CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Missy Hughes, who dropped out of the governor’s race this week, was never going to win.
Her exit also says something about the current state of the Democratic Party. She couldn’t win anything.
Hughes was, by far, the most moderate Democrat in the race. As the former secretary of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, she was a pro-business pragmatist. She knew that liberal dreams needed a strong economy to pay for them. More money for schools, daycare, welfare, etc simply won’t happen if there isn’t more money in the pot.
That message simply doesn’t resonate with the ultra-liberal wing of her party. If she ran for Congress in the 3rd congressional district, or ran for county board in Verona County – she’d lose to a fellow democrat to her left politically.
She was the only democrat in the governor’s race that supported a deal to spend down about two-thirds of the state budget surplus. It was opposed by all 6 dem candidates remaining, and didn’t get a single democrat vote on the state senate.
Even causes that Mandela Barnes favors, the police reforms he favored after George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter social agenda, cost money. Who knows what the price-tag is for far lefty Francesca Hong’s agenda or no jails and disarmed police.
But the donkey voters mood is “just do it” – we’ll figure out how to pay for it once the rich pay their fair share in taxes. They dare not even calculate how much that will be.
The democrat nominee for governor will be an unreformed, unapologetic liberal. Common sense and sound fiscal policy be damned. It won’t be someone like Missy Hughes.
Chris Conley
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