Francesca Hong, a former chef and unsuccessful restaurant owner who is now the clear favorite to win Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, faced an uncomfortable question Monday in a setting that is normally welcoming to Democratic candidates.
Her answer did little to help her.
Hong, who represents Madison in the Wisconsin State Assembly, entered the final stretch before the Aug. 11 primary with a sizable polling advantage. A Marquette Law School poll released July 29 showed her leading former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes by 22 points, 38 percent to 16 percent.
As a firmly left-wing Democrat with support from the Democratic Socialists of America, Hong had every reason to expect a relatively easy interview on CNN’s “The Source.” Instead, host Kaitlan Collins asked her about a controversial social media post she published in 2021.
“Cancel Thanksgiving,” Hong wrote at the time. “Should have done this in 1621.”
She continued by arguing that Americans should stop celebrating colonialism and describing the first Thanksgiving as an “original superspreader event” that harmed Indigenous people and women.