{"id":231,"date":"2026-08-11T19:48:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/summitrelocationtimess.com\/?p=231"},"modified":"2026-08-11T19:48:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:48:29","slug":"francesca-hong-on-what-democratic-socialism-means-to-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/summitrelocationtimess.com\/?p=231","title":{"rendered":"Francesca Hong on What Democratic Socialism Means to Her"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On August 11<\/span>, Wisconsin voters will decide the next Democratic nominee for governor, and State Assembly Member Francesca Hong is leading in the polls. Hong is running with the backing of local chapters of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), along with a\u00a0number of labor unions, grassroots organizations, progressive groups and state elected\u00a0officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Make No Mistake\u2014The Left Is on a Winning Streak<\/a><\/p>\n

Hong is the first Asian American elected to the State Assembly and is running in a\u00a0state that President Donald Trump won twice, but that also boasts a\u00a0proud socialist history going back more than a\u00a0century. Wisconsin is the state that produced the idea of \u200b\u201c<\/span>sewer socialism\u201d which Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now harkening back to under his administration in New York\u00a0City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the first open socialist in the Washington State Legislature since 1914<\/span>, I\u00a0wanted to learn more from Hong about how she views the the power of state government to secure meaningful material wins for working people. I\u00a0spoke with her in early August, when she explained to me, \u200b\u201c<\/span>I want working people to have a\u00a0meaningful voice not only at the ballot box, but in their workplaces, their communities and the economy.\u201d This interview has been edited for clarity and\u00a0length.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0socialist, what problems did you seek to solve by running for public office, and why did you believe that the Wisconsin State Assembly would be the place to solve\u00a0them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had spent my career in the service industry. I\u00a0was a\u00a0dishwasher, a\u00a0line cook, a\u00a0chef, a\u00a0small business owner and a\u00a0single mom. When Covid-19<\/span> hit, I\u00a0watched an entire industry shut down almost overnight. Workers who had spent years creating enormous value suddenly had no paycheck, no healthcare and no support from the government that should be taking care of its people. Small businesses were fighting to survive while the largest corporations had access to resources the rest of us could only dream\u00a0of.<\/p>\n

People like me were left blaming themselves and feeling like failures, but it\u2019s the system that was failing us. The situation we were in was the result of political choices. I\u00a0ran for office to be part of the\u00a0solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Assembly was a\u00a0great starting point because so many of these choices happen at the state level. States determine wages and worker protections. We fund public schools. We administer Medicaid. We decide how much power local governments have to raise revenue, build housing or invest in transit. We regulate utilities and corporations. We write the rules that determine whether working people have power in the workplace and whether families can afford the basic necessities of\u00a0life.<\/p>\n

I ran because I\u00a0understood that government is one arena where working people have to build power, and because decisions were being made there every day that shaped whether my neighbors could live with\u00a0dignity.<\/p>\n

I know from personal experience that being a\u00a0socialist in an American legislative body can be a\u00a0lonely and difficult experience. What were some of the fights you took on as an\u00a0assemblymember?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the entirety of my time in office, I\u2019ve served in a\u00a0legislature controlled by Republicans, so I\u00a0learned very quickly that you have to define success more broadly than whether leadership allows your bill to receive a\u00a0vote.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve introduced an Economic Justice Bill of Rights because I\u00a0believe healthcare, housing, education, food and a\u00a0dignified job should be understood as basic economic rights. I\u2019ve fought to raise the minimum wage and advocated for paid family and medical leave. I\u2019ve introduced legislation to provide healthy school meals for every child and restore the collective bargaining rights that were stripped from Wisconsin workers under Act\u00a010<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the objective is shifting the conversation around an idea that people initially tell you is impossible. Sometimes it\u2019s using the legislature to give organizers, workers and communities a\u00a0platform. And sometimes you find openings to actually change the law. I\u00a0was proud to help pass bipartisan legislation requiring Wisconsin schools to teach Asian American and Hmong American history, a\u00a0victory that grew out of community organizing and building positive relationships with folks from across the\u00a0aisle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That experience has reinforced something I\u00a0believe deeply: elected officials should not think of themselves as the movement. Our job is to open doors, bring organizing into the institution, use the power we have to shift material conditions and make it easier for people outside the Capitol to build\u00a0power.<\/p>\n

A socialist legislator without an organized constituency can be isolated. A\u00a0socialist legislator connected to workers, unions and community organizations can make the institution much less comfortable with the status\u00a0quo.<\/p>\n

Read more Molly Crabapple\u2019s Next Major Project Is With In These Times<\/a><\/p>\n

What would you say are some barriers to the achievement of democratic socialist policies in elected\u00a0government?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The biggest barrier is institutional power. People sometimes talk about progressive policy as though the obstacle is simply finding the right data to back up your policy or persuading enough legislators that an idea makes sense. But many of the systems we\u2019re trying to change are working exactly as intended for the people who benefit from\u00a0them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Corporations have lobbyists in the Capitol every day. Wealthy interests provide financial backing for campaigns and organizations designed to shape the policy conversation. Legislative leaders can keep overwhelmingly popular proposals from ever receiving a\u00a0hearing or vote. And in Wisconsin, years of gerrymandering allowed Republicans to maintain enormous legislative power even in a\u00a0closely divided\u00a0state.<\/p>\n

There is also a\u00a0political culture that treats scarcity as inevitable. We are constantly told that universal programs are unrealistic while enormous subsidies, tax breaks and giveaways to corporations are treated as the natural order of\u00a0things.<\/p>\n

That is why electoral politics can\u2019t be separated from organizing. Winning a\u00a0seat is not the end of the work. If you want to change who has power, you have to build durable organizations outside of government that can make demands of those inside\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s particularly important for socialists serving in state legislatures. We should pass legislation wherever we can, but we should also use these offices to expose who benefits from the current system, raise expectations about what government can provide, and help build the working-class coalition capable of making change\u00a0unavoidable.<\/p>\n

You made the decision to join DSA during a\u00a0difficult time in state and local politics, 2020<\/span>. What moved you to join the organization, and how long have you identified as a\u00a0socialist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I joined DSA in 2020<\/span> because the organization was fighting for the things that had already come to define my politics: raising wages, racial justice, worker power and an economy that serves working people instead of an increasingly concentrated group of wealthy and corporate\u00a0interests.<\/p>\n

My politics grew out of lived experience and community organizing more than a\u00a0particular label. I\u00a0spent my adult life working alongside people who could work incredibly hard and still be one emergency away from losing everything. I\u00a0watched service workers create thriving businesses and communities without receiving the stability, healthcare or wages they deserved in return. I\u00a0saw how race, class and gender shaped who had power and who was expected to bear the burden when things went\u00a0wrong.<\/p>\n

To me, democratic socialism is about democracy, fairness and human rights. Working people should have a\u00a0real say in the decisions that shape their lives, not just in government, but in their workplaces and in the economy. Too often, the most essential parts of our lives, from what we\u2019re paid to what we spend on healthcare, housing and utilities, are determined by corporations with far more power than the people they\u00a0serve.<\/p>\n

I want working people to have a\u00a0meaningful voice not only at the ballot box, but in their workplaces, their communities and the economy. And I\u00a0believe that government should guarantee the basic conditions people need to actually exercise that freedom: healthcare, housing, education, childcare, a\u00a0living wage and the right to\u00a0organize.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0501<\/span>\u00a93<\/span> nonprofit organization, <\/em>In These Times does not support or oppose any candidate for elected\u00a0office.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more After Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s Win in Michigan, Progressives Are Preparing for the Next Round Against AIPAC<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hong\u2014a Wisconsin State Assembly Member running for governor\u2014explains her vision of progressive governance, what brought her to join the Democratic Socialists of America and why \u201cworking people should have a real say in the decisions that shape their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFrancesca Hong on What Democratic Socialism Means to Her - Summit Relocation Timess<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/summitrelocationtimess.com\/?p=231\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Francesca Hong on What Democratic Socialism Means to Her - 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