A state lawmaker from Madison, Francesca Hong wants to be the next governor of Wisconsin. The 37 year oldused to run a restaurant and now one of the front runners in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination..
But one issue is causing her trouble and is concerning voters: what she has said about the police.
What she said
In May, CNN looked back at her old posts and interviews. Here is what they found: In 2020, after police shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Hong wrote that she supported defunding the police as a first step toward ending police departments altogether.
In 2021, she went further. She wrote that police uphold white supremacy. She said defunding should come first, then abolition. She said reform was not an option. In other posts that year, she called for an end to the “police state.” She also shared posts from others that called to disarm and dismantle the police.
These were not one-time comments. CNN found the same idea in many posts and interviews over several years.
What she says now
Hong has not deleted most of these posts. She has not taken them back, either. Instead she doubled down on them adding that it’s a long-term vision of hers but not her current focus.
When CNN asked her about them, she did not say she was wrong. She said the posts were part of a bigger conversation about how the system is not working. However, Hong doesn’t have a plan on her campaign website that shows voters a blueprint for what her vision would entail. It’s more of a “vote first, find out later” proposition.
Why it matters
Most Americans do not agree with ending police departments. A 2020 Gallup poll found only 15% supported abolishing police, even at the peak of the protests. By 2021, an Axios/Ipsos poll found 70% of people opposed the “defund the police” movement.
Many Democratic leaders have moved away from this language. Mayors in big cities backed off defunding years ago. Hong’s main rivals are Mandela Barnes, who has called police budgets “over-bloated” and Sara Rodriguez, who has supported public safety. Neither of Hong’s main rivals have come out for Defund the Police, let alone abolition of police.
That is why this matters in the race. The Democratic primary is August 11. The winner will face a Republican, likely Congressman Tom Tiffany, in November. Republicans are already using Hong’s posts against her. Some Democrats worry the issue could hurt the party in a close state. Even some voters who like Hong say this position is too far for them.
The bottom line
Hong said clearly, many times, that she wanted to defund and then end or abolish police departments. She has not disowned those words. But she now says ending police is a distant idea with no clear policy for voters to dissect before the primary.
Voters will have to decide if that answer works for them.
