The Democratic candidates for governor bring dramatically different resumes and qualifications to the race.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, who has been leading in the polls for months, is a chef, former restaurant owner and democratic socialist lawmaker who has represented her liberal Madison district for about six years. Hong, the daughter of Korean immigrants, is the first Asian American member of the state Legislature.
County Executive David Crowley is Milwaukee's first Black county executive and the youngest person to hold the office. Crowley, who was a lawmaker before being elected to his current role in 2020, oversees a $1.4 billion county budget. He helped negotiate a shared revenue deal with Republicans in 2023 to avoid a financial crisis in the city and county, which is still facing a $50 million deficit and looming financial trouble.
State Sen. Kelda Roys has served a total of about nine years in the Legislature, including time in the Assembly. Roys, who represents Madison, is a member of the powerful Joint Finance Committee and has sponsored dozens of bills that have become law. She is also an attorney, the founder of a real estate tech company, and previously led NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin.
Joel Brennan was president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee until he announced in December he was leaving the role to run for governor. Brennan previously served as secretary of the Department of Administration during Gov. Tony Evers' first term. Brennan has never been elected to public office.
Here are some things to know about the resumes, qualifications and life experiences of the four Democratic candidates competing in the Aug. 11 primary. The winner of Tuesday's election will almost certainly face Republican Tom Tiffany in November.
Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, current Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes are still listed on the Aug. 11 ballot but have dropped out of the race.
Hong, 37, is from Madison. She attended Madison West High School, then went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but did not graduate from college. She's said she left after deciding to become a chef.
Hong has represented Wisconsin's 76th Assembly District in the heart of Madison since 2021, and is considered one of the most liberal members of the state Legislature.
She was previously the co-owner and co-chef of Morris Ramen, which closed in 2024 after seven years in business.
She continues to work as a chef and a bartender in addition to serving in the Assembly.
During Hong's time in the GOP-controlled Legislature, few of her bills have become law. Only 22 of the nearly 1,150 measures that Hong authored, sponsored or cosponsored - or about 2% - have become law, according to data provided by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.
Hong was one of the authors of a 2023 bill requiring public schools to include education on Asian American and Hmong American history. Evers signed the bill into law in April 2024.
Hong told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel it is "one of the bills I'm proudest of."
"It took years of organizing and bipartisan coalition-building to get Asian American and Hmong American history into Wisconsin classrooms," she said in an emailed statement.
Hong has faced criticism for some of her votes at the state Capitol, including her vote against a measure making it a felony offense for an adult to groom a child for sexual activity. She was one of just six Assembly members to vote against the bill, which Evers signed in March.
Hong, who describes herself as a working-class candidate and single mom, said her work and life experiences outside of politics make her a stronger candidate. She lives in Madison with her son.
"I haven't built a lifetime career in politics, and that's a strength. Wisconsin's government has no shortage of conventional resumes," she said. "What it's short on is people who have worked a double, run a payroll, raised a kid while doing it, and still shown up to fight for everyone else's family."
Crowley, 40, was raised in one of the state's toughest ZIP codes, 53206, and has spoken about his parents' struggles with mental health, substance abuse and evictions.
He has said he became a community organizer because he didn't want other children to go through what he did.
He attended Bay View High School and enrolled in University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee but left school at age 19.
He recently went back to UWM and earned his bachelor's degree in December 2024, when he delivered the commencement address at the Panther Arena.
Crowley previously worked for organizations like Safe & Sound, the YMCA Community Development Center, COA Youth and Family Services and Urban Underground.
On the campaign trail Crowley has highlighted his years as Milwaukee county executive as well as his time as a legislative staffer and a member of the state Assembly, saying he has a unique combination of executive leadership experience and knowledge of how the state Capitol operates. During the approximately three years Crowley served in the state Assembly, 58 of the nearly 840 bills he authored, sponsored or cosponsored became law, according to Legislative Reference Bureau data.
Crowley helped negotiate a shared revenue deal with Republicans in 2023 to avoid a financial crisis in the city and county. He was also involved in discussions with lawmakers regarding legislation passed in 2023 that helped pay for improvements to American Family Field and keep the Milwaukee Brewers in the city until 2050.
Crowley's administration has faced criticism over a lapse early this year in Milwaukee County's contract covering employee and retiree health care and pharmacy benefits after it expired at the end of 2025. Crowley's office said in February that an employee tied to the lapse had been terminated.
"Through hard work, the support of my community, and a lifetime of service - from community organizer to state Representative to Milwaukee County executive - I've fought to create good-paying jobs, strengthen our public education system, make our communities safer, and ensure working families have the opportunity to thrive," Crowley said in a statement.
Crowley lives in Milwaukee with his wife, Ericka, and their three daughters.
Roys, 47, was born in Marshfield and spent her early years in Taylor County.
Her family moved to Madison, and she graduated from Madison East High School, then went to New York University, where she got a bachelor's degree. After that she returned to Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Roys worked at the Wisconsin Innocence Project during law school, then became executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. As an advocate, she worked to secure bipartisan support for the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Act, which requires all Wisconsin hospitals to provide information about emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault and to dispense it immediately upon request.
Roys was elected to the Assembly in 2008, where she served four years. During that time she coauthored the BPA Free Kids Act, which made Wisconsin one of the first states to prohibit the manufacture and sale of baby bottles and cups for children that contain bisphenol A. She was also an author of the 2009 "Healthy Youth Act" requiring public schools to provide medically accurate, age appropriate instruction in human growth and development.
In 2012, she ran for the congressional seat vacated by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, but lost to U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan.
Roys then ran in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary but finished third, receiving 14% of the primary vote.
In 2020, she won a seven-way primary and was elected to the state Senate, and won reelection in 2024. Roys is a member of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which oversees the state budget. During her time in the state Senate, 56 of the 1,831 measures that Roys authored, sponsored or cosponsored have become law, according to Legislative Reference Bureau data.
"Kelda is the only candidate in this race who has had the courage and conviction necessary to turn progressive ideas into law working with Democrats and Republicans alike. Throughout the state, people are tired of empty slogans and want their government to deliver results," Roys spokesman Jalen Knuteson said in an email.
Roys lives in Madison with her husband and three daughters, and has two stepdaughters.
Brennan was raised in the Milwaukee area and attended Marquette University High School.
He earned his bachelor's degree in English from Marquette University, and has a master's degree from the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.
Brennan, 56, was president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, made up of 200 leaders from business, financial institutions, nonprofits and other groups. He left that role when he launched his campaign for governor late last year.
Brennan previously served as secretary of the Department of Administration during Gov. Tony Evers' first term. During that time, he worked to oversee the distribution of federal relief funds during the height of Covid-19 pandemic.
He also played a key role in the state budget and the renegotiation of the contract between the state and Foxconn to reflect a significantly scaled back project.
Brennan was one of the few Cabinet officials unanimously confirmed by Senate Republicans.
Before joining Evers' administration, Brennan spent about 12 years as the president and CEO of Discovery World, a popular science museum on Milwaukee's lakefront. He was also previously a vice president for the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau, now Visit Milwaukee.
Earlier in his career, he ran campaigns for former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and led the Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority under Barrett. And he worked in government relations at Miller Brewing Company.
"But what he'd probably tell you first is this: he grew up one of eleven kids in Wisconsin, worked five jobs to put himself through college, and raised his own family here," a spokeswoman for his campaign said. "He knows what it means when the numbers don't add up — because he lived it."
Brennan and his wife, Audra, have two teenage children.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about the 4 Democrats on the Aug. 11 ballot for governor