Asked whether Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany might brand her “a radical trans activist,” Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong didn’t dodge the word. She turned it back on the entire country’s wage floor. “What’s radical is that we still have a $7.25 minimum wage,” Hong told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.” It was a blunt reframing of a label Republicans have used against her for months.
Hong, a self-described democratic socialist running for Wisconsin governor, kept building on the point rather than backing off it. “What’s radical is that Tom Tiffany is an election denier,” she continued. “What is radical is the fact that folks all across Wisconsin, many don’t have access to health care right now.” The exchange reframed a personal attack into a policy argument in a matter of seconds.
Hong tied the moment back to what she said voters actually wanted to hear about. “Being able to make sure folks have what they need, when they need them from the state, is something that I believe many Wisconsinites have actually been telling me,” she said, framing healthcare access and wages as the real priorities of her campaign rather than the labels being thrown at her.
Her Platform Went Well Beyond a Talking Point
The $7.25 line wasn’t just a soundbite. Hong’s actual platform called for raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 an hour, alongside state-guaranteed paid leave and a one-year moratorium on new AI data center construction. Her tax plan would have raised income taxes by 1% on individuals earning over $323,000 and couples earning over $431,000, funding the programs she pointed to in the interview.
Hong entered the race as part of a broader wave of democratic socialist candidates breaking through in Democratic primaries nationwide. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had already unseated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral primary, and Hong, alongside figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, became one of the most closely watched names testing whether that momentum could carry into statewide races.
Tiffany’s campaign didn’t let the moment pass quietly. When reached for comment, his campaign pointed to his own line accusing Hong of “choosing to campaign with individuals who said America ‘deserved 9/11,’ called communism the ‘honorable end goal,’ and believe capitalists should be killed,” calling it “certainly a choice.” The back-and-forth set the tone for a primary that was about to get far more unpredictable.
The Race Flipped Upside Down in Its Final Weeks
Just weeks before voters went to the polls, the Democratic field was scrambled. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped her bid, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had briefly exited the race, jumped back in with a late endorsement from outgoing Gov. Tony Evers. A Marquette Law School Poll conducted right after showed Hong still holding a commanding position in the field.
That late-July survey put Hong at 38% among Democratic primary voters, with former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes at 16% and Crowley at 7%, a lead wide enough that Hong looked like the clear frontrunner heading into August. Pollsters noted her strength skewed toward younger and more liberal voters, while Barnes and Crowley performed better with older, more moderate Democrats, a split that would matter far more than anyone expected.
By primary night on August 11, the race had tightened into a dead heat. “We have built something that will change politics forever,” Hong told supporters as results trickled in, according to PBS NewsHour. “I know we don’t have the final results right now, but what I do know is we are ready to keep fighting.” The margin separating her from Crowley kept shrinking as more votes were counted.
Crowley’s Razor-Thin Upset Changed Everything
Crowley ultimately won by just 0.4 percentage points, according to Al Jazeera, finishing at 39.8% to Hong’s 39.4%. Hong’s concession removed the possibility of a recount in a race close enough to trigger one. If elected in November, Crowley would become Wisconsin’s first Black governor, capping one of the closest come-from-behind primary finishes in recent state history.
Crowley now heads into a general election against Tiffany, who cruised to the Republican nomination with 95.3% of the vote and carries President Trump’s endorsement. The matchup pits a moderate Democrat who leaned on Evers’ backing against a Trump-aligned Republican, leaving the more progressive wing of the party, and the coalition Hong built, watching from the sidelines for now.
Hong lost the nomination, but the line that made headlines didn’t lose its resonance. Twenty states still pay workers the federal floor of $7.25 an hour, and the argument she made on live television, that a stagnant minimum wage is the real extremism, is one Democrats in Wisconsin and beyond are likely to keep making long after this particular primary is decided.
