Francesca Hong Can’t Even Get Her Thanksgiving Story Straight
Days of changing answers to a simple question are the gravy on top of a growing pile of mashed answers about crucial issues facing Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE – After days of self-inflicted controversy over her past calls to “cancel Thanksgiving,” Francesca Hong has unveiled a new position: it is now her favorite holiday. This highlights a growing problem of flip-flops and unclear answers on crucial issues facing Wisconsin including taxes, public safety, and vouchers.
Hong previously called Thanksgiving the “colonizer holiday” and said it should have been canceled centuries ago. When asked this week whether she still stood by those comments, she refused to give a direct answer and said only that “views can evolve.” Now, after days of national headlines and mounting criticism, she is trying to rewrite the record altogether.
Image from Crowley’s campaign.
Image from Crowley’s campaign.
Image from Crowley’s campaign.
Hong is struggling under the growing attention on this race and scrambling to flip-flop on a series of positions that once defined her candidacy. She is struggling to walk back her support for defunding and eliminating the police, recasting her plan to end Milwaukee’s private school voucher program as a years-long phaseout, and offering a far narrower description of her tax agenda than the legislation she coauthored, which would raise Wisconsin’s top income tax rate to as much as 17.7 percent.
The pattern is increasingly clear: whether the issue is Thanksgiving, policing, education, or taxes, Hong takes one position and offers another once reporters start asking questions.
Wisconsin voters should not need a decoder ring to understand where a candidate for governor stands on Thanksgiving and these other critical issues. These are basic questions Hong has repeatedly failed to answer without contradicting herself and creating another damaging headline.
If Hong cannot talk turkey without reversing herself and dodging the question, or answer basic issue questions during the primary, she is not prepared for the scrutiny of a general election or the attacks Republicans will unleash in one of the most competitive states in the country. Wisconsin Democrats need a nominee who can keep the focus on lowering costs, strengthening public schools, protecting workers, and defeating Republicans in November, not one who spends the final week of the primary cleaning up a controversy entirely of her own making.
The Democratic Primary for Governor will be held on August 11, 2026. More information about David Crowley and his campaign can be found at CrowleyforWI.com.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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I think it’s extraordinarily cool that Democrats are using this as a gotcha moment. I mean lit as heck to willfully ignore the sentiment, especially as it relates to indigenous activists referring to the holiday with an amount of mourning for what it represents.