Tipsheet

Francesca Hong Knows Her Campaign for Governor Is About to Crash and Burn

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  May 29, 2026 9:00 AM

Francesca Hong, the socialist Democrat running to replace Wisconsin's outgoing Governor Tony Evers, knows her campaign is in trouble. After a brutal week where her stance on defunding the police was highlighted by CNN and an interview with her vowing to weaponize the National Guard to arrest ICE agents in the Dairy State was front and center, Hong is in full-blown damage control mode.

She issued a statement, vowing to 'deliver public safety' for the people of Wisconsin.

"Folks, let's talk about public safety," Hong said. "Everyone in Wisconsin deserves to be safe. Safe from crime, safe in their communities, in their homes, safe from abuses of power, and safe from conditions that make communities unsafe in the first place: poverty, a lack of good jobs with good benefits, a lack of affordable housing, under-funded schools, and underfunded out of school programs for our kids.

We love how Hong is speaking to us like we're toddlers who are too stupid to understand big words.

Second, none of those things make communities unsafe. Criminals make communities unsafe, and no criminal commits crimes because the schools are underfunded. They commit crimes because they have poor impulse control, low IQs, and antisocial behaviors. Those are the reasons they're poor, too. What that means is Hong is going to make things really expensive for Wisconsin taxpayers to fund her social programs. Nothing more.

"Right now, Wisconsin isn't delivering that. Our crime rates our falling but our prison population is heading towards record highs," Hong continued. "We keep sending people back to prison for minor rule violations while on probation, often tied to substance use disorders, not new crimes. We are sending people who need treatment into prison beds at an enormous public cost. And Wisconsin incarcerates Black residents at the highest rate in the nation."

Why are they on probation, Hong? Why were they in trouble with the law? If they committed a crime, what does their race have to do with any of this?

Hong is going to cut criminals loose based on their race. It's as simple as that.

"For more than a decade, the Republican legislature has starved local governments of funding, didn't give them their fair share of revenue, so our tax dollars that should have gone to cities and counties, to the people who actually build the things and fund the programs that prevent crime. They don't have adequate resources," Hong said. 

And here's where it gets really funny. Hong blames Republicans for defunding the police.

"If we're going to talk about who defunded public safety in Wisconsin, let's start the conversation there," she said. "Now some cities in our state spend more than half their budgets on police. On tanks, drones, as if military equipment and Flock cameras can solve the problems that close schools, the problems that created affordable housing crises. Well, they can't."

"I don't like crime. I don't like unsafe streets," Hong added. "I don't like when someone in law enforcement abuses their power, and there's no way I'm going to cut public safety. I want to deliver it. That means investing in what the evidence shows prevents crime: affordable housing for everyone, mental healthcare, addiction treatment resources, good jobs with good benefits and fully funded public schools. That's not soft on crime. That's serious about safety."

Yes.

Exactly, and for all the reasons mentioned above.

That she is.

Hong never says police or law enforcement, because in her world, that's not public safety. Massive spending on social programs that don't work and skyrocketing tax rates, however, is what she considers public safety.

Studies have shown that a small group of repeat offenders are responsible for the majority of crime. Jailing those offenders is what lowers crime, and Hong herself admits this by saying Wisconsin's crime rate is falling while the prison population is rising. That's not a coincidence.

Hong is lying. She will defund the police. She will bar ICE from removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities. She has every intention of raising our taxes, spending vast amounts of money, and turning Wisconsin into East Minnesota — a state rife with crime, fraud, and a decline in the quality of life.