{"id":2643640,"date":"2026-08-12T12:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-congressman-says-democrats-stole-election-from-francesca-hong\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:42:36","slug":"gop-congressman-says-democrats-stole-election-from-francesca-hong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-congressman-says-democrats-stole-election-from-francesca-hong\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP congressman says Democrats &#8216;stole&#8217; election from Francesca Hong"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgop-congressman-says-democrats-stole-election-from-francesca-hong%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2643640&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Republicans are criticizing socialist candidate Francesca Hong&#8217;s recent loss in Wisconsin&#8217;s Democratic gubernatorial primary, with some alleging election theft. the Milwaukee Election Commission reported a &#8220;human error&#8221; involving the downloading of absentee ballots, which delayed official results until the next morning. This mistake, affecting five of nine USB drives used for vote tabulation, sparked social media controversies and claims from conservatives that the election was manipulated. Some GOP figures, including Rep.Derrick Van Orden, accused Democrats of stealing the election and questioned the integrity of digital voting systems, calling for legislative measures like the SAVE America Act to boost election security. Despite the official explanation attributing the error to human mistake, conservative voices interpreted the incident as evidence of election irregularities, with critics pointing out issues with digital vote counting and advocating for paper ballots. Hong&#8217;s narrow defeat marked a setback for progressives amid recent victories over establishment Democrats. She had led significantly in polls before losing by approximately 4,000 votes after vote counts were finalized. Neither hong nor the White House commented on the USB error during her concession.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republicans are questioning socialist candidate <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/4682734\/francesca-hong-loses-david-crowley-democratic-primary-for-wisconsin-governor-race\/\">Francesca Hong<\/a>\u2018s Tuesday night loss in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/wisconsin\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"239\">Wisconsin<\/a>\u2018s Democratic gubernatorial primary, with one GOP congressman labeling the election stolen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milwaukee Election Commission executive director Paulina Gutierrez said that a \u201chuman error\u201d occurred during the downloading of absentee ballots, which delayed the official results until well into Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4684255\/gop-congressman-says-democrats-stole-election-from-socialist-francesca-hong\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>GOP congressman says Democrats \u2018stole\u2019 election from socialist Francesca Hong<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4684230\/aoc-reportedly-splits-fiance-riley-roberts\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>AOC reportedly splits from longtime fiance<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4682838\/socialist-clowns-burning-down-democratic-tent-joe-concha\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Socialist \u2018clowns\u2019 are burning down the Democratic tent: Joe Concha<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gutierrez said at a press conference just after midnight that five of the nine USB drives cataloging votes had accidentally downloaded the \u201caudit log\u201d and \u201cnot the results,\u201d prompting election officials to return to the operations center and redownload the results for the five USB drives in question.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a human error, and these things can happen,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the mistake caused an uproar in conservative circles on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), who represents one of the most competitive districts in the country in western Wisconsin, wrote on X Wednesday morning that \u201cthe democrat establishment stole the election from Hong.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery day Democrats have no choice in who they vote for,\u201d continued Van Orden, a close ally of President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"4\">Donald Trump<\/a> and an avowed election security skeptic. \u201cThe sooner they realize this, the sooner they realize that they\u2019re being used.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hong was seen by many Republicans as a weaker candidate than Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, and some conservatives floated the idea of voting in the Democratic primary to boost her, an idea Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), the GOP gubernatorial nominee, roundly rejected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while progressive voices have yet to claim that the process to amend the USB drive errors amounts to any level of election fraud, a number of other conservative voices began to cry foul over the error.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Martin Walsh, editor-in-chief of the <em>Conservative Brief<\/em>, claimed that \u201csocialists [sounded] off\u201d in response to Gutierrez\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOfficials then \u2018fixed\u2019 the data and uploaded the results,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Socialists sound off after a \u201chuman error\u201d in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after midnight when 5 USB sticks did NOT have election results on them.<\/p>\n<p>Officials then \u201cfixed\u201d the data and uploaded the results.<\/p>\n<p>Socialist Francesca Hong lost the governors race by less than 4,000 votes. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tQQet1vtLM\">pic.twitter.com\/tQQet1vtLM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Martin Walsh (@martinwalsh__) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/martinwalsh__\/status\/2087502516464373823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teri Christoph published a column on <em>Red State<\/em> Wednesday morning discussing \u201cthe curious case of five USB sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow did five out of nine of the USB sticks leave the election facility without the correct results and files?\u201d she wrote. \u201cHere\u2019s a second question: maybe we should just use paper ballots? Digital technology doesn\u2019t seem to be doing our election system any favors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some took the opportunity to call on senators to pass the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/save-america-act\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"22939\">SAVE America Act<\/a>, a voter ID and election integrity bill that remains held up in the Senate, even as Trump repeatedly calls on them to do so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alex Bruesewitz, a GOP strategist who advises the White House, wrote on social media that the mishap \u201cis yet another reason the Senate needs to pass the SAVE America Act as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conservative commentator Benny Johnson shared a clip claiming that NBC News\u2019 election analyst Steve Kornacki was left \u201cspeechless\u201d after \u201cfinding out 5 USB sticks in Milwaukee were MISSING RESULTS.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NBC\u2019s reaction to finding out 5 USB sticks in Milwaukee were MISSING RESULTS of the Election at midnight is priceless.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Kornacki was speechless\u2026 <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Laix1S2CBF\">pic.twitter.com\/Laix1S2CBF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bennyjohnson\/status\/2087528048950169938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hong\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4684090\/progressives-primary-midwest-hong-crowley-flanagan\/\">loss<\/a> marks a significant setback for <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4683133\/battleground-democrats-face-anti-american-baggage\/\">progressives<\/a> following a series of impressive wins against establishment Democrats, most recently <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/abdul-el-sayed\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"23138\">Abdul el Sayed<\/a>\u2018s victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan\u2019s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, Hong had polled ahead of Crowley by double-digits heading into the primary, but eventually lost by just 4,000 votes once the vote count was finalized Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4683133\/battleground-democrats-face-anti-american-baggage\/\"><strong>FIREWORKS \u2018SUCK,\u2019 FOOTBALL ECHOES \u2018SLAVERY,\u2019 AND \u2018CANCEL THANKSGIVING\u2019: BATTLEGROUND DEMOCRATS FACE ANTI-AMERICANA BAGGAGE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hong did not publicly comment on the USB errors during her concession speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House also declined to comment Wednesday morning, despite Trump\u2019s steady focus on election integrity issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GOP questions Wisconsin primary results, citing ballot download error<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2645,"featured_media":2643641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26224165010246.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3685,6571,6203,5894],"class_list":["post-2643640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-democrats","tag-elections","tag-gop","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26224165010246.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2643640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2643643,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643640\/revisions\/2643643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2643641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2643640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2643640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2643640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}