'She's in a tough place': Evers stands by Hong criticism; vouchers emerge as key disagreement in Dem primary

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- With five days until Democratic voters decide their party's nominee for governor, Gov. Tony Evers escalated his criticism of State Rep. Francesca Hong, the current frontrunner in the Democratic primary, based on recent polling.

Evers is backing Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the primary. Evers and Crowley stood together and spoke with reporters Thursday following opening ceremonies at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Evers recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he believes Hong "probably" could not beat the GOP nominee, Congressman Tom Tiffany in November. Thursday, Evers stood by those comments, pointing to national attention Hong has gotten over a 2020 tweet calling to "cancel Thanksgiving."

Hong has backtracked on those comments in recent days, saying she loves the holiday while also saying it is "painful" for many communities, a reference to the country's history treatment of Native Americans.

"She was talking about Thanksgiving, and she really likes it, but she doesn't like it. Come on," Evers said. "I think she's in a tough place. She has spent her entire campaign dealing with not with the issues, but what's on the Twitter."

Hong spent Thursday campaigning in the northwest part of the state, including stops in Chippewa Falls and Menomonie. Her campaign manager, Becky Cooper, pushed back on the idea Hong was making her old social media posts an issue during the campaign's final days.

"Governor Evers is entitled to support his preferred candidate, but his characterization of our campaign does not reflect the race we have run," Cooper told CBS 58 in a statement. "Rep. Hong is not the one spending her time talking about seven-year-old tweets. Others continue to bring them up in an effort to distract from the strong support her policy platform has earned across Wisconsin."

An internal poll shared by the Crowley campaign this week shows Hong leading Crowley 42% to 24% when the question includes the two long-shot Democrats, State Sen. Kelda Roys and former Evers cabinet official Joel Brennan.

When it's just Hong and Crowley head-to-head, Hong led 52% to 33%, according to Crowley's internal poll.

Candidates split on issue of school vouchers

One of the more divisive issues in Democratic state politics is what should happen to the school voucher program, which allows low-income families to receive public funding they can use toward private school tuition.

In Milwaukee, about 52% of the city's nearly 109,000 publicly funded K-12 students attend Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), according to the Milwaukee-based education think tank, City Forward Collective. About 30,000 of those students are attending private choice schools using vouchers.

Hong said on the Pod Save America podcast she would want to begin sunsetting the Milwaukee choice program in 2030.

"I believe it's important for folks to know that families actually can receive a tax credit for private school tuition, but right now, administration of that voucher program is costing our state over $1.2 billion," Hong said in that interview. "Sunsetting that program for Milwaukee, for us, we're looking at at least the next- second or third session, so that would be around 2030, but again, we want to make sure MPS is a partner with us."

Crowley told reporters at the fair Thursday he felt Hong's position was irresponsible. Hong would let students currently receiving vouchers finish their K-12 education in the schools of their choice, but Crowley said funneling new students to only attend MPS in 2030 would strain both the state's largest district and families seeking the best schools for their kids.

National testing data show MPS has outcomes that rank as some of the nation's worst among large urban districts.

"To say you're gonna end this system and push all these children back into the public schools who don't have enough resources right now, lets me know you're not concerned about how that's gonna burden the public school system," Crowley said. "Or even place burdens on this community or those families that utilize it."

Roys has also called for ending the school voucher program, starting with statewide choice vouchers in the 2027-28 school year, while sunsetting the Milwaukee and Racine voucher programs on a longer timeline.

"Every child currently enrolled in MPS and Racine United will be allowed to continue to attend the school of their choosing, as well as their siblings, until they graduate," Roys' campaign shared in a K-12 policy plan it released last month. "Over time, the number of voucher students will naturally decline and we will increase the quality and capacity of the public schools."

Brennan does not support eliminating the voucher program. However, he wants to ensure the program's enrollment cap remains in place. In a position nearly all Democrats hold, Brennan said he wants voucher schools to be subject to the same regulations as public schools.

"Any school that takes taxpayer money should meet accountability and transparency standards that public schools are held to," Brennan said in a statement. "I want all schools to be held accountable for quality outcomes and stronger performance, and that will be my focus as governor."