Mandela Barnes, when learning Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out of the Dem primary race for governor, said the challenge isn’t “any different than it was before” in trying to win the Aug. 11 primary.

“It wouldn’t matter if there were two people in the primary, wouldn’t matter if there were 20 people in the primary,” Barnes said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. The interview came moments after Rodriguez dropped out Friday but before news of David Crowley’s reentry and Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement.

“We are going to be focused on Tom Tiffany and beating him in the general election. That’s what I’m going to continue to be focused on.”

Barnes, a former lt. gov. and 2022 U.S. Senate nominee, learned Rodriguez dropped out in the middle of taping the “UpFront” interview and thanked the lieutenant governor for “stepping up” to run.

“I respect the decision that the lieutenant governor made is not an easy decision,” Barnes added. “I have worked since day one to prove that I am the candidate to take on and defeat Tom Tiffany. We have the infrastructure. We have the resources. We have the, the vision, and we have the message to get it done.”

Francesca Hong said “all Wisconsinites deserve to have a voice in this race” in responding to the initial reporting that Evers was going to endorse David Crowley upon his reentry into the primary.

“He can feel free to endorse if he chooses,” the Madison Assemblywoman told “UpFront.” “I’ve trusted the governor to make the decisions that are for the good of all Wisconsinites, and I think all Wisconsinites deserve to have a voice in this race.”

Hong said Crowley ran a strong race before dropping out, and his reentry would give voters another option.

“However, I think the voters right now, many of them are with us and we will continue to grow our momentum to win in August and November,” Hong said.

Several top Democratic strategists have privately said Hong cannot win a statewide election and the push for Crowley to reenter the race is an attempt to prevent Hong from winning the primary.

“We have been winning since we have been in the lead in internal polls and external polls,” Hong said. “We have grown the broadest coalition of support from a diverse range of voters — independents, moderates, Republicans. We have shown in the fundraising numbers that we are not only in a viable position to continue to put resources into our campaign. We’ve knocked tens of thousands of doors, and so I think that folks are telling us they’re eager for something new, and our path to victory in August and in November are ones that we’re going to continue to win for working-class people.”

Meanwhile, Kelda Roys warned of Crowley’s reentry into the race just hours before the Milwaukee County executive made it official.

“I have a lot of respect and affection for David,” Roys. a state senator from Madison, told “UpFront” on Friday. “But I would hope he makes the right choice for the party, which is that we should be moving forward. He has a very important job as Milwaukee County executive, and he, I think, is going to have a very bright continued future in Wisconsin, as he already has.”

She argued Dem activists, donors and leaders didn’t want to see the field grow more crowded.

“People have already been voting for three weeks,” Roys said. “We only have about three-and-a-half weeks left to go before the election and voters deserve more certainty. And I have never wavered. I have been in this race from the very beginning, and I think it is not fair to voters to be constantly doing whiplash like this, especially given that people can’t change their votes at the moment.”

The same day, Joel Brennan reiterated his vow to remain in the race to the finish while raising the spectre of an “October surprise” turning the race against Dems.

Brennan also addressed Crowley’s return to the race in a Friday news conference.

“He made that decision based on the information available to him; my guess is he did some polling,” Brennan said. “I have never wavered on the fact that I am going to be in this race and I am going to push through this race to the end.”

Brennan warned that an unvetted candidate could shift Dems on the back foot leading up to the general election, invoking the collapse of Sara Rodriguez’s gubernatorial campaign last week. 

“The last thing we need in this campaign are for there to be October surprises; we just lived through a July surprise in the last few days, and I don’t think as Wisconsinites we can afford that. I don’t think as Democrats that we can afford to put people up on the ballot in the fall who may have the liabilities that would have us not talking about the issues that are most important to people,” Brennan said.

Dem strategist Joe Zepecki calls Crowley’s reentry into the race unprecedented but also a risk for Democrats broadly in an attempt by some in the party to prevent Hong from winning the nomination.

“There is risk to that, but it also feels like they don’t want Mandela Barnes,” Zepecki told “UpFront.” “And I think those are two candidates who are unabashed outsiders and are clearly not part of the establishment. And so the risk is you see a repeat of 2016 where the fight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders divided the Democratic Party. You see potentially in the fall some more risk around what happened when Joe Biden blessed Kamala Harris just 20 minutes after he decided he wasn’t running. People are frustrated with our politicians. They are upset and angry with the establishment and with institutions, so the risk is that this looks like the establishment once again deciding for voters.”

See more from the show here.