Socialist Francesca Hong Could Be Wisconsin’s Next Governor

A Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and college dropout who, before she was elected to the state legislature in 2020, had worked as a dishwasher, line cook, bartender, and chef, Hong is the front-runner in the race. Many voters remain undecided, though this number seems to have shrunk significantly in recent days. She has the support of a number of progressive organizations and unions across the state. And she seems to be outworking her opponents, none of whom have generated as much enthusiasm, assembled as many statewide volunteers, or received as much money from Wisconsin donors.

A daughter of Korean parents who immigrated to the United States in the 1980s, Hong grew up in Wisconsin. If she wins, she will become part of her home state’s rich socialist history. From 1905 to 1945, the Wisconsin legislature passed over five hundred pieces of legislation authored by socialists, and Wisconsinites sent a socialist to Congress and elected socialist mayors. In 2011, when Hong was in her early twenties, conservative Republican Governor Scott Walker gutted the state and wrenched it rightward, depriving tens of thousands of workers of long-held collective bargaining rights, crippling unions through a right-to-work law, and slashing aid to local schools and governments. Hong’s parents were public sector workers, and her family joined mass protests against Act 10, the 2011 law Walker championed that stripped most public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights.

We are now in what Hong calls a “movement moment.” Democratic socialists have won numerous races throughout the country. In June, New York City DSA, of which I’m a member, won nine out of the ten races in which it endorsed, including two congressional primaries. In western New York, DSA-backed Buffalo attorney Adam Bojak won a state assembly seat, and DSA member and Syracuse-based county legislator Maurice “Mo” Brown beat out one of the longest-serving Democrats in central New York for a seat in the state legislature. Brown’s opponent and allied groups outspent him five to one.

Democratic ⁠socialist Melat Kiros toppled a fifteen-term congresswoman in the primary in a district that includes Denver, Colorado; democratic socialist Chris Rabb won a primary for a House seat in Philadelphia; and democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George is poised to become the mayor of Washington, DC.

Some fear that running a democratic socialist like Hong in a state as politically mixed as Wisconsin will hand the governor’s race to Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican nominee. But lately it seems that running as a democratic socialist — and earning a DSA endorsement — can help candidates more than it hurts them. Hong has been endorsed by a number of Wisconsin DSA chapters, including Madison, Milwaukee, and Northeast Wisconsin.

The Democratic Party establishment is deeply worried about these developments. Their preferred candidates are failing to catch fire with voters, and top Democratic officials and consultants are panicking. Just a few weeks ago, desperate to stop Hong, they were urging candidates and voters to coalesce around Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez. Rodriguez has since dropped out amid a scandal over her ex–campaign manager’s financial mismanagement, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley (also known as “Dirt McGirk”), who had dropped out to back Rodriguez, is back in with Gov. Tony Evers’s blessing. Now that the establishment is lining up behind Crowley, he is gaining in the polls but still lags Hong.

If elected, Hong has vowed to enact universal childcare and paid leave, tax the rich to better fund public schools, lower health care costs and expand Medicaid, provide free school meals to students statewide, establish a state-run public bank, and implement a moratorium on data center construction. Like her predecessor Scott Walker, she could transform the state for decades to come — this time, in a way that could return power to millions of working-class people in Wisconsin and beyond.

Jacobin contributor Raina Lipsitz recently sat down with Hong to discuss those possibilities. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.