Where’s the Moderate in Dem Primary?

The field for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor is set and it’s lacking a key ingredient. There is no one looking to occupy the moderate lane.

What we’ve got are six candidates cramming into the main liberal-activist lane, one candidate looking to be the Badger Mamdani and one candidate who has a sailboat in Lake Monona.

Sara Rodriguez, Mandela Barnes, Kelda Roys, Joel Brennan, Missy Hughes and David Crowley are all essentially competing for the same primary voters. They all start by saying that they’ll “fully fund” public education. Whatever that actually means, it’s checking the box aimed at genuflecting before the teachers unions, the most powerful single force in Democratic politics. Then they make sure to tick the box for the next interest group by saying they’ll fight for abortion rights. They next pay tribute to the pollsters who tell them that “affordability” is the main issue on voters minds — being careful not to reconcile how one fully funds education without raising taxes. And all of that is served up with healthy dollops of attacks on Donald Trump.

All of that is aimed at hitting the sweet spots that motivate what they perceive to be the bulk of Democratic primary voters. I get it. And I’m for education, reproductive rights and affordability and against Trump too. But it’s not very interesting and it’s not giving primary voters much of a real choice.

Sure, there are some nuances. Roys hits a little harder on identity politics, endlessly pointing out that she’d be the first woman Wisconsin Governor, and hammering a little harder on abortion rights. Hughes talks about not being a politician — in contrast to everybody else in the race, she’s never held elective office — and emphasizes her job-creator background. But nobody in this group is taking any chances on offending any liberal interest group.

Meanwhile, Francesca Hong is going hard-left, claiming the Zohran Mamdani mantle as a democratic socialist. (I’m never quite sure whether to capitalize democratic socialist. Is it an official title or just a descriptive qualifier of just another strain of Democrat?) That makes her more interesting than the others, but probably also makes her unelectable in a general election. Wisconsin is not New York City, or specifically, Brooklyn.

And then there’s Brett Hulsey whose campaign includes an old sailboat in Lake Monona sporting a tattered banner calling for the firing of beleaguered Badger football coach Luke Fickell. Brett’s always been creative.

What’s missing is what Rahm Emanuel is bringing to the early positioning for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. Emanuel is openly claiming the moderate tag and he’s saying some interesting things. He challenges identity politics with sharp lines like, “before we start talking about pronouns, let’s make sure our kids know what a pronoun is.”

This kind of thing has earned him the enmity of the hard-left and its outlets like The New Republic. Anybody who The New Republic hates is somebody that I — and most Americans — will probably like.

The trouble for Democrats is that anybody who gets through a primary needs to run the gauntlet of liberal interest groups and those groups are run by the truest of true believers in their particular cause. This makes candidates say things that help them get the support of that group, but hurts them in a general election. So, Kamala Harris goes for the tiny transgender vote by saying she supports taxpayer funded sex change operations for prisoners and pays the price in the general election. Trump’s attack on that issue moved the needle against her more than any other ad. Her position sounded ridiculous to the average American voter, but made perfect sense in the context of a Democratic primary. And there’s your problem.

Nobody in the primary so far has shown any inclination to buck any part of the liberal coalition. In fact, Hong would be even more extreme.

But I have a hunch that most Democratic voters just want to win. They’ll go for somebody who looks electable in a general election even if that candidate doesn’t check every interest group box. In fact, defying some interest groups might make them look more electable and therefore more attractive in a primary.

Here are some positions that would make sense for somebody trying to win the general election.

Sure, be for public schools, But also demand results and accountability. Voters can’t be satisfied with the performance of the schools they’re paying for. Test scores are bad, attendance is poor and, in some schools, discipline is lacking. And we have a COVID learning deficit that was made worse when the teachers unions demanded that schools remain closed much longer then they needed to be. The answer is not just to shovel more money into a failing system. Link new funding to results. And don’t be shy about demonstrating independence from teachers unions. Voters tend to like their kids’ teachers; their unions, not so much.

Be against discrimination. The civil rights movement went off the rails when it went from working for a society without discrimination to one that actively discriminates to make up for past discrimination. Liberals love to point out that this is a nation of immigrants. That’s right. So, almost anybody whose family wasn’t on the Mayflower has a family story about how they were kicked around. Harken back to that and make the link to people facing present day discrimination. For example, don’t discriminate against transgender people just because of who they are. If they want to serve their country in the military, thank them for that. Don’t tolerate bullying. But, my God, people who give birth are women and mothers, not “people capable of childbirth.”

Be for lower taxes and government efficiency. The one thing government can surely do to make life more affordable is to lower taxes. Yet, government efficiency is an issue that has been lost since Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election. But Trump and Musk actually had something in DOGE. It’s just that they were reckless and stupid. Be studied and smart. But let’s talk again about how government needs to be lean and accountable and taxes need to be as low as possible. Go ahead and tax the rich if you want, but don’t do it until you know that every dollar will hit its mark.

Be for lower utility bills. Also on the affordability issue, break with Tony Evers’ picks for the Public Service Commission. All but one of them had ties to the utility industry and none were consumer advocates. Some stepped through the revolving door right back into the industry. HIs choice for PSC Chair, Rebecca Valcq, was a lead regulatory attorney for WE Energies. She left the PSC last year and quickly picked up a job with Alliant Energy. The other day they announced she would become Alliant’s President. So, slam the revolving door shut. Make it a point to say that you’ll appoint commissioners who care about rate-payers and have no ties to the industry they’re regulating.

Be for private sector job creation. Nobody wants to feel as if they just got a hand out. Americans want to earn things. So, stop talking about everything the government’s going to do for you. Talk about everything that can be done to create more good-paying, family-supporting private sector jobs.

Talk about hard work and personal responsibility. Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts is a Democrat and former Marine who holds down a seat that includes brahmin Boston liberals, who believe they know what blue collar workers need, and real blue collar workers, who know what they want. He sides with the blue collars. It’s Auchincloss who described his own party as “weak, woke and whiney.” Democrats have to stop being that. Don’t talk so much about rights and what people are entitled to just for breathing; talk about what people can earn. Don’t talk in terms of race and gender being destiny; talk about how perceived disadvantages can be overcome. In other words, well, to paraphrase another Massachusetts Democrat of yore, don’t talk about what your country can do for you, but what you can do for yourself.

The bottom line was crafted by Bill Clinton back in 1992: If you work hard and play by the rules you should be able to get ahead in America.

Here’s my hope. One of four candidates in the main liberal lane (Barnes and Roys are too locked into the left to do this) sees their prospects dimming in that crowded part of the field. So, they decide to throw a Hail Mary and jump into the unoccupied moderate lane because they figure they have nothing to lose.

And they discover that, actually, that’s where most rank-and-file Democratic voters are at. They go on to win the primary, maybe just barely, and the general election in a walk.