Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong, who has backed defunding the police, called 911 in late 2023 to report a protest display featuring a paint-splattered Israeli flag – a decision Hong now says she regrets.
Hong, a democratic socialist and a frontrunner in the primary, has faced scrutiny for supporting the idea of abolishing police departments – as well as blowback in recent weeks for appearing on livestreams with left-wing commentators Hasan Piker and “Mike from PA,” whom critics call antisemitic.
But in late December of 2023, Hong called Madison police twice to report “a highly antisemitic act” that she wanted to be “potentially investigated as a hate crime” after being sent a photograph of a protest display featuring an Israeli flag and fake bodies splattered with red paint, according to a Madison Police Department report and 911 call audio obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
When Hong called police a second time, she said Capitol Police had been notified but that the display, which was on State Street, wasn’t “in their jurisdiction.”
Portions of Hong’s calls to police have been posted to TikTok in recent months.
Asked about placing the calls, Hong said in a statement, “Three years ago, there was a piece of protest art at the encampments in Madison, which was photographed and posted to social media. My constituents reported they felt threatened and alerted me to the social post, but the image was cropped and incomplete to misrepresent anti-Zionism as antisemitism – a distinction I take seriously.”
“Based on their concerns for their safety and my incomplete information, I did something I regret deeply: I called the police and asked them to look into it. This turned out to be a mistake because the image posted to social media was intentionally misleading,” Hong said. “I believe in free speech. I support a free Palestine. The genocide in Gaza and the colonization of the West Bank must end.”
Hong, who represents the downtown Madison area in the state Assembly, called police twice the afternoon of Dec. 23, 2023, and texted Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway to raise concerns about the display, according to the report.
Records also include a call to the non-emergency line from former Madison Ald. MGR Govindarajan, who represented the area on the City Council, reporting the display.
In her first call to police, Hong said she was not at the site of the display but said she had received a photo of it. Hong told the dispatcher she was “trying to figure out what the fastest way to take it down is because I’m not at the location.”
The dispatcher said he would have an officer look into it, but “I don’t know legally if officers can force somebody to take this down.”
Hong inquired if it could be removed because it was on city property, and then said she’d like it to be investigated as a potential hate crime. The dispatcher said officers would first need to investigate whether a crime was committed.
In a second call, Hong again described the display to another dispatcher as “a display of antisemitism that’s pretty disturbing and jarring.”
The officer following up on the call wrote in his report: “The display was removed subsequent to my taking Hong’s call after approximately an hour and a half in which she had contacted the Madison police again to report that she had received numerous phone calls from constituents in the Madison area advising her of the uncouth nature of the display in question.”
After police removed the display, its creator and owner, Jesse Ransom, contacted police because he had previously put a GPS tracker on it and could see that it was moving. Ransom tried to report the removal as a theft, arguing he’d taken steps to comply with city rules.
Ransom said he built the beginning of the display early in December 2023 as part of an ongoing protest action to urge U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin to call for a ceasefire after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent retaliation – which she ultimately did Dec. 21. Ransom said he first parked his bike with the display downtown on Dec. 15.
On Dec. 22, he said, he added items to the display like the Israeli flag “with red paint to symbolize blood being spilled in war.” Ransom has voiced frustration that none of the police reports related to his bike include the fact that the word “CEASEFIRE” was painted on it, along with a phone number to contact Baldwin.
“While exercising my first amendment rights to petition my government and complying with all laws my private property was unlawfully seized by Madison Police department without due process for political speech,” Ransom wrote in a complaint filed with the police over the incident.
A spokeswoman for the Madison Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for an interview.
Display’s creator questioned Hong at campaign event
Ransom later confronted Hong about the incident at a campaign event for Madison school board member Maia Pearson, who was running for state Assembly, in June 2024.
He provided a video of the conversation, during which he calls for a public apology and Hong’s resignation, to the Journal Sentinel.
“I did not know there was a ‘ceasefire now’ sign,” Hong told Ransom, adding that the campaign staffer who alerted her to the incident was “deeply upset” about it and she heard from “community members who agreed that it was something we should try to take down.”
Ransom countered that the display was “free speech directed at Tammy Baldwin,” to which Hong replied, “Absolutely.” Hong told Ransom, “I regret calling the police. I regret having that taken down.”
Hong discussed the incident again in February 2026 during a campaign event with author and activist Qasim Rashid.
“Two important words that I want more politicians to say and not be seen as vulnerable or weak is, ‘I’m sorry.’ I think that allows people to see that folks are willing to change and be held accountable,” Hong said at the time.
Hong said she was making amends through her actions, including introducing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and a bill to repeal the state’s anti-BDS law, which bars state and local governments from participating in boycotts of Israel, enacted under Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
In the spring 2024 election, Hong was among the elected officials who led the “uninstructed” campaign among Wisconsin voters to protest the Biden administration’s military aid for Israel and call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
She was also a vocal opponent of a bill Gov. Tony Evers signed into law in March codifying a definition of “antisemitism” for state and local governments adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2016. Opponents of the law argued it could impinge on free speech rights.
This story has been updated to note that former Madison Ald. MGR Govindarajan’s call was to the non-emergency line.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Francesca Hong says she regrets police calls over Gaza protest display
Reporting by Mary Spicuzza and Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mary Spicuzza and Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
