Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Francesca Hong’s defeat won’t stop the DSA
The Spectator ^ | 08/11/26 | Freddy Gray

Posted on 08/12/2026 6:01:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

So, at time of writing, it looks as if voters don’t want to cancel Thanksgiving – on balance, at least.

Come November, however, few Democrats will be expressing gratitude for their party’s vote-tabulation systems.

Francesca Hong, it seems, will not be America’s first avowedly socialist state governor. She appears to have just lost an extremely tight primary to David Crowley, a Milwaukee County executive, in the gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin.

The long-view – and already ubiquitous – reaction to this news is to mark it down as a major blow for the Democratic Socialists of America and their bid to take over the Democratic establishment. But the more immediate takeaway is two-fold: pollsters are very bad at divining Democratic primaries – and Democratic primary officials are hopeless at tallying votes.

The primary ended in farce early this morning as Milwaukee County workers reportedly had to recover five USB sticks with vote counts on them, only for those sticks to apparently be blank – or something, nobody seems entirely sure. But what is certain is that the Wisconsin polls predicting a comfortable victory for Hong were wildly wrong – and did not take into account the peculiar dynamics of the race. Crowley only became the clear moderate choice late in the process – and mainstream voters duly flocked to him over Hong, a proud DSA member with a long record of expressing barmy radical opinions. Polling companies failed to anticipate or identify those shifts. They made a similar mistake in not identifying late trends in last week’s Senate primary in Michigan, which ended up being a far narrower victory for the DSA-aligned – but not affiliated – candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

But the real story should not be how Hong lost. It should be how on earth she came so close to being the Democratic choice for Wisconsin in a very high turnout primary in such an important swing state. Like many DSA members, Hong has said she wants to abolish the police because law enforcement agencies “uphold white supremacy.” She’s also expressed discomfort at the fact her bi-racial son gives her a “proximity to whiteness.” She has supported the abolition of the Senate, supported public-owned grocery stores and banks, and opposed Valentine’s Day. In 2019 she tweeted the following:

“I’m doin a 6-course dinner inspired by menstruation alongside my friends Autumn and Kel. There will be booze too. Come hang.”

And, on CNN a few weeks ago, she declined to disavow her stated view that Thanksgiving should be annulled – insisting instead that she was a trained chef who knew all about bringing people together (to celebrate catamenia, for instance.)

In comparison to Hong, El-Sayed comes across as Obamaesque in his political professionalism. And yet she came within a whisker of being the Democratic nominee for governor in a state Donald Trump won twice. None of this means the party’s voters are returning to the establishment’s preferred path.

No, it suggests that successful Democratic candidates are now the ones who bridge the gap between the hard and soft left of their party – as El-Sayed just about did in Michigan, and as the Ojibwe Native American activist Peggy Flanagan did in her Minnesota senate primary last night. Flanagan is not a DSA member, but she was the progressive choice – backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, the party’s elder socialist statesman.

She won by 20 percent in a primary cycle dominated by debates about immigration enforcement. She is now the strong favorite to win against Michele Tafoya, the Republican former National Football League sideline reporter.

Just a couple of years ago, Republican strategists would have found it easy to cast Flanagan as a far-left lunatic. Their problem in 2026 is that, compared to Hong and the popular DSA fringe, she seems to many to be the reassuringly sensible choice.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: dsa; fearmongering; francescahong; wisconsin

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last

1 posted on 08/12/2026 6:01:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

What I take away from this is that the cancer of insanity infecting this country has spread far too wide. That this lunatic / narcissistic psychopath even go this close before some margin of sanity crept in is very frightening.


2 posted on 08/12/2026 6:08:16 AM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Cancel the anti-truth, anti-individual, anti-freedom, anti-American, anti-life POS collectivists.


3 posted on 08/12/2026 6:08:38 AM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

This reduces the risk of another communist in power.

But this also reduces the chances of having a Republican Governor.


4 posted on 08/12/2026 6:08:58 AM PDT by MV=PY (The Magic Question: Who's paying for it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The DSA starts in educrats who push Communism to kids. Then it infiltrates the cities and they care less about areas outside those cities. The triumph of the CCCP, 35 years after the end of the CCCP.


5 posted on 08/12/2026 6:09:49 AM PDT by WhiteHatBobby0701
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I believe Flanagan wants to end all aid to Israel.

I just wish the blue collar union members in Minnesota would realize that the “new” Demorat candidates are not like Hubert Humphrey or even Walter Mondale.


6 posted on 08/12/2026 6:12:53 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The election was so close it will serve as a motivator for the dsa.


7 posted on 08/12/2026 6:14:58 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America....so great even the people that hate it won't leave!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Among the many stupid things that Francesca Ding Dong Hong is reported to have said, unless the boy was adopted, her bi-racial son that gives her a “proximity to whiteness” means that she had to have pretty darn close proximity to a White dude at some point in her life.

She love him long time...


8 posted on 08/12/2026 6:15:39 AM PDT by pburiak (You really think we can vote our way out of this? That's so cute...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Maine Mariner

Most of those that voted for Humphrey and Mondale aint breathing anymore. And most young people dont know them.


9 posted on 08/12/2026 6:22:49 AM PDT by Gasshog (s'lfkgjsl)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson

“What I take away from this is that the cancer of insanity infecting this country has spread far too wide. That this lunatic / narcissistic psychopath even go this close before some margin of sanity crept in is very frightening.”

Worth repeating. I agree 100%.


10 posted on 08/12/2026 6:23:02 AM PDT by brownsfan (We are already on the slippery slope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Gasshog

Good point!


11 posted on 08/12/2026 6:24:21 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

ALL these DSA whackjobs are highlighted and held up by the media, to whom ALL credit goes.
This particular crazy is a diagnosed psychotic and that she would even be considered by the DNC is rather telling on THEM.

And don’t be fooled by the media’s hysteria about a “break” in the party- democrats have been in bed with the communists since at LEAST the 50s. Republicans tried to stop them with the Communist Control Act. They at least slowed them down.
The BIGGEST mistake the DNC ever made was in ever assuming they could control their crazies. Well islam and the DSA are showing them how wrong they were.


12 posted on 08/12/2026 6:30:18 AM PDT by 13Sisters76 ("It is amazing how many people mistake a certain hip snideness for sophistication. " Thos. Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

I know a lot of people, including some here on Free Republic, say that young people are attracted to socialism, because buying a house is so expensive nowadays.

And then young people believe the propaganda that Republicans are racist, Trump is fascist, and all of that stuff.


13 posted on 08/12/2026 6:39:10 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

The Dems are quite skilled in manipulating elections.
Maybe they decided to get rid of Hong the same way as they “narrowly” beat many Republicans?
Just my speculation.


14 posted on 08/12/2026 6:39:58 AM PDT by AZJeep (sane )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: AZJeep

I don’t think so. You can’t cheat to a 20 point swing without it being too glaringly obvious to ignore. But i think the DSA should spread the theory that the vote was stolen and call on their voters to boycott the general as a show of their power to blow up the party if they don’t get in line. (I can hope, can’t I?)


15 posted on 08/12/2026 6:44:42 AM PDT by j.havenfarm (25 years on Free Republic, 12/10/25! More than 12,750 replies and still not shutting up!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

While it is a disappointment that the Democrats crazier candidate did not win there is still much to be happy about for our side the actual Americans trying to fend off the New Axis of Evil’s attack, the. Fact that 40% of Democrat primary votes went to a lunatic that hates America is great news.
There is every reason to believe that most of her voters will not vote for the Democrat handed to them by the establishment that they hate. This immediately cripples Crowley as he now has 85 days to prove he is not Hong. When a candidate is explaing he is not gaining. Since Democrats vote in locks step
Every anti American vote he has made will be a new question for him to answer.


16 posted on 08/12/2026 6:46:41 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

“propaganda that Republicans are racist, Trump is fascist, and all of that stuff”

You can thank the indoctrination program in public schools and in universities for that.


17 posted on 08/12/2026 6:47:39 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America....so great even the people that hate it won't leave!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson

“What I take away from this is that the cancer of insanity infecting this country has spread far too wide. That this lunatic / narcissistic psychopath even go this close before some margin of sanity crept in is very frightening.”

Note how it really kicked into gear once women became the majority of university students.


18 posted on 08/12/2026 6:47:53 AM PDT by BobL (Trusting one's doctor is the #1 health mistake one can make.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: j.havenfarm
You can’t cheat to a 20 point swing without it being too glaringly obvious to ignore.

Oh, what do you want to bet that they did exactly that. The whole "blank thumb drives" thing screams shenanigans.
19 posted on 08/12/2026 6:48:56 AM PDT by Antoninus (Confusion and disorder to the Left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It’s the old, “I’m wanted for murder in Georgia” trick.


20 posted on 08/12/2026 6:51:35 AM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless aDonald Trump ppl ppl)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson