Hong’s defeat shows the left evolving further away from 2020
Hong’s narrow defeat in Wisconsin revealed how many Democrats worry that they’ll lose if they “talk like aliens.”
In recent days, David observed the unraveling of Francesca Hong's Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign due to a tweet criticizing the historical roots of Thanksgiving. He was reminded of a debate between Sarah Longwell and Anat Shenker-Osorio at a Persuasion 2025 stage. Longwell advocated for Democrats to abandon elitist language, while Shenker-Osorio insisted on portraying the party as a fight against fascism.
They represented the two sides of post-Biden Democratic perception: one arguing that the party had moved too far left in 2020 and needed to recant, and the other asserting that such a critique was a Republican distraction. In light of Hong's defeat, many Democrats are now more skeptical of "woke" language, perceiving it as a top-down, elite-driven effort to overshadow economic populism.
The defeat of Hong in Wisconsin, who had previously suspended his campaign, highlighted the concern among Democrats that they might lose if they continue with the alienating rhetoric of 2020. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsing El-Sayed, voiced her change in stance regarding Hong's statements on Thanksgiving and policing, acknowledging the alienating nature of such language.
Ocasio-Cortez's comments echoed the 1990s Democratic rhetoric on crime, which they eventually abandoned. This shift illustrates a compromise within the Democratic Party: while acknowledging the negative impact of 2020 rhetoric on Republicans, the party is now trying to refocus the conversation away from those divisive issues.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
