MADISON – In the last days of the Democratic primary for governor, Francesca Hong is reversing her past support for defunding and eliminating police and walking back accusations of racism she has made against law enforcement officers.
Hong, a democratic socialist who leads the primary field in statewide polling, is on track to secure the Democratic party’s nomination for governor and faces a general election electorate that largely supports police and wants more funding for them, not less.
In an Aug. 4 interview on the national podcast Pod Save America, Hong said she would “not abolish the police” and when asked if she still holds the view “that police exist to uphold white supremacy,” as she posted in 2020, Hong said “no.”
“My views have only become stronger in that I’m serious about public safety and I will not abolish the police. My views are that people are struggling right now and need basic needs met. And I want to focus on stopping violent crime and giving law enforcement the resources and the training that they need, but ensure that we are also holding accountable law enforcement that does not follow the law,” Hong said.
When asked when she changed her belief that police support white supremacy, Hong did not answer.
Instead, she said, “when you talk to people who are most justice impacted − a mother who lost a child to police violence, people who have contended with injustices in historically marginalized communities − but justice also looks like making sure that we are implementing solutions and helping to change the material conditions of people’s lives.”
Hong will undoubtedly face headwinds over her comments about law enforcement. Seventy-eight percent of Wisconsin voters surveyed in a 2022 poll by the Marquette University Law School said they favored increasing state funding for police.
She began walking back her past comments on police in recent weeks, most notably during a July 28 televised debate when she provided an emphatic “no” to a question about whether she would sign legislation that decreases funding for police.
The comment turned heads because Hong has repeatedly said she supported the idea of reducing funding for police and abolishing law enforcement altogether.
Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said his law enforcement advocacy group welcomes Hong’s new statements.
“Those are significant reversals of positions that were deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and fundamentally inconsistent with the realities of public safety,” Palmer said.
But Palmer said it’s more difficult to determine whether her “broader views have genuinely changed” given Hong’s reaction to the recent fatal police shooting of Corey Ruiz. Ruiz was a Black Madison man who police say injured an officer with a knife before an officer shot Ruiz, killing him.
Hong called the shooting “an execution” and characterized it as “state-sanctioned violence” and questioned officers’ decision to arrest the man.
“Those comments reflect the same troubling willingness to assume the worst about police officers before the evidence is known,” Palmer said.
“Representative Hong may have changed the language she uses to describe her position, but her response to this incident gives law enforcement officers and the general public understandable reason to question how much her underlying perspective has actually changed.”
A spokeswoman for Hong did not immediately respond to Palmer’s comments.
Voters will decide Aug. 11 which Democratic candidate for governor should face likely Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany in the general election. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is Hong’s top opponent in the primary.
Leader of Wisconsin police association comments on top governor candidates
Palmer’s group is not affiliated with political parties and has endorsed candidates from both major political ideologies in the past. He said the group “evaluates elected officials and candidates based on their records and positions, not their political party.”
He said “there are meaningful distinctions among these three [top] candidates.”
Palmer said Crowley’s response to the Corey Ruiz shooting “was considerably more measured than Francesca Hong’s.”
“He expressed concern about what occurred but also indicated that he wanted to hear the officer’s explanation and the police account before reaching a conclusion,” Palmer said. “We may not agree with every comparison or policy emphasis he has made, but he has generally approached public safety as requiring both effective law enforcement and investments aimed at preventing violence.”
Palmer said Tiffany “has consistently spoken in strong support of law enforcement during this campaign.”
“His response to the Ruiz shooting — urging people to allow the independent investigation to establish the facts rather than rushing to judgment or stoking division — was responsible and appropriate,” he said
“At the same time, supportive rhetoric is not the only consideration. During his service in the Wisconsin Legislature, his voting record on the WPPA’s legislative priorities was mixed and did not always match the strength of his current public statements.”
“From a law enforcement perspective, neither Crowley nor Tiffany has expressed the sweeping hostility toward policing that Rep. Hong has articulated in the past, and neither reacted to the Ruiz shooting by immediately declaring that an officer had carried out an execution,” Palmer said.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hong reverses stance on defunding police, claims about racism
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
