Wisconsin democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong, the Democratic primary frontrunner in the race for governor, sidestepped repeated questions from Politico reporter Jonathan Martin on Tuesday at Marquette University in Milwaukee about whether she still wants to abolish police, following a televised debate in which she pledged to preserve law enforcement funding amid scrutiny of her previous position.
“So this system is not working,” Hong said. “If we want to be serious, we better be putting these billions into things we know prevent crime.”
Martin asked whether Hong still wanted to abolish police in the long term. Hong did not answer yes or no, instead calling for “systems of care” and redirecting criminal justice spending before a campaign aide ushered her away.
“I believe that we have to be serious about public safety, and I’m going to be a governor that is more serious than anyone else in making sure that we are building systems of care,” Hong said.
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Hong campaign communications director Allison Geyer told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the candidate had not changed her underlying values on police and prison abolition, although she now discusses the issue differently.
“Rep. Hong has spoken in the past about police and prison abolition as an aspirational goal, akin to eradicating disease or eliminating poverty,” Geyer said. “Her values haven’t changed, but the way she talks about this issue has.”
Hours earlier, moderators asked Hong and her four Democratic opponents whether they would sign a state budget cutting police funding. All five said they would not.
“The governor cannot defund police, and I am not here to govern by slogan,” Hong said. “I am here to make sure I am the governor that’s most serious about public safety.”
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The exchange revived scrutiny of Hong’s comments following the 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Hong called for abolishing police in a 2021 social media post after federal prosecutors declined to charge the officer who shot Blake.
“How is 7 bullets in the back not excessive force,” Hong said. “Police exist to uphold White supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option. My heart breaks for the trauma the Blake family and their community continues to endure.”
She addressed the controversy in a May statement to Fox News Digital but did not say then whether she continued to support abolishing the police.
“There is no way I want to cut resources for public safety,” Hong said. “I don’t like crime. I don’t like unsafe streets. I also don’t like when a member of law enforcement abuses their power.”
On Tuesday, Hong’s campaign told Fox News Digital that the candidate did not recall a social media post she made in 2021 calling to “Abolish the Senate” after the body failed to convict President Donald Trump during impeachment proceedings.
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Hong’s campaign platform calls for state support for noncarceral crime-prevention programs, reentry services, red flag laws, universal background checks and safe-storage requirements. Its public-safety section does not call for eliminating police departments or cutting their funding.
A Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday showed Hong at 38% among Democratic primary voters, up from 26% one week earlier. Former Lt. Gov. Mandella Barnes followed at 16%, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley had 7%, and 34% remained undecided. The survey of 407 primary voters had a 6.6-percentage-point margin of error.
Hong’s rise has unsettled Democrats concerned about the November contest against expected Republican nominee Rep. Tom Tiffany.
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Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist who is not supporting a primary candidate, said Republicans were “trying to pick an opponent they think they can beat.”
“Every Democratic campaign should call this out for what it is: a sneaky, underhanded, blatant attempt to meddle in the democratic process,” Zepecki said in comments published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Joel Brennan, a former Wisconsin Department of Administration secretary under Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, is running against Hong for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
In a memo published by WisPolitics, Brennan said the ads were intended to elevate Hong, “a candidate they are confident they can beat in November because of her extreme positions on defunding police, abolishing prisons and other views out of step with mainstream Wisconsin values.”
Citing a filing with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, WisPolitics reported that the Republican Governors Association has spent nearly $3.6 million on ads labeling Hong dangerously liberal while emphasizing positions likely to appeal to progressive primary voters.
