An independent candidate for governor is filming himself going to Milwaukee neighborhoods and stealing campaign yard signs for Francesca Hong and Ryan Clancy, a violation of state law.
Carlos LeMar Dixon posted a video to Facebook on May 27 showing him taking yard signs out of the ground and loading them into his car. He filmed a similar video May 28. He is criticizing democratic socialist candidates based on the Democratic Socialists of America’s original ties to Zionism, which the DSA has since shed.
Hong, a candidate for governor, and Clancy, who is running for reelection to the state Assembly, are both members of the state Legislature’s socialist caucus and have been endorsed by the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America. Both have been vocal and attended rallies in support of Palestine.
On the morning of May 28, Dixon escalated his attacks on the candidates, writing “politician[s] should be grateful that all I want is yard signs and not their heads.”
Hong responded to the news, first reported by the Milwaukee Courier, on her social media platforms.
“This sucks. Yard signs are freedom of speech. Plus, they’re expensive as heck! On the bright side, the reason this guy has been able to steal so many is because thousands of Wisconsinites have asked for them,” Hong said.
Hong’s campaign told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they have ordered another 1,000 signs and “our volunteers are already stepping up to make sure they get back out there as soon as possible.”
Users on Milwaukee’s Reddit page posted May 27 that they noticed a grey vehicle driving around the Riverwest neighborhood picking up campaign yard signs. A few suggested reporting the thefts to the police. The Milwaukee Police Department said May 28 it could not locate any matching calls for service that morning.
State law says no person can “deface, destroy or remove any legally placed election campaign advertising poster,” with penalties up to a $100 fine. Local police say the action can fall under theft and damage to property, which can bring higher fines or jail time. In 2024, a man was fined $900 for stealing political yard signs in Kenosha.
In a phone call with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dixon said he doesn’t believe campaign yard signs constitute posters under that law. Dixon said he would take other candidates’ signs, whether Democratic or Republican.
“Campaigns expect ordinary working people to become unpaid billboards for candidates, while the same candidates often fail to materially improve the lives of the people supporting them,” he said.
Dixon added he was out in Riverwest again May 28 because he sees Holton Street as a dividing line symbolic of Milwaukee’s segregated history.
Clancy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the issues Dixon is raising – such as legalizing cannabis, based on his video dancing and smoking in front of the Milwaukee County Courthouse – are things he and Hong are already addressing through policy proposals.
Clancy said Dixon has spent months criticizing politicians on the left, including at town halls.
“This is a frustrating way to do it, although it is getting him attention,” Clancy said. “I don’t think it’s conducive to a conversation about how we move forward together towards some of the things that he says he believes in.”
Clancy said neither campaign is interested in filing a complaint with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission or seeking charges against Dixon, saying punitive approaches would not be “particularly helpful.”
Dixon is running under the name Wisconsin Rebuild. Campaign finance records show he has contributed around $3,500 to his own campaign and has only a handful of individual donors.
Dixon filed his declaration of candidacy in September 2025 and has submitted his statement of economic interests, according to Wisconsin Elections Commission records. He has not filed nomination papers with signatures from voters, a necessary step to get on the ballot that candidates must complete by June 1.
Dixon says he instead plans to be a write-in candidate for governor and the 4th Congressional District covering Milwaukee, though he said he doesn’t realistically expect his campaigns to succeed.
Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Candidate films himself stealing Francesca Hong, Ryan Clancy signs
Reporting by Hope Karnopp, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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