Commentary, Politics

Wisconsin’s Next Governor Could Be a Genuine Socialist Who Once Wanted to Abolish the Police

Posted on by Bill McCarthy

Francesca Hong is not playing around. The Madison state representative and democratic socialist is leading the crowded Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor. Recent polls put her ahead of the field, sometimes by double digits, with the August 11 primary approaching. Local DSA chapters in Madison and Milwaukee have endorsed her. She identifies as a democratic socialist. Establishment Democrats are panicking because they know what a general election against Republican Tom Tiffany looks like in a state Donald Trump carried. Hong is the real article, not a watered-down progressive.

The Record on Police

Hong did not merely flirt with “defund the police.” She said the quiet part out loud. In 2020 she wrote that she supported “defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.” In 2021 she declared, “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option.” Those posts were not deleted. When pressed during the campaign, she has refused to renounce the long-term vision. She now says a governor cannot defund police and that she will not sign a budget that cuts law enforcement funding. She talks about “systems of care” and investing in prevention instead of “governing by slogan.” The original position remains on the record. The campaign version is the soft sell for swing-state voters.

ICE and the Border Apparatus

Hong has been consistent and aggressive on Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has called for the immediate abolition of ICE, describing it as a “rogue agency” composed of “white supremacists.” As a legislator she introduced bills to end state and local cooperation with ICE, expand legal aid for people facing deportation, and require greater transparency from officers. Her campaign platform repeats the call to abolish the agency at the federal level while using every state tool available to obstruct its work in Wisconsin. This is not border security with a progressive gloss. It is open opposition to federal immigration enforcement.

The Broader Radical Agenda

Hong’s platform centers permanent affordability through higher minimum wages (to $15 with a path to $20), expanded public healthcare, universal childcare, fully funded schools, paid leave, and aggressive moves against corporate power and private equity. She has pushed for a moratorium on new AI data centers. On criminal justice she backs packages that expand expungement, improve prison conditions, reduce incarceration, and shift resources toward non-carceral approaches. She frames the system as rigged by oligarchs against workers and small businesses. She has opposed certain National Guard deployments and promised to resist what she calls illegal federal overreach. The DSA endorsement from Wisconsin chapters fits the pattern: she is their vehicle to take the socialist project statewide.

The Political Reality

Hong is surging because the progressive base is energized and the Democratic field is fractured. Outgoing Governor Tony Evers endorsed a more conventional alternative. Centrist Democrats worry openly that nominating her hands the governorship to Tiffany. Some Democrats have already said they would vote Republican in the general if she is the nominee. Hong insists the movement can win Wisconsin. The numbers in a purple state that has voted for Trump twice suggest otherwise. A candidate who once called for abolishing the police and still demands the abolition of ICE is not a mainstream choice in a state that prioritizes public safety and order.

This is not a moderate Democrat with progressive leanings. Francesca Hong is a democratic socialist with a documented record of radical positions on policing, immigration enforcement, and the role of government. The primary will decide whether Wisconsin Democrats nominate her. The general election will decide whether that choice costs them the governor’s mansion.

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