“I'm the wild card in this race,” Rep. Francesca Hong told POLITICO in an interview ahead of her campaign launch. | Hong for Governor campaign
MADISON, WI (WSAU) – A Democratic Socialist candidate for Wisconsin Governor went viral on Monday night after sharing a video on X celebrating the New York Knicks’ 2026 NBA championship.
In the post, which has 3.7 million views as of Tuesday afternoon, Francesca Hong can be seen dancing and celebrating while praising fellow Democratic Socialist New York City mayor and friend Zohran Mamdani for the Knicks’ first title in more than 50 years, saying, “New York City elected a socialist mayor, and the Knicks won their first championship in 53 years. Imagine what we could accomplish with a socialist governor in Wisconsin?”
Hong, a Wisconsin State Representative for the 76th District in Madison, defines socialism as a system that “is ultimately about meeting people’s needs” and is a “force for good” while campaigning for a variety of policies, including universal childcare, a $20 minimum wage, and government-owned grocery stores.
Wisconsin’s Republican candidate for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, responded to her post on X, saying, “Respectfully, the Packers have only Super Bowls with Republican governors in office. Let’s make 2027 the year Wisconsin gets both again.”
If Hong becomes Wisconsin’s next governor, she will be the first socialist to hold office in the state since Milwaukee had three openly socialist mayors between 1910 and 1960.
According to a Gallup poll conducted in August of last year, 39% of U.S. adults view socialism positively, a ratio that has stayed relatively steady since 2010, while 54% favor capitalism, down from 60% in 2021. Gallup also ran a study to divide support for socialism by party affiliation, finding that 66% of Democrats support socialism, compared to 14% of Republicans and 38% of Independents.
In a recent WisPolitics straw poll to gauge which candidates had the most support among Wisconsin Democratic convention members, incumbent Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez received 164 votes, followed by Hong with 138 votes. Kelda Roys came in third with 114 votes, David Crowley fourth with 78 votes, Joel Brennan fifth with 52 votes, and Mandela Barnes last with 41 votes.
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