Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez was the favorite of Democratic Party of Wisconsin activists in a WisPolitics straw poll at this weekend’s state convention, with state Rep. Francesca Hong just behind in second place.
Those who voted in the WisPolitics straw poll also backed former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the Dem presidential nomination in 2028.
In the governor’s race, 164 of those who voted in the straw poll, of 27.5%, backed Rodriguez, who served one term in the Assembly representing a Waukesha County seat before her election as lieutenant governor in 2022.
Hong, a democratic socialist in her third term in the Assembly, was second with 138 votes, or 23.1%.
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State Sen. Kelda Roys, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018, was third at 114 votes.
Democrats met in Madison—the hometown of Hong and Roys—for the convention.
Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who has been a frontrunner in public and private polling, was sixth in the seven-person field with 41 votes.
For president, 102 of those participating in the straw poll, or 17.7%, said they backed Buttigieg for the Dem nomination in 2028. Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, was just behind at 101 votes, or 17.5%.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was third at 81 votes; no one else topped 50.
State Dem Party officials reported that 682 delegates and 359 guests attended the convention. Of those attending, nearly 60% cast votes in the straw poll.