What do state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez and upstart gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong have in common? They’re both outspoken anti-establishment Democrat minority women who are sending the Democrat establishment into a panicked frenzy.
This might be entertaining to watch if it wasn’t so cruel. Both are working class women running in Wisconsin Democrat primaries. They’re being aggressively targeted by a Democrat Party that has increasingly turned its back on working class regular folks in favor of coastal elite snobs and the Hollywood donor oligarchy.
Democrats actually got Ortiz-Velez charged with a ridiculously unconstitutional misdemeanor crime for speech after trying to criminalize her metaphor. They criminalized whistle blowing and criticizing Democrats (not an exaggeration) and then blacked out her criticism of THEM from the police reports and managed to get their attacks into a weirdly vague public complaint that the media all ran big. Then they recruited a super youngish former Tammy Baldwin intern named Ismael Luna to run against her, using the same attacks.
Then, the Milwaukee County Democrat Party sent around a nasty letter announcing they had voted to recommend that the state Democrat Party endorse the youngish Baldwin intern over the experienced incumbent (Ortiz-Velez, who serves a south side Milwaukee district that skews wildly Democrat.)
Newsflash: They’re counting on the affluent white male Walker’s Point gay vote to oust the working class Hispanic woman. This is a fact.
And then Assembly Democrats’ own campaign committee moved to challenge Democrat incumbent Ortiz-Velez’s nomination signatures. This is highly unusual. They don’t want voters to have a chance to vote for her! (They also went after the signatures of another Democrat, Russell Goodwin, a black man who split with Democrats by opposing boys in girls’ sports. See the pattern?)
Harmless Metaphor
In their diatribe, the local party made a big deal about Ortiz-Velez’s disorderly conduct charge that they say stemmed from “allegations involving threats of vi*lence toward fellow Democratic legislators.” This is, of course, completely dishonest because, again, the DA didn’t charge her relating to any alleged threats and a Capitol Police official deemed them to be a figure of speech, a harmless metaphor, and not a real threat at all.
They also take great umbrage that she was in a “feud” with fellow Hispanic legislators over a Latino veterans resolution but leave out that Ortiz-Velez, whose husband is a deceased Latino veteran, was excluded from the resolution by the Legislative Hispanic caucus mean girls’ club, one of whom later called the cops on her, for using a metaphor and for allegedly saying she’d tell the media about their alleged wrongdoing. As if she’s the first legislator in the history of the world to leak stuff to the news media. I didn’t realize that warranted calling the cops.
This crazy letter was outed on social media by an angry south side Milwaukee community organizer named Drea Rodriguez, who ranted that Luna is inexperienced and would be a “puppet.” For good measure, Rodriguez, who believes Ortiz-Velez is being unfairly treated, called Milwaukee Democrats “bigots.”
Sheesh. And this is how they treat their own. Imagine how they’d treat the state if the Democrats get their beloved Trifecta, which is their equivalent of the Holy Grail.
Dumping Oppo Books on Francesca Hong
They’re being a little nicer to Hong. They’re just dumping oppo books on her, outing her credit card bills and her desire to abolish police. When CNN is suddenly tearing apart Hong, you know something is up.
And the summer has just started. It’s not that those things aren’t stories per se. It’s just that the anti-Hong pile on seems so transparently orchestrated. It’s also that the other Dems, who have done or said equally outrageous things, are getting a cakewalk. As I have written before, there are many questions the media could be asking Mandela Barnes and Sara Rodriguez, but aren’t.
My bad. I didn’t realize criticizing Democrats was a crime now. At least they haven’t tried that one on Hong yet.
Give them time. They’re just getting started.
Ruthless.
The message from the Democrat “establishment” is clear. WE are in control. WE have the power. Will it work? Depends if the people get the truth. Do the people control the outcome or the machine? Time will tell. But you need enough money to get the message to the public. And the money will flow against both women. The endorsements will too.
‘Burn the Witches’
It’s a political Crucible. Ask Arthur Miller about accusations and hysteria. Burn the witches!
Let me be clear. I don’t agree with either woman on many ideological issues. But I don’t like injustice, and I can see exactly what’s happening here. Interesting that the party of gender ideology and diversity is being most vicious to the Asian and Hispanic women in their midst (and Russell Goodwin). Meanwhile, the white women and men get a total pass. The Democrat Party is acting like a party of Karens.
Because Ortiz-Velez and Hong are sending the Democrat establishment wild, they’re sending the legacy media wild. Funny how that works. The Democrat and media machines often work in tandem like a teeter-totter. Up and down, united by the ideological pole in the middle. We can all see it.
Simply put: Ortiz-Velez and Hong are a threat. They’ve gone rogue. So, the machine revved into action. Democrats manipulated every lever of institutional power they have. They’re treating Ortiz-Velez and Hong like turncoats who left the Mafia Family and cooperated with the feds. We know what the Sopranos ended up doing to Adriana in the woods.
The machine is not content with disagreement. It’s trying to crush, destroy and ruin these two women. As I’ve written, the Republicans aren’t all great to women who run for office either. Just ask Rebecca Kleefisch or Jennifer Dorow. But that’s another story.
The left is dominated by unions, big donors, non-profits and political leaders. That’s why a reformist Democrat (now independent?) like former DPI candidate Brittany Kinser was also ruthlessly treated by the Democrat machine. Her offense? She wants to make sure kids can read. The horrors. Better lie about her in ads. Better protect the bureaucracy over the kids. No wonder Tony Evers is so increasingly disgusted with his own party.
This is how the Democrat machine operates.
Why Are They Threats?
Ortiz-Velez is a threat to the Democrat machine because she votes with Republicans, according to her, 3% of the time. The horrors. She tells us she perceives that 3% as voting for her district, not the GOP. In other words, Ortiz-Velez is a reliable Democrat vote except when Democrats do things she doesn’t think help her district. I covered a legislative session recently and on vote after vote, she sided with Democrats. Luna has tried to falsely claim that she isn’t a Democrat. That’s not true.
She bucks them here or there when they act against the interest of the people. For example, she was one of the very few Democrats who sided with Gov. Evers and Robin Vos and voted to give the surplus back to taxpayers, including disabled vets, and special ed programs in schools. What a transgression! They’ve responded by trying to get her to leave the Assembly floor, which she publicly outed because it would disenfranchise her constituents. She was willing to stand next to Bob Donovan to argue against emissions testing, which socks her constituents with unnecessary costs to drive.
The party machine hates her because they can’t control her, and because there’s a chance that control of the Legislature could come down to a single vote. Ortiz-Velez. That would make her the most powerful person in Madison. And because she’s sometimes unpredictable, and might not vote for a Democrat speaker (especially the woman who called the cops on her), she needs to be ruined.
Look, I’ve met Ortiz-Velez. She’s a whirling dervish, a fireball of ADHD-style explosive energy. She’s a hyperbolic speaker, theatrically emotional. But she works her tail off for her district. She has a big heart, and it’s in the right place.
‘Out-f*cken-rageous’
Victor Huyke is the publisher of a beloved Latino newspaper. For years, he hand delivered it through a network of Hispanic bakeries, grocery stores and restaurants on Milwaukee’s south side and throughout neighboring counties. He also holds popular community festivals celebrating Puerto Rican heritage, weddings, and offering kids safe indoor trick or treating.
He’s a true independent and community advocate who was part of the citizen revolt against the corrupt pension scheme years ago and is a fixture on the south side. When he’s not picking birds up with broken wings, metaphorically speaking, he is dressed as Santa for Hispanic community orgs.
Victor is a fervent, unabashed supporter of Sylvia Velez-Ortiz.
He told me the Democrats are trying to unfairly crush her. He thinks they’re rolling out endorsements for Luna next. He says Sylvia works tirelessly for her constituents and is 100% in ideological alignment with the pulse of the district on topics from immigration to housing. And because that’s exactly what Victor is, a guy who cares about the people, I believe him. In the midst of all this, he sent me a press release announcing Ortiz-Velez as a grand marshal of the Puerto Rican Day parade.
He wrote that she “exemplifies the strength, heritage and resilient spirit of our community.” He called her a “true champion of our people” whose work on “housing, healthcare accessibility and honoring veterans reflects the best of our values.”
I asked him for a quote about how he believes the Democrat machine has treated Sylvia and he responded “out-f*cken-rageous.” He sent me a lengthy list of bills she sponsored to help her district.
But Why Does the Democrat Establishment Hate Francesca Hong?
What about Hong? Why do establishment Democrats want to destroy her? The nicest read of it is because she is the easiest person for Republican Tom Tiffany to defeat in the governor’s race. And I think that’s true because she wants to abolish police, prisons and perhaps capitalism itself. No one north of Tomah or over 40 is going to vote for that.
But it’s more insidious.
Hong also operates outside the traditional power structure. Her power source comes from a network of disenfranchised socialists, single moms, waitresses and idealistic college kids, not mega donors from California, Reid Hoffman or WEAC. As a result, the Democrat Party can’t control her. She’s a socialist.
This allows her to to take positions against powerful interests, such as when she was the only Democrat governor candidate the other day to raise her paddle at a forum when asked whether she wants a moratorium on data centers.
Like Victor with his bakeries, she’s using coffee shops to spread the word.
She’s actually what Rebecca Cooke, who is actually a wily leftwing operative, is pretending to be. So when they tried to hit her with credit card debt, Hong immediately turned it into a talking point about understanding folks’ economic struggle. The oppo hit just reinforced her core message.
When I spoke at a local event, Reince Priebus, former Trump chief of staff and former Wisconsin GOP chairman, told the crowd it’s the leftwing populists he fears most electorally.
The Wannabe Destroyers’ Tactics Could Backfire
Here’s the bottom line. This is not an endorsement of either women. As noted, they’re both too ideologically left for me. I do think Ortiz-Velez’s match the values of her very Democrat Assembly district, but I think Hong’s values are way out of step with the entire state (I mean, abolishing police?)
It’s a statement, though, that they don’t deserve to be personally ruined for trying to run outside of their machine.
Challenge their ideas, sure. Compete there. But that’s not what is happening here.
Word to the wannabe destroyers: there was another candidate who became the voice of the economically disenfranchised. He was targeted by the elite media, donor elites, and convicted of a ridiculous criminal charges.
His name is Donald J. Trump, and raging at the machine built him. Don’t forget that he ran against the big donors and Republican “establishment” in 2016. Wear that mugshot like Trump, with a hawk-like determination, and carry those bad headlines around like a badge of honor.
Folks really don’t like elites. So being targeted by elites might end up being a net positive these days.
What you’re seeing is a political establishment slowly losing control of the people. This increased with Gaza. It’s fueled by new media platforms like TikTok (which Hong has used to bypass the elite media power structure and go right to the people. This is very dangerous to the party system’s ability to control the narratives that reach the public.) So Hong promptly turned around and created a video of her walking around in a pink blouse proclaiming she’s running against the “rigged” system. Who does that remind you of?
The establishment might have enough residual power to limp its party drones across the finish line. But maybe not.
Time will tell.
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