{"id":33258,"date":"2026-08-08T21:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33258"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:35:07","slug":"francesca-hong-fires-back-at-david-axelrod-over-zany-liberal-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33258","title":{"rendered":"Francesca Hong fires back at David Axelrod over &#8216;zany liberal&#8217; criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/hong_francesca_07282026_AP26210049873376-1.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>Francesca Hong, the leading Democratic candidate in Wisconsin\u2019s gubernatorial race, hit back at criticism from Democratic political strategist David Axelrod on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Axelrod, who served as the chief strategist for former President Obama\u2019s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, called the democratic socialist a \u201czany liberal\u201d in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/davidaxelrod\/status\/2085364611201520076\">Thursday social media post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>He suggested Hong\u2019s loss in Wisconsin\u2019s Democratic primary next week would benefit Abdul El-Sayed, the <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/6006337-el-sayed-wins-michigan-senate-primary\/\">Democratic nominee<\/a> in Michigan\u2019s Senate race.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is a serious person. She is a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica,\u201d Axelrod said of the two Democratic candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hong fired back in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FrancescaHongWI\/status\/2085717796072161729?s=20\">social media post<\/a> of her own.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis tweet is a perfect example of why the consultant class keeps losing elections,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThey\u2019re totally clueless, and they\u2019re hellbent on keeping working-class people out of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve spent more time in kitchens than faculty lounges,\u201d she added. \u201cPerhaps you\u2019d like to come to Wisconsin and work a Friday night dinner rush with me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The democratic socialist candidate has faced criticism from Republicans and some within the Democratic Party over her past support for defunding the police and abolishing the Senate and the Supreme Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/6002876-foxs-dana-perino-grills-wisconsin-gubernatorial-candidate-francesca-hong-over-democratic-socialism\/\">In an interview<\/a> with Fox News\u2019s Dana Perino last week, Hong did not renounce her position from social media posts in 2020 that the police should be defunded and said she believes \u201cpeople can evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe governor cannot defund the police, and I won\u2019t defund the police,\u201d Hong said. \u201cBut I will invest in the things we know prevent crime. \u2026 We have to be tough on causes if we want to prevent crime.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hong is supported by progressive Democrats like Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.). A chef and former small business owner, the democratic socialist is running on a platform of affordability and universal childcare.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Wisconsin will hold its Democratic primary Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Francesca Hong, the leading Democratic candidate in Wisconsin\u2019s gubernatorial race, hit back at criticism from Democratic political strategist David Axelrod on Friday.\u00a0 Axelrod, who served as the chief strategist for former President Obama\u2019s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, called the democratic socialist a \u201czany liberal\u201d in a Thursday social media post.\u00a0 He suggested Hong\u2019s loss&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/hong_francesca_07282026_AP26210049873376-1.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}