# CLUSTER 05 — INSURGENT: 2025 Hub: [[Hong_hub]] Previous: [[Hong_Cluster_04_Socialist_2023-2024]] Next: [[Hong_Cluster_06_Governor_2026]] --- ## CLUSTER OVERVIEW The Insurgent cluster covers the single calendar year 2025 — the year Hong's Assembly career converts into a statewide campaign. It contains: the 107th Legislature's opening under the new maps (54-45 Republican, the narrowest majority of her tenure); her elevation to the **Rules** committee and to the new **Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency ("GOAT") committee**, Wisconsin's DOGE-echo oversight vehicle, which she attacks from inside as "performative at best"; her **first-author** relaunch of the Healthy School Meals for All Act (AB 48, 45 Assembly authors); the March 2025 trans-bills week in which she is "embarrassed" on the floor of her chamber in the same news cycle that Speaker Lisa Demuth's HF 12 fails by one vote in St. Paul; the **May 1 founding of Wisconsin's first Legislative Asian Caucus**; the July 3 budget schism in which she votes NO on a bipartisan budget her own governor signs at 1 a.m. and her Socialist Caucus brands "capitulation"; **Governor Tony Evers' July 24 retirement announcement**, which opens Wisconsin's first no-incumbent governor's race since 2010; the August 28 **"Keep Families Together"** anti-ICE package; and the **September 17 gubernatorial launch** — announced from behind the bar where she works weekends, in a video filmed in a restaurant kitchen across the street from what the video labels the "MAGA-controlled Legislature." In selection-mechanism terms, 2025 is the year the two dossiers' subjects become **the same object in two party colors**: sitting legislators, historic firsts, occupation-and-motherhood brands, launching fall gubernatorial campaigns against the record of the other party — Demuth on November 2 in Minnesota, Hong on September 17 in Wisconsin — while their respective establishments calculate whether the transformation candidate is the path to the governorship or the obstacle to it. By New Year's the answer in both states is the same: she is the front-runner, and the establishment is not sure it wants her. --- ## 5-A ENTRIES — 2025 (chronological) ### January 6, 2025 — 107th Legislature Opens; Rules, GOAT, and the Oversight Portfolio Completed **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (third-termer). *External:* Speaker Vos (54-45, the smallest Republican majority since 2010, under the Evers-signed 2024 maps); Rep. **Amanda Nedweski** (R, chair of the new GOAT committee); Rep. **Jim Piwowarczyk** (chair, Speaker's Task Force on Government Efficiency and Modernization); the ten new Democrats the maps produced, including Reps. **Angelito Tenorio** and **Renuka Mayadev** — the second and third Asian American legislators in Wisconsin history. **Antecedents and Acts — What** Hong's 2025 committee slate: **Audit; Education; Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency; Rules; Joint Legislative Audit Committee** — plus assignment to the Speaker's Task Force on Government Efficiency and Modernization (per the docs.legis session page; the Blue Book entry omits the task force). Her Blue Book occupation line changes from "Restaurant co-owner and co-chef" to **"Chef and bartender."** Her office staff: Nada Elmikashfi (a former state-senate candidate and movement figure) and Reuben Berkowitz. **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Seniority-normal committee progression. *Institutional:* The 2025 slate completes the **oversight fingerprint** the convergence file tracks across both careers: Hong now sits simultaneously on Audit, Joint Audit, GOAT, and an efficiency task force — the entire accountability apparatus of the Wisconsin Assembly — in the same season that Speaker Demuth's **Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee** (the sole carve-out of the Minnesota power-sharing deal) begins hearings in St. Paul. Two 2026 frontrunners; one committee genus; opposite postures — Demuth built her state's oversight vehicle and calls it the answer; Hong sits inside her state's and calls it theater. **Rules** is the second half of the fingerprint: Demuth's Minnesota committee list runs through Rules; Hong's 2025 list now does too. *Strategic:* The "Chef and bartender" Blue Book line — the plain-text record of the restaurant's death — becomes, in the campaign's hands, the strongest working-class authenticity claim any statewide frontrunner in America carries into 2026. **Area or Arena — Where** Wisconsin State Capitol; Room 122 North. **Primary Source Links** - [docs.legis — Hong 2025 legislator page (committees, biography, staff)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/legislators/assembly/2738) - [WI Blue Book 2025-26 — Hong entry ("Chef and bartender")](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/blue_book/2025_2026/030_state_legislators.pdf) - [GM Today — Piwowarczyk appointed to chair Task Force on Government Efficiency and Modernization](https://www.gmtoday.com/daily_news/news/piwowarczyk-appointed-to-chair-task-force-on-government-efficiency-and-modernization/article_0b9139af-4b04-5a67-ab9e-c237b6ddf7a2.html) - [Wisconsin Examiner (May 2, 2025) — Tenorio and Mayadev context](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/05/02/three-assembly-members-form-wisconsins-first-legislative-asian-caucus/) --- ### February 17, 2025 — AB 48: First Author of the Healthy School Meals for All Act, Third Introduction **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (first author — "Introduced by Representatives Hong, Sheehan, Phelps, Cruz..." with 45 Assembly authors and 15 Senate cosponsors). *External:* the Republican Education committee (where the bill will die March 23, 2026); the Healthy School Meals for All Wisconsin coalition; the Minnesota precedent — universal school meals enacted 2023 — that the coalition cites as proof of concept. **Antecedents and Acts — What** Hong introduces **2025 AB 48 / SB 67**, her third-session universal school meals bill, now under her own first authorship: state reimbursement for any school that "provides to any pupil who requests one, at no cost to the pupil, one lunch and one breakfast" meeting federal requirements. It dies in the Education Committee — on which she sits — like both predecessors. **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Free breakfast and lunch for every Wisconsin student. *Institutional:* The third failure fixes the cross-border asymmetry the convergence file documents as its cleanest mirror-image pair: Minnesota's universal-meals law (HF 5, 2023) is in force **over Demuth's NO vote**, while Wisconsin's identical-purpose bill dies a third time **under Hong's authorship**. Each state's children live under the outcome the other state's frontrunner wanted for her own. *Strategic:* First authorship converts the cause into campaign property; "I wrote the bill to provide free healthy school meals to all children" runs on her policy page within the year. **Area or Arena — Where** Wisconsin Capitol; Committee on Education. **Primary Source Links** - [docs.legis — 2025 AB 48 (history; died in Education 3/23/2026)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ab48) - [docs.legis — 2025 AB 48 text](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/proposaltext/2025/REG/AB48.html) - [Hong campaign — policy page (school meals plank)](https://francescahong.com/policy/) --- ### March 17, 2025 — Inside the GOAT Committee: "Performative at Best" **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (minority member). *External:* GOAT chair Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie); the committee's first hearing; the national DOGE moment the committee is modeled on; Rep. Shae Sortwell and the Republican majority's efficiency agenda. **Antecedents and Acts — What** At the new oversight committee's first hearing Hong tells the press: **"I think this committee is performative at best."** She serves on it anyway, using the seat as a platform against the majority's efficiency-and-accountability framing for the rest of the session. **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* The committee is DOGE cosplay, not oversight. *Institutional:* Set this quote in its exact cross-border season: in the same weeks, Speaker Demuth's Fraud Prevention Committee — her signature institutional creation, the single committee exempted from Minnesota's 50/50 rule — is holding its first hearings, with Demuth declaring "I am not buying what was said about why the fraud might have gone on so long." The two candidates hold **identical committee-genus seats** and issue **opposite verdicts on the genre itself** — verdicts perfectly predicted by which party chairs the room. The convergence file's finding: oversight, as deployed in both capitols, is a **positional good** — sacred when yours, performative when theirs. Neither candidate's record contains an instance of crediting the other party's oversight exercise. *Strategic:* The line costs her nothing in AD-76 and supplies the campaign's later anti-DOGE, anti-austerity vocabulary. **Area or Arena — Where** GOAT committee hearing room, Wisconsin Capitol. **Primary Source Links** - [WPR (March 17, 2025) — At first hearing, Assembly GOAT members spar over validity (Hong, Steffen)](https://www.wpr.org/news/first-hearing-wisconsin-assembly-goat-members-validity-hong-steffen) --- ### March 20, 2025 — The Trans-Bills Week: "Deeply Shameful," in the Same News Cycle as HF 12 **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (NO on the slate; floor speaker). *External:* the Republican majority passing **AB 100** (K-12 girls' sports designation — introduced March 3, 2025), **AB 102/103/104/105** (collegiate sports; gender-affirming-care ban for minors; school notification); Governor Evers (veto certain); and — across the border, in the same week — the Minnesota House, where **HF 12, the Preserving Girls Sports Act, fails 67-66 on March 4 with Speaker Lisa Demuth voting yes**. **Antecedents and Acts — What** Hong votes **NO** on the full slate. Her floor-adjacent quotes: the gender-affirming-care ban is **"deeply shameful"**; she is **"embarrassed"** to be present as AB 104 passes 50-43; at the pre-session presser she calls the bills "harmful" and "politically motivated" where the Legislature should be ensuring "kids feel safe and have opportunities to be their best selves." Wisconsin's AB 100 is the same national model family as 2021's AB 195/196, 2023's AB 377 — and Minnesota's HF 12. Her later campaign formulation: **"And when Republicans passed bills to ban trans students from sports, block gender-affirming care for minors, and force schools to out students to their parents — I fought every single one on the floor."** **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Protect trans kids. *Institutional:* The first week of March 2025 is the two dossiers' **synchronization point**: the same bill family, moving on the same national clock, reaches both chambers within twenty-four hours — champion on one side of the St. Croix, adversary on the other. AB 100 is introduced March 3; HF 12 fails March 4 (and again, 67-66, on April 7, 2026). No entry in either dossier demonstrates more cleanly that the legislative language flowing through both candidates' careers is **manufactured upstream of both states** — and that each candidate's relationship to it is assigned, not authored. *Strategic:* For the 2026 primary, "I fought every single one on the floor" is her left flank's proof-of-work; for the general, it is Tiffany's script. Both are priced in from this week forward. **Area or Arena — Where** Assembly floor, Wisconsin Capitol; and (comparatively) the Minnesota House floor. **Primary Source Links** - [Wisconsin Examiner (March 21, 2025) — Assembly passes bills targeting transgender youth ("deeply shameful"; "embarrassed")](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/03/21/assembly-passes-bills-targeting-transgender-youth-in-school-and-their-medical-decisions/) - [Daily Cardinal (March 2025) — pre-session presser quotes](https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2025/03/assembly-passes-restrictions-on-transgender-participation-in-school-sports-gender-affirming-care-for-minors) - [docs.legis — 2025 AB 100 (introduced March 3, 2025; text)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/related/proposals/ab100) - [docs.legis — Assembly Vote 30 (AB 100 passage 51-43; Hong N)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/related/votes/assembly/av0030) - [MN House Session Daily — HF 12 falls short 67-66 (March 2025)](https://www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/18545) - [Hong on X — "I fought every single one on the floor"](https://x.com/FrancescaHongWI/status/2039104562905137378) --- ### May 1, 2025 — Founding Wisconsin's First Legislative Asian Caucus **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (co-founder; the chamber's senior Asian American member). *External:* Reps. **Angelito Tenorio** (D-West Allis; first Filipino American elected to the Legislature) and **Renuka Mayadev** (D-Madison; first South Asian elected to the Assembly); the AANHPI advocacy infrastructure (AAPI Coalition of Wisconsin, on whose board Hong sits). **Antecedents and Acts — What** The three members announce the **Wisconsin Legislative Asian Caucus** — the first in state history. Hong: **"There is so much to celebrate, so much to be proud of and so much to feel honored by being an Asian American."** And, on her first-term experience: **"I plan to speak with the chairs of that committee about my experiences when I first got here of deep xenophobia and racism."** Twelve days later the Assembly adopts **AJR 40** (Tenorio & Hong lead) — "celebrating 50 years of strength and resilience of the Hmong, Lao, Cambodian, and Vietnamese people"; the Senate never concurs. **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Institutional visibility and protection for Wisconsin's AANHPI communities. *Institutional:* The caucus founding is the moment Hong's **one-of-one status formally ends** — and the moment its institutional yield is locked in. For two full sessions the machine had exactly one Asian American legislator to route every AAPI-coded need through; the caucus converts that solo tenure into founder's equity. The Demuth parallel is her February 2025 speakership: each woman's "first" matures, in the same season, into an institutional structure (a caucus; a speakership) that outlives the individual milestone. *Strategic:* For a gubernatorial cycle four months away, the caucus supplies the campaign's identity-axis validators — and the "deep xenophobia and racism" line quietly converts her freshman suffering into standing. **Area or Arena — Where** Wisconsin Capitol; statewide AANHPI communities. **Primary Source Links** - [Wisconsin Examiner (Spears, May 2, 2025) — Three Assembly members form Wisconsin's first legislative Asian caucus](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/05/02/three-assembly-members-form-wisconsins-first-legislative-asian-caucus/) - [WisPolitics (May 2025) — Inaugural Legislative Asian Caucus release](https://www.wispolitics.com/2025/wisconsin-legislature-inaugural-legislative-asian-caucus-formed-to-advance-the-rights-visibility-and-well-being-of-asian-american-native-hawaiian-and-pacific-islander-communities/) - [docs.legis — 2025 AJR 40 (adopted by Assembly May 13, 2025)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ajr40) --- ### July 2–3, 2025 — The Budget Schism: "This Is Not a Compromise, This Is Capitulation" **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (NO vote; public whip against her own party's deal). *External:* Governor Evers and Republican leaders (the deal's principals); the seven Assembly Democrats who vote YES (Billings, Doyle, Emerson, Johnson, McCarville, Ortiz-Velez, Palmeri); the **Wisconsin Legislative Socialist Caucus** (the "capitulation" statement's authors); the federal reconciliation deadline that has Evers signing at ~1 a.m. **Antecedents and Acts — What** As the bipartisan 2025-27 budget (SB 45 → 2025 Act 15) reaches the floor, Hong publicly whips against it: **"🚨 CALL TO ACTION🚨 CONTACT YOUR DEMOCRATIC STATE SENATORS AND STATE REPRESENTATIVES AND URGE THEM TO VOTE NO AND HOLD THE LINE ON THIS REPUBLICAN-LED BUDGET..."** The Assembly concurs 59-39 at 12:48 a.m. July 3; **Hong votes NO** while seven Democrats vote yes; Evers signs within the hour. The Socialist Caucus statement: **"This is not a compromise, this is capitulation"** — "a catastrophic failure of leadership that surrenders to Republican austerity." **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* The deal surrenders schools, childcare, and healthcare to austerity. *Institutional:* Budget NO number three — and the first cast against a budget her own governor **negotiated**, not merely signed. The convergence file pairs this with the Demuth dossier's February 2025 finding in mirror image: Demuth's speakership rests on accepting a negotiated bipartisan treaty her base disliked; Hong's candidacy rests on refusing one her establishment celebrated. Two months later, the governor whose deal she called capitulation retires, and the woman who called it that is running to replace him. The "capitulation" quote will do for Hong's establishment relations what "I don't lead with that" does for Demuth's identity file — the single most-quoted sentence of the record. *Strategic:* The NO completes her differentiation from every 2026 rival who defends the deal — including, eventually, the Evers-endorsed David Crowley. **Area or Arena — Where** Assembly floor; the governor's office (1 a.m. signature). **Primary Source Links** - [docs.legis — Assembly Vote 84 (SB 45 concurrence 59-39, July 3, 2025; Hong N)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/votes/2025/av0084) - [Wisconsin Examiner (July 3, 2025) — Evers signs compromise budget; Socialist Caucus "capitulation" statement](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/07/03/evers-signs-compromise-budget-quickly-after-wisconsin-legislature-gives-final-ok/) - [Hong on X (July 2025) — the CALL TO ACTION post](https://x.com/FrancescaHongWI/status/1940085817327735200) - [PBS Wisconsin — Legislature passes and Evers signs the 2025-27 budget in early morning](https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/wisconsin-legislature-passes-and-evers-signs-the-2025-27-state-budget-in-early-morning-to-secure-federal-funds/) --- ### July 24, 2025 — Evers Declines a Third Term; the Seat Opens **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (immediately mentioned in every succession list). *External:* **Governor Tony Evers** (retiring); Lt. Gov. **Sara Rodriguez** (announces the next day, July 25); Milwaukee County Executive **David Crowley**; Sen. **Kelda Roys**; AG **Josh Kaul** (who will decline in October); the Wisconsin political press. **Antecedents and Acts — What** Evers announces by video he will not seek a third term: **"Would I win if I ran a sixth time? Of course. No question about that."** / **"The only thing I love more than being your governor is being a husband, a dad, and a grandpa."** Wisconsin's first open governor's race since 2010 begins; Rodriguez enters within twenty-four hours. **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Family over office. *Institutional:* The open seat is the structural precondition of everything in Cluster 06 — and the cross-border rhyme is precise: Minnesota's 2026 race runs against an incumbent party's record with Walz's succession politics unresolved through the Demuth dossier's close, while Wisconsin's runs into a vacuum the establishment fails to fill. Within a year, the establishment's four preferred alternatives (Rodriguez, Crowley, Hughes, Barnes) will have collapsed, withdrawn, or entered and re-entered — and the movement candidate who called the governor's budget "capitulation" will lead every poll. *Strategic:* Hong's decision window opens here. Her launch is fifty-five days out. **Area or Arena — Where** Statewide; the governor's office. **Primary Source Links** - [Wisconsin Examiner (July 24, 2025) — Evers announces he won't seek a third term](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/gov-tony-evers-announces-we-wont-seek-a-third-term/) - [Wikipedia — 2026 Wisconsin gubernatorial election (field chronology)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Wisconsin_gubernatorial_election) --- ### August 28, 2025 — "Keep Families Together": The Socialist Caucus Anti-ICE Package **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (author, AB 739/SB 493; co-author AB 444, AB 475). *External:* Socialist Caucus colleagues Clancy, Madison, Phelps; the Trump administration's immigration-enforcement apparatus the package targets; Voces de la Frontera and the immigrant-rights infrastructure; the Republican committees where all three bills die. **Antecedents and Acts — What** The Socialist Caucus releases the **"Keep Families Together"** package: Hong authors **AB 739** (prohibiting state and local assistance with federal immigration enforcement) and co-authors **AB 444** (barring use of state/local facilities for immigration detention) and **AB 475** (immigration civil legal services). The caucus statement: **"We refuse to see public resources go towards private detention centers, a polite way to say 'for-profit internment camps.'... This is textbook authoritarianism."** Earlier in the session she and Rep. Ortiz-Velez led **AB 57**, restricting assistance in the detention of individuals "alleged to be not lawfully present." **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Wisconsin should not be an instrument of federal deportation policy. *Institutional:* The package is the last pre-launch brand deposit — and the one the opposition converts first: the Republican Governors Association's 2026 ad campaign against (and, functionally, for) Hong is built on this package [[Hong_Cluster_06_Governor_2026]]. The machine's ironies compound: the RGA's $3.6 million "attack" on the package's author elevates her in a Democratic primary, exactly as the Minnesota DFL's statements "against" Demuth's straw-poll lead served to confirm her front-runner status. **Each party's apparatus advertises the other's transformation candidate.** *Strategic:* "Keep Families Together" also fixes her general-election exposure on immigration — the plank Tiffany's campaign quotes verbatim. **Area or Arena — Where** Wisconsin Capitol; statewide immigrant communities. **Primary Source Links** - [WI Legislature — Socialist Caucus "Keep Families Together" release (PDF)](https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/10/madison/media/3w0na5qo/8282025-wisconsin-legislative-socialist-caucus-and-allies-release-_keep-families-together_-package-to-stop-trump-and-ice-s-aut.pdf) - [docs.legis — 2025 AB 739 (state/local assistance prohibition)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ab739) - [docs.legis — 2025 AB 57 (detention assistance restrictions)](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ab57) --- ### September 17, 2025 — The Launch: A Bartender Announces for Governor from Behind the Bar **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (candidate); campaign manager **Becky Cooper** (Bounce Milwaukee co-owner); spokesperson **Allison Geyer**. *External:* the launch-night crowd at **Gamma Ray** (the Madison bar where she tends weekend shifts); the launch video's set — the **L'Etoile kitchen and Graze dining room**, across the street from the Capitol; **Nina Turner** (endorsing at launch); the three Democrats already in (Rodriguez, Crowley, Roys); the AP/PBS/Examiner/Cap Times press layer. **Antecedents and Acts — What** Hong announces for governor — the fourth major Democrat to enter. The launch video, filmed in a working restaurant kitchen, pans to the Capitol dome labeled **"MAGA-controlled Legislature."** Its spine: **"Working hard doesn't mean you can always keep up. One wrong step can lay you out flat. This is by design."** Her announcement-day lines: **"I like considering myself the wild card"**; **"We're meeting a moment that requires a movement and not an establishment candidate"**; **"This is a movement moment"**; **"I want Wisconsinites to know that I'm someone in their corner"**; the campaign is about **"working class power"** because **"more and more people are realizing that the system is rigged"** — and, in the care-politics register: **"It's about politics rooted in care—where we care for ourselves, our children, our small businesses and our workers."** Slogan: **"We Make Better Possible."** She pledges no corporate PAC money. On X: **"I'm a single mom juggling two jobs—and I bring my lived experience into every room I walk into. From the State Capitol to night shifts behind the bar, I know what working people are up against."** **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* The working class needs its own candidate, not the establishment's. *Institutional:* Read the two launches as one document. Demuth, November 2: a launch video against a governor "dividing Minnesotans to cover up his failures," her differentiator that she is "the only GOP candidate who has directly negotiated with" the other side, her bio line "small business owner, mother, and grandmother." Hong, September 17: a launch video against a "MAGA-controlled Legislature," her differentiator that she is the anti-establishment "wild card," her bio line "single mom juggling two jobs" / "chef, service worker, mom, and former small business owner." **Occupation-plus-motherhood, deployed against the other party's institutional record, by a historic first who polls ahead of her party's establishment** — the sentence describes both launches without modification. Only the nouns of the occupations differ. *Strategic:* Launching from a bar shift is the single most efficient authenticity signal of the cycle — the working-class claim rendered un-fact-checkable because it is a job, not a message. **Area or Arena — Where** Gamma Ray bar, Madison; L'Etoile/Graze (video); statewide press. **Primary Source Links** - [Cap Times (Hanson, Sept 17, 2025) — Hong announces run for governor centered on working class](https://captimes.com/news/elections/francesca-hong-announces-run-for-governor-centered-on-working-class/article_14e2a74f-4f9a-40bb-a8f7-da525fb38f1b.html) - [PBS Wisconsin / AP (Bauer, Sept 17, 2025) — Hong enters 2026 race ("wild card"; "movement and not an establishment candidate")](https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/state-rep-francesca-hong-enters-2026-race-for-wisconsin-governor/) - [Wisconsin Examiner (Sept 18, 2025) — a bartender and democratic socialist joins the primary field (launch video details)](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/09/18/state-rep-francesca-hong-a-bartender-and-democratic-socialist-joins-primary-field-for-governor/) - [Hong on X (Sept 17, 2025) — "single mom juggling two jobs"](https://x.com/FrancescaHongWI/status/1968280712882356456) - [Hong campaign site — We Make Better Possible](https://francescahong.com/) --- ### September 23 – December 11, 2025 — The Fields Form: Tiffany Consolidates; the Democratic Bench Fractures **Architects and Actors — Who** *Hong Internal:* Hong (now one of an eventual seven). *External:* **U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany** (WI-07), entering September 23; **Bill Berrien** (withdrawing September 26, days after Tiffany enters); **Josh Schoemann** (the first major Republican, who will exit January 28, 2026, the day after Trump endorses Tiffany); AG **Josh Kaul** (October 7: seeking a third AG term instead); **Ben Wikler** (October 16: out); **Mandela Barnes** (entering December 2); **Joel Brennan** (December 11); **Missy Hughes** (in since fall); the year-end campaign-finance filings. **Antecedents and Acts — What** By New Year's the Republican race is functionally settled — Tiffany, with Trump's endorsement coming January 27 — while the Democratic race holds **seven major candidates**. Year-end money (2025): Crowley $789,281; Rodriguez $618,284; Brennan $566,212; Barnes $555,647; Hughes $465,402; **Hong $368,685 raised, $134,588 cash** — sixth of seven; Roys $355,455. Tiffany: $2,122,490. **Agendas or Appropriations — Why** *Stated:* Ordinary field formation. *Institutional:* The money table is the establishment's opening verdict — Hong sixth of seven — and its most complete predictive failure. Every candidate above her on the 2025 money list will, within seven months, drop out, collapse, or trail her by double digits. The convergence file reads the same lesson off both states: **the selection machinery's formal signals (money, endorsements, establishment preference) no longer predict which candidate the machine's own deeper logic — the transformation narrative — will surface.** Demuth leads Minnesota's straw polls against better-funded rivals in the same winter. *Strategic:* Hong's counter-asset is already visible in the fourth-quarter numbers' fine print: thousands of sub-$100 donors, a DSA volunteer network, and a media lane no rival can enter. **Area or Arena — Where** Statewide, both parties. **Primary Source Links** - [Wikipedia — 2026 Wisconsin gubernatorial election (entries, exits, dates)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Wisconsin_gubernatorial_election) - [Wisconsin Examiner (Jan 16, 2026) — Crowley and Tiffany lead fundraising in governor's race](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/01/16/crowley-and-tiffany-lead-fundraising-in-governors-race/) - [WPR (Oct 7, 2025) — Kaul will seek reelection as AG](https://www.wpr.org/news/josh-kaul-governor-reelection-attorney-general) --- ## CLUSTER PERSONNEL ADDITIONS (2025) | Name | Role(s) | Entered Record | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | Amanda Nedweski | R chair, GOAT committee | 2025 | The oversight counterparty Hong calls "performative" | | Angelito Tenorio / Renuka Mayadev | Asian Caucus co-founders; the second and third AAPI legislators in state history | 2025 | End Hong's one-of-one status | | Tony Evers | Retiring governor (July 24) | 2025 | The open seat's author; endorses Crowley in 2026 | | Becky Cooper | Campaign manager (Bounce Milwaukee co-owner) | 2025 | Handles the 2026 debt-suit response | | Allison Geyer | Campaign spokesperson | 2025 | The RGA-response voice | | Nina Turner | National progressive; launch endorser | 2025 | "not another cautious, politics-as-usual Democrat" | | Tom Tiffany | U.S. Rep (WI-07); GOP frontrunner from entry | 2025 | The general-election counterparty; Trump endorsement Jan 27, 2026 | | Sara Rodriguez / David Crowley / Kelda Roys / Mandela Barnes / Joel Brennan / Missy Hughes | The Democratic field | 2025 | The establishment bench the insurgent outlasts | | Nada Elmikashfi | Assembly office staff | 2025 | Movement-politics staff layer | --- ## CLUSTER METRICS (2025) - **Committee assignments:** Audit; Education; GOAT; Rules; Joint Legislative Audit (+ Speaker's efficiency task force, per session page) - **Budget vote:** NO (SB 45 → Act 15; 59-39; 7 Democrats yes; Evers signed) - **Bills as first author:** AB 48 (school meals), AB 739 (Keep Families Together), AB 1012 (paid leave reintro; February 2026 filing), plus the authored slate carried into 2026 — **zero enacted** - **Adopted measures:** AJR 40 (Assembly only; Senate never concurred) - **Caucus founded:** Wisconsin Legislative Asian Caucus (May 1, 2025 — first in state history) - **Campaign launch:** September 17, 2025; slogan "We Make Better Possible"; no-corporate-PAC pledge - **2025 fundraising:** $368,685 raised; $134,588 cash on hand; sixth of seven Democrats - **Public statements on the identity-selection machine as a system:** the 2021 op-ed stands; 2025 adds the intra-party version — "capitulation" — aimed at her own party's governing deal --- ## OPEN RESEARCH QUESTIONS (Cluster 05) 1. **The launch decision timeline** — who recruited, encouraged, or attempted to dissuade her between Evers' July 24 announcement and September 17; the Hunter-equivalent of the gubernatorial entry is undocumented. 2. **The Speaker's Task Force on Government Efficiency and Modernization** — her attendance and posture; the Blue Book/session-page discrepancy on her membership. 3. **DSA national's role in the launch** — the sequencing of chapter endorsements (Madison January 31, 2026; Milwaukee February 2026) suggests pre-launch coordination; undocumented. 4. **The "MAGA-controlled Legislature" video's production** — who made it; L'Etoile/Graze's owner (a James Beard-winning restaurant group) as a set choice is itself a Madison-food-network artifact. 5. **Why the caucus establishment failed to consolidate early** — the Rodriguez-Crowley-Hughes-Barnes sequencing that left the insurgent lane unobstructed. 6. **Her Assembly attendance and votes September–December 2025** — the sitting-legislator-as-candidate record, which the Demuth dossier tracks for its subject as Speaker. --- ## SOURCES (Cluster 05) - [docs.legis — Hong 2025 legislator page](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/legislators/assembly/2738) - [WI Blue Book 2025-26 — Hong entry](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/blue_book/2025_2026/030_state_legislators.pdf) - [WPR (March 17, 2025) — GOAT first hearing](https://www.wpr.org/news/first-hearing-wisconsin-assembly-goat-members-validity-hong-steffen) - [Wisconsin Examiner (March 21, 2025) — trans bills week](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/03/21/assembly-passes-bills-targeting-transgender-youth-in-school-and-their-medical-decisions/) - [Wisconsin Examiner (May 2, 2025) — first Legislative Asian Caucus](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/05/02/three-assembly-members-form-wisconsins-first-legislative-asian-caucus/) - [Wisconsin Examiner (July 3, 2025) — budget signed; "capitulation"](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/07/03/evers-signs-compromise-budget-quickly-after-wisconsin-legislature-gives-final-ok/) - [Wisconsin Examiner (July 24, 2025) — Evers won't seek a third term](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/gov-tony-evers-announces-we-wont-seek-a-third-term/) - [Socialist Caucus — Keep Families Together release (PDF)](https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/10/madison/media/3w0na5qo/8282025-wisconsin-legislative-socialist-caucus-and-allies-release-_keep-families-together_-package-to-stop-trump-and-ice-s-aut.pdf) - [Cap Times (Sept 17, 2025) — launch story](https://captimes.com/news/elections/francesca-hong-announces-run-for-governor-centered-on-working-class/article_14e2a74f-4f9a-40bb-a8f7-da525fb38f1b.html) - [PBS Wisconsin / AP (Sept 17, 2025) — launch coverage](https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/state-rep-francesca-hong-enters-2026-race-for-wisconsin-governor/) - [Wisconsin Examiner (Sept 18, 2025) — launch video details](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/09/18/state-rep-francesca-hong-a-bartender-and-democratic-socialist-joins-primary-field-for-governor/) - [Wisconsin Examiner (Jan 16, 2026) — 2025 fundraising table](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/01/16/crowley-and-tiffany-lead-fundraising-in-governors-race/) - [docs.legis — AB 48, AB 57, AB 100, AB 739, SB 45 vote records](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ab48) - [Wikipedia — 2026 Wisconsin gubernatorial election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Wisconsin_gubernatorial_election) #Actors_and_Architects