Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack her socialism
The state representative and former chef is polling at 50.9% ahead of Tuesday’s vote, with GOP figures calling her a 'communist'
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack her socialism
Photograph: 연합뉴스-Yonhap News Agency (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Francesca Hong, a Democratic Socialist and former chef, leads Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary with 50.9% support, per Yonhap.
- Hong’s policies include universal childcare, public grocery stores, and higher corporate taxes, which Republicans have called 'socialist' or 'communist'.
- Donald Trump and the Wall Street Journal have attacked Hong as a threat to Wisconsin’s political balance, a state decided by margins under 1% in recent elections.
- No left-rated outlet reported on the primary, though six right-rated and one centre-rated outlet did.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 7 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
65/100
Craft
55/100
Hype
35/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Francesca Hong, a Democratic Socialist and Wisconsin state representative, leads polls ahead of the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on 11 August 2026. Yonhap reported her support at 50.9%, 19.7 percentage points ahead of her nearest rival, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Hong, a former chef and the daughter of Korean immigrants, would be the first Asian American and first Democratic Socialist governor in Wisconsin’s history if elected.
Hong’s campaign platform includes universal childcare, public grocery stores, higher taxes on corporations, and a pause on new data centres until regulations on energy use and environmental impact are in place. She has also proposed expanding public education funding and introducing a state-wide healthcare system. Republicans have attacked these policies as socialist. Donald Trump called Hong a 'communist' in a statement reported by Yonhap, and the Wall Street Journal described her proposed 17% income tax rate as evidence that 'socialists' were pulling the Democratic Party 'leftward'.
Wisconsin is a battleground state where the last three presidential elections were decided by margins of less than 1%. The Republican nominee for governor, Tom Tiffany, is a Trump-backed conservative with significant fundraising advantages. Some Democrats, including outgoing Governor Tony Evers, have questioned whether Hong could win in November. Evers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was unsure Hong could beat Tiffany and declined to commit to campaigning for her if she won the primary.
What the coverage left out
No left-rated outlet reported on the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary. None of the right-rated digests or reports mentioned Hong’s policy proposals on universal childcare, public grocery stores, or higher corporate taxes, beyond labelling them as 'socialist'. Forbes, the only centre-rated report, did not quote Hong directly or include her response to the controversies over her past social media posts.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 10 Aug 2026, 22:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- Forbes led on the argument that Republicans might prefer Hong as the Democratic nominee, framing her as a weaker candidate in the general election. The report cited a State Navigate poll showing Hong trailing Tiffany by 3 percentage points in a hypothetical November match-up, while an earlier Marquette University poll found her losing support among Democratic primary voters, with 8% saying they would probably or definitely back Tiffany instead. Forbes also quoted outgoing Governor Tony Evers saying he was unsure Hong could win in November and would not commit to campaigning for her.
- The report described Hong’s past social media posts, including a 2020 call to 'cancel Thanksgiving' and her support for defunding the police, as controversies that could hurt her in the general election. It quoted a tweet from Democratic campaign adviser David Axelrod calling Hong 'a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica'. The piece also noted that a Republican-linked group, Right Direction Wisconsin, had run ads highlighting Hong’s push to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which the New York Times described as a strategy to rally Democratic primary voters.
Right
5 rated outlets
- All five right-rated digests and reports led on Hong’s socialism and the threat it posed to Wisconsin and the United States. Yonhap’s full report described her as a 'democratic socialist' and quoted Donald Trump calling her a 'communist'. The Wall Street Journal was quoted describing her tax proposals as evidence that 'socialists' were pulling the Democratic Party 'leftward'. The report also detailed Hong’s past social media posts, including her 2020 call to 'cancel Thanksgiving' and her support for defunding the police.
- The Blaze and Conservative Review digests framed Hong’s candidacy as part of a broader trend of 'ideas once confined to the political fringe' gaining influence across the country. Both used the phrase 'communist chef' in their headlines. Legal Insurrection’s digest reported that Republican donors were meddling in the Democratic primary by funding ads to boost Hong’s profile, with the expectation that she would be easier to defeat in November. The digest quoted an unnamed source saying, 'The second the primary is over, every penny of Francesca Hong’s TV advertising disappears and the GOP will spend tens of millions of dollars on [attack] ads.'
- Ussanews.com’s digest mentioned Hong only in passing, as part of a broader piece on 'nut job' candidates running in Wisconsin. The digest described her as a 'nut job' and focused primarily on a transgender candidate running for city assembly in Madison.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
1Right
5- Why this communist chef isn't just a threat to Wisconsin (opens Conservative Review in a new tab)
Conservative Review — is Conservative Review biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Why this communist chef isn't just a threat to Wisconsin (opens The Blaze in a new tab)
The Blaze — is The Blaze biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Also running for election in Wisconsin tomorrow – Trans candidate Dina Nina (opens ussanews.com in a new tab)
ussanews.com — is ussanews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Korean-American Francesca Hong to Face U.S. Gubernatorial Primary Tomorrow… Will She Continue the 'Progressive Surge'? (opens 연합뉴스-Yonhap News Agency in a new tab)
연합뉴스-Yonhap News Agency — is 연합뉴스-Yonhap News Agency biased? Our profile of this outlet
- GOP Donors Reportedly Meddling in WI Democratic Gubernatorial Primary — With Spectacular Results (opens Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion in a new tab)
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion — is Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
1Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack…?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 17% are rated centre, 83% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 7. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack… biased?
- Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack her socialism is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Francesca Hong leads Wisconsin Democratic primary as Republicans attack…?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What are Francesca Hong’s main policy proposals?
- Francesca Hong’s policies include universal childcare, public grocery stores, higher taxes on corporations, and a pause on new data centres until regulations on energy use and environmental impact are in place. She also proposes expanding public education funding and introducing a state-wide healthcare system, as reported by Yonhap.
- Why are Republicans calling Francesca Hong a 'communist'?
- Republicans, including Donald Trump, have labelled Francesca Hong a 'communist' due to her Democratic Socialist affiliation and policy proposals, such as higher corporate taxes and public grocery stores. The Wall Street Journal described her tax plan as evidence of socialists pulling the Democratic Party 'leftward', per Yonhap.
- Which outlets reported on the Wisconsin Democratic primary?
- Six outlets reported on the Wisconsin Democratic primary: one centre-rated (Forbes) and five right-rated (Yonhap, The Blaze, Conservative Review, ussanews.com, and Legal Insurrection). No left-rated outlet covered the story.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
