Sen. Bernie Sanders says he won't back any candidate in Wisconsin's crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary, a snub that leaves the party's progressive wing without its biggest name in a pivotal Midwest contest.
Sanders made the admission during an appearance on the liberal podcast Pod Save America, where host Jon Favreau pressed him directly on whether he planned to weigh in on the race. The Vermont independent's answer was blunt and brief.
"I don't think so," Sanders told Favreau, before offering a tepid assessment of the candidate most closely associated with the party's left flank.
Four Democrats are competing in the Aug. 11 primary to become the party's nominee for governor: state Rep. Francesca Hong, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, state Sen. Kelda Roys, and former Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan. Sanders, whose endorsement carried real weight in past Democratic primaries around the country, chose none of them, and didn't sound particularly torn about it.
Favreau's question was pointed. He noted that Sanders had conspicuously stayed out of the Wisconsin contest and asked him to explain his thinking.
As Breitbart News reported, Favreau put it plainly:
"I noticed you haven't yet endorsed in the Wisconsin governor's race. What's your thinking there? And might you endorse?"
Sanders acknowledged he had met Hong "a couple of years ago" in Wisconsin but stopped well short of backing her bid.
"I met a Francesca [Hong] a couple of years ago in Wisconsin, and she seems very, very nice. But again, this is a race I'm just not that familiar with."
That combination, faint personal praise paired with a flat refusal to endorse, amounts to a conspicuous non-vote of confidence. Sanders added that he rarely involves himself in gubernatorial races, a claim that conveniently sidesteps the question of whether he simply doesn't see a candidate worth investing his political capital in.
Wisconsin's Democratic primary field spans the party's familiar range. Hong, a state legislator, has positioned herself as the progressive option. Crowley runs Milwaukee County, the state's largest. Roys serves in the state Senate. Brennan brings executive-branch experience from his time leading Wisconsin's Department of Administration.
Sanders' refusal to pick a side matters because his endorsement has historically served as a signal flare for the party's activist left. Without it, no candidate in the field can claim the mantle of the national progressive movement heading into the primary. That vacuum reflects a broader problem Democrats have been wrestling with: the progressive wing generates energy but struggles to convert it into wins in competitive states. Party veterans have warned that the socialist surge inside Democratic ranks could hand Republicans easy victories in exactly these kinds of races.
Sanders' distance from the Wisconsin contest also raises a question about what happens to the progressive lane when its most recognizable figure steps back from the fights that matter most. Some on the left have already begun looking past Sanders entirely.
Democratic Socialists of America members have floated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a potential presidential candidate, though even within that circle there are doubts about whether she is sufficiently left-wing. The jockeying for progressive leadership is well underway, and Sanders' retreat from endorsement politics only accelerates it.
Whether AOC or anyone else can fill that gap remains an open question. Her national profile has drawn scrutiny of its own, with her appeal showing signs of fading outside deep-blue strongholds.
The Aug. 11 primary arrives at a moment when Democrats are grappling with internal dysfunction that extends far beyond any single state. The party's national apparatus has faced pointed criticism from its own members, with calls for DNC Chair Ken Martin to resign after a damning autopsy of the party's 2024 performance.
Against that backdrop, Sanders' non-endorsement in Wisconsin looks less like a one-off scheduling conflict and more like a pattern. The senator who once electrified progressive voters in state after state now says he just hasn't followed the race closely enough to pick a side. For a politician who built his brand on showing up where the establishment wouldn't, that's a notable change.
None of the four candidates in the Wisconsin field received so much as a nod from Sanders during the podcast interview. He did not comment publicly on Crowley, Roys, or Brennan beyond their inclusion in the race. His only specific remark about any candidate was calling Hong "very, very nice", the kind of phrase that says nothing while making clear you don't intend to say more.
When the loudest voice on the Democratic left can't be bothered to learn the details of a governor's race in a swing state, it tells you something about where that movement's energy has gone, and where it hasn't.