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She could be America’s first socialist governor

Francesca Hong is running for governor of Wisconsin. We talked to her about how she’d govern this swing state.

Democratic socialists have scored surprising wins in several mayoral and congressional races across the country.

But a swing-state governorship is a different story. In fact, there’s never been a socialist governor in any state in all of American history.

Francesca Hong is trying to make that happen in Wisconsin. A 37-year old former chef and restaurant owner, Hong first ran for office in 2020, when her industry was in crisis due to the pandemic, and won election to the state assembly. After six years there, she’s running for governor.

The primary is on August 11 and, so far, the state’s Democratic establishment has failed to consolidate around one opponent to stop her. (The leading contenders appear to be former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes and current lieutenant governor Sara Rodriguez.)

Republicans in the state appear to be hoping they’ll face Hong in the general election. One GOP-tied Super PAC is spending $2 million to air ads that heavily feature Hong before the primary. And her past comments on policing — “Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option,” she tweeted in 2021 – will give them some ammunition.

Yet, when I reviewed Hong’s platform, I was struck by its relative pragmatism, especially compared to the grander goals often put forward by socialists running from Congress who have fewer budget and political constraints than governors. Many of her top goals, like expanding access to child care and pushing back on data centers, have been adopted by Democratic leaders elsewhere.

Hong doesn’t see it that way, exactly. “Incrementalism is irresponsible,” she told me. “Pushing for the middle or the moderate has not yielded us the wins that we need.”

But as she acknowledged, many of her ambitions will depend on whether non-socialist Democrats manage to win enough state legislative seats to topple a 16-year GOP majority, and, then, what they’d be willing to pass.

I spoke with Hong about how she thinks about being a socialist, about how she hopes to govern differently from traditional Democrats, and about how she’d work to use the powers of the governor to advance some of her more controversial causes like police abolition (which she’s said is still “a very long term vision”). Our conversation, which has been condensed and edited, is below.

Would a socialist governor do things differently?

If you win this governor’s race, you’ll be the first socialist governor in United States history. How should we think about what that means? And how would you govern differently from more traditional Democrats, like your state’s current governor?

I think it means that the people are ready for power to answer to them — ready for a new type of politics. The same plays and players, the policies that we have enacted in the past, have gotten us here. With the struggles with affordability, with the climate crisis, all these different existential crises that are happening — folks are pragmatically demanding a new type of government.

And as a democratic socialist, I plan to govern by ensuring that every policy is focused on bringing more democratic control into our economy and making it work for working class people.

So, let’s drill down into the office of the governor itself. I’ve covered a lot of races with different socialists or left candidates around the country. There are a lot of bold sweeping promises that are made in congressional races.

But, as governor, you’re going to actually have to balance the budget. You’ll have to deal with the legislature. As you were shaping your campaign agenda and your platform, how did you think about these constraints?

Incrementalism is irresponsible. I’m a community organizer. This is a grassroots powered campaign.........

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