WI Gov Candidate Francesca Hong Is The Cussy Democratic Socialist Organizer America Needs
Vibes and substance too!
When Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced last summer that he wouldn’t run for a third term, a great big bunch of contenders jumped into the race for the August 11 Democratic primary. The best-known name in the field is former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who in 2022 put up a serious but unsuccessful challenge to Sen. Ron Johnson, one of the biggest Republican idiots in the Senate.
But while a March Marquette Law School Poll showed that Barnes was the only Democratic candidate with name recognition above 50 percent, the candidate generating the most buzz is state Rep. Francesca Hong, a Madison restaurant owner, unapologetic democratic socialist, community organizer, and single mom who’s being compared to that one guy in New York City who we love so much.
Like Zohran Mamdani, Hong isn’t just connecting with people because she has good policy ideas (which she does). She’s also connecting because she’s a hell of a good communicator who’s making campaigning joyful and fun. She engages with voters by reminding them that democracy isn’t just about voting, it’s about participating in making your community a good place to live. And that doesn’t come off as just a slogan.
You can get a sense of that from Hong’s campaign announcement video from last September, which hits all the right populist buttons, and is another entry in the very welcome “candidates get strategically cussy” genre. In this era, being cheerfully profane is entirely appropriate.
“We’ve been told that doing better isn’t possible,” Hong says. “Well, let me tell you: That’s bullshit. All we need to do is fight together.” (Two points off, however, for the record scratch sound effect just before “that’s bullshit.” At least it’s not too loud. We are tough but fair.)
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To get a good sense of why Hong is capturing the imagination and enthusiasm of voters, see this terrific profile by Wisconsin politics maven Dan Shafer, who was struck by “how normal the conversation feels,” unlike the usual sense that a candidate is engaged in a performance for the sake of selling you something.
Here’s a snapshot:
Many supporters describe Hong not simply as a candidate they agree with politically, but as someone who feels authentic in a political environment that often seems manufactured.
“I don’t normally volunteer for politicians,” said Brittney Neidhardt, a Milwaukee social worker volunteering with the campaign. “She is a very genuine person, and I think that is so rare. She really does care.”
At a campaign event / fundraising concert in Milwaukee, Hong followed her stump speech by singing “I Will Survive,” which Shafer says is “becoming her go-to karaoke song to sing on the campaign trail.” (Take a moment to go watch Shafer’s video, which we can’t embed here.) She explains that “Songs about perseverance and moving forward are always fun for everyone.” And you aren’t likely to see a lot of other serious gubernatorial candidates having so much fun.
Also too, this week Hong held a “bring your own cheese” get-together at a Milwaukee bar — possibly one of those hipster places, we don’t know — with a “no cheese minimum” and a call to “Bring your favorite cheese, your strongest cheese opinions and thoughts on Fran’s policies, or just your appreciation for a gouda time.” If that isn’t just Wisconsin AF we don’t know what is. Unafraid to be cheesy, and happy to shoot the bries with voters. [Here, Dok fired himself again. But he got cheddar.]
Beyond the Happy Warrior vibes, Hong also brings serious policy chops to the campaign, with a detailed, ambitious set of proposals for public education, healthcare, housing, and worker rights. She tells Shafer that when people vote for better government, they should get results:
People need to “feel material conditions changing in their lives within the first two years of us governing,” she said. “I see local government, public education, and healthcare as a way for us to enact both short-term, stop-the-bleeding, smaller items while keeping a big vision — moving towards a full public option and cheaper healthcare for everyone, making sure that every municipality is able to meet budgets … and that through investing in public education, we’re lowering property taxes and making sure that people are able to keep their schools open.”
Mind you, actually getting results will also require Wisconsin voters to elect a Democratic trifecta. That’s finally a real possibility now that the state’s electoral maps have finally been unfucked, ending a decade and a half of obscene Republican gerrymandering.
That victory for democracy came in large part from voters electing and maintaining a progressive majority on the state supreme court over the last few years. Here’s hoping that same energy continues this fall; Crom knows Trump and his party are doing everything they can to keep voters pissed off and in the mood to tell them to GTFO.
Of course, many of the reasons Wisconsin Dems are enamored with Hong will become points of attack for Republicans supporting likely nominee Tom Tiffany: OMG she’s a socialist and wants government to work well, the horror. The comparisons to Mamdani that get progressives excited are already being pushed as liabilities by the GOP, summed up with the dismissive slogan “Wisconsin isn’t New York City.” True — but good ideas and a passionate belief in people power aren’t only for New York, either.
As Garrett Bucks explains in a brilliant essay with implications far beyond Wisconsin, worrying about “electability” is a mug’s game, because it gives the opponents of progressive candidates — or an imagined version of those opponents — far more influence than they deserve. Yes, says Bucks, if Hong is the nominee, “the Republican general election campaign will no doubt hit world record levels of cravenness.” The answer is not to seek a nominee who won’t upset Republicans, because that person doesn’t exist. The answer is to organize and bring in all the fractious communities under Democrats’ big “unruly tent,” and to mobilize people to get out and vote:
All I ask of my neighbors is that they spend their energy making the case for their preferred would-be governor, rather than opining about how Wisconsinites are too racist, sexist or easily swayed by anti-defund-the-police attack ads to vote for Hong. Don’t waste your wild and precious life prognosticating. If you’ve chosen your fighter, hype them up.
Hell yes. There’s so much to like about Francesca Hong, and no need to be defensive about it at all. Bring your cheese, sing karaoke, send her some money, and get her into office!
[The White Pages / The Recombobulation Area / Francesca Hong for Governor]
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Oh what a friend we have in cheeses.
Dok is the GOAT('s cheese).
Yes, I know. I'll get my coat.