David Crowley, the Milwaukee County Executive, defeated socialist State Representative Francesca Hong by approximately 3,000 votes in Wisconsin’s Democrat gubernatorial Primary election, Tuesday, after a late night counting error delayed the results.
Read more FBI Offers Cash Reward, Tip Line to Fight Animal Abuse on Los Angeles Skid Row
Five of nine USB sticks from Milwaukee’s central count facility delivered to the county courthouse shortly before midnight Tuesday night, were missing election results, containing only audit logs instead of vote totals.
Paulina Gutierrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said officials just clicked the wrong button on five of the tabulators, and downloaded audit logs instead of election results. Gutierrez said the human error affected approximately 15,000 absentee ballots.
Officials were forced to return to the Bay View central count facility with a police escort to re-download the correct results from the five machines. The mistake delayed the final tally for the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary by more than an hour, pushing the announcement of David Crowley’s narrow victory over Francesca Hong into the early morning hours.
NBC News’ election guru Steve Kornacki was unable to conceal his shock on the air when he heard the news.
The incident is just the latest in a series of eye-brow-raising issues that have led to distrust in Milwaukee’s elections.
After the 2020 election, investigators discovered scores of developmentally disabled adults in the city were forced by nursing home staffers to vote for Biden.
Read more State Department Revokes Over 175,000 Visas of Foreign Nationals Accused of Crimes
In November 2024, more than 30,000 absentee ballots reportedly had to be retabulated after officials discovered the doors on 13 ballot tabulators had not been properly secured.
Five months later, during the April 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, “69 of Milwaukee’s 180 polling locations experienced ballot shortages, and nine locations ran out completely,” WISN 12 News reported.
Multiple polls had shown Hong to be the heavy favorite to win the primary, leading Crowley by double digits.
After his upset victory Tuesday night, Crowley, allegedly a moderate Democrat, will now face incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in the November general election.
Republicans had been eager to run against Hong in November, as past social media posts had exposed her woke extremism, which included calls to defund the police and her denunciation of Thanksgiving as a racist holiday.
Read more Report: Ceuta Migrants Reach Mainland Spain Despite Government Denials
(Photo of Crowley by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
