republican Governors Association calling her \u201ctoo liberal for Wisconsin.\u201d But those are an effort by the GOP to boost the Democrat they view as most beatable in November. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-050d7b\" class=\"body-graf\">Overall, there hasn\u2019t been much in the way of advertising fireworks ahead of tomorrow\u2019s Wisconsin\u2019s gubernatorial primary. Crowley\u2019s campaign and allied outside groups have spent $4 million on ads, easily more than anyone else on the Democratic side, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AdImpact_Pol\/status\/2086898353149722833\">according to AdImpact<\/a>. Hong and groups supporting her have spent less than a half-million dollars. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a3f311\" class=\"body-graf\">It\u2019s been a similar story on the campaign trail. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sbauerAP\/status\/2085397652800205095\">Crowley<\/a> and his most prominent supporter, outgoing Democratic Gov. <strong>Tony Evers<\/strong>, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2026\/08\/04\/francesca-hong-past-social-media-posts-under-fire-in-wisconsin-race\/91122809007\/\">taken some shots<\/a> at the controversial positions Hong has posted on social media and tried to walk back. Still, Evers said on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wispolitics.com\/2026\/evers-tells-upfront-hell-be-helpful-if-hong-wins-nomination-but-predicts-crowley-victory\/\">WISN-TV\u2019s \u201cUpFront\u201d<\/a> that \u201cof course we\u2019ll be helpful\u201d if Hong wins the nomination. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1cec47\" class=\"body-graf\">And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/francesca-hong-avoids-attacks-wisconsin-democrats-meet-amicable-govern-rcna589069\">during the lone debate of the primary<\/a> at the end of last month, Hong didn\u2019t face any direct criticisms from the other Democrats on stage. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4310f3\" class=\"body-graf\">Contrast that to the last progressive-versus-establishment duel in a battleground state. In Michigan\u2019s contentious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750\">Democratic Senate primary<\/a>, <strong>Abdul El-Sayed<\/strong> was hit with at least $19 million in negative broadcast ads, per AdImpact. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1ba16e\" class=\"body-graf\">El-Sayed\u2019s primary against Rep.<strong> Haley Stevens<\/strong> was also much more centered on Democratic divisions over U.S. policy toward Israel, drawing tens of millions of dollars in ad spending from pro-Israel groups. While Hong has been an Israel critic, the broader issue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/israel-key-dividing-line-democratic-primaries-wisconsin-rcna590843\">has not played a major role<\/a> in the Wisconsin primary.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-60fc88\" class=\"body-graf\"><em>Scott Bland contributed.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"body-hori-rule\"\/>\n<h2 id=\"anchor-75c1e7\" class=\"body-heading\">The Senate\u2019s newest odd couple is raising Republican eyebrows \u2014 and Democratic alarms<\/h2>\n<h3 id=\"anchor-59b865\" class=\"body-heading\">By Allan Smith<\/h3>\n<p id=\"anchor-783ad8\" class=\"body-graf\">Over the last 19 months, Pennsylvania\u2019s most prominent political odd couple has taken several opportunities to spotlight their budding bromance. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3d2879\" class=\"body-graf\">Sens. <strong>John Fetterman<\/strong>, a Democrat, and <strong>Dave McCormick<\/strong>, a Republican, have promoted domestic and foreign policy initiatives hand in hand \u2014 including efforts to combat drug trafficking, antisemitism and even spotted lanternflies \u2014 all while insisting they don\u2019t agree on everything, yet rarely voicing such disputes.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-368067\" class=\"body-graf\">But as the relationship between Fetterman and McCormick reaches new heights, it is perplexing members of both parties. Most notably, a joint fundraising committee the duo established triggered a wave of Democratic criticism of Fetterman, who has toyed with the possibility of leaving the party.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-90e7b4\" class=\"body-graf\">They also teamed up to promote a new federal child savings account \u2014 dubbed \u201cTrump accounts\u201d \u2014 in Philadelphia this summer, one of Fetterman\u2019s few official visits as a senator to Pennsylvania\u2019s biggest city. And, after Democratic Gov. <strong>Josh Shapiro<\/strong> said Pennsylvania businesses weren\u2019t interested in staffing a table at President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cGreat American State Fair,\u201d Fetterman and McCormick brought a Keystone State booth to the event.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f13645\" class=\"body-graf\">Battleground Pennsylvania has a history of bipartisan relationships. And McCormick\u2019s allies say the two have developed a genuine friendship and that their spouses have helped foster it. But increasingly, Democrats who have soured on Fetterman \u2014 including former staffers \u2014 have accused him of boosting Republican priorities at McCormick\u2019s request without delivering wins for his own party or state.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0fd4f3\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/senates-newest-odd-couple-raising-republican-eyebrows-democratic-alarm-rcna588410\"><strong>Read more \u2192<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"body-hori-rule\"\/>\n<div class=\"summary-box\" data-testid=\"summary-box\" id=\"anchor-73095b\">\n<div class=\"summary-box__content\">\n<h2 class=\"summary-box__headline\">\ud83d\uddde\ufe0f Today&#8217;s other top stories<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"summary-box__items\">\n<li><strong>\ud83d\udd70\ufe0f Iran war<\/strong>: Trump is now signaling the U.S. is in no rush to resolve the conflict, prepared instead to wait out Tehran by applying economic pressure. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/iran\/trump-iran-economic-pressure-tehran-hormuz-demands-rcna591671\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>\ud83d\udc89 Check-up:<\/strong> Trump issued an executive order that aims to reduce the number of universally recommended vaccines for children \u2014 a move that reaffirms the dramatic overhaul Health Secretary <strong>Robert F. Kennedy Jr. <\/strong>announced earlier this year that has been blocked in the courts. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/kids-health\/trump-order-fewer-childhood-vaccines-rcna591774\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<li> \ud83d\uddf3\ufe0f <strong>2028 watch<\/strong>: Rep. <strong>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/strong>, D-N.Y., said on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d that she hasn\u2019t ruled out a potential run for president or the Senate in two years. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2028-election\/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-potential-run-president-senate-rcna591590\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\ud83d\udd35 <strong>Joining forces: <\/strong>El-Sayed said on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that he spoke to <strong>Barack Obama<\/strong> following his primary victory and said he hopes the former president will join him on the campaign trail this fall. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/abdul-el-sayed-hopes-campaign-obama-phone-call-michigan-senate-rcna591169\">Read more \u2192<\/a> <\/li>\n<li>\ud83d\udd34 <strong>If it\u2019s Tuesday: <\/strong>Tomorrow\u2019s special Republican primary for the late Sen. <strong>Lindsey Graham<\/strong>\u2018s seat in South Carolina is likely headed for a runoff, even after Trump endorsed Sen. <strong>Darline Graham<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/elections\/darline-graham-donald-trump-endorsement-enough-win-lindsey-graham-seat-rcna591220\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>\ud83d\udcc8 New record:<\/strong> Nine House incumbents have lost their primaries in 2026, which is the highest number outside a national redistricting year since 1970. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/house-turnover-jumps-incumbents-lose-primaries-highest-rate-decades-rcna591352\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u27a1\ufe0f Biden update:<\/strong> <strong>Hunter Biden<\/strong> told the BBC that former President <strong>Joe Biden<\/strong>\u2019s cancer is spreading, describing it as \u201cvery debilitating\u201d and \u201cpainful.\u201d  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/hunter-biden-joe-biden-prostate-cancer-spreading-rcna591499\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"body-hori-rule\"\/>\n<p id=\"anchor-0e9cfb\" class=\"body-graf\"><em>That\u2019s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today\u2019s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Lauren Zola.<\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4a4538\" class=\"body-graf\"><em>If you have feedback \u2014 likes or dislikes \u2014 email us at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/mailto:politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com\" target=\"_blank\"><em><strong>politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-299b30\" class=\"endmark body-graf\"><em>And if you\u2019re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/link.nbcnews.com\/join\/5cj\/nbc-news-politics-signup\" target=\"_blank\"><em><strong>here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"body-hori-rule\"\/><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today\u2019s edition, I take a look at the lack of attacks Francesca Hong has faced on the Wisconsin airwaves. Plus, Allan Smith dives&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260810-Francesca-Hong-aa-339-679ccc.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}