Wisconsin Democrats have a Francesca Hong mess on their hands.
When she’s not dialing phone numbers on bathroom doors (literally) or voting against making it a felony to groom kids or giving a legislative citation to a penthouse pet or advocating for a hookers’ bill of rights or voting against banning boys in girls’ sports, the F-word-spewing, card-carrying socialist legislator is LEADING in Democrat primary polls for Wisconsin governor. Three of them, to be exact, including the Marquette University Law School poll. That’s what they call a pattern.
Why is that a problem? She may seem trendy and likable now in her stocking cap and catchy social media videos, but wait until voters learn that she’s an anti-capitalist revolutionary. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is defeating Hong in some of the polls, and running close to others, and that’s before most voters learn that Hong:
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- Wants to “abolish the police state.”
- Supports defunding the police “as a first step toward abolishing the police.”
- Believes policing is a “culture that promotes violence.”
- Was endorsed by the “Wisconsin Electoral Socialists” because she is a “leader in Wisconsin’s anti-capitalist movement” and because she has “clearly and intentionally aligned” herself with “police and prison abolition.”
- Is a member of the Legislature’s socialist caucus.
- Called for abolishing ICE and accused ICE of having a “racist agenda.”
She’s not funny or cool. Her views are downright dangerous. And that’s not even the worst of it. Hong is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America. “I spent the weekend at DSA’s How We Win conference,” she wrote, referring to that group. DSA members “have been cultivating connections with Chinese Communist Party officials and agreeing to take pro-China positions,” Newsweek reported.
It’s impossible to overstate how radical DSA’s agenda is. For example, its website says the organization’s platform includes the following statement: “End immigrant detention and deportations, immediate amnesty for all immigrants regardless of current immigration status, and provide access to jobs, labor rights, and social services to all immigrants.”
DSA also wants to abolish cash bail, create a wealth tax, and “raise taxes on the richest earners, for-profit corporations, large inheritances, and private colleges and universities.” The group supports the Green New Deal and “union power.” The group even wants to “extend full voting rights to people with criminal convictions and noncitizens.” Yeah, I get it. Zohran Mamdani is a DSA member who pulled it off. But Wisconsin isn’t New York, and Hong doesn’t have his charisma or force of personality.
There’s more.
- Hong called school vouchers a “scam.”
- She called transgender surgeries “medically necessary” and said she would veto any legislation that she considers anti trans.
- Hong said she will work to reduce the state prison population by 50 percent.
- She said she wants “mobility justice” in the state Department of Transportation.
- She said repealing Act 10 is a “bare minimum.”
Could Hong really pull this primary off?
In an eight-way primary, like the Democrats have, where a candidate could win with just over 20% of the vote, yep. Her lit is apparently strewn around coffee shops all through northern Wisconsin. Her support feels organic. It’s the Bernie Bros. The TikTok crowd. The anti-establishment folks.
Yeah, we know that Hong doesn’t have a large percentage of the vote, either (her polling lead has ranged from 11% to 27% of the vote), and 65% of Democrat primary voters were still undecided in the Marquette poll, but her consistent lead makes her the Democrat Party’s frontrunner. The only other candidate who even comes close is former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who lost a Senate race to Ron Johnson in part because he looked crazy on video and who once argued that reducing prison populations is “sexy.”
Barnes and Hong share a lot in common. Democrats have spent years pandering to the far left of their party. They are now being hoisted on that petard.
The other candidates, including the sitting lieutenant governor (Sara Rodriguez) and the guy Evers wants (David Crowley) barely registered. They both had 3%. The other candidates, including another sitting legislator, did even worse. How embarrassing.
Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany had a net positive favorability rating in the Marquette poll, while ALL of the Democrats were upside down, and the Democrat Party was viewed the most negatively by voters polled. And Tiffany doesn’t have a bloody primary (Tommy Thompson, please keep it that way.) Tiffany showed real strength in the poll. It’s true that Donald Trump’s policies on Iran and tariffs did not fare well in the poll, so this won’t be a cakewalk; Tiffany must establish his own political identity outside of Trump’s endorsement, and focus on local issues as much as possible. The former manager of a campground, who looks like he just walked out of a dairy breakfast, he will be situated to do that.
The Democrat Party’s Conundrum
Here’s the problem for Democrat leaders, who are likely ensconced in a smoke-filled room somewhere pulling their hair out by the roots. Normally, the Democrats are remarkably unified, such as when they all dropped out en masse to clear the way for Barnes to run against Johnson (a mistake as it turned out, but remarkably disciplined unity.)
This time, though, who drops out? It’s a safe bet that Democrat leaders don’t consider Barnes an acceptable choice, either, as that Johnson loss still stings, and he’s got a host of problems. And it’s highly unlikely that either Hong or Barnes would quit anyway – why should they, when they are the only Democrat candidates registering at all?
And if Democrat Party leaders turn on them, they could spark a revolt from identity-obsessed liberal voters who might consider that racist.
Democrat leaders are probably pondering how to get all of the anti-Barnes/Hong voters to coalesce against a single candidate. However, who? Rodriguez is the sitting lieutenant governor, so why should she make way for a bunch of other folks who are doing just as poorly in the polls? Evers wants Crowley, so why should he drop out? And so on. The Evers-Rodriguez rift is contributing to Democrats’ problem.
What a clown show!
That leaves Democrats with two options: Embrace Hong or Barnes (good luck with that), or drop oppo research against them on the sly (but to whom? Dan Bice isn’t writing stories at the moment.)
And that’s why Wisconsin Democrats have a Francesca Hong dilemma.
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