威斯康星州麦迪逊讯 —— 距离 8 月 11 日初选投票仅剩不到两周，曼德拉・巴恩斯于周四宣布退出威斯康星州州长民主党初选，这场选战局势再度生变。
这位前副州长在脸书发布视频官宣退选。目前，民主社会主义者弗朗西斯卡・洪正获得党内自由派阵营的强力支持。
就在巴恩斯宣布退选前一天，马凯特大学法学院公布一项针对威斯康星州民主党初选选民的民调。结果显示，弗朗西斯卡・洪大幅领先巴恩斯以及其他候选人，不过仍有约三分之一初选选民尚未确定投票意向。
巴恩斯表示：“谁将成为我们的提名候选人，局势已经十分明朗。”
巴恩斯是第三名宣布退出本次初选的民主党人。两周前，时任副州长萨拉・罗德里格斯因竞选资金丑闻终止竞选；前州经济发展主管米西・休斯则在 6 月退出角逐。
罗德里格斯退选后，密尔沃基县行政长官戴维・克劳利重新加入竞选，并且获得现任州长托尼・埃弗斯的背书。
克劳利直接呼吁巴恩斯的支持者转而投给自己。 他在社交平台写道：“欢迎各位加入我们正在推进的事业。”
埃弗斯周四接受采访时表示，巴恩斯退选的消息令他感到意外。 “但他做出了自己需要做出的选择。我不知道他退选的具体原因，但我相信必然是相当重要的考量。”
埃弗斯重申，他依旧支持克劳利。克劳利曾与埃弗斯、共和党议员合作，推动一项增加地方社区财政拨款的方案。埃弗斯最终选择背书克劳利，而非自己首个任期内的副州长巴恩斯。
埃弗斯称：“即便曼德拉继续参选，克劳利依旧是最合适的候选人。”
记者向弗朗西斯卡・洪发送短信寻求置评，她暂未回应。
参选希望渺茫的候选人乔尔・布伦南表示：“这场初选吸引关注的焦点竟是一系列乱象，而非选举本身的重大意义，对选民而言十分遗憾。”
此时，已有近 12．8 万名选民寄出缺席选票，同时全州提前现场投票进入第三天。周三，一名法官驳回了民主党支持的一项诉讼，该诉讼希望允许已经寄出缺席选票的选民撤销选票、重新投票。
民主党初选胜出者预计将对阵联邦众议员汤姆・蒂法尼。蒂法尼在共和党初选中几乎没有强力对手，并且获得特朗普总统的背书。记者联系蒂法尼寻求评论，他尚未作出回应。
回顾过往，2022 年联邦参议员民主党初选期间，多名对手接连退选，为巴恩斯扫清参选障碍。但在最终大选，他以不到 2．7 万票的微弱差距，败给共和党参议员罗恩・约翰逊。如今巴恩斯再度宣布退出州长初选。
Mandela Barnes drops out of the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor
MADISON， Wis． --Mandela Barnes dropped out ofDemocratic primaryfor Wisconsin governor on Thursday， further shaking up the race less than two weeks before the Aug． 11 election．
The former lieutenant governor made the announcement in a video posted on his Facebook page asdemocratic socialistFrancesca Hong has garnered strong support from the liberal wing of the party．
Barnes’ decision to drop out came a day after the release of a Marquette Law School poll of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters that found Hong leading Barnes and the other candidates by a significant margin， although about one-third of primary voters remained undecided．
“It＇s become very clear who our nominee is going to be，” Barnes said．
Barnes is the third Democrat to withdraw from the race． Lt． Gov． Sara Rodriguezended her runamid a campaign finance scandal two weeks ago and former state economic development director Missy Hughes dropped out in June．
After Rodriguez ended her campaign， Milwaukee County Executive David Crowleyrejoined the racewith the endorsement of Gov． Tony Evers．
Crowley made a direct plea to Barnes＇ supporters to back him．
“There＇s a place for you in what we＇re building，” he posted on social media．
Evers told reporters Thursday that he was surprised by Barnes’ move．
“But he needs to do what he needs to do，” Evers said． “I don’t know why he’s getting out． I have to believe it’s something relatively important．”
Evers said he stuck by his endorsement of Crowley， who worked closely with Evers and Republican lawmakers on a deal to increase funding for local communities． Evers chose to endorse him over Barnes， who served as his lieutenant governor in his first term．
Evers said Crowley was the best candidate “even if Mandela was in．”
Hong did not immediately return a text message seeking comment．
Joel Brennan， a longshot candidate in the race， said “It’s unfortunate for voters that this primary has gotten more attention for chaos than the stakes of this election．＂
The shakeup comes after nearly 128，000 voters have already returned absentee ballots and on the third day of in-person early voting． On Wednesday， ajudge rejecteda lawsuit supported by the Democratic Party seeking to allow voters who have already returned their absentee ballots to cancel them and vote again．
The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face U．S． Rep． Tom Tiffany， who faces only nominal opposition in the Republican primary． Tiffany， who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump， did not immediately return a message seeking comment．
Barnes ending his campaign comes after he benefitted from other candidates dropping out in the Democratic primary race for Senate in 2022 to clear the field for him． He ended up losing by under 27，000 votes that year to Republican U．S． Sen． Ron Johnson．
