{"id":35439,"date":"2026-08-10T00:18:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T19:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35439"},"modified":"2026-08-10T00:18:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T19:18:37","slug":"aoc-pushes-voters-to-assess-what-francesca-hong-is-saying-now-gloss-over-her-past-woke-1-was-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=35439","title":{"rendered":"AOC pushes voters to assess what Francesca Hong is saying now, gloss over her past: &#8216;Woke 1 was crazy&#8217;"},"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:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2F136919067.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cSquad\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/09\/us-news\/aoc-starts-process-of-freezing-her-eggs-hints-at-2028-mindset-i-think-its-badass\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> defended <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/05\/us-news\/wisconsin-socialist-francesca-hong-walks-back-canceling-thanksgiving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Rep.\u00a0Francesca Hong<\/a>\u2018s previously statements calling to defund the police \u2014 saying \u201cWoke 1 was crazy\u201d as she refrained from an endorsement in the race.<\/p>\n<p>Hong, a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, has opened up a massive, double-digit polling lead in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary over her foe, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans are hopeful she will win the Aug. 11 primary due to her past calls to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/05\/us-news\/wisconsin-socialist-francesca-hong-walks-back-canceling-thanksgiving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">get rid of Thanksgiving<\/a>, abolish the police, and more. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy understanding is that Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances to her electorate,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told ABC News\u2019 \u201cThis Week\u201d on Sunday. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a local city councilman that has this saying, \u2018Woke 1 was crazy,\u201d she added, referring to Councilmember Chi Oss\u00e9. \u201cI think that what\u2019s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Francesca Hong is widely seen as the Democratic frontrunner ahead of the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary on Tuesday. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Kayla Wolf<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declined to endorse Francesca Hong.  <span class=\"credit\">ABC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The congresswoman contended that \u201cWoke 1\u201d was driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and that some of the discourse at the time was \u201cquite fruitful.\u201d She claimed that the conversation about criminal justice in the present day has changed because of \u201cWoke 1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u00a0think that when we talk about crime today, it\u2019s fundamentally different than the way that we talked about crime in bringing crime down, right?\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that during lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hong had been hesitant to break from her past inflammatory remarks. <\/p>\n<p>Initially, when asked about whether she still wants to cancel Thanksgiving, something she raised in a 2021 interview, Hong <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/05\/us-news\/wisconsin-socialist-francesca-hong-walks-back-canceling-thanksgiving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told CNN last week<\/a> that the holiday \u201cis also a time that\u2019s incredibly painful for many people in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After facing backlash from that, she released a statement claiming that she isn\u2019t interested in nixing the holiday. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Francesca Hong has been scrambling to recalibrate some of her positions amid fears that Republicans will have ample fodder against her. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Around that time, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) indicated that he didn\u2019t have plans to endorse in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary. Ocasio-Cortez followed suit Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u00a0haven\u2019t endorsed in that race. My focus has been in winning back the Congress, winning back the House, and positioning ourselves to have the best chance possible to win the Senate,\u201d she told ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\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>\u201cSquad\u201d Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Rep.\u00a0Francesca Hong\u2018s previously statements calling to defund the police \u2014 saying \u201cWoke 1 was crazy\u201d as she refrained from an endorsement in the race. Hong, a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, has opened up a massive, double-digit polling lead in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary over her&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/136919067.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35439","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=35439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}