Poll Shows Wide Open Primary, Kelda Roys Surges and Forces a Tie After Voters Hear One Message
MADISON – New polling of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters shows State Senator Kelda Roys effectively tied for the lead after voters hear just one positive message about her record and campaign.
The message presented to voters was:
Kelda Roys grew up in rural Wisconsin and is the state senator from Madison, a small business owner, abortion rights advocate, and mom and stepmom of five. She expanded BadgerCare, and as Governor, Kelda has the experience to restore collective bargaining rights, raise wages, fully fund public schools, legalize weed to fund universal child care, and open the state health insurance plan so all can buy into it. Kelda will hold Trump and ICE agents legally accountable for their crimes.
After hearing that message, Roys rose to 21 percent, within the margin of error with Francesca Hong at 25 percent. Mandela Barnes received 16 percent, David Crowley received 9 percent, and Joel Brennan received 6 percent. Twenty four percent of voters remained undecided.
“When voters hear just three sentences about Kelda’s life, record, and plans for Wisconsin, this race becomes a two-way toss-up. Kelda moves to within a single point of the lead, and our campaign has significantly more cash on hand than the rest of the field to make sure voters hear that message. These results came before our $400,000 Milwaukee media buy had time to reach voters, but after the Marquette poll was out of the field, and after the most recent candidate developments,” said campaign manager Jasper Bernstein. “With the strongest bio, most room to grow, and most resources to communicate, Kelda can win this primary. This poll makes clear that when Democratic voters learn who Kelda is and what she will do as governor, they choose her.”
The poll was conducted by Change Research from July 17-19, 2026, among 576 likely Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
A slide deck containing additional poll results and analysis is linked here.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Kelda Roys
