Francesca Hong seeks to bring Wisconsin back to its progressive roots

Presenter: Francesca Hong is the frontrunner for governor in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary this Tuesday. Elected to the State Assembly in 2020, she is the first Asian American member of the Wisconsin Legislature. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, Fran is a chef, service worker, mom, and former small business owner who still picks up bartending and bakery shifts in Madison.

She spoke to the Progressive Democrats of America by phone Aug. 9:

Francesca Hong (Candidate for Wisconsin governor): Good afternoon, everyone. I am stoked to be here with you all. As you can tell, we’re currently on the road. We’re in the middle of our 24-city-stop ‘Get Out the Vote’ tour, so en route to beautiful Eau Claire right now and traveling through the state. And I’m just grateful for this opportunity to join you.

Wisconsin is entering a new era. And I can’t tell you how exciting it is that we get to do this with the power of a movement. We joined this race because this is a movement moment where working-class people all across the state are recognizing every day that the system is deeply rigged against them.

And we have too many politicians right now and not enough public servants, folks who are committed to ensuring that the power of everyday working-class people is what we have to harness to make sure that we can deliver a government that is a force of good, where people all across our state have what they need to live a life of dignity, to have less stress, to have less frustration, to know that they can age with dignity in our state and that our children—all of our children—can have a good future.

I think that’s it, is when you have an authoritarian regime right now, where it feels like an existential crisis too many days, folks are wondering: ‘What fresh hell am I waking up to tomorrow?’

But here at the state, through policies through state government, there is so much we can do to ensure that people have more economic security, that they feel safer, that they have what they need to take care of themselves and their families.

That’s why we’re fighting to fully fund our public schools, to restore workers’ rights by repealing Act 10 and putting a stake in it so everyone has a right to a union and to collectively bargain. What’s extreme, what’s radical is that we still have a $7.25 minimum wage here in our state and a $2.33 tips minimum wage.

I worked in restaurants since I was 16 years old. I owned a small restaurant and tried to make it through COVID, knowing what it’s like to take a five-gallon bucket to empty out a grease trap on a Friday night that might have been overflowing.

It turns out folks across our state want someone who understands the meaning of hard work, and that right now our state isn’t doing what it needs to fund our local governments, to make sure we’ve got good roads, that our farmers have opportunities to make sure that they can keep their farms, that we’re doing everything we can to take on corporate corruption and big tech.

One of the most unifying issues is to fully fund our public schools, a moratorium on data centers, and taxing the ultra-rich.

They say ‘As goes Wisconsin, so goes the nation.’ Our state is where progressivism was born. We have a proud progressive history where this is a state to create kindergarten, where Gaylord Nelson and environmentalism was born, where sewer socialism and the importance of making sure that we have government services that actually work for the public, whether it’s trash removal and good sewer systems and plowing the roads, to making sure that we’ve got some of the best public schools in the nation.

We went from being a laboratory for democracy to conservatism, where now we have a voucher program where public dollars are being siphoned away, where we’re seeing tax giveaways to billionaires and the megacorporations instead of supporting the 99% of businesses in Wisconsin, which are small businesses.

And I think for too long, folks have ignored that it’s in Wisconsin, you know, this is where Social Security was born, where unemployment insurance was born, to help our construction workers when they’re in seasonal work, that these are things for workers by workers, and build a Wisconsin that actually puts everyday working-class folks first because we are the economy.

We are who powers this state, and yet more and more people are getting screwed.

And our movement is multigenerational. Young people are some of our strongest ambassadors. We are giving them the platform and encouraging them that they don’t need permission to lead. They’re hosting the creative, engaging events, the fundraisers that may be concerts. They’re the folks who are in their communities talking to other young people about the fact that we are fighting for a candidate that is fighting for us and fighting for something.

And that’s working-class people to be able to live better lives, for opportunities, to take on big tech, to rein in Flock cameras, to make the things that young people are telling me that they care about, to make sure that we’re creating good-paying jobs with the rights and benefits that they deserve.

And I think, too, what’s inspiring, especially in rural areas, is that, you know, Democratic Party, county party organizers, people who have been knocking doors and fighting for Democrats in these tough purple and red districts, when they see young people coming to their meetings and we’re encouraging them to build that coalition with folks, this is how we carry that forward further.

That’s the coalition that we’re seeing. When we have maybe young folks who aren’t a member of any organization, but they’re going to DSA meetings, they’re going to Democratic county party meetings, and they’re bringing those meetings together. And then folks are going out into the community as a united coalition.

We vote for Democrats down and up the ballot, that we’re fighting to raise wages, to tax the rich, to bring good jobs, to take on data centers.

Remember, as goes Wisconsin, as goes the nation. Please continue to support our Democratic legislative candidates and our campaign to make sure we win back a trifecta, we bring Wisconsin back to its progressive roots and grow something even better that will empower working-class people all across this country. Thank you all so much.

Presenter: That is Francesca Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Wisconsin Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, the frontrunner in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin. To learn more, see her website at FrancescaHong.com.

You’re listening to KEPW 97.3, Whole Community News.