Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate won’t disavow past calls to abolish police

A review of social media posts and public statements has revived scrutiny of Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s past calls to abolish police departments, a position most Democrats have abandoned.

Hong, who currently serves as a state representative, called for abolishing police in posts from 2020 and 2021, according to a CNN KFile review published earlier this month. In an August 2020 X post, she backed defunding police as a path to dismantling departments, while an October 2021 post framed police as instruments of white supremacy and dismissed reform as a solution.

The lawmaker does not deny her past support for abolishing police, CNN reports. But now, she says she does not support “arbitrary cuts” to public safety budgets, though she questions whether existing funds are spent efficiently. Abolishing police drew just 27% support among Asian Americans even at the height of the 2020 racial justice protests, a Gallup poll found. “Defunding police” has since become politically toxic for Democrats.

Born to South Korean immigrants, the 37-year-old made history as Wisconsin’s first Asian American state legislator in 2020 and belongs to the legislature’s four-member Socialist Caucus. A single mother who rose from restaurant kitchens to elected office, she entered the race as a self-styled progressive challenger to the party establishment in the state’s first open governor’s race since 2010.

She is campaigning on universal childcare, paid leave, public school funding and cheaper healthcare while refusing corporate PAC money. Her grassroots progressivism has drawn comparisons to fellow Asian American leaders like New York’s Zohran Mamdani and Boston’s Michelle Wu.

Defending her posts, Hong told CNN that as anti-Asian rhetoric fueled attacks nationwide, “it was completely reasonable for people to call out racism.” For many Asian American voters, her record sits at the intersection of racial justice activism and the political risk of holding a position her own party has fled. At present, she leads a Democratic field still largely undecided.

The primary winner will face Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany.