WISCONSIN, United States (JTA) — One week after notching a significant primary victory in a Midwestern swing state, pro-Palestinian progressives were looking to repeat their success in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s chaotic Democratic primary for governor was set to end Tuesday with state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, polling comfortably in the lead. Despite the best efforts of the state’s Democratic establishment and the concerns of Wisconsin Jewish groups, Hong appears well positioned to win the primary — leaving many in the state concerned about her electability in the general election.

Hong’s record on Israel and antisemitism was of concern to Wisconsin Jews, as well as Democratic figureheads more broadly. She had appeared on livestream fundraisers with Hasan Piker, the left-wing strident Israel critic who had also rallied with Hong, as well as twice with Michael Beyer, a.k.a. “Mike from PA,” who has called Jewish identity “a constructed ethnicity, this demonic ethnicity, wholly invented.”

On one of her appearances with Beyer, Hong urged constituents to fundraise for people on the “front lines in Gaza.”

A poll of likely voters one week before the race, conducted by nonpartisan outlet State Navigate, showed Hong with a commanding lead. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they favored Hong, twice the total who backed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the next-closest candidate. Only 17% of the same voter sample said they identified as democratic socialists, possibly indicating that Hong — whose platform had emphasized working families, healthcare and data centers — had found wider appeal beyond her movement.

The party’s left flank was buoyed by Abdul El-Sayed’s victory last week in the US........

© The Times of Israel